ooops….
Gandalf slipped over on the neighbour’s wooden floor. He’s been so good walking slowly on it, and we’d been avoiding it.
He just lay there and looked at me. I picked him up and took him to the mat on the tiles and tried not to fuss him. He got up and walked off (not on the wood!) but then has had to have lots of cuddles.
There goes the benefit of the physio today?
sigh
Yesterday, back to the vet….
….to see the wonderful Natalie, who has one of Gandalf’s best person awards (continuing). And of course the other lovely nurses.
(we had to get cat food…yep, the REALLY expensive stuff… one of my boys [Angel Piggy Poggy Poodle] can only have wet food–he gets constipation badly [and sorbitol liquid every night]–and it has to be the urinary stuff–he’s had blockages and operations to help this problem. And because Angel P is not allowed to have the other cat’s food, if I’m not standing supervising Henry Tigger Fang has to have the expensive stuff too. FYI Angel is so called because he turned up, little feral 1yr old-ish, pretty much the same day as my beautiful Neville Tut died. They are so similar in personality it is amazing.)
So, back to the vet visit story. Gandalf “sings” to go in…and rushes into the office….smiling all the way. Accepts pats and admiration from all and sundry, but has eyes only for Nat. He is a rare kissing boy, but Natalie ALWAYS gets kisses. If he forgets himself and licks another nurse, we say “don’t tell Natalie”. Natalie is one of those rare people who has knowledge, intuition, care, and good common sense. She also knows how to empathize to make both dog and human feel better. Even though Natalie has had to do terrible things to Gandalf during visits for the seven operations he’s had over the past year (not counting the amputation), he still loves her dearly. Now THAT is pretty amazing.
(And she gives practical help. With the last operation before the amputation, she even drove Gandalf and me home in her 4 wheel drive and made sure we were ok at home; brought my car back to me the next day. Visited to check on us regularly. Yeah. I’m extremely lucky.)
We weigh in and Gandalf gets a treat. He’s down to 21.6 kg. Pre-operations/amputation he was around 26. He looks sleek and fit now. Natalie says his coat is looking better too. I hadn’t really noticed, but she hadn’t seen him for a week or so. I reckon the new diet is good–more veges, 1/3 BARF patty per meal, steamed chicken.
Gandalf does this lovely “I’m a well trained obedient dog” routine for weighing in. If you’ve ever watched people try (unsuccessfully) to get their dogs on that mat to weigh them, well, Gandalf puts them to shame. He walks up to the middle of the mat, then sits, and waits until told to move. Obviously he’s had a great deal of positive reinforcement for this routine. 🙂
We’ve had huge thunder and lightning storms tonight. Gandalf is sitting at the back door watching. In times past, he’d be either cringing or wanting to rush out and bark at the thunder. Another change.
Physio Friday. He hasn’t been as great this week following last friday’s physio as he was after the previous session. But then, he has been doing a little more. Today, and for the past couple of days, I’ve gotten him to walk a short distance through soft sand. He does this really well. But he does seem at other times to be doing a bit of a kinda leany thing with his remaining back leg, like it isn’t quite holding his weight. Just every now and then.
Of course, this feeds into my big worry that the hip/leg isn’t strong enough (it’s a pseudo joint, he had a femoral head excision on this hip a year ago). Will see what the physio says.
Water water water everywhere
Yes well…I think my video skills are pretty much non-existent 😉
(how do I get rid of the annoying mommy voice? )
It was almost a disaster this morning at the beach. I was trying to throw the thong and take a video at the same time…and then a bloody great wave came in…
So we went to the river…
Magical powers
Yes…the magical powers of the cape. Gandalf has been wearing his bandanna with pride. He just seems so much less serious! People have been noticing that he’s, well, happier than he’s been for a long time.
The lovely physio came today. Emma is absolutely amazing. She says that Gandalf’s muscles are definitely developing, changed over the week. She’s noticed, as I have, that he’s throwing out his front opposite amputation leg. She says this is because he’s finding new ways to balance. She’s trying to mobilize his wrists a little (they’re essentially fused…he’s missing a line of bones, poor nutrition as a puppy or just bad design). He was shutting his eyes with the bliss of it when she was working on his leg and shoulders and neck and spine.
But he’s been tired all day….I can’t decide if he’s sore or just really relaxed. If he’s been wearing the harness all day he seems to just look tired, perks up again when I take it off. I wonder whether he thinks it’s his working harness and so is being a good quiet boy.
Emma agrees that I should keep his exercise to a minimum or at least not overdo it. She agrees with the wisdom given in the downloadable book–that dogs should have the same amount of energy when they finish exercising as when they start. She also suggests that I do a bit of swimming with the floaty on and some with it off, because it uses different muscles.
This morning he used it at the beach because there were some tiny waves, and we went in where there’s a bit of almost undertow. I always put the floaty on when he swims in the river, because it’s deep.
I went today and helped my audiologist move some furniture, from downstairs to upstairs. I left Gandalf downstairs but he was looking longingly at me, and I thought he might attempt the quite steep stairs. I carried him up the stairs and settled him in the beanbag, went back to work. Then I looked over and he was gone….and there he is, sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
I tried not to panic and berate myself for being a bad mom. I have no idea how he got down. I’m hoping the cape enabled him to float downstairs……
Gandalf’s grandma…his friend…
Here’s the boy today, getting pets from his favourite grandma.
Grandma's best dog in the world
That's my grandma in the picture...
DON’T LEAVE ME….
Gandalf seriously refuses to stay in the car when I take mom somewhere. Like the doctor. Like today. Becoming a tripawd has not changed this! 🙂
I usually go to mom’s to supervise lunch (she has to take pancreatic enzyme tablets with every meal after serious pancreatitis last year), and today when I got there she was in her chair, and I could see the leg wound that should have healed (the nurses who visit every day had said it was fine, sigh) was not. So off to the doctor. Gandalf was instructed to wait in the car…not gonna happen. So I found his Hearing dog lead and the label that says “hearing dog at work, please ask to pet” and clipped them on to the ruff wear harness that LUCKILY he was wearing.
Sensation boy. And then the (new) practice manager says, no dogs. I say, patiently, he’s a hearing dog. Sorry, she says, only guide dogs are allowed. He’s a service dog, and is allowed anywhere I go, I patiently explain. She went off and came back all smiley. No problem. Duh.
He sits at mom’s feet as if he owns her, and she absolutely loves it. Mom has short term memory loss, and things tend not to go in very well. When Gandalf was having all his operations, she’d say “what’s wrong with his leg, he’s limping!” every day. Now she kinda looks at him and says, “is he better off without his leg?” I usually explain it again, arthritis, Dr P tried very hard to fix, didn’t work, now not in pain. Luckily she knows the vet and loves him (as we all do), and so mention of his involvement makes it ok.
On the harness…I think it might be too big. I’m not sure it’s comfortable. It kinda rucks up and maybe digs in a little. I’ll see what the physio says on Friday.
The happy dance…
Yes well. Bad mom went and left Gandalf home alone (with the cats).
When I got home, we went for a ride in the car to see Pet shop Brook and Shane, two of Gandalf’s friends. They have a photo of Gandalf on the counter. It’s treats central at “Woofers”. Gandalf gets offered treats, and he chooses what he wants to take home. They offered him a metre long “thing” (best not to know). Which he loved. But we all decided it was a trip hazard so he got the 12 inch version. He carried it out. Into the car and back home. Not letting that one go…he first put his treasure in his bed for Ron (lateron), then headed out to the lawn.
Funny boy boopsy
Four weeks today.
I can hardly believe Gandalf is now 4 weeks post surgery.
He is amazing. He’s probably overdone it today, but I see him looking so much happier. He loves his food–never, never before has he so lovingly licked out his bowl. It was always as if he knew he SHOULD eat and so consumed what was put in front of him. I think it’s because we’ve stopped the previcox (anti inflammatories).
Pictures will be forthcoming…and a video if I can work out how to do it 🙂
thank you everyone for so much support.
Physio success….
Gandalf had physio yesterday morning and he’s a different boy! I think this morning was the first time I thought…”he’s gonna be ok”.
He went swimming in the river, took himself walking along the river bank a ways, and was generally a very happy boy.
As per the advice in that excellent book 3 legs and a spare…they should end up with the same amount of energy as they started with…we didn’t overdo it. Gandalf has started to understand me wanting him to wait by the buggy rather than going off looking for the car. But he hasn’t worked out that he should climb in himself–waits for me. Ok. But my back…
hope other tripawds and pawrents had a lovely day.