October 30, 2010

Just In Time For Halloween

[Warning - posted pics not for the squeamish]

Our little Frankenpup is home, just in time to scare the neighborhood children. Excellent.

Mike says we should post a pic of her. I thought maybe it was a little too gruesome, but if my bro can post a pic of my nephew, Jake, from the ER the night Jake broke his face in half in June '09, then I guess we can post a pic of Frankfenpup, Abby. (In case you view the scary pic of Jake, rest assured that just a number of weeks later he was looking practically like his young handsome self again and was recovered and ready to go off to college as planned by the end of the summer. Young kids - they heal fast. Hopefully young pups do too.)

Before I post the pic, I just want to say, when you talk to the vets and look up info online about folks who have tripawd dogs, they all say how great they do on three legs. They do not say how scary the dog is going to look when you first pick him/her up. We were expecting a big ol' bandage, but they said she didn't need it. So, here she is in all her stapled up glory.

In the pic, you can see under her the sling I fashioned for helping her get around and go out to potty. I took an old blue bath towel, cut it down to size, and then sewed it up with some handles. The handles are made from a dog collar a friend gave us when her dog Buzz passed away. The color was a little too muy macho for a collar for Abby, but it worked great for the handles. (A little shout-out of thanks to Buzz in doggie heaven.)

She started trying to lick her scary incision, so we had to put her in her new fancy-schmancy soft cone. I'm not sure if this is an upgrade from her usual plastic cone of shame or not. She looks like a giant blue daisy. She didn't look super comfortable in it, so we just put a t-shirt on her instead. Since we got her home, she has mostly just crashed, big time, in her new bed we got her. So glad we ordered it! It's a cozy, comfy little spot for her. It has a big label on it that reads: Deluxe Deep Dish. For some reason, every time I walk by it, I have a craving for Chicago-style pizza. 

Here she is below, in happier days in her brand new bed. So hard to believe that is a mere 10 days ago, back before we knew about the stupid cancer. The other pic is her, sleeping in her t-shirt, in front of a piece of cheese.
She's actually done pretty well with eating. Had almost a whole slice of provolone and had several big spoonfuls of Blue Buffalo's Backyard BBQ. (Really, to me it doesn't bring to mind BBQ. There's no red sauce, no corn on the cob. I think it should be renamed Sunday Night Family Pot Roast.)


You cannot believe how fast she is already getting around. When we picked her up at the overnight ER, we hadn't even brought a leash, because we thought we'd be carrying her to the car. The "nurse" said, "No, she's way beyond that already." She loaned us a leash and out we went to the parking lot, Mike manning the leash and me on the sling. Damn! She bolted for the grass and I couldn't even keep up with her! She face-planted when her back legs got caught up in the sling. Poor thing! But now we know. She jumped in the car on her own, like it was nothing. (Although getting out at home was a little more unstable...) When we got her home, I took both the leash and the sling and had to trot alongside her to keep up with her. 

I think in a few more days time we may have a hard time keeping her quiet! Supposed to only take her out on the leash for pottying for the next 13 days!  


Tonight, we are planning to spoil her with a burger patty from In-N-Out. :)

7 comments:

  1. I find it amazing that not even 24 hours post surgery she's home and getting around. I was not picturing such a massive incision, but she doesn't look as bad as I thought. Well, except when she has the embarrassing cone on! She looks better in the t-shirt. Give her smooches and cheese for me!

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  2. She looks amazing and NOT scary at all, although I guess I could go along with it for Halloween. I should have told you the "new" deal with surgery is all free and clear of bandages. Or rather, THEY should have told you. A bit shocking but at least none of that to deal with. She only looks mildly irritated by the daisy but I do agree, the T suits her. Maybe get her a new one that says Bad to the Bone or something ass kicking, as that's what she's doing!

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  3. Love Patricia's idea. T-shirt is great idea but that cone is a big improvement over the plastic echo chamber type. Can she actually bend her mouth down far enough to lick her incision? I guess she could scratch at it with her back legs. She doesn't look too out of it until you see her sleeping in front of the cheese. Leo would NEVER do that no matter how drugged. CHEESE raises him from the dead. You'll have to do a stop action video like Jim does to she her hopping around. Hang in there. I think her incision looks great but I'm used to staples. It is bigger than I expected.

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  4. Wow. It is amazing how well she seems to be doing. It occurs to me that she can now be "Abby...someone. Abby...Normal."

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  5. I think you should go with one of those Elizabethan ruff collars, http://focus.aps.org/files/focus/v22/st12/eliz_big.jpg.  Now that would look cool for Halloween!

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  6. The funny thing about that Elizabethan ruff thing is that they do actually call them "e-collars" at the vet, not "Cones of Shame." At first I didn't understand e-collar. Was thinking e-mail, e-book, e-waste. Thinking what does this have to do w/ electronics? Then found out it's for Elizabethan-collar.

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  7. Hope day 2 at home is going well. Lou thinks it's definitely Abby-Normal to sleep with cheese at your nose! Will she be wearing her Chargers shirt today, or is she just too disgusted with them? (It would go nicely with her blue e-collar.)

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