Luxating Patella Surgery-Post Op Week 7

So we're taking a break from our Christmas programming.

If you're following along at home, you know that it's been 7 weeks since Oliver's luxating patella surgery. And if you've been to my home lately, you know that he is ready to go! He's definitely over being under recovery status.

We have 1 more week. Our recheck appointment is next Wednesday. Everyone here at Casa de Rodgers is excited, and hoping for full activity level status. Not that we don't love the Olliedog, but carrying him up and down the stairs, and inside, and outside, and up on the sofa, then off the sofa, then on the sofa, no wait, off the sofa...well you get the idea. We're all ready for things to get back to normal.

But before it was more normal, it wasn't quite right.

As I mentioned in one of my previous surgery posts, our discharge vet at MU, was well..less than helpful. She certainly put the fear into me. So, we haven't been letting Oliver do much of anything, except walk around the house. He hadn't been on walks or to PetSmart or to Grandma's or anything. At 5 weeks post surgery he still wasn't using his right leg. We're talking like 20% or less on his own around the house. So being the crazyfreakingoutdogowner that I am, I called the clinic to see if I was doing something wrong. I wanted to make sure that he wasn't damaging his left leg by only using it all the time. He was getting around just fine on 3 legs. Well of course MU wanted to see him right away (this is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving) so we didn't go. She wouldn't tell me anything over the phone. This left me to my own devices. We started walking him twice a day, super short at first, and now we're up to the entire street. It's been 2 weeks of this, and he's up to 90% usage on his own! I know, I'm awesome.






He has a skip step or two still. I know we have a long way to go, but this is real progress here. Once we get the activity level ok, we're going to work more on making his muscles stronger so we can get back to agility training. We all miss it very much. He'll be needing his agility getaway more than every I'm sure when little sister comes...



Jessica