I am happy to report that Shawna is improving daily. The first couple of days I was worried about having made the right decision for the hip replacement as she was favoring her left leg as much as she had before the surgery. What if we had misdiagnosed the problem, and it was not the hip joint that was in trouble, but perhaps the spine? I would have made that poor dog go through all that agony for naught.
I blame my usual impatience. A phone call to Dr Boulay put my mind more at ease: Shawna knows she has one good hip that she can rely on, so why put a lot of weight on the one that hurts? He was happy with her decision as the new hip would have more time to heal. The swelling has now gone down, and Shawna has continued to use the leg more, especially when she is outside; she is trying to sit and lie down on that side as well.
Now the one that is "suffering" is Princess Buttercup, aka Emma. She normally gets a lot of attention that is currently showered on Shawna, and she has her nose out of joint. We are not going on hikes with her (to keep an eye on Shawna), and she feels that the extra nuzzles that Shawna is getting should be hers. I keep telling her that she is just "princess", and not "queen", which Shawna is and always will be. Piffle!
2 comments:
You're lucky that Shawna is smart enough to be "compliant" [somehow it seems like "compliant" includes self-will and I am anthropomorphizing to give that to Shawna, but most of the dogs I have owned had it!] with her rules for recovery. The outcome will be better and she will be so happy once she is mended. It's good to see her up and about, tho. And, nice job on the pretty seam!
I think that animals are much smarter than we give them credit for. Shawna's big downfall are her instincts: much more Malamute than German Shepherd. I should have named her Akela, because she is a wolf (she came to us as Shawna). Dr Boulay is an awesome vet and has been my hero since he helped me out with the dislocation years ago.
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