Over the Rainbow Bridge

I am sad to report an end to this blog. Casey passed on recently on August 6th of 2009. He was battling Lymphoma cancer in his intestine. We found out in May that Casey had a tumor in his intestine. We were devastated. After all we had been through with Casey and him being just 9 years old I couldn't fathom that we were losing him. Not now...not ever:*( We of course took him to the best on the East coast to find out what the diagnosis was, the treatment, and the length of time he had left. We went to Tufts in north Grafton, MA. We were greeted by some wonderful people and a fantastic oncologist. But the truth was hard to accept. Cancer was going to take Casey from us. We were told that chemo and/or radiation doesn't effect cancer in the intestines very well. We were told Casey had 2 1/2 months to live. Knowing he already had colitis and IBD in his intestines we knew that chemo would definitely make him a sickly cancer patient. We couldn't allow him to end his life a sickly hospitalized dog. We chose to put him on prednisone and ride out his remaining time. It seemed the prednisone was a miracle at first. Casey improved, gained weight and more importantly stopped vomiting and was eating! We had our boy back although be it for a few short weeks, we wouldn't change those weeks for anything in the world! Losing Casey was one of the hardest things I had ever experienced in my life! I had been through loss of loved ones and loss of a pet before. It is always hard. This time seemed harder as not only were my husband and I losing Casey, but our two little girls were also losing their beloved dog! Casey was their big brother! Our oldest was 7 and the youngest at 4 when he passed. We prepped the girls very well with books and conversations and they seemed to understand at their level the best they could! We were told eventually that Casey's body would become immune to the prednisone. 5 Weeks from the start of it this came true. He lost so much muscle. He was panting and exhausted. The cancer was winning. Finally it was time to let him go:( Calling the vet for the appointment to euthanize Casey was the worst phone call I have ever had to make. I am crying now as I type remembering that morning. They gave us the last appointment of the day so we could have privacy with him and as much time as we needed. My brother came and we made Casey's day as special as possible! We took some fabulous family photos on our lawn! Casey ate some steak off the grill! And we just spent all the time we could patting and loving him.

We said goodbye to Casey later that evening and we pray he is healthy and comfortable in heaven! RIP sweet boy! We love and miss you terribly!

Love Mumma, Daddy, Emmy and Brooke

Good News

Rainy Day in MA, but....Freedom!

Hi everyone,
Well as many of you know back in October after a romp at the doggy park Casey came up limping. At first it was difficult to see which leg it was. After going through ACL surgery you tend to always look at that surgical leg, but we soon realized it was the left. We took him immediatley to the orthopedic vet whom at that time sedated, manipulated the knee and x-rayed and found nothing. Sent us home for 3 weeks thinking it was a muscle pull or soft tissue injury. After 3 weeks we saw no change and were sadly disapointed thinking it must be the ACL. My gut said it was and I saw the same type of behaviors and limp as round one with the right knee. Well we went back and the ortho said the joint was stable, but felt effusion. He told us it was a partial tear and the plan was to wait until March to schedule surgery as we live in MA and the winters are long and hard! Well with CM and walking we waited. After January I noticed the limp was gone. Weeks continued to pass and come March I just couldn't call to schedule his second would be tplo. With no limp I figured something got better! So we went today to confirm if the knee was still stable. The ortho manipulated the knee and found it is stable and no swelling or nothing. Just like nothing ever happened! We are overjoyed. The truth is he may still have a pull or a tear, but he may never need surgery or maybe in the future. In the mean time he can resume his activities although we are going to not going to resume high risk activities! Ball and walks it is!

Other good news is that Casey has continued to lose weight! He is 94 lbs now! This guy 3 months ago was 105! Ortho and we are exstatic about that. A loss of 10% body weight is a huge help for those knees! So we dodged the surgery bullet! Hopefully forever, but at least for now! Finally Casey can be a dog again! After his tplo last year he was cleared for one and a half months before he came up limping. Poor boy has had nothing but confinement for this year....now that is over! Yeah!

I am glad this blog has helped others. I appreciate your comments that many of you leave! I do this for myself, but if it helps others as well then that is just even better!

Wishing all the pups on Orthodogs a speedy and healthy recovery. If not for that group it would have been a tough year. They have taught me so much! Thank you guys!

Signing off for now...Melissa & Casey!

And So We Wait...

Well we are longingly waiting for winter to end. The plan was to schedule Casey for TPLO agin this March of 2008 after our winter had subsided. Well during this time we are being careful with Casey, no ball or rough play, but still walking him daily to protect the muscles from atrophy. Well somewhere in January the limping stopped! He has not limped since! I was suppose to call for to schedule his surgery on Feb 1st, but I can't seem to bring myself to schedule it since he is doing fantastic. You would never think he had anything wrong! I am thrilled. Maybe the CM (Conservative Management) is working for him? My husband and I did decide to schedule another ortho consult in March and then if the knee is still showing a postiive drawer sign and effusion then we will schedule with that in mind. So we wait! In the mean time it hasn't been too agonizing for me as the weather has been so intollerable that he isn't missing out on much outside time anyway, but he is miserable! Still getting into things if we don't gate him in our living room. Not sure what that is about except boredom, but not much I can do with mother nature!

So when we learn more I will post again. Thanks to all whom read this and I hope you all find it informative and helpful!

Tear Confirmed...

Well depending on how you look at this we are and are not lucky. Lucky to have a diagnosis, but not lucky in that Casey has to have another surgery for a tear in his CCL on the left leg. I guess we knew it was a matter of time anyway.
So after a months of rest nothing changed and my guy was still limping. In fact he got so bored with the confinement he began to behave really badly and we have had to gate him in one room when we are not home to control his acting out. Since he has IBD we need to keep him out of stuff that he may eat that will aggravate this condition. When I reported in to the ortho on the no change in the limp after 2 weeks rest he again suspected a tear that may not be detectable through radio graphs and the drawer sign. He has seen these cases, but said for the behavior issues to let up on the restrictions and in which we may also see maybe the knee tear more and get confirmation of the tear at a later visit. So this pretty much happened. The increase of movement increased the limp, but he was happier! What a trade off huh!
We went back today and without sedation (thankfully) the ortho felt effusion in the knee and diagnosed a partial tear. We decided for now since we are in the dead of a horrible winter that we will wait until early Spring to do surgery. In the mean time we will make him comfortable and try to be careful with him, but also let him be a dog as well. so let up on the confinement a bit, but no running or anything crazy, but stairs to go to bed and leash walks are okay.
I was relieved to have a diagnosis since the not knowing was mind boggling and so scary. On orthodogs.com there are so many cases where the not knowing has become something awful and this really is so fixable and he is healthy!
Good new was Casey lost 4 lbs in 4 weeks! So he is at a good weight of 99lbs and we will try to maintain this. Let's hope the knee hangs on with a partial tear until Fall and not become a full tear before then which would require more immediate surgery. Casey is on some great supplements and we now use a ramp for the car and we just are so much more educated this time that I think he will be fine in the interim.
I will be sure to update soon and of course will do so regularly during his next recovery too.

Happy Holidays to you all.

Melissa & Casey :)

YIPPEEE!

Good news came to us today! One day before Thanksgiving and we surely have something to be thankful for. Casey does not have a torn ligament in his left knee! We were thrilled to hear this not only does he not need surgery right now, but financially this is great news as we head into the holidays!

We saw our orthopedic vet and he was not able to manipulate Casey's knee in the office due to my big lugs high anxiety and he was stressed! Of course too there was no limping going on, but that was consistent with him from the last tear on the right leg. I remember each visit he never limped and finally I have to video tape him so they could see the limp before he was officially diagnosed! Clever and stoic he can be! My big devil! So since he was not cooperating and was stiff they decided to x-ray and manipulate the leg. The great thing was the ortho had an x-ray from about 6 months ago of both knees that he took and thus gave him something to compare to once he took the new pictures. So after sedation and manipulations our orthopedic said there was no tear. He searched high and low and couldn't find anything. Also aspirated a fatty tumor on his leg just to rule that out and that was fine as well!

Soooo, what is causing the limp??? Well the ortho thinks it must be a muscle issue. He said to rest him for one month and by then he should be back to normal. So he is attached to the leash for potty breaks, and he can walk 10-15 mins a day and he is free to use stairs. This is a cake walk compared to TPLO recovery! So that is our plan and I only pray that is will go away during this recovery and that he will be better!

We have no idea how this happened other than to say it must have been while playing with his buddies at the doggy park. We aren't sure though.

Another issue we learned of while at this office visit was that Casey's weight was up a bit. How on Earth is this happening? He is on 2 cups of kibble a day, a few pieces of boiled chicken the size of quarters, and also some canned pumpkin for added fiber for his IBD. We switched his treats to an eighth of the size he was getting and also now they are the lite formula. I am stumped, but must say I could almost care less as the IBD is under control so a bit of weight means nothing in the grand scheme of things. He was up 1.2 ounces! We joked that the larger plate he has with the 8 screws must count for some of that right? The orthopedic says he carries his weight extremely well and he says he is fine. If we chose to have him lose he said only 5 lbs were needed. We were thrilled with this.

Another great thing that resulted from today is that while Casey was out the orthopedic decided for his own curiosity to x-ray his tplo leg again just to look in on it since we are 8 months out. He said he did this for himself and he did not charge us for this picture. The great news is he said "It is beautiful!" Everything is stable, in place and his muscle looks great! He has never once limped on this leg since he has been recovered. We couldn't be happier with the results of that surgery!

So we are nursing our boy back to health again! He doesn't do well from sedation and cries a lot and gets so out of it. He has been pretty good today but I am excited to see his happy go lucky self tomorrow morning when the sedation is truly gone!

I will post again at the close of our months recovery for you all to learn more! Keep your paws crossed!

Melissa & Casey :)

Not again :(

Could it be happening again? Not another knee injury! It is like we are reliving the last 2 years. Casey began limping and of course we obsess now over his right leg since his TPLO surgery, so we immediately assumed it was his right leg. After resting the limp stopped. Once we returned to his "regular activity" the limp returned. Then I began to really observe the limp and discovered this weekend that I actually think it is the left leg! OH NO! You know how they say go with your gut? Well I am and I am all too familiar with this limp and the inconsistencies with it coming and going. My guess right now is that he has a partial tear. No idea how partial it is. So of course here we are on a holiday weekend and the chances of reaching our respected ortho are slim. I am hoping for tomorrow on Monday, but I bet the call will actually happen on Tuesday. Hoping to get him seen in a week or two.

In the mean time we have restricted his activity some what but we are still walking him a bit, but really cut back until I can get him seen. I don't want to completely eliminate his walks and have that muscle begin to get atrophy. I am hoping the knowledge of the past will be and added bonus whether it is another tear or not.

So here we sit and wait. I am unable to prescribe nsaids for pain as he has had a bad reaction in the past to them and having the IBD it may cause issues with that. I was told by the ortho before not to give them unless advised to. Plus our ortho doesn't know about the recent diagnosis of IBD.

I will be sure to update our blog. In the meantime please keep Casey in your thoughts and check back in on our big beloved boy!

Update-October 27, 2007

It has been two months now and this blog originally began as our adventure through TPLO recovery and now has become a blog about Casey the dog as a whole! So to update all our readers...Casey is doing excellent! His colitis is under control for the first time in 7 years! We changed his food over to California Natural which is a hypoallergenic dry food. He is on the lite formula to reduce some weight on him that he accrued prior to and post surgical. He enjoys the food and we have added some home cooked boiled chicken and then switch between canned pumpkin and unsweetened applesauce. He is on supplements as well.

Casey has returned to an active life of two walks a day and recently he has begun play time and socialization at the dog park as well. This he really seems to love! He is a social boy and loves to be with other people or dogs so the dog park is a fun time for our boy!

I will upload some recent photos soon too. I have some great Fall ones amongst the leaves!

Wishing everyone our best and healing to all those post op!

Diagnosis!!!

Got a call from the vet today and she got the results from his last apt saying he tested positive for Colitis. I was relieved to have a diagnosis and also to hear it wasn't anything more serious.
Colitis in dogs (I am sure is the same as in people) is the irritation to the large intestine. Casey will have to be on an antibiotic probably for life, but later on a maintenance dose and also have a diet change where he will have high fiber. I go tomorrow to get the prescription and talk more about what our response to all this will be. My poor boy has been suffering for so long. I am so happy in hopes we will get this taken care of. 7 years and finally a diagnosis!!!

Update-August 19, 2007

Casey is doing fabulous. He was still limping up until about a month ago and I had put in a call to the orthopedic and I was told he was on vacation and would be back in two weeks. Well before the two weeks were up, Casey's limp disappeared! So he has been cleared by us to play and be a "dog"!
Today he played with some other dogs in our neighborhood for the first time off leash and since the surgery 5 months ago! He was so happy and we also were thrilled to see him be free.
We are still walking him 2 times a day and playing outside ball when we can. During the recovery we were able to really work on cleaning up any "loose ended" behaviors. By this I mean that prior to surgery Casey was a great dog and behaved well, but I think he thought he was a bit of a leader in the house! We were able to clear up his role and place in the house and work on his leash walking a bit better with my girls in the jogging stroller. I also have adopted some of Caesar Milan's tactics he uses for discipline and it really seems to be effective for Casey.

Our biggest issue now has always been a silent issue for our boy. Casey seems to have and always had some sort of tummy issue. I have told his primary vet this numerous times and I have been reassured and told that it is nothing serious and since he is not losing weight that he is fine. 1 week post-op Casey had some major tummy issues and we assumed it was due to the nsaid he was on. Looking back it very well could have been the nsaid or maybe been his tummy issue. So tomorrow Casey will go to a vet to have this issue discussed in depth and see what our next step is to try to help him feel better. My husband and I are not happy with our current vet and we want to switch to the vet at the location he had his surgery. Typically they do not take clients that are referred as this is a bit "taboo" to do to a fellow colleague. Regardless we decided we are leaving the current vet. I called the "new" vet and she agreed to see Casey for his tummy issue and any further treatments we could discuss in office. So tomorrow I will learn more about this as well.
When I first called this vets office they immediately said it sounds like IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease) Or IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Not once has this ever been mentioned before. So I went to the computer and began some online research and I must say his symptoms really sound like one of these conditions. Both are hard to diagnose so we will see what they suggest to us tomorrow.

Thanks all for reading and staying caught up on our big boy! I also have to thank all the support and help from the wonderful members at Orthodogs.com! What a great group of people! I have learned so much from them!

Week 16

Casey is doing fantastic. He is not limping any more. Rarely if we worked him hard he may get up and need to stretch the muscles. He is pretty much free to do anything he wants at this point. We have thrown his ball with him a few times and he has been fine. So happy too!

He is still eating the Canidae with a mix of can foods with it. He seems to enjoy it. He also is still on Cosequin DS which I think seems to be helping.

I think at this point we really want to resume our normal activity with him, but we are worried to not have his other leg tear and go through this again. I feel as though in some ways the tplo surgery really aged him. I will say though a few nights ago he was wound like a top! We had a heat wave of 90+ degrees for 3 days and high humidity and it was just too hot for him to walk so he had all this pent up energy. He was playing like a puppy and into the trash in my bathroom when we weren't home and mischievous things. It was a nuisance, but nice to see he was feeling well.

Not sure when he goes back to the surgeon or if he even does. I will update again soon.

Slobbers and tail wags to all~ Melissa & Casey

(photo is from 3 years ago. He just looked so cute running with his Buddy ball. I need to take more and will post them soon.)

Week 14

Hello everyone. Been a crazy summer already! Had a lot of family visit! We had a blast! School ended, kids in camp, potty training my little one and a recital this weekend. With so much going on I haven't had time to report in!

Casey is a such a great boy. He is so "go with the flow" lately. He was great with all the family visiting and him not getting his 100% attention as usual! We are trying now to get back into our routine. Tough to walk him as much as he needs. We are doing our best. He is free outside and has been running here and there and doing fine. Occasionally will limp at nights end, but nothing serious and I know it is just from use during the day.

For the first time I am not sure where we go from here. Our surgeon said to increase the walks over the 3 months. That was at the 9 week apt. Not sure if we go back after that or what. I would love to get the all clear to play fetch with his ball again. Who am I kidding...Casey would LOVE this.

Haven't been able to keep up with the orthodogs group much either lately. So to all of you, your pups are in my thoughts and I am checking their blogs!

Take care,

Melissa & Casey

Week 12

Casey at age 3 with my daughter Emily when she was 2!

He is happily chewing his rhino Kong!

Wow, where does the time go? Casey is doing great still and we can't be happier! He still has a bit of a limp, but we are assured it will dissipate as he continues to build his muscle. I wish we could walk him more often or longer, but with my husband working full time and me home with two children it is tough. We currently are managing two walks a day. Kids are at times reluctant to sit in the jogger stroller for such a long walk, but I make them! Casey is always willing to go!

We had an "oops" moment as they say on the orthodogs yahoo group! I must say it is far more less an oops moment once the bone is healed though. I am far less worried! Anyway, I was mowing the lawn and opened the back gate to our fenced in yard to dispose of the grass clippings and Casey ran out the gate. I didn't realize he was outside with me. Well he had a field day running all over the neighborhood. I finally found him 2 houses over and he finally sat to get on his leash and collar for my husband. We were worried he over did it, but he was fine in that respect thankfully! I must admit it was nice to see him run!!!

Well he must have gotten into something (God knows what?) and he was sick for days:(
He has such a sensitive tummy anyway. He was throwing up later that night and was in and out several times too with diarrhea. Then again the next night too. We cut his food to just the grain and went easy on the water too. Thankfully on day 3 he was better. Oh and boy was his gassy belly killing us! PU!

I am happy he is better now and back to his regular food and meals. I felt good that he was getting what ever it was out! If not I would have had him to the vet immediately. Always something with this guy!

Thanks for checking in on us and I will post again next week! Bye for now!

Week 10

Not much new here to post...thankfully! I guess that means things are going well! Casey is healing great and we are walking as much as we can with him. He loves his time with us and gets so excited when I mention to the kids that we are taking Casey for his walk. I can't even say "stroller" any more as he knows that equals a walk! So funny and smart!

I just finished reading Marley by John Grogan. If you have never read this and are a dog lover, you must get your hands on a copy! What a cute story and man I could relate to so much of it. Especially in Casey's early days when he was a terror! Close to what Marley did, but not for a long in years! Anyway check it out online if you are interested: http://www.marleyandme.com/

The author also has a children's book too called Marley and Me. I need to get a copy for my girls!
I was a wreck at the end of this book. It is easy reading and I read it in two sittings. Just a great story.

Well I will post again next week. Keep checking in!

9 Weeks and 4 days

So Casey is loving his new freedoms. Loves to be out alone without a lead on him and loves being able to be on our bed at night! I was thrilled to remove the gates again! Kids were happy too! He is doing so well. He is a funny character. Such a GREAT dog! So mellow and go with the flow and loves us nearly as much as we all adore and love him. I am not sure whom is luckier...him or us!

Everything is going well now. We are walking him 2-3 times a day. I will try to post updates weekly or bi-weekly. Keep checking back!

9 Week X-Rays -100% bone healed!!!!

Yippee, yeah, we are so excited! Casey's bone is 100% healed from his TPLO! He now can use stairs at his discretion, jump up into the car, go onto the beds, and be off leash. Wow, he will be so thrilled not to have me in tow for his potty breaks! We are so happy. He has done amazingly well throughout this process. He is still coming off his sedation from the xrays and feeling quite hung over! You can see from the photo!

So from here we take the next 3 months to work on building his leg muscle more to rid him of the dreaded limp. It is not fairly noticeable, but at night when he is tired you see it more. So we will keep increasing either his durations of time on his walks, or the number of walks. Both are tough as it is a struggle with the two kids to get all the walks in on a day. Hoping with the summer it will get easier. After the 3 months he should be all clear to do what ever he wants! Including ball again! Still no frisbee though...sorry buddy:(

Thanks to all of you for your support and to those of you who are keeping updated through this blog!

Almost there!

8 weeks and 5 days Post-op

Casey continues to do really well. We have had quite a bit of rain lately so walks have been tough to get in. The kids and I did go a few times in the rain. I have a clear rain shield that covers my jogging stroller to keep the girls dry! They think it is cool! I on the other hand get wet and think it is not as cool! Casey is just happy to be out walking with his big grin!

He has been a bit more rambunctious lately. Really showing us he is feeling better. He still remains to be on no meds other than his supplement. He will show some extra limping at evenings end and I intend to ask his surgeon about this at our next visit. Maybe just him still needing to build his muscle?

On that note though, his leg looks fantastic. His muscle looks good! I think he is doing fantastic. At home he is still always on a leash to go outside, he can use the stairs when we are home, but otherwise has run of the house.

As for his eating we finally seem to have realized what he likes and does not. He likes Innova and Innova Evo canned. He does not like it cold. I got info from the Orthodogs support group I joined that cold food can cause tummy troubles and even vomiting. Great info for us as I think that could be a source of Casey's tummy sensitivity. So now I warm it and he LOVES it. I think he thinks it is a treat! So glad we figured that out. Yes, we have had him for 7 years now and he finally got his point across! Wish he could talk!

I left Casey this past weekend for the first time since his surgery. He was in great hands at home with my husband! I missed them all, but it was nice too! Man was he crazy excited when I got home!

So we go to the surgeon in two days. I have mixed emotions. So glad to go as we have a few questions and we always enjoy the surgeon seeing him and saying how well he is doing, but not so happy as Casey will have to stay for a bit to get sedated for his post-op x-rays. I am excited hoping the x-rays will show 100% healing of the bone, but I hate how the sedation flips Casey out. He sobs all day long and seems so out of it. It kills me to see him like that. So with that said I will post again after Wednesday and report the results of the x-rays! Wish us luck!

7 Weeks and 2 days post-op

Well Casey continues to do excellent! He is up to 24 minute walks 2-3 times a day. As his walks are getting longer it seems it is getting tougher for us to squeeze 3 in a day! Although I am a stay at home Mom, I find I am never home! Two kids with schedules, school, activities, and the kids just plain not wanting to go on ANOTHER walk has me really trying to fit is all in! We are managing!

Casey's hair is growing in nicely and he is loving the turn in the weather to the sunny days!

He was refusing his food. He is such a picky eater! I went out yesterday and bought several different types of canned food. He doesn't seem to care what the grain is, but more importantly what it is mixed with. So we will try these and rotate them. So far he has had Innova in the can and really liked it. Gobbled it right away. I mixed it with his Canidae. I liked the Innova as it was less solid than the Canidae canned. It mixed easier with the grain. So far so good.

He has x-rays in 12 more days...wow this recovery is going smoothly and quick! Both the kids and I are anxious to have him run again! I will add some recent photos later!

6 Weeks Post-Op

We saw Casey's orthopedic surgeon this morning. He was very pleased with Casey's recovery. He said the knee is nice and solid. It felt tight in the joint, and he has full range of motion! He said Casey is recovering faster than the 6 week mark.

Casey got the okay to get back on the couch! He is one happy dog! Finally no more covering it to keep him off and he wasn't sure what to think as I encouraged him on! He must have thought I was crazy after all the "NO's" to keep him off for the last 2 months!

We were told to continue the walks as often as we could and slowly continue to increase the times. We were also told that the stairs were okay to do with us with him controlled for therapy. He currently does them 2 times per day for bed at night and to come down in the morning. The orthopedic again stressed that walking is what will bring the muscle back and what is best. So we will continue to do this and Casey still has the freedom of the bottom floor of our house. Today I finally put his raised feeder with his bowls back in the kitchen instead of on the living room carpet!

We are making strides and we couldn't be more happy! I had a few questions for the surgeon. One being why does it seem that his knee points outward when he walks. He told us that it does that until the muscle returns fully and over time it will dissipate. And for the same reason is why Casey does not fully use the leg without a limp inside, but seemingly does outside. So we are working on regaining that muscle!

So we will return again in 3 more weeks which at that point Casey will stay for sedation for x-rays to confirm bone healing. Then we were told Phase 2 of recovery begins! I suspect that means less restrictions and a bit more freedom! Yippee!

Birthday Boy!!

So today my big boy turns 7! I can't believe he is an old man now. Seems like yesterday he was chewing things up and being a pest! Wow he has changed over the years! We are planning a little party for Casey tonight when his Dad (my husband) gets home. My 2 and 5 year old are making him birthday cards...so sweet!

As for Casey's leg, he is healing wonderfully! I am so happy with his progress. He has his 6 weeks check up on Wednesday with his orthopedic surgeon. I am sure he will be happy too with what he sees.

Casey is up to 16 minute walks now and he is loving it! We go 3 times a day. When he walks outside he has no visible limp. Inside he does a bit as he seems to baby the leg a bit. No idea why. This will be one of the things I mention on Wednesday.

He is feeling more playful now too and we are doing what we can to play safely with him. He is a funny boy!

I will post pictures later and post again on Wednesday after his apt!

5Weeks Post-op

Yippee! Casey is recovering very well. Nothing really to report which is great! He is up to 12 minute walks 3 times a day. He has gotten excellent walking on the leash now. He was good before, but a bit of a puller. Now he does great. His leg seems to be healing well. He has a bit more freedom of the bottom floor when I am home so that is helping to increase the muscle too. The more walking the better!

Weather seems to be improving too so Casey is happy spending time outside enjoying being a dog again!

He is feeling better and asking to play with us more and more. We are trying to play in a way that is safe and having him lay to play with us. He seems content with that.

Recently we switched his food to Canidae and he loves it. Lately he is refusing to eat it or will eat it an hour later, but wants his wet food back. So I went and got him some today! He ate it up. I am just giving him enough to mix it up. That is what he likes I guess. I got the Canidae in the can.

We go back to the orthopedic at 6 weeks just for a check in. I have some questions so I will ask them then.

I am very happy with Casey's progress and hope to continue to increase the increments of our walks to build his atrophy of the muscle back up. He is really missing his couch, and has sneaked up a few times. He seems fine, but I am trying to keep them covered at all times. Tough with two little kids!

The hair is coming in well now too! Yeah! Almost can't see where the epidural was, and the leg top coat seems to be coming in too. I will try to take more pictures!