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Angel4791 · 01-05-2007, 07:07 PM

We're in Canada so procedures are probably a bit different up here.

We dropped Finnigen off at the animal hospital at 8:00 this morning. Not our regular vet (we live in a smaller city about an hour away). This vet was amazing. He re-explained the procedure to us, reassured us, answered our questions. We walked out of there feeling good about the surgery just before 8:30.

We then went shopping. We bought him puppy stairs to get on and off our bed, although he won't be using them for awhile. Some soft dog food to get him back into eating. If he isn't eating it by morning, I'm going to make his favorite, rice with broiled chicken, carrots, celery, and a sprinkle of real Parmesan cheese. We also bought a playpen to confine him but allow him some space.

We picked him up just after 4 pm. He was groggy and a bit doped up. Yesterday our vet shaved a spot on his back and put on a pain patch then wrapped it. Today they shaved his leg and a bit of his chest, did the surgery, closed with dissolvable stitches and wrapped it in a bandage. He also has a few stitches higher up on his arm where they took some bone marrow to put in with the plate and six pins to help promote growth and healing. We have no E-collar, which I'm happy about as I'm sure Finnigen is, but it surprised me. I have to take him into the vet in 3 weeks for his annual shots and at that time my vet will remove his bandage.

Our vet said he can use his leg for limited exercise as soon as he's ready (usually within a couple days), after reading here I was worried so I asked why, and he told us blood flow and limited movement promotes healing. He's not to jump or run but he can bear weight on it and limp around in the playpen. (Which is why we bought it, to give him a limited area, and to protect while healing). He normally sleeps with us, but until his bandages are off, we're going to keep him in the playpen and just put it in our room at night.

His pain patch we will take off in 4 days. The plate and six screws do not get removed, unless some type of problem develops, but that is rare. He said keeping it in helps reinforce the leg, and if they were to have to remove it, the holes in the bone left by the screws would actually weaken the bone.

I was very terrified going into this, but after meeting the vet, and seeing how much better he looks now I feel so much better. When we picked him up, he showed us the after x-ray. You could see the tiny plate and screws and how it was huge improvement over the first x-rays.

He's sleeping now, and we're going to keep it pretty quiet around here tomorrow so he can rest (we have 3 kids 10.5, 8, and 4.5).

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the well wishes and advice!

Goodnight,
Shar-Lee & Finnigen

01-05-2007, 07:07 PM	#5
Angel4791 Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 118	Thank you everyone! We're in Canada so procedures are probably a bit different up here. We dropped Finnigen off at the animal hospital at 8:00 this morning. Not our regular vet (we live in a smaller city about an hour away). This vet was amazing. He re-explained the procedure to us, reassured us, answered our questions. We walked out of there feeling good about the surgery just before 8:30. We then went shopping. We bought him puppy stairs to get on and off our bed, although he won't be using them for awhile. Some soft dog food to get him back into eating. If he isn't eating it by morning, I'm going to make his favorite, rice with broiled chicken, carrots, celery, and a sprinkle of real Parmesan cheese. We also bought a playpen to confine him but allow him some space. We picked him up just after 4 pm. He was groggy and a bit doped up. Yesterday our vet shaved a spot on his back and put on a pain patch then wrapped it. Today they shaved his leg and a bit of his chest, did the surgery, closed with dissolvable stitches and wrapped it in a bandage. He also has a few stitches higher up on his arm where they took some bone marrow to put in with the plate and six pins to help promote growth and healing. We have no E-collar, which I'm happy about as I'm sure Finnigen is, but it surprised me. I have to take him into the vet in 3 weeks for his annual shots and at that time my vet will remove his bandage. Our vet said he can use his leg for limited exercise as soon as he's ready (usually within a couple days), after reading here I was worried so I asked why, and he told us blood flow and limited movement promotes healing. He's not to jump or run but he can bear weight on it and limp around in the playpen. (Which is why we bought it, to give him a limited area, and to protect while healing). He normally sleeps with us, but until his bandages are off, we're going to keep him in the playpen and just put it in our room at night. His pain patch we will take off in 4 days. The plate and six screws do not get removed, unless some type of problem develops, but that is rare. He said keeping it in helps reinforce the leg, and if they were to have to remove it, the holes in the bone left by the screws would actually weaken the bone. I was very terrified going into this, but after meeting the vet, and seeing how much better he looks now I feel so much better. When we picked him up, he showed us the after x-ray. You could see the tiny plate and screws and how it was huge improvement over the first x-rays. He's sleeping now, and we're going to keep it pretty quiet around here tomorrow so he can rest (we have 3 kids 10.5, 8, and 4.5). Thanks everyone! I appreciate the well wishes and advice! Goodnight, Shar-Lee & Finnigen __________________ "Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant"