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welove2drive's avatar
welove2drive
Explorer
Feb 16, 2017

surgery recovery

Gracie, our 2 year old golden retriever, is having TPLO surgery next Thursday. I am concerned about her getting board and or depressed.

What did you give your dog for entertainment while he/she was laid up?
We have a couple of kongs to stuff.
She has rubber bones.
She likes her Kong bear but she gets it so slobbered up! It will need to dry out in between use.
I had to put away her favorite toys that roll so they don't get away from her requiring her to quickly go after them.
I don't give her the raw hide or bully sticks as I worry about little pieces. She tends to try to dismantle fabric toys. She is trying to take apart her new twisted rope toy as I type!
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Also, for those of you with Goldens, does their hair grow back really slow? It is funny that I trimmed sap from a tiny spot on her head when she was a little puppy and I can still tell where I trimmed.

I saw a tip on here the other day about making a support sling out of a fabric grocery sack. Great idea! I sewed one out of an old knee wrap and a towel. I may cup up a sack too.

Thanks for reading!
Marcia
  • doxiemom11's avatar
    doxiemom11
    Explorer II
    Mar 27, 2017
    When you take her outside, could you put a large kennel in the yard and sit out with her so she can enjoy watching things, the fresh air and sunshine. It would also be something different to help with boredom.
  • welove2drive's avatar
    welove2drive
    Explorer
    Mar 26, 2017
    Gracie had a good 4 week post-op checkup! It is healing fine. So keep doing the same thing for another 4 weeks. She has been doing fine in the house. No issues. She thinks she is healed. She would love to chase the birds, deer and her cat buddies.
  • dturm's avatar
    dturm
    Moderator
    Mar 06, 2017
    sher9570 wrote:
    ...I don't know what Dr. D would say but a slight tear in her other knee is concerning as she may very well overcompensate a bit and put too much strain on that other leg...
    Sher


    Agreed, very common situation. Also, the same pathology and underlying defects that caused the problem in the one knee often are present in the other. The increased strain on the "good" knee often leads to similar problems.
  • sher9570's avatar
    sher9570
    Explorer
    Mar 06, 2017
    welove2drive wrote:
    Gracie's surgery was today. She is doing fine. I pick her up tomorrow afternoon. She has orders for complete rest for 1 month, only up to go potty. Then if it is healing good she will be allowed to walk around in the house. If at 8 weeks it is healed then we can slowly increase her outside walk time. The bad news is the surgeon said she has a partial tear in her other knee. It is not going to be a fun time. I got out her bike cart to manually roll her up and down the 30' ramp to the yard. That way she does her walking in the yard. Maybe I'll just get her some wheels for the back end. :)

    Marcia

    I don't know what Dr. D would say but a slight tear in her other knee is concerning as she may very well overcompensate a bit and put too much strain on that other leg.
    This has happened to a dog here at our Park, an American Bulldog named Zoey, she will have more surgery when she gets back home...I can't say that she totally behaved herself and followed all the rules so that may be why.
    Wishing you good luck with your pup!
    Keep us updated...

    Sher
  • welove2drive's avatar
    welove2drive
    Explorer
    Feb 24, 2017
    Gracie's surgery was today. She is doing fine. I pick her up tomorrow afternoon. She has orders for complete rest for 1 month, only up to go potty. Then if it is healing good she will be allowed to walk around in the house. If at 8 weeks it is healed then we can slowly increase her outside walk time. The bad news is the surgeon said she has a partial tear in her other knee. It is not going to be a fun time. I got out her bike cart to manually roll her up and down the 30' ramp to the yard. That way she does her walking in the yard. Maybe I'll just get her some wheels for the back end. :)

    Marcia
  • welove2drive's avatar
    welove2drive
    Explorer
    Feb 17, 2017
    Thank you all for your replies and ideas. Luckily we are on one floor and we have a ramp to the back door. She has been on a leash and using the ramp for a couple of weeks. Items on furniture to keep her off. She is used to sleeping with us but has slept on her new bed a few nights. Yes, it looks like a carpet runner showroom around here! We have a pond with a sand swim area that she can use this summer.
    I do worry about getting her in the car. We may need to make a ramp.
  • sher9570's avatar
    sher9570
    Explorer
    Feb 16, 2017
    Our Lab Sofie, years ago had this surgery and it was difficult for her.
    She was a Lab that loved her frisbee and loved to swim which is excellent
    to rehab with vets approal.
    Back then they had such a long list of "don'ts"
    We had the sling
    no steps so we built a ramp.
    no running, no playing with Zachery.
    went outside on leash only. She refused to potty on leash, it was funny but she was really stubborn about that.
    Most restrictions were for 8 weeks...a lifetime to a dog that wants to play.
    It was all worth it in the end, patience is key and following all the rules is what gets you your dog back the way he was.
    By the next summer (1yr) she started playing frisbee again, soft tosses for weeks the increasing as we went along.
    What really helped to rebuild her muscles was swimming.
    Oh and one more thing...we had slippery floors so we went out and bought a whole bunch of rubber back throw rugs so she wouldn't slip and slide.
    Good luck!

    Sher
  • dturm's avatar
    dturm
    Moderator
    Feb 16, 2017
    Most breeds of dogs don't have hair that grows continuously (exception poodles, etc.). Regrowth tends to be patchy and can take a long time. Also, surgery and healing puts a big strain on body systems, hair growth tends to be a less important body function.

    I think the mental stimulation with the kong type toys should be enough to keep occupied, at least for the first few weeks. Dogs are usually pretty intuitive about taking care of themselves after a major procedure.
  • Go_Dogs's avatar
    Go_Dogs
    Explorer
    Feb 16, 2017
    We went thru 2 of these procedures with our English Mastiff. The vet provided a sling. She was on pain meds for the first surgery. The second one, she got a fentanyl patch as she was very hard to pill.
    She seemed content to be quiet, maybe it was the meds.
    I basically stayed home with her for the first month, to prevent her from walking by herself.
    Basically, it was outside to potty, then back to her bed. I fed her in bed. NO STEPS.
    It was a chore to get her in the car for vet visits.
    It takes months for the fur to grow back, they will be a scar-but her fur will cover it.
    I was surprised to see so many dogs with the same, 'haircut' and slings at the vets.
    Recent studies are linking early spay/neuter with these joint and ACL problems.
  • Campinghoss's avatar
    Campinghoss
    Explorer II
    Feb 16, 2017
    Our small dog, Lucie, had the fishing line repair on both rear legs within 364 days of each other. While she is smaller than your golden we had to restrict her activity completely. The TPLO surgery is more invasive so a sling may be the way to go. We had to completely eliminate stair climbing and for the first several days no walks only bathroom breaks.

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