4 weeks post op CCL surgery-let the walks begin!!!

Four weeks ago today, Bohdi was dropped off at 7 in the morning at our veterinarian's office for surgery to stabilize his knee (also called the stifle joint) after a cranial cruciate ligament tear. (Please read prior posts)


At this moment, he is fast asleep at my feet. We have stopped using the superyard and he roams the house freely. We have to watch him carefully because at times he will try to play and dash around. We don't want the tightrope to fail or the other knee for that matter.  He has been swimming for therapy. He hates the life vest he has to wear so he would rather prefer a walk or to have free range of the pool sans vest.


We get to start short walks now; short as in to the end of the block and back. We will wait until Monday (today is Wed) of next week to start as we still have some warm weather and I would prefer to swim this weekend. I don't want to overwork him. We need to start slow. I wonder what the neighbors will think when they see me walk him. We will be out for such a short distance they will probably think I have agoraphobia or something. hehehehe


As far as his progress goes, I can't say there is huge improvement in his walk as he never really favored it anymore after the surgery as he does now. I suppose I will have to consult a physical therapist for ideas to get him to really start using the leg to avoid atrophy and grow so muscle. I saw a video of a dog being led over obstacles he had to step over, but I am not sure how many weeks post surgery he was. There were balance activities as well. Any ideas on how to make a dog sized teeter-totter?  Some days he is obviously more sore than others. He will lay down and "stare" at his knee like he is irritated at it. I do want to start weaning him down from daily Dermaxx as well. I found this info online regarding long term use and I am not so keen on daily dosing. http://www.vetinfo.com/arthritis-treatment-deramaxx.html

I think Bohdi may be getting a little depressed. It is time to lower meds and add new activity. In 5-6 weeks I will be caring for a new baby as well as my four legged boy. Keeping both happy may be a challenge. Oh, and his hair is growing back very slowly.

One week post op and video of walking

We made it a full week!! Any setbacks???? 

Well, in my last post I mentioned that we were considering stopping by a friends house Sunday afternoon for a BBQ. Well we gave it a go. They live just a city block away so we checked up on him after the first 40 minutes. We had left him in our bedroom with the door closed as he is familiar with this room being his "confinement area" if we ever need one. We were at first considering leaving him in the superyard, but he is such a confident jumper that we were scared he would try and jump out. 

Well, sorry to say we had to come home after the check up. My husband had come back to check on him and said that he was too excitable and we figured it's just too early to leave him unattended if we could avoid it. The vet did not send us home with any sedatives which I am fine with but I see why some doggy parents may need them if they can't be around 24/7 and have an active dog. So,he picked me up and we headed home. Good thing too because I noticed there was a little bit of blood on his sheet. I figure he was licking the wound or had stood on the leg too long. He had no visible bleeding when we got home and was using the leg as he had been in prior days. So, no real harm done.

The last few days, I have let him out of the superyard several times a day so that he could lay by my feet. At night he sleeps in the master bathroom and is gated in. From where he is he has a good view of me on the bed so he is calm.

He only has 3 days left of the antibiotic. I have started weening him from the wet food, and he is 75% back on his normal food (which is Benefull Healthy Weight BTW). I have included a video of our morning pee-walk. Much easier to show you than to verbally try to describe his gate.

(video is at the bottom of this post)

As far as the measure of his pain goes, it does seem that in the afternoon he is a little more aware of the knee. With the Tramadol (50mg) we are allowed 1-2 pills every twelve hours (the usual dose in dogs is 0.45-1.8mg per pound of pet's weight given by mouth every 8-12 hours.). Since he has been managing well, I have stuck to only one in the morning and one at night. He also gets the Dermaxx in the morning. At night he tends to go to sleep right after he gets the 2nd dose of Tramadol. He has managed the pain well, but there were two days during the week where I gave him another Tramadol in the mid afternoon. 

His incision is healing really well. I only clean it with the betadine if I really see a need. At this point, we are really anxious for our check up. I would love to get the go at the two week point to get him walking a little more and swimming laps. I am anxious to hear if the knee is healing well and that we have good stability. 

I'll tell you though, this is all a bit much for an 8 month pregnant lady. I am grateful that Bohdi is such a trooper. I need a nap!!!