Month: April 2018

Tyson is the only one in the house who was happy to see the snow last weekend…he was rolling around and having a time. Crazy guy…

Well, after Ty unceremoniously took his drains out last Sunday, we went to the vet on Monday and were told (by the tech) that she “thought” all the tubing was out and that she “thinks” it should stop draining soon. She told me that as I stood in the vet foyer with a dog that was draining fluid all over their floor. 😐. I was concerned that the tubing wasn’t all out, so I went searching in poop for a couple of days until I found ALL of the tubing intact. *phew* and *gross* all at the same time!!

Since then, Captain Ty has been slowly getting back to normal. We are 23 days post-op. He has gone for some off leash meanderings in the yard with his faithful sidekick, Gus. He is happy in the mornings and tired at night….just the way it should be. I am grateful that the snow is gone and movement is easier for him outside now. Now time to start a few excercises to strengthen him up. But, so far so good!!! ❤️

So, the drains went in on Thursday. For a couple of days the fluid has been draining, but not very much at all. We were advised 3-5 days for the drain so I stopped by the clinic on Saturday and asked if they should come out yet. I was told “no, leave them until Monday”. Ok, so I booked an appointment for Monday morning (tomorrow) to get them removed.

Tyson hasn’t been bothered with them, nonetheless he’s been coned 100% of the time inside and he’s been on leash to do his business outside. Things have been looking pretty good until this morning: I came down from the bedroom to check on him in his area and there he was with the cone on and the tubes GONE!! 😳. Ummmm….I looked around and they were nowhere to be found. Pretty sure the little beast ate them!! So, I was about to panic, but instead I just cleaned him up and checked him out. There was no significant redness or sign of infection, no indication of tubing left inside, no foul smell, so I figured that we would let it be and keep our appointment tomorrow morning. I may also go poop diving to see if I can find the tubing and make sure he’s passed it.

At first, we couldn’t imagine how he had done this magical feat with the cone on!!!! Then, we caught him licking the area by wedging the cone as far up his neck as possible and sticking his head outside the coned area! WELL, this is now a problem because I need him to stop licking the incisions AND I can’t watch him while I sleep! So, I got out his old Thunder Shirt (from years ago) and stitched up the one leg whole and VOILA:

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier??? Now, with the cone, his Royal Highness King Tyson Licking-Head will not have a chance to lick everything. Perhaps it will have a chance to heal properly instead!
Fingers crossed that we don’t get in trouble tomorrow for not going to emerg. 😳😳

Ok. So, after Sunday evening’s explosive fluid drain from Tyson’s incision, I made an appointment with our vet and saw her on Monday. She confirmed the seroma, but was convinced it would be reabsorbed without intervention because it had already drained so much. She did give us another round of antibiotics, just in case, but didn’t seemed concerned. In fact, she was really happy with how Tyson was moving around. He’s quite the rock star at the vet these days.

So, off we went home and resumed our activity and Tyson’s inactivity. He has not been pleased with confinement. I’ve been trying to do some low key games with him, but he’s a runner….and he’s pissed that I won’t let him run. I can tell. 😕

Things were going fine. Stitches were scheduled to come out on Thursday. So, of course, on Wednesday night, the incision starts dripping again from the same spot. I brought Ty in on Thursday morning for his appointment and the tech said “yep, not taking those out…..you need to see a vet again.” Bah! The earliest appointment was at 5pm and it would be with the vet who did the surgery.

At 5pm, I walk in there with Tyson. The surgeon walks in and she looks at Ty and says, “It appears, our star has a seroma.” She walks over and gives one area a squeeze and “pop” SO much fluid poured out on to the floor!! I was like, “woah”,but she and Tyson both seemed unphased. 😂. Anyway, they put in a drain. She wants the fluid to drain but not to drain through the incision. That HAS to heal up.

So, poor Ty is draining for a few days. It’s amazing how different his hip looks now that the fluid is gone!!!! I had no idea how large the seroma was!! Hopefully this does the trick. I really want to let him out and let him go!!

Meanwhile, it’s snowing here again, so I guess we aren’t missing much outside.

So….yesterday, my boy had a wonderful day! He was so happy and peppy! He rolled on his back for scratches and I took him outside for his first unleashed pee! He walked to his ball picked it up and dropped it at my feet. And as I laughed at the ridiculousness of this action, I saw it: blood dripping into the snow.

I leashed him and brought him inside immediately to look at the incision. It still looked great!! Except…there’s this one little area (about 1/2” long) that is dripping the same blood-tinged fluid that he came home with.

Well, back to isolation for Ty and I’m watching him like a hawk. The spot won’t heal….it keeps seeping. I posted in the forums here and it sounded pretty normal: perhaps a seroma is leaking due to too much activity (damnable off leash pee!!). Ok. I can handle this. I’ll go see the vet Monday morning.

Well, today, the leaking persisted. I have been changing blankets and keeping it clean. He’s been laying for all but about 20 minutes today. I think I’m in the clear….until, dinner time.

Poor Ty stands up, excited for dinner and “sploosh” the fluid starts really flowing and dripping in the floor!! It’s not blood….just that clear, blood-tinged fluid, but A LOT of it!! I grabbed a towel and applied pressure while my husband frantically looked for the emerg vet number.

Now, we live out on an acreage and our small town has one older vet who answers her phone late. She’s not our vet, but she is awesome. I explained what was happening and realized at that moment that the flow had stopped. She said, likely a draining seroma. Keep it clean and follow up with our vet tomorrow unless it’s really scary to you, then take him to the city.

Holy moly! What a freak out! And this dog is just laying there looking at me like “what IS it, woman? Relax!”. We will be at the vet first thing in the morning….methinks another dose of antibiotics will do. 😳

Well, they can’t all be smooth days, can they?

Ty was up and about as usual yesterday.  Even ventured into the kitchen with me sporting his new toe grips.  However, that little burst of confidence was a bit too much.

I popped out to the store and when I returned, Ty was laying on his bed with grandma watching him.  Then, he burst up off the floor and ran over to me, apparently dodging ALL of the traction mats we have down, and slipped pretty awkwardly on the floor.  So much for the toe grips….

The rest of the day was hard for him.  He was really labouring to move around and he seemed miserable and unsure of walking inside. The fall pulled at the incision a bit and it was bleeding in one spot…cleaned it up quick and it re-healed but it was obviously a set back for him.

So, no more toe grips (Sorry, Dr Buzby).  Maybe we’ll try again once he’s more comfortable moving around.

Today he woke up peppy and had a great couple of walks outside with Gus.  I popped out and picked up some ruffwear boots, so he is going to try some sweet traction shoes for inside.  Hopefully they will help him move around inside a bit more comfortably and I won’t be terrified of his slipping!!!

Thank you for all of the helpful comments and suggestions!  You are all so amazing!  We’ll figure this out eventually….