As you know, our Irie had surgery on her right rear leg on August 25. She had TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) surgery to stabilize her stifle (knee) joint, all due to a tear in the ACL (or known as CCL or cranial cruciate ligament in dogs). Whew…that’s a mouthful!
Irie spent just one night at the specialty hospital but the recovery period is long–12 weeks in all. She won’t be resuming regular activity until after Thanksgiving. So, in the meantime, we’re learning how to keep Irie happy and healthy, making what seem like baby steps toward her recovery. She must be on leash any time she’s outside and can’t jump or run at all. Our walks are super, super slow (think funeral march).
Here’s a look at nine tips from our past six weeks:
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Plan for very limited activity the first two weeks. While Irie had surgical staples in place (and a cone around the clock), we did very little other than potty stops.
Consider a change in your sleeping arrangements. If, like us, you share your bed with your dog, you’ll need to make adjustments to your usual arrangements. We moved our mattress directly onto the floor so Irie can get on the bed with us and rest comfortably. Consider a change in sitting arrangements. Typically Irie lies on the couch in the evenings. Since she can no longer get up on the couch, I removed all the cushions and sat them on the floor so we can sit there. (No, we have not had any company during this recuperation period! And, yes, it looks about as good as you are imagining. But Irie is comfortable.) Furniture that she could get on has been removed from the house. Plan to watch or crate your dog. Fortunately, we both work at home so we’re here with Irie around the clock. I have a laptop so, instead of working from my upstairs office, I now work downstairs with Irie. Block all stairs. The stairs up to our offices are now blocked with baby gates. The cats can still get upstairs but we don’t have to worry about Irie trying to go upstairs. Sleep on leash. For the first month, Irie slept with a leash clipped to her collar. I wrapped the leash around my arm so that, if she tried to get up in the night, she would awaken me. Prevent boredom. After about the first week, once the initial discomfort was gone, Irie grew bored. When she was first released to begin activity again, Irie was only able to walk five minutes, twice a day. (We’re now up to two 25-minute slow walks.) We used interactive toys to help distract her and stuffed a Kong with her meal, to help make her mealtime more challenging and longer lasting. Walk dogs separately. Since Irie had very, very limited activity in the first few weeks (and still must walk extremely slowly), we walked Tiki separately. When Tiki came home from walks tired, it helped keep Irie calmer as well. Schedule fun. Irie loves to travel…but her overnight stay at the hospital meant that she was really reluctant the next time we headed to the car. She still has at least one more appointment (for x-rays next week) but, the day after each vet visit, we try to schedule a fun day trip. Since she’s not able to ride for extended times in comfort, we’ve been planning mini day trips of just a couple of hours. We are now halfway through Irie’s recuperation. She’s now able to go up slight inclines, which has given us a lot more options for our twice-daily walks. She’s doing well, I think, and we’ll know more about her recovery after next week’s x-rays. We’ve learned a lot about post-surgical recovery and, most especially, the importance of patience (which has not always been a strong suit of mine!) The recovery is slow but it is exciting to see the progress she is making!
