Star has gone from strength to strength since my last post about her, The Restorative Power of Baked Potato. She is so much better that she's been back on the dog food for weeks - being indulged with baked potato is a distant memory, thank goodness. I'm sure she would choose being out of pain and being able to move around freely over the molly coddling she received.
Not to say of course that we are not taking care of her, but she is back to being a dog again. It took a couple of weeks after the operation for Star to start acting like the confident, cheerful little character we love, and then there were a further six weeks when she had to be basically confined to her crate. At the end of that time we returned to see her surgeon fairly hopeful of good news - she was coping well with exercise, and we had not allowed her to over use her leg. So you can imagine our shock when it was bad news.
The specialist spotted from observation and examination that Star could well have a problem with her knee cap. Apparently small dogs can suffer with something called luxating patella. This is where the knee cap moves about, and it looked like it might be complicating STar's recovery. We were very reluctant to put her through any more surgery so soon after the first operation, and luckily the surgeon's advice was to take her home and build up her exercise over the next month. The hope was that as muscle strength returned the joint would stabilise.
I am very happy and relieved to tell you that that is just what has happened to Star's knee, and she is back to normal. She has enjoyed off lead walks again, and she is back to her number one spot, keeping the boys, Buddy and Leo, in order.
In our case the TPLO surgery worked wonderfully, and I'm so grateful for the treatment we received. Over the course of the eight weeks of crate recovery I did worry that Star was miserable due to being confined so much of the time. Once the restrictions were lifted we left the crate door open so she could choose where to spend her time, I was sure she'd be out of the crate like a bullet from a gun. But no, apparently she loves her crate and all my worry was for nothing. Indeed at times she cries if the door swings shut and she can't access her crate. I guess I should follow the lead of my dogs more; worry less and take things as they come more.
Take care,
Julie x