TPLO

I'm so frustrated. I did everything to keep him from licking the wound for 2 weeks, and it worked! Lick sleeves, cones and near constant monitoring. The wound looked great! Almost totally healed minus one scab at the end.

First night without the cone I slept on the floor with him, success no licking. Second I thought we were all set, woke up to the wound licked. Scab was off. It wasn't bleeding, but you could see it was raw with drips of blood. He has disolviy stitches and an end was hanging out.

It's not terrible, but it's not great. I'm so frustrated! I thought we had made it past the incision healing stage. I should have waited until the scab came off on it's own.

Sorry for the vent.

Wanted to gather my thoughts so far on tips from someone in week 2.

• medication schedules can get complex. Take a look at all meds and when they need to be taken. Make a plan that takes into account your bedtime and when you wake up
• My dog had major issues with going #2 for days after the surgery (which is expected). The issue is when things get started things can get messy. I took to wiping my dog's butt for a couple of days and it made a huge difference in mess
• hand lotion / good soap / gloves. Trying to keep an incision clean meant I was washing my hands constantly be prepared for this and take care of your hands (mine started to crack and dry out)
• if you have a reactive dog you really need to plan. I had to disable my door bell and hang a sign on my front door to stop people from knocking. My neighborhood has tons of dogs so for every visit outside I had to look out windows and find a quiet time to go out.
• if you can take time off of work. The first 3-4 days can be intense. The first week is exhausting. Second week things start to calm down.
• don't be afraid of sedatives. This is the only thing keeping my dog still. Your vet van help you here.
• keep things clean. Wash all bedding and blankets before surgery. Have backups ready. Messes happen.
• keep an eye out for eye crustys. My dog usually grooms himself every morning. While recovering he could not. I would take extra time to clean parts of him that he could not.
• setup a support network. Find those other animal lovers in your life and let them know what's going on. Having someone to vent/laugh/cry with can help

My dog is currently going through his second TPLO surgery (doing great!) and I really wanted a place to vent or talk that wasn't reddit or facebook. I decided to create this community to give a place for other people to let them know that others are going through this too and they aren't alone.