Whew. Paws crossed, it looks like the worst is over. It’s not quite two weeks after surgery, and Willie, Jim and I are starting to imagine normal life again. It’ll be awhile still, but Willie’s incision finally has healed enough that we no longer feel a need to watch him, literally, every second. We watch him carefully, but are actually able to take our eyes off of him for a few seconds at a time. Ah, the freedom!
That wasn’t true for the last week. I turned down the cone offered by the vet clinic, in part because I hate them, and in part because I knew that dogs scratch their bellies with their back paws, and a cone would have no effect. Right on schedule for internal stitches, Willie’s incision began to itch around day 4 after surgery. However, instead of ending on day 8, Willie had a one-inch area at the top of his incision that didn’t want to heal. It was the end of the incision, where all the knots are, and right under his breast bone. It looked a bit nasty after the rest of the incision looked great, and it was obvious that just one quick movement or scratch would open it up again. Jim and I took shifts sitting beside him every second of every day for much longer than we thought we would have to.
But we were lucky, because we could go off duty around 10 pm at night. Willie goes to sleep sooner then we do now, and after waking up multiple times during the night while sleeping beside him, I found that he slept soundly until around 5 AM. We woke him up before that and he never had a set back during the night.
We of course covered Willie with a variety of outfits, from my tank tops to Jim’s T-shirt to the surgical suit below. We think he looks rather elegant in it, and he seems 100% comfortable with it on. I’m glad we ordered the suit, (thanks to a comment from a reader), although I should mention that I’m not sure it provides much more protection that the T-shirts we used. It’s relatively thin (needs to be able to breathe) and wouldn’t stop one swipe of a back paw from harming a vulnerable incision. It is a bit harder to hike up when you take your dog out to pee than a T shirt, but if you forget completely to move it in any way, your male dog will pee right into it anyway. I did that research this morning for the good of the village. You’re welcome. (It’s currently in the sink soaking in urine deodorizer. Back to the T-shirts.)
I’m sure we’d all love to hear more about what anyone else out there has done to keep a dog safe after surgery, especially during the challenge of the itchy, healing incision. One quick additional comment about cones: If the issue is a dog chewing on a sore or incision, I much prefer the inflatable, “donut” collars for dogs over the old-fashioned “Elizabethan collars”. If the latter works better for you, I’d suggest getting one that is clear plastic.)
Of course, as many of you well know, it’s still a long haul. He’s still on leash all the time, because his normal behavior of “front paws up on the couch for head rubs” is not safe yet. Also, though the discharge instructions were “Leash walks only for 3 weeks, then back to full exercise,” (?!) I’d never let him go from zero to sixty without anything in between. He’s eleven and a half after all, and there’s no doubt he’s lost a lot of muscle tone. We’ll start longer leash walks this week, then a bit of trotting by next weekend. I’ll gradually increase his exercise and doubt I’ll let him back to his regular life as a working sheep dog in less than 6 or 7 weeks. But hey, Jim and I actually went out of the house last night. Together. Wonder of wonders. And some day I’ll actually get to sleep with my husband again.
This last weekend had some other wonderful moments, including getting to meet the new Great Pyrenees pup of friends Beth and Gary V. He’s only 14 weeks old, but it sounds like he is bomb proof and as good as prospect as a therapy dog as a puppy could be. What a sweet heart. No, I don’t want another Pyrenees. I don’t want another Pyrenees. I don’t want … (I do, but I don’t. I decided long ago never to get a dog I can’t pick up, after I couldn’t lift Tulip, our last Pyr, into the car during a medical crisis.) Thank heavens the beautiful Luccianno is not far away!
One more photo of another of Beth and Gary’s dogs—this is Tundra, a Golden/GP cross, who slapped a big paw onto my arm years ago and took a little piece of my heart into hers.
That’s it for today. Between Willie care, working on a talk on resilience for the Penn Vet Working Dog Conference coming up soon in Philly, (fascinating topic, will write about it here in a few weeks), arranging a raft of talks for the rest of 2018, etc etc, I’m full up.
May all your news be good this week. Here’s to how lucky we are to have dogs in our lives.
JMM says
I’m so glad that Willie is on the mend! And that you are able to relax a bit.
Baby socks or dog booties on paws can limit the damage done by scratching. And a basket muzzle with a stool guard or duct tape prevents licking.
Kat says
So pleased to hear Willie is healing well. He looks good in his shirt.
When Finna had her knee repaired I knew there was no way she’d cope with a cone so I got her the inflatable donut, Unfortunately she managed to figure out how to contort herself around it so she could get to her stitches. That’s when we added the soft cone that she wore as a disk in front of the donut. You can see in the linked photo that she was quite pleased with the flower look.
When she had a cancerous tumor removed from her anus she just wore the donut. Finna being who she is discovered that the donut makes awesome bumpers for bashing people and things out of her way. “clear the way Finna coming through” It cracked us up watching her.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33350160@N02/11411888415/in/photolist-ioqUQP-iorqe6-ioqSod-ioqFpa-ioqVvL-fMFS8N-fMFVh1-fMpe3i-fMoZMT-fMFwKU-fMp7hc-fMpaNF-fMFkis-fMoQXR-fMoNfR-fMFtvG-fMFgDj-fMFebE-fMEVxh-fMohjT-fMF5H3-fMFawS-fMEZvA-fMEAAA-fMocf4-fMo9wz-fMEF4N-eg3KNr-eg9w87-eg9v1q-eg9up9-eg9r6y-eg3HwX-eg9BZA-dvDmKv-dvDkb6-dvDkUH-dvJX5q-dvK4WE-dvK6FG-dvDtAz-dvDv2V-dvK3gb-dvJYQL-dvDq9a-dvK2kJ-dvDrbP-dvDoVT-dvDxwM-cYoXEU
Trisha says
Basket muzzle for licking is a good idea, hadn’t thought of that, thanks!
Trisha says
Oh lordy, Finna’s face is priceless! Thanks for the biggest smile I’ve had all day.
LisaW says
Thank you for the update, so good to hear Willie (and you and Jim) are on the other side of this ordeal. If it’s not one thing . . .
Willie looks good in black 🙂
We have noticed that Olive, after her long rehab and a year on a leash, calms down and doesn’t seem so anxious in certain circumstances (like when new people visit) when we leash her up. Recently, she was a bit gimpy in the right shoulder, and she didn’t mind the leash at all.
That pyr puppy is baby-seal cute. OMG.
Andy says
So glad Willie is doing better! That is so scary.
That picture of him with his little outfit reminds me so much of my dear Duchess post-surgery. It was such a stressful, stressful time and yet it is one of my happiest memories with her. She wore a long yellow t-shirt and was very good about her incisions. I recall her turning the corner looking like Cindy Lou-Who (the cartoon one) with her little nightgown and I tear up every time, even though that would make me the Grinch. Oh, sweet baby!
I hope you have good memories out of this as well, Trisha!
Diane Mattson says
Glad to see Willie looking better. What an ordeal and a relief!
Bridget completely ignores stitches and itchy, healing incisions. I’ve never had a dog or cat do that before. It’s really nice…
Marcie says
My corgi recently had a cyst removed from her ribcage, just behind her shoulder. She couldn’t reach the incision with her head, but could just barely get it with a hind foot. After trying several options I used a child’s tshirt and a belt of vet wrap. Without the vet wrap she would step on the shirt, or work it off. One night I got up and found her shirt in the middle of the floor. She insisted it “fell off”. The vet wrap helped a bit with that.
I found keeping the incision dry in snowy weather was much harder than keeping Becca from scratching the stitches.
Anton says
We did basket muzzle with tape for a serious paw surgery. Important to note that this is only safe if you can monitor the dog to be sure it can breathe well, drink as needed, etc. It is the only think that kept my sanity with an obsessive licker post-surgery. Thick baby socks were truly my best friend with his very large abdominal incision. It made the difference in protecting the incision should he take a random scratch when I failed to notice. He wore the socks for almost a month because he had an allergic reaction to the surgical scrub and a very itchy belly. The only socks available at the time were the ones that make an animal face when the two are worn side by side. A 135 Anatolian shepherd sporting pink baby socks with kitten and mouse faces was too funny! So glad Willie is feeling better!
Minnesota Mary says
My poor husky had a sebaceous adenoma removed from his back haunch. I could not keep a bandage on his shaved back haunch regardless of how I tied it. To prevent him from licking/chewing at it, I bought some “Cat and Jack” brand leggings from Target, cut an opening for his tail and viola! No need to watch him. And the leggings did not go over the part where urine leaves the body 😉
Alice R. says
So glad to hear things are better for Willie, and for you and Jim. I too resolved never again to have a dog that I couldn’t pick up for the exact same reason, but, boy, do I miss labs. I have lovely smaller dog who is very smart, a bit timid, and a one trick learner. Counter conditioning is a way of life. He will not become the therapy dog I hoped (doesn’t want to be grabbed), but he loves the roar and laughter of any audience so we trick train and another door opens.
Shasta & Spencer's mom says
Trish I am soooo happy Willie, you & Jim are on your back to your more typical routines. My almost 12 year old Golden Shasta had a cyst removed from his flank earlier in January- neither the vet nor I thought he could reach it with his back foot or his head and there were 7 beautifully made stitches on the incision. In case I’ve haven’t described him in this way here before, but as puppy I lovingly referred to him as “my golden terrorist” or “tornado”.He apparently has not reviewed the memo on senior dogs aging gracefully; on day 4 I returned home from walking his brother Spencer to discover he had somehow managed to remove 4 of the 7 stitches – rolling or rubbing on the one carpet in the house? I don’t know as he also must have eaten the scab. Yup. He had a bloody, gaping wound. This was also 30 minutes before our regular vet closes for the day- our regular vet who is a 20 minute drive from our house. The day before yet another of our large snowstorms in eastern NY. Our vet was already planned to be closed the next day due to the storm, so our only option was the emergency vet- 7 staples later, we went back to the cone. I had previously desensitized him to the cone ( clear plastic I agree are a better version if you can find them) by heavily reinforcing him for safely walking throughout the house- both he & his brother thought this was great! Treats raining down just for walking through the house & not fussing with the cone or walking into furniture or doorways!! Woohoo! One thing I did want to point out, a bit of a learning curve for me, not having had a pup with me at age 12, the healing process for older dogs I think can be similar for us ahem “older” people and may take a bit longer than we think it might. All together, he needed 4 weeks before everything was removed & his fur is on it’s way to covering that area- typically a busy therapy dog, he has been a bit bored with the diminished activity & thankfully our fabulous trainer is allowing us to sit on the CGC class she is running so he has a chance to be out around other people & dogs.
Cheryl E says
I haven’t visited your blog in a while, so was shocked to learn Willie has been facing such a challenge; much love and good wishes for his continued recovery! My sweet Lucy is recovering from surgery – to remove a mast cell tumor on her back/hip area. She also was treated by Dr Shiu and the wonderful, amazing, staff at Veterinary Specialty Center in Middleton. Thankfully, one dose of chemo, pre-surgery, shrunk the tumor enough so that Dr King (Lucy’s surgeon, who is a true artist) was able to do a smaller incision to remove it. And the news is the very best we could have hoped for; tumor gone and no more chemo! We used the donut and like you Tricia, we didn’t leave her alone, so the donut only has to be worn overnight. The one we have is canvas-covered and prevents head-turning without being too heavy on the neck; I don’t like “cones” either. It’s a ProCollar Premium Protective Collar; we bought it at her vet clinic in Oregon (Countryview). At this point, she is off all the follow up meds, so the midnight and 3 AM potty breaks are over. Best to you and Willie! We are indeed SO lucky to have such wonderful dogs sharing our lives!
Sue says
Interesting to read that you have decided to not get another non-pick-up-able dog… As much as I love big dogs I think I’ve come to the same conclusion. I can just about pick up my greyhound to lift her into the car etc., but I couldn’t possibly carry her any distance, not to mention carrying her up-stairs etc… as she is getting older that would sometimes be quite useful (and I tread her ever having a medical emergency…)
Debbi says
Are you using anything topical that helps promote wound healing? I would think some of the wound care products for humans would also be fine for dogs. I’m not up on the latest, but often the pharmacists are good resources. Good luck to you, Jim & Willie; so glad to hear he’s healing! Those itchy stages can be awful!
Trisha says
Call me crazy, but I’ve put some Manuka honey on the nasty area. Can’t say how it would have done without it, but I am pleased that it seems to be healing well now. Vet recheck is Thursday, will be interesting what they say. (I did give him Homeopathic pellets to promote healing after surgery. I have to say the main part of his incision healed ridiculously fast. Or at least it looked like it, but of course we’ve been crazy careful.)
Jenny H says
I Know how hard it is to stop myself scratching 🙁
Wishing Willie all the best.
Kristin says
To keep a paw or other area dry for a quick potty break, use Glad Press N’ Seal over the area. Remove when you come back in of course!
Jann Becker says
Kira had what turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma removed from the crest of her left thigh–right where she could reach with the inflatable and soft cones (we kept Amazon busy;) and the only thing that worked was the nasty old white lampshade!
There’s a “Hot spot and itch relief” spray by Synergy Labs Veterinary Formula Clinical Care that has lidocaine, hydrocortisone and allantoin, also from The Mother Ship, that really helped at the itch phase, although you wouldn’t put it on an open wound. With those ingredients you could keep it for human poison ivy.
So glad to hear Willie’s better and he does look dashing in black!
Diane says
Oh my…I missed a couple of blogs. I am so glad Willie is getting better.
And wish you and Jim some more relaxing moments with your family.
Liz W. says
The best of news about Willie. We also experienced a fright this past week with our 11 yo Lab, Finn. Since a young dog, Finn has been besieged with joint issues and coped well until he was about 8. He is treated by both by conventional and holistic vets and safe to say that we too are more than grateful for our bounty of first class veterinary care here in Madison, WI. Although he seemed his normal self, he had critically low platelets and is being treated for an autoimmune disorder now and will have ongoing blood tests to see if treatment is working. Thanking Drs. Jody Bearman, Kristine Collins, and Tom Day (Vet Emergency Clinic) for their wonderful care of our once in a lifetime boy.
We have had 5 labs thus far and a lifesaver for us when they got old or needed assistance is a Help ‘Um Up Harness. The design is great, comfortable and has two luggage style handles, one by shoulders and one over the hips for secure lifting, a god send. May both of our boys progress to renewed health…
Jenny Lujan says
My comment is in regards to a little portion of what you wrote, which is the decision you made to never get another dog that you couldn’t lift by yourself because of what happened with your Great Pyrenese during an emergency. I have never heard anyone else say that besides myself. Seven years ago in the late evening, I lost one of my Great Danes to a sudden aortic valve rupture. (That was the best guess of my regular vet.) I couldn’t move him on my own and had to run and get strangers from across the street to help lift him into the car to take him to the emergency vet. (I knew intellectually, it was too late to save him but still needed to try.) I was fortunate with my remaining Great Dane that I was able to choose the place and time of her passing. However, for the two weeks leading up that time, she required almost full support to be able to get in and out of the house. Without a good friend’s help and her coming over several times a day to help me, I never would have been able to do it. In both situations, I just felt so helpless. That’s when I vowed not to get another dog that I couldn’t lift on my own. And now I have a small female Greyhound in my life. Thank you for including that little remark. It may seem simple to many others, but it really resonated with me. Also, I love all of the post that you make about what’s going on with all your different thoughts on dog training and what’s going on on the farm. I’m glad to hear that Willie is on his way to being mended. Thank you for all that you do.
Sarah Kinkade says
So Happy that life is beginning to look a little bit more like normal. It’s always good to be back in your own bed! My girl is on week 5 of TPLO recovery, she is doing well but is still sporting the cone due to licking where the IV was placed on her front leg. We’re enjoying the mattress on the floor surrounded by an xpen.
Medical grade Manuka honey is amazing stuff, I’m so glad it helped Willie heal the rest of the way.
Liz says
I used a doggy tee shirt as a bottom layer with a thundershirt loosely wrapped around it, as added layer of protection and to control excess fabric. It was easy to swap out the tee shirts to keep inner layer clean. As healing permitted, I could attach some absorpent material or medicated pad directly to the tee shirt to keep correctly positioned and protected. My dog did wear a donut for a while. She soon deflated it, but I stuffed it with crumpled plastic bags and that worked fine.
Nikki Brewster says
Here is how lucky we are to have dogs in our lives. Amen.
Debbie S says
I have had good experience with the Bite Not collar, tho, like the Elizabethan version, it’s efficacy depends upon where on the body the incision or wound is.
Ellen Pepin says
Due to my own health and various other reasons, I haven’t read your blog lately. I’m so sorry to hear that Willy had to have surgery. As an older dog, that presents it’s own problems. I’m so glad that things are starting to get better for you and Jim. My Collie will be 14 next month, and we are dealing with a dog getting weaker every day. She also has some dementia, so I can empathize with you saying you have to watch him every minute.
I am hoping that Will will make a full recovery soon, and that you get to share love for a few more years.
Chloe De Segonzac says
I hope everyday is better for you and Willie. My BC will take out any stitches unprotected. Grr. So like you it’s T-shirt’s, the horrible stiff transparent e-collar and the soft e-collar I like so much more but I don’t trust 100%. Rookie has a tooth removal coming up so I’m getting ready.
There are certainly some fabulous rehab places for post Ortho surgeries but I agree that some aspect of vet medicine leaves me shaking my head. Nutrition is a big one and I just learned that some vet schools barely have classes and they are taught by the prescription dog food people. I mean it is appalaling what is in pet food.. but going back to post surgery I think we need to think about ‘a dog’ as having the same recovery time as we do. I had 7 months of rehab post ACL! And still I have to work on it.
There is a new Great Pyrenees rescue who walks past my house everyday. What beautiful dogs they are!! I have never worked with them or housesat one I hope I do some day.
em says
So happy to hear that Willie is improving! And yes, I think that “full exercise” should probably be interpreted as “full exercise for the average pet dog…leashed walks around the neighborhood” rather than herding sheep. Adorable pup, too, those ears!
em says
One more quick note- when Otis first came home with us, he’d had both a neuter (no problem at all- he never seemed to even notice that inciscion, and an eyelid lift to correct entropion. The stitches in his eyelids DID obviously itch, but we were able to manage him without a cone (a donut wouldn’t have stopped him getting at his eyes). Given the satellite dish-sized collar he would have needed, we and our furniture and doorjambs were very lucky.
We didn’t do much to block him except gently interrupt when he tried to scratch, but what we did do was to very gently massage or lightly scratch his incision area FOR him, whenever we discouraged him from scratching or rubbing at it himself. Not only did this provide him some relief without the pain/danger of using his own talons on his sensitive and sore eye area, but Otis seemed to relish the contact for its own sake.
Within a very short time (a day or two), Otis would move deliberately into our arm’s reach and line of sight, make eye contact, and THEN wave a paw vaguely in the direction of his face before stretching it out to us. He’d tilt his head to one side and rest the weight of it against our hands, eyes closed, sighing blissfully as we gently rubbed his face.
Otis’ eyes healed beautifully and right on schedule, but he signaled for face rubs for the rest of his life.
Trisha says
Oh I love this story! What a beautiful example of empathy!
Gayla says
Yes! Thank you for that visual, Em… :>)
em says
Thanks, Trisha and Gayla,
Otis was a remarkable dog in many ways, but none more so than his skill at human training- he could capture, cue and reinforce behaviors like nobody’s business 🙂
Mireille says
Oh my, I haven’t been around much lately and was shocked by Willie’s story. I hope he wil recover well.
Spot was had quiet a nasty rope burn in his groen, a really big would that could not be stitched or bandaged. He was wearing a surgical suit to keep him from licking it, bit it had te be washed constantly because of the fluïde oozing from the wound. A called the nurse in our hospital specialisedin wound care (hospital for humans, where I worked) and she advised me to put sanitary napkins on the wound. It works really well: it absorbs the fluid and doesn’t stick to wounds.
Good luck to Willy and to you and Jim.
Ginny Weimer says
Patricia, just checking in. I’ve wondered if Willie has recovered or any more set backs? I hope you’ll all enjoying warm weather.
Trisha says
So good of you to ask. I haven’t said anything about it, but Willie’s liver values aren’t healthy, so lots more vet visits in the future. He’s getting all home made food, lots of supplements and acupuncture. Cross your paws.