September 1, 2006

Right Knee - Week 2

Murphy had a pretty good second week. We confined to his kennel all last weekend to ensure that scabs would once again form in the places he had licked. By Sunday all the oozing had stopped and on Monday we were able to resume his Physical Therapy walks.

He is desperately in need of a bath and needs his nails trimmed, we wish we would've thought to do both before his surgery. He is scheduled to get his stitches out on Tuesday, in the meantime... thank goodness for Fabreze!!

He hasn't gotten totally rambunctious or mischievous yet, but we expect that it will be coming. Yesterday during his walk he tried to run towards one of the dogs in a nearby yard, I had to thump him on the nose in order to correct him, Dr.'s orders say no running yet!

He plays with his toys nightly and hasn't seem to mind that he can't run around and squeak/shake them to death. He seems to be content squeaking away from the confines of his puppy couch.

We gave him a Kong filled with frozen peas/carrots/water last night and it kept him entertained for about an hour. I got this idea from my searches on the Internet, and it works great!!!!

**For anyone trying to figure out just exactly HOW to freeze things in a Kong, here is what I did: First I filled the Kong with peas and carrots and then I ran water over them. I put the Kong in a small bowl in the freezer, with the big hole facing down. Once frozen, I pulled the bowl out of the freezer and filled it completely with water through the small hole on the top. Once frozen again, I removed the Kong from the bowl by pulling.
NOTE: The run off water from the peas and carrots will seal the Kong to the bowl, which is what makes step two easier.

His incisions look good and don't appear to have any infection. His leg appears a little red/purple after his walks, but I'm assuming this is just from the blood circulating and probably from a little bit of throbbing. I'm not too concerned about it, because he doesn't appear to be in any pain and it goes away shortly after he lies down.

Hopefully all will go good at his appointment onTuesday, and then he won't have to wear his silly little hat anymore!