Day 6

.... and one of us needs a tranquilizer.

I don't know what it is, but he seems like he's weeks ahead of the last recovery. Maybe the absence of the cast? The extra fluids post-op? The lack of this being a novel experience?

Every day he is putting more and more weight on the leg, which is good. But every day he is more and more INSANE.

Yesterday, he came inside and grabbed a toy and started bouncing around, so I picked him up. He tried to push off my leg and yelped because, shockingly, trying to shove me into the next township so he can get the squeaky duck back in his mouth kind of hurt considering he's less than a week out from knee surgery. He would happily run around on however many legs he currently likes. This evening he was in is pen and when I brought his dinner over, and the dog had the audacity to try to raise himself onto two legs!

To give you a baseline, most vets are very please if a dog has started toe touching - and that is NOT limping along the leg, that is literally just starting to put its toes down for a few seconds at a time - two weeks post-op. Clover started toe touching the next day, and his now limping on that leg about 60-75% of the time. Limping, as they are comfortable with it, is a good thing, as it increases strength and circulation. But beyond a slow, light limp - bad.

Before you think this is great, Clover is doing so well, why is she so worried - let me explain.

Basically, Clover has a very slow-dissolving suture that I often refer to it as fishing wire strung around the outside of his knee to hold the upper leg and lower leg bones together to form an actual joint. This is what the CCL did before its vanishing act, except it strung under/through the joint (a technique that just doesn't work as well artificially and is rarely used anymore).The problem with too much activity to soon is that this suture can actually rupture or stretch. Obviously another rupture is bad news, but even a stretched out can lead to more knee instability that can, ultimately, make the surgery fail.

Clover, being not much of a chewer, is hard to entertain. Plus, even if he did, there's only so many more calories I can get in him without him gaining wait, which will only put more strain on the knee, also not a good thing.

I'm not anti-medication, per say, but I'm a big fan of keeping it pretty minimal, and using alternatives as possible and practical (my dog eats garlic instead of pouring a topical flea/tick pesticide down his back every month). But I am seriously thinking I might need some mild tranquilizer to get us through another week or two. Granted, the dog is on three medications that should be making him sleepy, so what else can you do? But having him wreck his knee won't do anyone any good.

Poor guy. I don't know who is more frustrated right now, my dog who whines all night because he doesn't want to be confined to a pen yet again, or me, who would really just like to get some sleep.

My camera seems to be broken again (it had a near death experience with Victoria Falls last April) so there are no recent pictures. So I present you with Vintage Clover, from his very first obedience trial EVER in 2001 (age 4). Clearly we had a good result - first place with a score of 196.4 out of 200. Fritz Clark of The Standard Image took the photo, if you're ever at dog shows in New England, he's a good guy and a very talented photographer.