I am afraid that if Desi had knee surgery he would be like George. Desi doesn't know what 'lay still' means. Today he went for a shot and so I give him Benadryl every 8 hours for three days. Right now he and Dolly are fast asleep in the recliner and I have complete silence! I put Dolly in the stroller when she had knee surgery and she was OK.but she is most of the time very quiet. She does get stressed and starts gnawing at things then.so I got some Calming Gel at Petco or PetSmart. Within 5 minutes she had calmed down and fell asleep. You may have to do something like that to get George to rest. If he is jumping and bouncing all the time, it would probably do good to do Benadryl, but Desi gets hyper an hour after Benadryl. I usually can calm Dolly my doing little tiny circle rubs on her belly and her chest, and also by very calmly and lightly rubbing her under arms.from the arm pit all the way down on the inside where the skin is so soft. She loves that. I can usually rock her in the recliner while doing the underarms or her tummy and chest. Every dog is different, so I hope that you find a good solution here.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Quinn Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 5:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Chihuahuas] Update on George, day 21 post-op whew, I can't believe it has already been 3 weeks since George's surgery. I still feel a little bit like I am in the middle of a nightmare. George got his staples out last week, it is lots easier for him to find a comfy position now. He has an ulcer from the anti-inflammatory, that is why he was not wanting to eat and throwing up. The poor little guy lost a whole pound :( He's been on new medicine for his tummy and is back to being hungry and wanting to eat his whole meals. Thankful for that <big sigh>. George is obviously feeling better which is wonderful and a huge relief, but at the same time it is making it really hard to keep him calm so his bones can keep healing. He has at least another 3 weeks on restricted activity. If he doesn't heal right or dislodges a pin or the transposition, he would need another surgery and his prognosis would be less optimistic. The only thing getting me through this process somewhat sane is that hopefully I made the right decision for him so he will be able to run and play and jump and chase without pain for the rest of his life. Anyway, he is really hyper. He has always been super energetic, even more than most of his puppy friends, but it was a good thing, he always wants to play and gets the zoomies 4 or 5 times a day. Now it is working against him and making me a worried wreck. Up until Friday, he was doing great in his little playpen, then he started bouncing. He is normally a bouncy guy, but I honestly hadn't even thought of that as being a problem during healing, surely he wouldn't feel good enough to try and bounce on his newly operated on legs, right?! Then, he decided he was gong to try and jump OVER the wall. He is not a jumper, so this blew my mind. He won't even jump on the couch, and the pen is 3 times higher than that. So, I put him in his crate, and he was so full of energy that he was actually make the crate move with his bouncing and trying to get up on the sides. putting all of the stress on his knees. I went and bought him a new, smaller crate, just big enough that he can barely turn around and stand without his head all the way up. He is still making the crate move and ramming the door to try to get out, again completely stressing his knees. So, now he is the bathroom, literally bouncing off the walls and trying to get out to be where I am. It is heartbreaking, I have been in tears for the last couple of days because I feel like I am torturing my puppy. Also, with all of the bouncing I have gone back to carrying him out to go potty and picking him right back up. Even on our attempts at "slow leash walks" he has started bouncing from place to place instead of walking. Put him down to go potty, and he sniffs and bounces sniffs and bounces until he finds the right place, goes potty, then bounces again. I would give my right arm for a sedative that would help him relax. The vet sent him home with Acepromazine, but George had a scary reaction to it, so I called for a different drug and they told me the only other option was benadryl. I tried benadryl yesterday, and it made him a little bit spacey, but made him really reactive to noise and movement, so he barked and almost panicked to try to get out continuously for 6 hours. I can't do that again. Anybody have any experience with other sedatives, herbs or homeopathic remedies that might help. I have been giving him chamomille and rescue remedy already. Also, any ideas to help him sleep? He has been going, going, going until he can't stay upright anymore, then he crashes for about an hour :( Sleep for all of us would be a really good thing! My other dog Rylie is really depressed, I let her be outside with George for a few minutes. Her and George have been attached at the hip since we adopted him. They were so excited to be with each other, I kept picking George up to get him to calm down because he was bowing and jumping and bouncing like a crazy dog! All I heard in my head was "NO JUMPING or RUNNING, NO EXPLOSIVE ACTIONS during the first 6-8 weeks post-op". All I did was freak out and tell Rylie "no" over and over and play body blocker when she got excited and wanted to go be with her brother, all I could see was her going to take out his legs and knock him over and jump on him. She looked at me like I was from Mars, and went inside to lay down. She has been sulking since then. I feel horrible and like a failure for both of them. This has got to get better, and I need to be able to let my dogs be with each other for everybody's sake. still exhausted and a little stir crazy, Quinn, Rylie and George
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