Freedom!!

I am pleased to announce that Riley is free of the crate for the majority of her time!  She got the go-ahead from her surgeon this morning to be out of her crate while I’m home and just be crated when we’re away.  She still has to go potty on the leash, but she can roam around the house and jump on the furniture.

Dr. Dassler said that her leg looked great on her X-rays and that she’s healed up enough that he doesn’t worry about her undoing anything they did in surgery (which is good since she and Chloe have been going nutso playing…) and that her bone is healed up enough that he could actually remove the plate and screws in her leg and she’d be fine.  No worries, she’s not getting her plate and screws removed…he was just making a point.

Look how much fur has grown back in on her hind leg!

He said she’s sitting well with it (usually they tend to splay their injured leg out to the side, but she’s sitting with hers underneath her like a normal dog) and she’s walking on it very well.  She’s free to climb the stairs and can jump on the couch, she just isn’t allowed to chase squirrels or birds for another month or so.

She’ll be getting three 5-minute walks a day for the next 5 days, then three 10-minute walks for 5 more days, then 15-minute, then 20-minute until we work up to 30 minute walks.  No more physical therapy–the walks will be enough therapy.  Then after 30 days, she can be off-leash in the backyard.

Oh, it also says on the paper they gave me that I “have done an excellent job with all of Riley’s nursing needs.”  Thank goodness.  Phew!  🙂  I forgot to ask for a copy of her X-rays…in fact, I didn’t even see her X-rays, he just told us all about how well she had recovered.

Let the party begin!!

Last Day of Crate Rest!!!!!!!!!!

Today is (hopefully) Riley’s last full day of crate rest!  Hooray!  I can’t believe we’ve made it 8 weeks post-op!  Her follow-up appointment with X-rays is tomorrow morning at 9:00.  I’m hoping they’ll be able to take the X-rays without sedating her (if they have to sedate her, I have to leave her there for most of the day…), but who am I kidding…they’ll probably sedate her because she acts like she’s had a lobotomy or something when she goes to the vet!!  🙂  So say a little prayer that she doesn’t act too silly tomorrow and can have her X-rays done without sedation.  I mean, really, how hard is it to keep a young cattle dog still for a few seconds???  😉

With all this surgery/crate rest this year, I didn’t have time to sign Riley up for the dog Christmas Card Exchange that we did last year.  And I definitely didn’t have time to send out cards!  (Even though I got a nice professional shot of her in her Christmas bandana back in June…).  So we were surprised to get two Christmas cards from our bloggie friends in the mail yesterday!  We got one from our good friend Hound Girl and one from our friend Miss Barbara at If I Didn’t Have a Sense of Humor.  If you are living under a rock and haven’t read either of their blogs, check them out!  Hound Girl has Riley’s twin from another mother, Haylie, who also has hip dysplasia and is toy-obsessed and her brother, Fred, a Bloodhound, is training to be a Therapy Dog.  And Miss Barbara’s blog is just plain funny.  Enough said.

Haylie and Fred’s card.

Trixie, Minnie, and Jeep must have helped Miss Barbara out with her cards because Riley was most interested in sniffing their card!

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to post a crate-less picture of Riley!!  I just can’t wait to snuggle with her again and love on her.  I open the door to her crate and stick myself halfway in there to love on her right now, but it’ll be nice to do it without all the metal bars around!  🙂

My New Favorite Cleaning Tool

We’ve had this LeBistro Waterer for about 2 years or so–or since Riley was a puppy, so maybe 2.5 years.  I love it because I don’t have to constantly refill a water bowl all day long, but I hate how it gets dirty and is a weird shape so is hard to clean.

Enter Q-tips Precision Tips!  They are the perfect fit to get in the weird corners of the waterer and to get in the little hole that the water comes through!

I will say it is extra yucky/furry because only Chloe has been drinking out of this bowl while Riley’s been crated, so it takes her about 3 times as long to empty it.

New Q-tips Precision Tips!  They have a pointed end to get down in the corners easily.

These are the Precision Tips I’m talking about.

Eww.

Getting it all cleaned up!

The waterer is now spotless and refilled/refreshed!  All ready for Riley to get off of crate rest on Wednesday morning!!!!!

See, all fresh and clean!

Here’s Riley getting a little bit of loving from Grandma–who is actually going to be a REAL Grandma!  Aunt Baddy is going to have a two-legger, human baby!!!!!!!!!!

I would definitely suggest buying a package of these Q-tips Precision Tips–they would be so useful around the house and with your pets, especially if you have one of these LeBistro Waterers like we do that are hard to keep clean.  You could also clean the creases on your dog’s face if they have a smooshed face like Riley’s Boxer cousins, Daisy and Highway.  Or, if your dog is accident-prone like a certain young Cattle Dog I know, you can apply ointments to their cuts and scrapes or broken nails.

***I was provided with Q-tips cotton swabs® and information about the product by RocketXL. All opinions are 100% my own.***