Question About Movement of Rear Legs after Surgery

Kari · January 04, 2007, 09:25:09 PM

Quick question...Penny had mobility before the surgery on Monday other than her left leg being extremely weak. 3 days post-surgery she has been extremely wobbly and really isn't able to walk on her own. If you flip her back feet over she can't return them to normal. Our surgeon said she is doing well, but from your experience is this normal? I'm jut a little worried. Just being my crazy, super concerned and stressed out self!

Thanks!
Kari

River525 · January 04, 2007, 10:00:24 PM

Our Brutus was walking sorta before his surgery and after surgery he couldn't. It scared me to death - I thought we made a huge mistake BUT.........lo and behold after about a week or so he started to walk again on his paws in the right direction not crossing over, etc. and obviously without pain. :apls: He is now about 2 months post op and still a bit stiff in one of his hind legs when he wakes up but not in pain and would run and jump and climb stairs if we let him. How quickly they forget, lol. Everytime he tries to jump up for treats, etc. I just cringe with fear that he will hurt himself again. It takes time but just be patient and rest when you can -- the first four weeks I barely slept and we cancelled everything so one of us would be at home with him 24/7. take care -- Melissa

Kari · January 04, 2007, 10:06:46 PM

Thanks for the input Melissa and welcome to the board! My husband and I are moderators on Wiener Writings and we are owned by Penny who just had surgery on Monday.

cheryl186 · January 05, 2007, 07:05:39 AM

Kari: After the surgery there is swelling which is normal. The swelling will go down and you should see improvement in Penny. Not flipping her feet over is normal at this point. You should see "little" improvement every day but then there may be a day when she appears worse....do not get discouraged....this is how it goes....at first some days are good...a couple may not be as good but it will get better and better. There are therapy exercises you can do at home...bicycle type right after surgery. There are some good videos on dodgerslist which will help you.

Good luck...remember....crate rest 24/7 for at least 6 weeks....patience and a Kong with peanut butter or frozen yogurt in it is a BLESSING!!!! it should keep her busy....

Valerie · January 06, 2007, 10:55:02 AM

My dog Cookie just had this surgery on Wednesday night and got to come home early, on Fri afternoon.
It' encouraging to read about others doing so well after the surgery.

When she was in for surgery, the hospital told us she was 1 of 4 doxies they had there- it was a record! Wow- lots of hurt doxies!
Anyway, its a little tough taking care of her since she can't walk (but thinks she can). She still wants to follow us everywhere we go nd tries so hard to scoot over to us. PLus, I have a broken wrist and have a hard time carrying her... :verdict:

It sounds like Penny had the surgery about the same time as Cookie! ( She wasn't at the UC Davis vet hospital in San Diego, by the way? ) Maybe we can compare notes as the heal!

Hope Penny gets better soon!

Barb · January 06, 2007, 12:31:20 PM

So sorry to hear about your Cookie - sending her rays to get better quickly. Are you doing the sling walk with her when she goes to potty?

Kari and Penny are in San Diego - but I am not sure where they went........

Take care of both of you!

Kari · January 06, 2007, 12:54:48 PM

Quote from: Valerie on January 06, 2007, 10:55:02 AM
My dog Cookie just had this surgery on Wednesday night and got to come home early, on Fri afternoon.
It' encouraging to read about others doing so well after the surgery.

When she was in for surgery, the hospital told us she was 1 of 4 doxies they had there- it was a record! Wow- lots of hurt doxies!
Anyway, its a little tough taking care of her since she can't walk (but thinks she can). She still wants to follow us everywhere we go nd tries so hard to scoot over to us. PLus, I have a broken wrist and have a hard time carrying her... :verdict:

It sounds like Penny had the surgery about the same time as Cookie! ( She wasn't at the UC Davis vet hospital in San Diego, by the way? ) Maybe we can compare notes as the heal!

Hope Penny gets better soon!

Hi Valerie! Yes we were at the UC David Hospital and I belive we saw you on Wednesday night. That is the night we picked Penny up about 6:00 pm. We were waiting on a bench outside of the exam rooms and I saw a woman and man with a black doxie in the room and she was crying. I told my husband Drew that I wanted to go in and give her a hug because I knew how she was feeling. I think that might have been you! Crazy! Who did Cookie's surgery? We had Dr. Levitski and she was great but we also met wth Dr. Lipsit and he was nice too. Penny is doing well - a lot less drugged. We have her in a small pen 24x7 if she isn't sitting with one of us. Her back legs are moving a lot better but by no means can she walk on her own. We are using a towel under her belly to sling walk her when she goes potty. I was pretty freaked out when we first got her home but have calmed down a lot since she is getting her personality back and seeming more like herself. It will be a long road to recover but it is worth it. It is stressful with having to figure out how to work but be with her as much as possible - We don't want to leave her alone these first two weeks. Keep us posted on Cookie's progress and let me know if I can help you out in any way!

cheryl186 · January 06, 2007, 01:24:14 PM

Valerie, I am so sorry to hear about Cookie having surgery. At this time it is extremely important to crate her 24/7. Cookie needs lots and lots of rest to heal properly. The normal crating period is 6 to 8 weeks. Please go to www.dodgerslist.com and register....after my Zoe had surgery last August, the people on the website were a God Send. There is soooo much information regarding supplements, exercises, water therapy, etc. and the people there are genuinely concerned as is everyone on here...we have all been there.

I am glad your baby is home and please feel free to ask any questions you have about any and everything!

Valerie · January 06, 2007, 05:09:32 PM

Quote from: Kari on January 06, 2007, 12:54:48 PM
Hi Valerie! Yes we were at the UC David Hospital and I belive we saw you on Wednesday night. That is the night we picked Penny up about 6:00 pm. We were waiting on a bench outside of the exam rooms and I saw a woman and man with a black doxie in the room and she was crying. I told my husband Drew that I wanted to go in and give her a hug because I knew how she was feeling. I think that might have been you! Crazy! Who did Cookie's surgery? We had Dr. Levitski and she was great but we also met wth Dr. Lipsit and he was nice too. Penny is doing well - a lot less drugged. We have her in a small pen 24x7 if she isn't sitting with one of us. Her back legs are moving a lot better but by no means can she walk on her own. We are using a towel under her belly to sling walk her when she goes potty. I was pretty freaked out when we first got her home but have calmed down a lot since she is getting her personality back and seeming more like herself. It will be a long road to recover but it is worth it. It is stressful with having to figure out how to work but be with her as much as possible - We don't want to leave her alone these first two weeks. Keep us posted on Cookie's progress and let me know if I can help you out in any way!

Wow- that was us!!! I was bawling like a baby the whole time we were there- I was so upset and worried! We had Dr Lipsitz, but never met him as he was in surgery when we arrived- they did immediate surgery on her after they took her from us. He stayed on to operate on her.
Cookie started getting her personailty back last night and today too. Luckliy my husband works at home and can keep an eye on her, but its hard.
We have never crated Cookie, so they told us we don't have to- just keep her confined to a small area. During the day we just pick her up and move her to wherever we are- as long as she can see us she doesn't try to move (she hates being alone).
Last night was hard- she wants to get in the bed with us and kept scooting over to the bed. She finally curled up in a pile of my dirty clothes and went to sleep. We are trying to figure out way to keep her confined at night so she won't get up and come over to the bed and whine to get in.

I plan to look into the sling for potty time- sound better than her almost sitting her poop like she did this morning.

Kari · January 06, 2007, 05:17:17 PM

Quote from: Valerie on January 06, 2007, 05:09:32 PM
Wow- that was us!!! I was bawling like a baby the whole time we were there- I was so upset and worried! We had Dr Lipsitz, but never met him as he was in surgery when we arrived- they did immediate surgery on her after they took her from us. He stayed on to operate on her.
Cookie started getting her personailty back last night and today too. Luckliy my husband works at home and can keep an eye on her, but its hard.
We have never crated Cookie, so they told us we don't have to- just keep her confined to a small area. During the day we just pick her up and move her to wherever we are- as long as she can see us she doesn't try to move (she hates being alone).
Last night was hard- she wants to get in the bed with us and kept scooting over to the bed. She finally curled up in a pile of my dirty clothes and went to sleep. We are trying to figure out way to keep her confined at night so she won't get up and come over to the bed and whine to get in.

I plan to look into the sling for potty time- sound better than her almost sitting her poop like she did this morning.

Hi Valerie,

Check into an x-pen which is what we are using. You can make it as big or small as you want to and it will keep her confined but she can still see you. Might be helpful at night too - you can put her bed inside of it. We got ours at Petsmart - the one that is 24 inches:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441778744&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302048386&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&bmUID=1168128844490&itemNo=4&Ntt=x+pen&In=All&previousText=x+pen&N=2

I would really try and keep her confined as much as possible so that she isn't moving too much - Dr. Levitski said that we should 24/7 for up to 6 weeks unless we were taking her out to potty or her exercise time once she was better. We didn't buy a sling but instead just use a hand towel under her belly - we hold the ends to help her around.

Glad she seems to be doing better today! Keep us updated!