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.

Rowdy's Recovery - That fisheye lens is loud!

Rowdy-Fisheye
Originally uploaded by ModernLifePhoto

Taking a little break from a traditional post, we couldn't help but post this funny photo of Rowdy. We were getting ready for a wedding shoot the next day and I was playing with a fisheye lens for our 5D. The lens' focus motor is louder than most of the other lenses that we have - prompting Rowdy to leave Amber & Roxy (in the background) and his kong filled with peanut butter. After nearly two weeks of no playing, no running, no jumping, etc - the fisheye motor proved too intriguing and tempting to not investigate. The photo was so cute, we couldn't resist posting.

Rowdy is doing well.  You can see that he's still sitting on his left side and his right rear leg is flaring out.  He got his stitches out yesterday morning due to some reaction to the sutures (redness, irritation).  We're treating it with over the counter cortisone cream and in a day, it's already looking better.

Rowdy's Recovery - Rowdy as a puppy

Rowdy - our white boxer as a puppy
Originally uploaded by ModernLifePhoto

If you're reading this, you know we love our dogs. We REALLY love our dogs. Rowdy just finished week 1 of his TPLO recovery and is doing great. The hardest part thus far is convincing him that he's not the little puppy seen in this photo anymore, and as much as he wants to play already, he cant.  It's really hard to keep a 2 year old boxer from playing, but we know in the end - we're doing the right thing.

Rowdy is our 2 year old male boxer who has the most personality of any dog we've ever met (we are biased), and he completely changed our lives forever. We rescued him from a puppy mill situation and he absolutely chose us - how could you resist a little guy like that right?!?

In the last 2 years, we've gone from dog loving people to dog obsessed people. We photograph dogs, volunteer for the MN Boxer Rescue, donate time to the HSUS and do anything else we can do to help animals in need. We really owe it all to Rowdy as he's shown us what true love is. He loves us 110% of the time with 110% of his heart.  It's this kind of love and devotion that we feel so passionate about and truly feel that every pet deserves to feel.

We get asked sometimes why we're doing this site, and we thought a little background about how much Rowdy means to us would be helpful.  So if you're reading this and going through what we're going through right now, asking yourself if it's the right thing to do (because it is very hard), think about how much your dog loves you and impacts your life and know that you're absolutely doing the right thing.

Your pup is going to wonder what they did wrong, why you won't let them play, why are you confining them to a smaller space than they're used to, why can't they jump up on the couch, etc.  You have to remember that it's all for their quality of life long-term, and think about a way that you can turn that experience into a positive one for others.

~ woof!  

Week 1 - Belly Sling For Walking Up Stairs

Rowdy has been home nearly a week and he's doing great!  He's getting used to the idea of moving around the house/yard on three legs, but stairs are still a bit of a challenge.  The vet suggested that we look at getting him a "belly sling."  Amber's creative juices got flowing after seeing this and spent the night he was away at surgery making one out of an old king sized pillow case and some left over felt (saving us $50).  Rowdy has gotten very used to using it going up and down stairs and it's made his life much easier in the interim.

Rowdy's Recovery - Day 5 (no digestive issues)

Rowdy's Recovery - Day 5
Originally uploaded by ModernLifePhoto

Rowdy is still very much favoring his injured leg and primarily walking on three legs, however - he's getting around much better and is definitely starting to act like nothing is wrong.

He's still on a pretty hefty regimen of pain medications, but has had no real digestive issues that we were told to expect. We attribute a lot of this to the 1/2 raw food diet he's on. Both of our dogs eat 1/2 raw meat (free range chicken and/or turkey) from Woody's Petfood Deli in Minneapolis. We've found this to be very helpful to their digestive system and they've both been 100% healthy since starting them on that diet.  Note: We do have cans of Organic Pumpkin (not the sweetened pie filler, but 100% pumpkin) in case he does develop any issues.  We've been told by other PTLO recoveries that Pumpkin was very helpful.

Rowdy's Recovery - home from surgery (day 2)

Rowdy's Recovery - home from surgery day 2
Originally uploaded by ModernLifePhoto

Rowdy is doing well, he thinks already that he's better than he really is. We're using a belly sling (we made ours) to help him up and down stairs, and already he's trying to take the stairs w/o it.

We've officially converted our master bedroom (photos later) to a post surgery boxer haven. The mattress is on the floor and Rowdy slept comfortably through the night.

Already a few tips we're ready to share. We're going to try and summarize them by week of recovery to make it easier to follow.

Rowdy's Home! - First day after TPLO surgery.

So far so good, Rowdy's home from surgery and everything seems to be going as planned.  His TPLO knee surgery went fine with no complications, the wonderful folks at Shady Oak Vet took very good care of him (thank you guys)!

We did find out that Rowdy has some premature arthritis in his knee, most likely caused by the stress of the injury.  We're researching some natural supplements like chondroitin and glucosamine for dogs and will likely put him on something like that when he's off his pain medication.

Now, it's time for him to rest and time for us to keep Roxy (our 2yr old deaf boxer) entertained as she's drying to play with Rowdy and that can't happen for quite some time.

Rowdy's Recovery - Day of surgery with mom

Rowdy's Recovery - Day of surgery with mom
Originally uploaded by ModernLifePhoto

This morning we dropped Rowdy off for his TPLO surgery. He was such a good boy, giving blood for the pre-anesthesia testing, and then getting morphine to calm him down and mask the pain.

It's not uncommon for dogs to throw up on morphine, so that's to be expected. The morphine takes about 30minutes to fully kick in and you'll know when it's working. Rowdy did his best to stay standing/walking (which is a bit uncommon) but he was definitely wobbly and nervously panting.

One VERY IMPORTANT thing to note with Boxers or other short snouted dogs. DO NOT GIVE THEM Acepromazine! While it's one of the most commonly used tranquilizers in vet medicine, it can be lethal to Boxers, Bulldogs, Pugs, etc. Do your research and confirm with your vet that they're not going to use it.

The Day Before TPLO Surgery

After searching the internet for information about ACL injuries in dogs, something became very clear - people going through this experience are more than will to share information.  To all of those that have done something similar to what we're planning to do with Rowdy's injury, thank you!  The information you've shared has been invaluable in us making the decision to have surgery.

Rowdy is our sweet little 2 year old boxer boy.  He's our first dog (other than the dogs we grew up with) that's truly our own, and let me tell you - he's the love of our lives.  We both agree that there's not much better in a day than coming home to he and Roxy wiggling so hard they can barely stand up.  

With that said, Rowdy tore his ACL just a short time ago.  Not a full tear, but a partial tear that isn't getting any better.  Our options were simple, let him suffer and deal with it - or address it with a surgery.  As much as we strive to heal everything in our personal and animal lives naturally, surgery was inevitable.  There were two surgical options as well, one called a TPLO procedure and the other FHO.  TPLO is a more invasive surgery, but the recovery is supposed to be 95% - 100% and we wouldn't risk anything with Rowdy.

We'll be documenting Rowdy's Recovery over the next few months, from pre-op to post-op and week by week until he's healed.  Our commitment to this project is to help others going through this issue the same as people have helped us.  Please feel free to email us any questions or advice.