So today was our first day off of Rimadyl and everything seems to be going really well. Sunny hasn’t shown any signs of pain. By tomorrow the Rimadyl should be very close to being out of his system so assuming that is going well on Wednesday we will probably start cutting the tramadol back. I suspect he will be ok since the t-reflief is used as an alternative to NSAIDS which is what Rimadyl is. Sunny has also done much better today taking his tramadol and t-relief. I think only having 5 pills total to give throughout the day has helped a lot. This morning we struggled a little to figure out what would work, but thankfully he is back onto taking his medications in the pill pockets. I’ve also been using tweezers to handle the medication at the suggestion of one of the amazing folks from tripawds to make sure he only smells the food and not the medication. His appetite is not as good as we would like, but I suspect that is a side effect of the cone and tramadol. Originally I thought it may be from the Rimadyl, but that may not have been the case. I’m hopeful we can begin tapering the tramadol back this week first to twice a day and then to only once or not at all. That said I think we want to keep him on the tramadol until his remaining sutures come out just to error on the side of caution in terms of his pain management. We plan to keep him on the t-relief for a while until all his bruising etc. has healed.
Sunny spent most of the day lying in bed when he wasn’t up and about. It is amazing how fast he can move on three legs now. I think he actually moves faster than he used too on four. The cutest new thing he does is spin on his back leg like a ballerina on any surface that will allow it. He seems to do this a lot in bed when he wants to turn since the Rumpl blankets material allows it.
Sunny relaxing in bed.
The other big thing we noticed today, and which can be seen in the photo above, is some new bruising in the area that had not fully healed yet. We aren’t sure why this is. Obviously it is most likely related to some of his sutures being removed yesterday. We did notice a small area that bleed a little afterwards below his incision. However, we are not sure if a scab was pulled or what, but we are keeping a close eye on it. Today it got darker just like his original bruising did so I am hoping it is on it’s way to healing. There is no odor or discharge and he doesn’t show any signs of discomfort when we touch it gently so I don’t think there is anything seriously wrong. I posted in the forum over at tripawds just to get an idea if anyone else has seen something similar. Although it was pointed out that Sunny is both very fair and may just have thin skin given what we saw after his initial surgery which could explain the current bruising. His incision continues to look fantastic. I think it is also fair to say that we are also now at the point where we could read way too much into anything since we spend so much time observing him. Assuming it is not looking better tomorrow I’ll probably run him up to the vet just to make sure everything is healing ok. I’m hoping that wont be necessary.
Sunny still isn’t a fan of his physical therapy exercises. I mean they do require you to do something more than lay in bed. 🙂
Oh Sunny!! Everyday is Funday with Sunny! You always make me smile reading.about you and all your little quirks! Such an adorable personality!
Yeah, we tend to overthink everything on this journey! A burp is no longer just a burp…we consider it to be at least three trips ro the ER to make sure it was just a burp! Same rhing with toots! 🙂 You’ll become more relaxed about thi gs pretty quickly though. Once that cone is off and as the fur grows back, you won’t even notice half this stuff!!
Can he eat without the cone? Can he spend some time.without the cone while being watched of course?
Spounds like you have a good handle on reducing the pains meds shortly.
Yeah, holding those pills with tweezers and hiding the scent as best you can worked for Happy Hannah.
A scab properly pulled during the suture removal causing the drops of blood. I would think you could enlarge the pic of the bruise a bit and send it to your vet just for reassurance.
Give that sweet boy a smooch and cuddle!
Hang in there! Recovery doesn’t last forever!!
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Unfortunately we have found we can not take the cone off. Even with both of us around he attempts to lick his incision. We keep trying but every time we have to put it right back on.
His bruising is looking better today so thankfully it was probably just something minor, but we will continue to monitor it.