Good vibes for Bailey

calliecritturs

He may be one of those dogs smart enough to realize that if he drinks he'll have to go OUT.  so yeah I would give him water via syringe (like a baby medicine syringe -- hold his mouth loosely shut and put the tip of the applicator behind his canine tooth and squirt gently so he can work his mouth to swallow).

 I did, and once he got a little bit of water, I think it made him realize how thirsty he really was, cause after I forced him to have a little with a syringe he went over to his bowl and drank half of it. He has drank several more times today, much more than he normaly does.

He is starting to limp a little. When I bring him outside to potty he will put pressure on it when he walks, but when he is standing still he will hold that foot up. When he is inside he limps more, and doesnt put any pressure on it at all.
I didnt want to touch his foot too much, but I got a quick look at the stitches and they look ok, it doesnt look swollen... but its kind of hard to tell cause his foot is shaved so the skin is red.

He is acting REALLY hungry. I mean, normaly he is always hungry anyways, but now hes acting like he is dying of starvation. I'm not sure if he really is hungry or if he is just taking advantage of all the extra attention.

He has really bad gas.... is that a side effect of anesthesia or antibiotics? He NEVER has gas normaly. I just noticed it this morning, he didnt have it when anytime after starting the antibiotics on wednesday. I could be that they gave him something to eat at the vet (he never gets any processed kibble or treats, so he isnt used to that kind of stuff)

Last night he started crying at about 4am. At first I thought he needed to go out, so I carried him down the stairs(he still trys to hop down the stairs and I dont want him to fall ) he did his business outside, but once we were back in he started crying again. He layed on my lap and eventually he stopped crying and went to sleep. He has turned into the definition of a velco dog these past couple days. When hes sleeping, he HAS to be next to me, he has been sleeping right next to me, putting his head under my arm.

I think I might have to get an e collar for him. He has been trying to lick his paw thru the boot/wrap. He has to be alone all day tomarrow... & Im worried he will pull the boot off. I was thinking maybe I will wrap his foot in the morning, and then put the boot over it and spray it with Biter apple spray, & hopfully that will make him leave it alone.

Sorry -- warned you!!  wrap it with vet wrap -- then take a clean sport sock (thick white terry one??) and put THAT over it and vet wrap that at the top.  If you can still do the boot add that.  They get really determined.

If you can stop at a health store and get some Hylands Calms Forte -- it WILL help particularly while you are gone -- you can give two of those 3 times a day or even 4 times.  Getting him past the healing stage -- he doesn't feel good, he KNOWS he can suck up to you and ... LIFE JUST SUCKS NOW!!!

He's likely not in super pain -- he just feels impaired and miserable.  And you know ... GUILT is the gift that KEEPS ON giving!!!!  IT WORKS MOM !!!!

 Hmmm... you really think he might be taking advantage of the situation?    (sorry for the horrible picture quality, I took it with my old crappy camera)

Do you think its ok to leave him alone tomarrow, as long as I wrap up his foot good? He hasnt bothered it that much today as he was last night. Its possible for me to bring him to my mom's work for the day if he really cant be alone. He would have to be tied in the office all day, but there would be people to watch him(they all know him pretty well). The only reason I dont want to is cause I KNOW he wont be comfortable there, he just will not be able to relax in that type of situation, and I dont want him to be anxious all day.

Callie I will try to get to a health store to get some Calms forte tomarrow. Ive never used that before... hopfully it helps. I never realized how active he really is, now that I have to restrict his activity. He wants to run, soooooo bad. When I walked him out into the field to do his business, he just sat there and looked at me like he was saying "Cant you take this stinkin leash off? I wanna RUUUUN"

 I have no advice but I hope he feels better soon!

Spazzy

 Hmmm... you really think he might be taking advantage of the situation?    (sorry for the horrible picture quality, I took it with my old crappy camera)

 

This picture is too adorable, I just want to cuddle with him. <3 I just have to say it's very sweet how much you take care of him! Any dog would be lucky to have an owner like you. :) 

calliecritturs

wrap it with vet wrap -- then take a clean sport sock (thick white terry one??) and put THAT over it and vet wrap that at the top. 

This is the only way to go.   It just so happens that when Hot hurt his pad this winter, I had lots of white socks that were in the "sock bag" ...lol!  These are the ones that misteriously loose their mate.  I used a pad (mostly because there was still some bleeding for a while) then wrapped it with vet wrap then put on the sock, then I wrapped the top of the sock with some stretchy self sticking athletic tape I bought really cheap at Dollar General, then I turned the sock down and wrapped it again.  If it was wet out, I put a plastic grocery bag on his paw and wrapped it too.  This was during the snowey winter so keeping his dry was difficult.  I left his sock on all day then changed it each night.  As his paw healed I started using just the sock until he started walking better and I felt like he could go without it.  My biggest reason for keeping it covered with the sock for a few weeks longers was to keep the dirt and mud  out of his paw. 

His paw is much better but he still does the "limp" and "sympathy paw" LOL!

How did Baily do today?  Did you leave him home?

Spazzy

 Hmmm... you really think he might be taking advantage of the situation?   

Bailey has you wrapped around all 4 paws & his tail.  I love it. ~LOL~  I'm coming back as one of your dogs.

PurplePets22

How did Baily do today?  Did you leave him home?

I ended up leaving him home alone, cause he didnt bother it that much last night. He did fine, he didnt bother it at all, I didnt want to put the boot on too tight, but I didnt want it falling off, so I left it a little loose and it actually was almost off his foot when I got home, but he wasnt messing with it, and actually didnt seem interested in it.

As soon as I take the boot off he wants to lick it, but after a couple minutes he seems to forget about it.

He is still totally using it to his advantage. If he is trying to get away with something he knows he isnt suposed to do, he will give me the biggest, saddest eyes in the world, and then hold up his paw, like "Moooooooom, I got a owwie "
He is walking on it now, and isnt limping as much.

Callie, when do you think I can stop putting the boot on? Another couple days, a week, 2 weeks?

You should be able to get Calms at Wally world. Look near the supplements, not the sleep aids.

Spazzy

He is still totally using it to his advantage.

If he's like any of my guys, he will still try to use it to his advantage long after the sutures are removed....

I'm not Callie, but I would keep the boot on, when you aren't supervising, until the sutures can be removed.  If you are right there to supervise, I would probably leave it open at least some of the time so that it can air out a bit.

BEVOLASVEGAS

I'm not Callie, but I would keep the boot on, when you aren't supervising, until the sutures can be removed.  If you are right there to supervise, I would probably leave it open at least some of the time so that it can air out a bit.

Exactly what Amanda AND Meg said -- you just plain want to keep him OUT of it.

He WILL work you for as long as he can.  My first dog had he eye scratched by our cat.  She was fine after some drops & medical care but well after it had healed if we 'scolded' her she would blink the hurt eye.  She was saying 'but, but, but Iz owie.  Pweeze don't be mad'. 

Good boy Baily ! 

ditto what everybody said about the wrappings............

BEVOLASVEGAS

I'm not Callie, but I would keep the boot on, when you aren't supervising, until the sutures can be removed.  If you are right there to supervise, I would probably leave it open at least some of the time so that it can air out a bit.

The stitches are dissolvable, thats why I was asking I wasnt sure how long till they would be fully dissolved.

OK, so I have some good news, and possibly some bad news.

Good news is, the vet called with the biopsy results and said it was compltely benign.

Bad news is, his foot looks really weird. Ive noticed a weird smell coming from it recently (NOT the same smell that it had when the infected growth was there) so just now I went to look at it. I havent gotten a good look at it yet cause I didnt want to pull the skin and hurt him, I only checked it enough to see that it wasnt bleeding or oozing.
Today when I looked at it, I noticed a big red spot, right on the spot of his pad where the growth was removed. It looks kind of nasty... Im guessing thats where the smell is coming from. I also noticed a wet spot right under where he was laying on his blanket. It is tinted red, and has a really bad smell. I am going to try to get a picture of it right now so you can see what it is... 
He has been getting his antibiotics twice a day, every day (his last dose is tomarrow) and he has been wearing the boot whenever he goes outside, and whenever I cannot watch him. The only time Ive taken it off is when Im watching him so it can get some air, and I havent allowed him to lick it at all.... Is it possible the stitches ripped or something?