swee' pea's recovery

13 years ago

pea had her acl surgery last friday. when the vet got in there, he discovered the ligament was 90% torn. x-rays showed a bit of arthritis in her knee, no big surprise there since she is a 7 year old great dane.

her recovery has been nothing short of remarkable!! saturday was a rough day but by sunday, she was beginning to navigate pretty well considering her entire leg from thigh to toe is in a bulky fiberglass cast.

she is still taking pain meds but i removed the fentanyl patch yesterday as it had run its course. she is now able to get up and down on her own without my help.

i've had to use a lot of cookies and a lot of coaxing to get her outside to do her business. yesterday afternoon, i decided to leave her to her own devices and see what she would do if her brother, bentley, and i went out to feed the piggies and left her behind. i propped the back door open. about 25 minutes later when i turned to walk back to the house, pea was down at the end of the ramp. she had gotten up, out of the house and down the ramp all on her own! she finally pooped and then wandered around for a bit till she found the perfect spot to pee.

all in all, she has been a real trooper and hasn't missed a beat! she's eating well and last night even grabbed a stuffy out of their toy box and did a play bow.

she has the staples removed in a couple of weeks and the cast will be reapplied. she'll wear it for another 4 weeks or so and then she will slowly begin normal activity.

i am doing a big **happy dance**!!!!!

she can still do the "dane sit"! LOL

This post was edited by ninapearl on Tue, Apr 16, 13 at 8:07

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Comments (7)

trancegemini_wa
13 years ago
Hi nina, I posted this on the other thread so thought I'd post it here too. She is doing fabulous to be getting up and around so quick, I love the pink cast too, so cute

repost: Your vet really is going the extra mile by putting a cast on. I'll bet she was happy to be home again (and Bentley would have been happy too by the sounds of it), I think once our fur babies are back in their own environment they do so much better. I hope she is resting up and being a good girl for you. She'll probably be sore for a while and I think that really slows them down some which is exactly what they need. Good luck with your recovery sweetpea!
jomuir
13 years ago
She's doing great after her surgery! Assuming her prognosis is good according to the vet?
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pamghatten
13 years ago
What a trooper she is! Hope she has a really fast recovery.
oregpsnow
13 years ago
Love and best wishes to you and Pea. Glad to hear she is doing so well. Good thing - she is too big to carry around in your purse!!! :)
murraysmom Zone 6a OH
13 years ago
Wow, she is doing great after going through so much!! She looks great! I hope she continues to heal without a hitch! I know you are glad to have her home again.
Ninapearl
Original Author
13 years ago
thanks so much, everybody!!

trancegemini, pea's vet is just one in a million! this is our first experience with him. he is an ortho specialist referred by my regular vet. he has amazing compassion and fell in love with pea. when i went to pick her up saturday, he was back in the kennel lovin' on her. he said that since she was such a big girl, the cast would provide a lot of extra stability during the healing process. i am much more confident leaving her alone and going to work for a few hours a day with the cast on. in fact, dr. o'brian told me she would be fine if i just confined her to my bedroom rather than in a crate which was great news for me! i have been watching the dogs on my pet cam and they just sleep the day away. :)

i picked up this sling at the vet's office when i brought pea home. we used it quite a bit the first couple of days but it's seldom needed now...

her prognosis is excellent. if we follow the rules (no running/playing/jumping, etc.) for the duration, he expects her to make a complete recovery. the arthritis in her knee may cause a slight limp if she overdoes it but i'll be watching her very closely!!

i have to say, when i picked her up saturday, she was a pitiful sight! laying in the kennel, trembling, droopy eyed...she looked like she would need intensive care for weeks but she bounced right back when we got home! it was so cute...when we got her out of the van, bentley could hardly contain himself. he ran circles around her and they kissed a hundred times. it was SO adorable!!

thanks for all the well wishes, i will keep you updated. :)
susanjn
13 years ago
So glad to hear she's doing well. The pink cast is downright stylish.