I took Gracie back to the hospital this AM

[pea496]

Gracie, Conner said to get better real soon.

Gracie does look a lot better than she did when you posted her last pictures. I'm sure you will see more improvement each day.

Put some yogurt on your finger and see if she will lick it off. That's the only way Conner will eat it when he is feeling under the weather.

[Blackdove]

Big group hug for Gracie's mommie...Gracie is sooo sweet...

[nikkinack]

I fell so bad for gracie and knowing that Lily has to go through this in a few weeks it makes me nervous. You have no idea how much your posts have put me a easy and helped me I really appreciate it I now know what to expect. Gracie looks better in the new pictures, I will be praying for her and you.

[yoyo27]

Poor Gracie. I know you feel so helpless and would do anything for her. Just give her alot of love and see if you can make her comfortable. Keep your head up and be strong. We are here if you just need to talk. She looks pretty good in those pictures. The sweetie just wants us to see she is one tough cookie.

[yorkiecrazy]

Aww poor little thing..... I feel so sorry for her.....Please give here a big hug for me. When I couldn't get Katie to eat after her surgery, the vet said to try baby food... It worked. I just put a little on my finger at first, then she started eating it on her own. You may want to give it a try. I hope she feels better soon.

[Gracie2006]

Originally Posted by nikkinack

I fell so bad for gracie and knowing that Lily has to go through this in a few weeks it makes me nervous. You have no idea how much your posts have put me a easy and helped me I really appreciate it I now know what to expect. Gracie looks better in the new pictures, I will be praying for her and you.

I'm glad my posts have helped. I hope Lily has an easier time of it than Gracie has had. I am here for you if you have questions or need to talk.

[Connie]

Poor little Gracie. Maddie, Libby and I send kisses and get well wishes. The metronidazole should help with her diarrhea. The rimadyl...I don't mean to scare you, but I know a dog that nearly died of kidney failure being on it for too long. How long has Gracie been on it? When my daughter's dog, Kirby, was ill with a ruptured disc and terrible pain, our vet gave him tramedol because that one is much easier tolerated than the rimadyl and can be taken longer term. Maybe if Gracie was on just the tramedol, it would help as much as the both? It probably wouldn't hurt to talk to your vet about that. I don't want poor little Gracie to have any more problems. She's such a little doll. I'll be praying for her recovery...and for you to get through it too! *HUG*

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by Gracie2006

I took Gracie back to the hospital this morning. She had diarrhea, huge, and stepped in it and got it on the foot part of her cast and on the part of her cast by her groin. I cleaned it up the best I could but her bandages are wet in those areas which is a no-no. I am also concerned about her lack of appetite and repeated bouts of diarrhea, every three days or so. She has not had anormal BM since she came home. She is at the vet getting checked out. I will post an update when I have one. I hope they can do something to get her poor little system to normalize a bit, maybe change her meds or something.

Oh your poor thing. I totally know what you are going through. I knew this was going to be hard but I didn't want to scare you. The healing process is so rough. Another hard thing to do is to keep her down once she starts feeling better and wants to run and try to do to much. that's when You have to put her in a playpen. samie just would not stop running thorugh the house at times. It was heartbreaking to do that but we had spent so much money on her surgery i didn't want to take the risk of her having to go back and have problems. She didn't do that for about 5 wks though, maybe longer. the first 2 wks was really tough. but after that it got better. much better.
The vet specialist said that for us that he could not stress to us enough how important it was to keep her down for 6 -8 full weeks. He said that once scar tissue formed around the areas they inserted artificial ligaments (fishing line sort of) that - that was what was going to heal properly. but he said the hardest part was keeping them down still when they start feeling better.

But Samie also would not eat either. and that worried me too. the first 2 days i was ok with it but then i didn't want to see her go any longer. I went out and got baby food and tried everything finally the only thing that worked was boiled chicken breast and some days i added a little white rice.

i boiled one breast and then kept it in the fridge. I warmed it for her each day. one breast lasted about 3 days. i had to hand feed her and once she didn't want anymore and turned her head that's when i knew she had enough.

And she LOVED it! I was so happy to finally see her eat. I didn't want to overdo it at first bc yes of the diarrhea.. but after the first day she was fine. each day i gave her more and more chicken. the metrodiazale will get to work fast and hopefully clear the diarrhea up soon. If you get her to eat boiled chicken and with the metrodiazale in her system she should be better in just a day or two.

I think she has the diarrhea bc of nothing in her stomach but only the meds. Did they give you anti imflammatory too along with the pain meds.

Can you imagine no pain meds for them when they go thorugh this. we almost lost my samie bc she was in so much pain. they sent us home w/o her pain meds. my husband ended up going to the surgery center at 1 am. she panted and panted to the point where she was so loud, her eyes buldging and then it got very scary. she was blue and could barely breathe. we rushed her to the emerg room that night and she stayed there over night. they kept her on oxygen and gave her pain med injections. it was then that i had to have our vet show me how to give injections of pain meds for her bc the pill wasn't working for her. I hated to do it but I had to bc i knew it would make her feel better.

ok- enough of that sadness...it was definitely rough on all of us.

I am just catching up to this thread. I knew the surgery day was coming soon. Awh, and the pics you posted i could totally feel her pain and yours too. so heartbreaking to see our babies in this condition. it's a tough road but you wait and see how well she does with her new legs once she is completely healed. we call samie's leg her bionic leg. she does so much better now. Amazing difference.

I pray that with each day Gracie is feeling better. and i am thinking of you too. You are such a good mama to Gracie. hugs to you both.

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by Gracie2006

The vet did not question the Rimadyl. Should I discontinue it and just keep her on the Tramadol?

tramadol didn't work for samie. i had to give her I want to say they injections. and i can't remember what it was- it was strong stuff though,. the tramadol did not help her at all. the vet had to show me how to give the injections. if you think she is still in a lot of pain tell the vet she needs something stronger. then maybe once she isn't in so much pain maybe she will have a litte more of an appetite too.

[diggy4]

poor baby. She is very much in my family thoughts!

[Gracie2006]

Thank you all for your support, it means so much! Gracie played with me a little bit last night before bed. We played with her hide-a-squirrel, just on the couch. She licked a bit of yogurt off my finger, but very little. She slept well last night. This morning I hand fed her some bites of chicken. She was not all that interested but I did get a few tablespoons down her. She is sleeping off her pain meds right now. I was happy to see a bit of my Gracie back last night. I'll post more later if there are any changes. Thanks again everyone. And sadiesamie, I appreciate your not wanting to scare me.

[ARCHIE]

Originally Posted by Gracie2006

Thank you all for your support, it means so much! Gracie played with me a little bit last night before bed. We played with her hide-a-squirrel, just on the couch. She licked a bit of yogurt off my finger, but very little. She slept well last night. This morning I hand fed her some bites of chicken. She was not all that interested but I did get a few tablespoons down her. She is sleeping off her pain meds right now. I was happy to see a bit of my Gracie back last night. I'll post more later if there are any changes. Thanks again everyone. And sadiesamie, I appreciate your not wanting to scare me.

I am so happy to see good news about Gracie this morning.
Every little bit counts. That's wonderful she had a good night's sleep
and you too I hope.
Prayer's still coming for Gracie. Keep up the good work little girl.

[GinosMommy]

glad to hear shes coming along better!

[nikkinack]

I am happy she is doing better today, I thought about her a lot last night and am relieved to hear she is getting somewhat back to normal.

[saphire]

Your sweet little girl has really touched my heart. I just want to love her better.
You are such a good mommy, keep it up and take care of YOU too.
Thinking of both of you.

Sheilagh