Rowdy's Recovery - Week 3

It's the start of week 3 on Rowdy's Recovery from TPLO surgery and he's doing very well.  We brought him in last week (a few days early) because he was having a reaction to the sutures, causing his leg to look very red, inflamed, etc.  It seemed to itch a lot (he was trying to lick it all the time) and Roxy even decided they needed to come out as she nibbled a stitch right out of his leg.  The attached photo is what his leg is looking like now, a little more than 2 weeks after his surgery.  It's fully closed and the redness is almost completely gone.  We treated the wound with over the counter cortisone cream and that worked wonders.

The hardest part of this entire recovery is keeping Rowdy calm.  We take him outside on a leash, and will continue doing that for the full 8 weeks.  Roxy (our healthy 2 yr old female boxer) is getting very frustrated (and bored).  She is constantly trying to get Rowdy to play, especially outside, and Rowdy is feeling well enough to spin "360's" on the leash.  Obviously, we immediately have to stop that behavior as his leg is definitely not ready to support that level of stress yet.

We're finding out that the KONG is even more of a necessity for both of our pups while going through this.  The longest lasting and least fattening treat is a kong filled with greek yogurt (extra protein) - frozen in the freezer.  We usually get a good 30-45 minutes of calm licking out of these treats.

We'll be posting another video of Rowdy walking this week.  He's definitely starting to put weight on his recovering knee and getting around amazingly well.