SubscribeThe Day of the Surgery – Dropping Off and Picking Up Your Dog
The day of the surgery can be very hard on both the dog and on the owner. Most of us have very close relationships with our dogs and hate to see them in pain. It is very important however to keep a positive attitude and not to let your dog see any worry in your face or actions. Dogs are very perceptive in picking up the energy of their owners, so if you have an energy about you that presents worry or fear, this will likely have a negative effect on the dog.
It’s also important to try to keep everything as routine as possible, though this may be hard, it is important to try to stay within your normal schedule. One area that comes to mind that is impossible to stay normal with is feeding. Most of the time prior to surgery, the vet will ask you not to feed your dog for at least 8 hours before the scheduled surgery, this is to prevent the dog from vomiting while under anesthesia.
After dropping your dog off for knee surgery, take the day to go home and prepare your house. After most CCL surgeries, the doctor will suggest 2-4 months of no activity, or highly restricted activity. Setup pen, crate or kennel that your dog will stay in, try to make this in an area where the dog will be the most comfortable an where you and your family tend to hang out and/or congregate – the kitchen or the family room is usually a good option. If your dog is a puppy or very playful, you’ll want to make sure that all toys are picked up and hidden as it would be torture to be stuck in a cage looking out at your favorite toy. If you have more than one dog, make sure that your other dogs are not able to disturb or rile up your dog that is recovering from knee surgery.
Picking up your dog is obviously going to be exciting, but at the same time, it is very hard to see your buddy with a shaved back leg and hind quarter and a large bandage wrapping the leg. Move slowly with your dog and make sure that he/she is comfortable in the car before driving home.
When picking up
Although my Dobermann is recovering well from his op there was a mishap that perhaps could have been avoided. My own vet lets me stay when he’s put under sedation and after he’s awake I sit with him. Because this was a specialist vets for Orthopedics he was insistant that my dog will be fine and as I expained he’s never left alone(That’s just how our lifestyle has worked out)he’d make sure a nurse was with him. Ok so far so good. The probem struck when I got to reception that evening, said “Hello” etc, the vet called the nurse to get my boy on his lead and bring him through except at the moment he must have heard my voice. We think because his nurse was not at that moment there, he must have rammed the cage with such force to get to me that he came out with the biggest bump on his head I’ve ever seen. Although they were all apologelic I felt that if I had been allowed to sit with him when he woke he wouldn’t have been so instinctive in his forcefullness to get to me. He doesn’t like a barrier between us. Bad enough this poor boy was suffering post op stress and pain. He looked deformed. Needless to say he recovered after a week but please guys where you can please listen to owners to clearly have that type of bond as it might prevent this type of thing from happening. My own Vet a Mr Phakey who happens to be like Dr. Doolittle has a very great understanding of his clients needs and I find that reassuring.
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