[tamizami]

QUOTE (carche @ Feb 8 2010, 05:45 PM)

Hi,
Mia's surgery is Thursday on both knees. The vet suggested I leave her for the first 3 days to rehab her but she would be unattended from 6 pm to 7 am the next day, everyday. I did not feel comfortable with this so I asked the surgeon if it was ok to take her home after the surgery and then take her back in the morning for rehab to which he agreed. If any one has been through this process, I would really appreciate your help regarding the following:

1- Do I need to purchase a soft crate to bring her home in or can I carry her home 1/2 block (by car of course)

2- She sleeps with me now, will she be able to sleep with us or do I need to crate her?

3- What should I expect the first couple of nights?

4- Etc....

I really appreciate your help!!! Really anxious,

Chris[/B]

Good suggestion for the bath, and also a trim if she is in coat. We started physical therapy 2 weeks before the surgery, then waited until 2 weeks after the surgery to begin again, per our surgeon's instructions.

1. she needs to be crated at night and in a crate or hard sided bag for the trip home. instead of putting nice bedding in the crate, for the first couple of nights put a wee-wee pad. anesthesia can cause irregular potty-ing......hopefully they will wrap her tail before surgery so it will be wrapped for the first few days in case she has diarrhea. be sure to have canned pumpkin (not the pie filling!) on hand just in case - about a half or teaspoon full each meal should keep poo firm.

2. at night put her crate on the nightstand next to your pillow so she is still "sleeping" with you.

3. our surgeon insists on no visits the day of surgery and a mandatory night in the hospital. of course, this was a fully staffed ER hospital with 24 hour vets/surgeons on hand and hourly status checks by vet techs with pain medication administered every 6 hours.

4. the next afternoon i was able to go visit her and decided to take her home, altho the surgical center would have kept her another night. giving her pain meds is a little upsetting cuz you have to syringe it and she wasn't happy with that. the first night home i had wee-wee pads ready for her to go potty, but she tried to take a couple of steps towards the door to go to the potty box on the deck, so i carried her out there. you can use a towel or belt to help prop your pup up so they can eliminate more easily.

our surgeon didn't use casts, so be prepared to see scarey stitches. also, we were sent home with a soft-sided cone and those are way more comfortable for the pups than the hard ones. i did a photo diary here (sorry, its in reverse order), hopefully this will help answer your questions. good luck with your sweet baby!