Quote:
Originally Posted by kate07 
It's really hard!! Especially when they are a puppy. My girl is in her 3rd week of recovering from a right rear tibia/fibula fracture. She's only 15 weeks old too, so she's very much a playful active puppy. She also had surgery done by an Ortho Specialist. She also doesn't have a cast - just an IM pin and external fixtures with pins.
I first had her confined to a baby playpen, but it was so small. I felt bad, because she seemed so depressed and confined, so I moved her to her Super Puppy X-Pen. She runs around like crazy with her toys and jumps around at times, but I watch her carefully and try to put a stop to it after a few minutes. It's not that big, but large enough for a wee-pad, her bed and food. I don't think a little bit of exercise in a confined small, very safe area, with nothing to jump on or up to is that bad or can really hurt her (at least I hope not!). I do feel like sometimes maybe I'm not being strict enough or that I'm letting her move around too much, but there's really nothing I can do unless I crate her for hours on hours. And then you risk them not being active and possibly becoming constipated from not moving around a bit. There really is nothing you can do unless you confine them to a very very small area like a crate or baby playpen. My girl jumps up on her soft bed (about 2 inches off the ground at most), and runs around and plays with her toys in the Xpen. I let her out on my lap on the ground, but she goes nuts and runs all over my chest and up to my face and tries jumping off me, so her being out of her X-Pen doesn't last too long. I let her out for a little attention and that's all. As long as you make sure they aren't jumping up or down off anything and aren't running or slipping on the floors and are confined to a relatively small area I think the recovery should go fine. I thought about taking her toys away from her in the Super X Pen,so she wouldn't be chewing and jumping all over them, but I kind of like having the toys out, since she plays a bit and then gets really tired and knocks herself out for a few hours.
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Sounds like we have about the same set up. I keep him in a crate at night and a puppy pen (go-go pen) during the day. Before his accident I would extend the pen out so that his crate could fit inside it and that's where he would stay during the day, while I was at work or whenever no one was home. His sister, Coco, has the same set up. Now, I keep his crate in my bedroom at night and the puppy pen in the family room; I've configured the pen to a smaller size so it has just enough room for his bed, some toys, & a food bowl. He was totally out of control the day before yesterday and both my husband and I were pulling our hair out trying to keep him from jumping in his pen. He wouldn't sit still on our laps and was just so, so restless and he wanted to go out and run with Coco so badly... the weather has been beautiful here the past few days and the animals are loving it. What did the Ortho tell you about your little girls recovery time? Sounds like your babies injury was a bit more severe than mine, however my doc is still going to sedate Riley in two weeks, take another series of x-rays to make sure the leg has healed and then he will make two very tiny incisions and remove the pins from his leg. What will your doc. do when your little one is healed?
