We had our appointment this morning with Dr Holloway; for Sammi’s 2 week follow up! Our beautiful little lady got her staples removed today, but not without a struggle. It wasn’t that the staples hurt, it was that she didn’t want to be pinned down for the job. Holloway was super cool about it, and let her stand up while he basically laid underneath her and pulled them out that way. I can’t imagine that it felt amazing, but it’s nice that she’s doing well enough, and is healed enough, that her staples could be removed! She weighed in at a steady 80lbs, the same weight as last week!
Her mood and temperament have been amazing, although I have noticed – or I think I’ve noticed – that she tends to tire somewhat more easily, that or she just seems more willing to lay down if we’re stopping for a bit. However, her hyper-ness and craziness are all back to normal. She finished her 10 days of antibiotics (cefpodoxime) and I gave her all of her doses of carprofen (anti-inflammatory, like ibuprofen, etc). But we did not use all of her tramadol. She didn’t seem to need it after the first couple days of the healing process, fortunately. Although today, we gave her one a couple hours before her doctor’s visit, and it didn’t seem to help, so.. yeah.
Since getting her onto a keto diet the day after she came home, she has never in her life been more excited about meal times. The first couple days, she tried to be interested, but I think she was in too much pain from the surgery to eat. After day 3 or so though, she now acts like she just can’t get enough. And this is coming from a dog who has never cared about food, ever.
I have transitioned both Sammi and Tex to feeding in the morning as well as nighttime, for two reasons:
- Feeding smaller meals a couple times a day is supposed to help reduce the likelihood of bloat, something that she is at a greater risk for, now that she has more space and less organs.
- Her medication was suggested to be given with food, so, boom, morning and nighttime meals.
I am giving them a larger portion in the morning, so that there is less protein in her body while she sleeps at night. Sammi in the last 5 or so years has had an incontinence issue (at nighttime only) when she eats chicken, or too much protein in general. Lightening up the load has helped immensely, and the accidents are few and far between. There were a few accidents post op, but I am attributing those to the pain meds, and my experimenting with her macro ratios and all those fun things. I feel confident that we’re on the right track now, though.
Sammi with her favorite vet, Dr Holloway
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