The surgeon that we prefer is in Caledon. Initially we thought he could come down here to our vet but that would not be possible until the end of April. Way way too long to wait. So I agreed to take Terra to Caledon which is not so far away
So March 15, she has her surgery
I will be able to take her home back that day, I had actually expected her to stay overnight so this is good news.
In the mean time we're starting to prepare the house for Terra's recovery. This could be a very long process and the idea is to do everything we can to help the leg heal and to prevent re-injuring it. A big part of that is getting a crate.
We've never crate trained our dogs. It's not a good or a bad thing it's just a preference. But it's important to restrict her movements after her surgery. She needs to heel but restricting a border collie's movements, especially Terra, ain't easy. So putting her in a crate on a nice cushioned pad gives her a great chance for a great recovery.
Our house has hardwood floors, slippery hardwood floors. So upon advice from my brother Ed and Collette, we're taking our old rugs (since we just bought new ones for the living room) and putting them in my office (where Terra likes to nap) as well as down our halls.
I'm going to put one of our big round dog beds in my office. When Terra does not have to be in the crate my office will be a good place to keep her since jumping up on furniture is a definite no no. At least for a while
Terra does jump up on to the bed as well as the love seat in the living room. So when we are not at home she will have to be in the kennel or my office and when we are home we will have to just remind her. We are thinking of moving the love seat out of the living room or at least out of the way; she jumps out there to look out the windows so we are considering putting some kind of pillow fort there where she can walk on to it, lay down and still see out the window
Yeh, she's going to be spoiled. Deal with it.
Beyond giving her comfortable safe places to lay, we'll need a collar on her to prevent her licking the incision. Infection is, of course, a very real concern. Terra absolutely hates the e-collar (no dog loves it of course) so we're going to get her an inflatable donut collar. Some dogs are still able to lick their legs with that so we will have the e-collar as well
It's not unusual for dogs, following this surgery, to have to use some kind of sling to help them move around and go up and down stairs the first couple of days. We'll see what the vet reccomends. For at least a couple days she'll only go out to do her business, we have five steps in front of the house and I'll have to see which is easier, me carrying her or putting her in the sling Later, she'll be able to do 5 minute walks to do her thing but that's stage two
I'm going to learn some basic massage techniques to help her leg, we will have to keep the incision clean but that's another thing to add to the list
Lots of work ahead but at least it's going to happen. So forward from here
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