Day 12 - Stitches are out!

Milo's stitches came out today. I completely forgot to ask why they used stitches over staples. Hopefully at his 4 week checkup I will remember.

The vet said Milo is doing great and he was happy with his movement in his leg. He did the PROM exercise to see how far he'd stretch back and he was surprised to see how well he's been doing. Finally, I feel like I'm doing something right!

We ran out of tramadol after about a week (maybe a little longer). After this point I started noticing him not using the leg as much. I guess the 'doggie narcotics' really helped mask everything. He's still doing good, but you really have to slow down and tell him to 'use his leg'.

Weeks 2 through 4 are supposed to show less progress than weeks 1 through 2. The vet told us that this is because of the scar tissue and just working through it. This is something everyone needs to know if they are doing an FHO, as you get so worried that something is wrong.

I'll be calling the swim center this week to set our first appointment. I'm thinking we will do 2 times a week for 5 weeks again. Milo is not a big fan of swimming, but it's the best form of exercise for him. He needs something to help wear him out and keep him calm.

Also - we invested in a BiteNot collar for this surgery. During his last FHO we went through 3-4 cones as he would spin them and chew the overlap. The other night we put the BiteNot on and found out he could still lick himself. Great.. we had been using this thing already for a week. Thankfully his leg looked great. I think it stopped him for licking most of the time, or at least swayed his opinion on it, as reaching back with that thing on was tough. This collar would be great for other places, but I'm just not sure how well it would work for other dogs with an FHO. I highly recommend it for other surgeries though, especially if your dog is prone to chewing off the e-collars.