benny55 said
Sorry you find yourself here, but under the circumstances there is no better place to be!

As you've already seen from the links the Admin Guy gave you, there is a whole lot of information here! We will support you in anyway we can.

This journey is scary at first! It is stressful, sad, full of uncertainty and emotionally exhausting! On top of that, recovery is no picnic! But we are all here to tell you, once Lucy gets through recovery and her sparkle starts to come back, it will all be worth it!

Reason for Lucy's amp? How old is your sweet girl? Can't wait to hear more abput her personality! How much does she weigh?

Couple of quick tips. If you jave hardwood floors, put down non slip scatter rugs or cheap yoga mats for traction . When you go to pick Lucy up Friday, don't even bother looking at her incision or draw attention to it. Lucy isn't goi g to look at it! Just look in her druggy eyes and tell her what a good girl she is and give her @ots of applause!!

Of course every dog and every situation is different, but a week should be ample time to observe, get her throw the rough slots, and see how well she is doing. You'll want to keep all stairs blocked off, no jumping up on sofa, etc. Probably the biggest concern is making sure Lucy doesn't get to the stitches. A cone, plus tee shirt should take care of that.

There are a few dogs like my Happy Hannah who never needed a cone. That was only with me watching her non stop from the git go and never seeing her showing ANY interest in her incision EVER.....ZERO!! She definitely was the exception (because she was, indeed, EXCEPTIONAL) and a cone is absolutely the safest way to go....or soft donut cone.

STAY CONNECTED and let us k ow how we can help! Will be watching for yiur updates!

Hugs!

Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!  

Thank you Sally and crew--I much appreciate it. Like every dog parent, we are anxious and just want to do right by our girl.  Lucy was a rescue dog--we've had her about 3.5 years, and she is between 7-8years old.  Lucy is a yellow lab and whippet mix--I call her our Whipador, and tell her that she is a very special breed.  She is fast as the wind and loves to run, so I am encouraged to hear that those days may not be behind her yet.   She weighs about 55 lb.

Lucy, like all beloved dogs, is the best dog ever--but she is an anxious one.  She howled all night at the vet before her surgery, and is NOT GOOD with the cone.  I have ordered one of the comfy cones but am hoping we can supervise her enough to avoid using it much.

Our house is kind of tough--stairs to get inside and outside, and steep stairs to our second floor, but we at least have carpeting on them.  I really appreciate the suggestion about getting something for other slippery floors like yoga mats and will do that tomorrow.  I wanted to buy a harness for her but I don't have her measurements so will have to wait until she is home. her bed has been an old couch in our bedroom, but i think it will be hard to get up there for a bit, so I have ordered one of the 7" memory foam beds that are recommended on the Tripawds gear part of the website.  This is such an invaluable resource.

We don't know yet what kind of bone cancer she has (had)? It was in an unusual spot on the leg our surgeon said so we still have some hope that it wasn't an osteosarcoma.  We have always known that getting her several years on we wouldn't have her as long, but I think we all felt that we should get a good 5 years with her so were very shocked by this diagnosis.