Roo's after care

[Paula]

Starting this thread here as I don't want to keep warbling off topic about it in other threads. Here's some pics of my little Roo last night. Poor sweetheart. For those of you that don't know, she had LP surgery on both her back legs. It was quite extensive as she had to have both of her tibial crests cut and pinned, implants used etc.







I'll get some pics of her tonight when I come home with her. She was more alert then I expected her to be last night. Very scared and letting out little cries. When I closed her little crate she was trying so hardf to get up and walk over to me. So glad when I see her today I'll actually be taking her with me, yayayaya.

Quick question, some of you will know that before surgery one of her liver enzymes was elevated and then came down right before the surgery. I'm going to have that level checked again just to see what is up with it, if it's staying down etc, just to be sure. How soon do you think I should have her blood tested again? A month or so? I have a feeling the elevation was just a freak thing and not a constant as it was never elevated before, but just want to keep an eye on it.

Kristi - curious what meds they gave Oakley after her LP surgery? I do remember she was in quite a bit of pain at one point. Also, I know you went to an ortho hours away, did you ever go back to see her for aftercare or did you just go to your vet? How did that work? Or did they just give you instructions and you never had to go back? I knew when Roo had her groove deepened i went back to my vet quite a few times afterwards for re-checks.

[Kristi]

They gave her metacam and an antibiotic -- TBH I don't have a clue what the antibiotic was called But the metacam seemed to almost make her tweak out after the first week, which was odd b'c she handled it fine the first week.

For aftercare we made a trip up a month after the surgery to have her ortho check her knee to give her the "all clear" for scampering again:) Our regular vet didn't check her at all.

[Sarah]

Gosh she looks so scared poor baby

Get some arnica Paula it should help her heal quicker! Give her a kiss from me

[Lucy]

Aww poor Roo Atleast she'll be home soon. Kisses and hugs from all of us xxxx

I'm actually a bit surprised that the incision wounds aren't more extensive. I know next to nothing about LP surgery but for some reason I envisioned Roo with bandages etc.

How long until she can walk about properly?

[Paula]

Mar 31, 2011 17:49:32 GMT Kristi said:

They gave her metacam and an antibiotic -- TBH I don't have a clue what the antibiotic was called But the metacam seemed to almost make her tweak out after the first week, which was odd b'c she handled it fine the first week.

For aftercare we made a trip up a month after the surgery to have her ortho check her knee to give her the "all clear" for scampering again:) Our regular vet didn't check her at all.

Thanks Kristi. I think I'l be going for a recheck after around the same time period with this ortho. I wonder if they'll give Roo metacam. I'm thinking they might. She has been on it before with no issue, so that's good at least.

Mar 31, 2011 17:52:03 GMT Sarah said:

Gosh she looks so scared poor baby

Get some arnica Paula it should help her heal quicker! Give her a kiss from me

I'll look into that. Thanks hun. I'll give her a kiss for you too. She does look scared, I know. Breaks my heart.

[Paula]

Mar 31, 2011 18:14:35 GMT Lucy said:

Aww poor Roo Atleast she'll be home soon. Kisses and hugs from all of us xxxx

I'm actually a bit surprised that the incision wounds aren't more extensive. I know next to nothing about LP surgery but for some reason I envisioned Roo with bandages etc.

How long until she can walk about properly?

Aw thanks so much, Lucy. I'm surprised the wounds aren't more extensive too, but they do look a little bit worse in person. There was a lot of bruising and swelling too. I'm curious how they will look today. I'll take pics again.

They did not bandage her, no. He said it's best if they are not bandaged. Plus he does want her lightly walking right away too. Get the joints moving. She can walk on them now, but very gently. How long before she can walk properly though... I'm really not sure. I'll be asking all of that tonight. I'll let everyone know what is said. He put the recovery at about 6 weeks.

[Lucy]

I was going to say that I'm guessing some movement will be encouraged because you don't want her to 'forget' her legs.

I'm guessing it'll look worse before its gets better but atleast the hardest part is over now.

[brodysmom]

I would probably wait for follow up bloodwork until she is healed. Like in 6 weeks or even after that. If you do bloodwork now, it's going to show inflammation markers from her surgery, etc. and it will just upset you. There's no reason to think that the liver enzyme will be messed up. It came down in less than a week! I think it was just one of those things that you can't really explain. Remember that bloodwork is just a picture of that moment in time. It's not retroactive, etc. So that second - what did the bloodwork show. Hydration makes a difference as does stress, etc.

I'm not saying that bloodwork isn't important! It is! But it is one small piece of the puzzle. Look at the whole picture to determine health and go from there. With this big assault on her system, I think it would be stressful and non-productive to draw blood while she's in the recovery mode. Unless there was a reason to suspect a problem, infection, etc.

Just my opinion.