I haven’t updated in a long time. I’m such a slacker. We’ve been enjoying life on 3 legs. Still learning what Reign can and can not do. The can not list is VERY short!! We were worried she would have issues when it finally snowed since she would always just plow straight into the snow even if it was almost as high as her. ( yes it doesn’t take much to be higher than her!) We finally got snow this week and made up for the dry winter ( northeast Ohio/ snow belt) We ended up with a foot of snow and even though we shoveled a loop around the yard Reign was not slowed down at all! Dachshund determination at its best! Lol
It’s been 8 months since her surgery and we really did believe we were past the scary stuff and I guess we still are accept we believe ( along with our new vet) she might be have issues with an internal stitch. At the top of her scar she has developed an abscess that has been draining. It had started out as just a little bump and we thought it was possibly scar tissue and decided to watch it. That was the end of December. Right after noticing that bump we felt 1 on her shoulder ( poor girl can’t catch a break) New Year’s Day the shoulder 1 started to drain. No pus really just fluid. She has shown no signs of discomfort or pain, she’s just annoyed when we clean it and re bandage her.( We did find really cute wrap at Tractor Supply so she was looking super cute) I had joked we were leaving everything to do with her amputation in 2015… I was so wrong.
( Ok funny and annoying story that happened when we were trying to locate a new vet.) we had a list of questions to ask since we wanted to make sure of our choice. Since we have 4 dachshunds we needed to know how they treat IVDD since it is common in this breed. That eliminated a couple from our list since some had no clue what we were talking about! The best / worst response we got after going over everything that happened to Reign was ” She sounds complicated. Don’t you want to stay with the vet in Pittsburgh?” I give credit that they were admitting Reign is not the average patient but we had already explained that Pittsburgh was a specialist and we need someone a lot closer for normal day to day stuff. They pretty much said they didn’t want us as patients. So we only had 2 names left on our list. We called the one closest to us and they immediately asked when we would like to bring her in so the doc could give her a check up. He had gone over her records before we got there and declared her a mini dachshund lol. He has had tripawds as patients before and dealt with IVDD ( surgery for that we would have to go back to Pittsburgh) so we think we found awinner!!
Ok back to today
So with both abscess the vet wanted to do surgery but since I’m a crazy lady he was willing to do laser therapy and us keeping it clean and open. Thats when the 1 on her scar started to drain a little bit.That’s what we have done since January 1st, it’s now February 20th and it is still draining so he has to go in and see what is going on. I am far from happy about this. I’m terrified that something will go wrong again since no one can explain what happened the first time. Since I’m the crazy person he is dealing with me very well. When we take her in we are waiting until they have a good iv in before leaving. If he doesn’t like the iv we will bring her back another day( he seems confused on why the other vet used her back leg since dachshunds are known for tricky small veins) Reign is the first surgery that day and he isn’t going to have the IV in for 1 second longer than absolutely needed. She will always have a tech with her and she likes the girls so I should be calm but nope I’m making myself crazy all over again!!! I won’t be calm until she’s back home!!!
So from what I’ve read on here is a reaction to stitches doesn’t happen often, so Miss Reign continues to set herself apart from “normal” dogs and add gray hairs to my head! Thanks for letting me run on and once I get to my phone I will add some pics and videos! I will updated once she’s out of surgery Monday !!!
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It’s been awhile!
It’s amazing how much you can put off doing while your fur baby is recovering! I’ve been trying to play catch up with everything. No new pictures of Reign the wonder dog since she’s so fast. By the time I take the pic she’s just a blur lol. She’s about 70% back to normal speed. I pretty much have to jog behind her on our walks around the yard. If our weather ever calms down ( it’s been 90 most days) we will be able to go for normal walks. My husband has been working on ramps but Reign being the determined doxie has decided she will use the doggie steps until he is finished. I really thought she wouldn’t be able to do the doggie steps, she just had to prove me wrong.
We took her to the pet store for the first time post op today. She was in heaven! Everyone had to fuss over the little wiener dog. I noticed 1 employee watching her and he finally asked she was missing a leg. I guess they were confused since she was all over the store so they couldn’t tell for sure. She let us off pretty easy and only picked out 1 bag of treats and a new collar lol. I will get more pics and video as soon as I can!
I wanted to let everyone know we are still around and haven’t forgotten everyone! But I also had a question not really related to being a tripawd.
I’ve always feed all of my dogs pedigree. I know it’s not the best food but I’ve never had any problems. The last time we bought food they had a new and improved recipe. Everyone was eating it and it seemed fine. Today my friend called freaking out saying she saw that people were finding bits of medal/plastic sticking out from the food. I looked into it and the company is saying it’s just hair from the animal parts they use. Ewwww gross right?! I told my husband about it and he pointed out that 2 of our dogs had been throwing up lately. ( not enough to freak out but more than normal) So I look at the food and sure enough I can see what looks like hair/string in the food! This is what caused us to make a trip to the pet store. Since I have used pedigree forever I have no clue what a good affordable food is! There’s SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM! Reading online is just overwhelming so what kind does everyone use? We got a small bag of purina pro plan focus , no weird hairs in it and everyone ate it very well. I just don’t know if we are going to stick with it and I don’t want to change food too many times.
Thanks for letting me ramble on again!!
Finally a video!
Reign was ready to go for a walk! I did limit her to just around the yard since I dont want her to over do it.
1 month post op
Yay 1 month since Reigns surgery and she’s doing amazing! To celebrate she got to sleep in bed. She slept like a rock, me on the other hand spent most of the night making sure she was leaving the tiny scab she still has alone. Everything we’ve tried to put on it to help with the itching, she just trys to lick off. Being off of all of her meds has really let her get back to her bratty self!
She is getting her speed back and even chased a squirrel across the yard! I had taken her out with 1 of our males, sat her down and she was GONE!( Of course my phone was sitting in the house so no video) Our other dogs havent treated her any different other than not laying on her. They snuggle but give her space
Poor Reese has really missed being with Reign during this. But they are back together again!
3 weeks post op!
Reign had her stitches removed today!! Her surgeon said she looks great and she wont need to come back! Yay for last vet visit!! Reign looked very relieved that the stitches were gone. After the extra week due to the absess the entire house needed those stitches out! Lol
Miss Reign got to show off for the doctor and was giving kisses. Of course we were home 5 minutes and she licked a red spot so shes still being watched/coned.
How long does it usually take for them to leave the scar alone? The vet said 3-7 days
Thank you everyone again!
Ive been trying to get more video but she’s a brat! Hubby is off tomorrow so maybe we can catch her