Day 6 – A Real Good Day
Today had been a real good day. Barney has settled, the swelling has dramatically reduced the bruising is getting better and me and my husband, Pat, are really rather chilled!
Barney is coping really well on three legs and seems much more comfortable now there is only a little swelling. Barney is not doing that much, he goes out to the back field does his bits and then comes back again. He has been sleeping rather a lot but when I look at our other dog Fred he is sleeping just as much. It isn’t until you have a sick dog that you notice every little thing, how they eat, how much they sleep, how they breathe, are they panting etc etc.
Fred, our other rottie is 4 years old, has been really good with Barney, he is treating Barney with a little more gentleness than normal. These two dogs get on really well, both very different characters, both absolutely lovely in their own way.
Barney’s Ruffwear Harness arrived today, I have tried it on him and although I think this will be a great asset to have, he cannot wear it just yet, as it is quite close to his stitches.
I want to say thank you for all your kind wishes, messages and support – this has helped us enormously. I only hope Barney’s Blog will do the same for another family.
Day 6 in the morning
Life is Good
Our Fred
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Oh they are both adorable!!! I’m so happy that Barney had a good 6 day post-op!!! Whoo! Hoo!!! I hope he continues to do better and better each day!!
Jake’s Mom
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
You have some pretty cute puppies there!!! And thanks for the pictures!! Jack was a front leg amputee, so it’s interesting for me to see up-close pics of the back leg. Hope Barney continues his super healing 🙂
<3 Laura
November 6th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Today my rottie got his back left leg amputated. How has it been? It seems like most dogs are “front leggers.” Can you give me an idea of what I should expect the first few days?
November 6th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Hello, I am so sorry to hear about your rottie. Can I ask why he is having his leg removed? Our Barney was pretty good initially after amputation he was on a quarter of the pain relief after surgery than before. He has bone cancer and it came on real quick. Barney is only 15 months old and at the beginning we were going to treat him palliatively but things happened so quickly that we decided to give him the opportunity of a bit more life.
When we picked him up from the vets, the day after amputation, he was still full of drugs and looked quite woozy but was coping well on three legs he got the hang of weeing no problem and poohing after a couple of days. There was a lot of swelling (fluid) build up around the site and a lot of bruising. We are lucky in as much he is not a licker and he really left the stitches alone. We did put one of the bucket collars on of a night – just in case.
I cannot say that the first week is easy, it is actually quite harrowing, as all the time you are looking at your dog with concern checking the way he breathes, pants, eats, doesn’t eat I could go on and on. But on the whole Barney has done really amazingly. He is a bit out of sorts today as he had chemo yesterday so he is just lying around quietly.
I have to say that I took notice of people who told me to prepare myself for the “lack of leg”. The post operation photos on this site are good to look at; I have posted Barney’s leg in my blog. Make sure you prepare yourself for collecting him and keep your voice upbeat whatever you are saying – even if it something bad – I think this really helped Barney. The nurse at our vets said it would look like a lump of raw pork – I found that I didn’t have any problem with the leg at all because I thought it was going to be much worse!
One of the vets told me that if a dog has to have a leg removed then a back one is better than a front, as the front legs take 60% of the body weight and the back 40%.
I really hope thing work out for you all and we are sending you our thoughts and best wishes. Please do let me know how you get on.
Chris and Barney.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
As I type this my Rotty Rocky is getting a bone biopsy. The Doctor things he has bone cancer but wants to rule out an infection. This morning Rocky just couldn’t walk and I had to carry him to the car and into the vet. I am just looking for information and advise.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I hope it’s ok but I am going to email you. Chris.