That is great news for Madison.

As Kami mentioned, the t-shirt is a good alternative to the cone – it worked well for Zack.  

The other thing that really helped Zack was carpets in kitchen.  I bought a 50 ft roll of carpet runner at Lowe's (it looks kind-of industrial, but has rubber backing to keep it in place pretty well) and just cut it to make paths to all of his favorite places in the kitchen.  This really helped his confidence in the first few days after surgery.

And, I don't know if Madison is a couch cuddler, but if so, some advice we got from the vet tech who discharged Zack that worked well for us was to pull the couch cushions down on the floor just in front of the couch.  That way, we could sit with/cuddle him just like before the surgery, but with no worry about getting him up & down.  And, since Zack was also a bed cuddler, we re-configured the cushions each night to sleep down there with him (rather than leaving him downstairs by himself) for the two weeks until his staples came out.

Good luck, and as others have mentioned, the first few days are the hardest – it WILL get better, and Madison will end up amazing you with how well she adapts.

Madison is home!  She ended up staying 4 nights at the vet due to excess drainage from the surgery site.  They were able to remove the drainage tube today so she could come home.  The vet fell in love with her, and even asked to be in our Will as Madison's "guardian" should anything happen to us, as they really bonded through this experience.  Too sweet.  Madison is doing so great, I am really proud of her.  She is already walking around (in a very small area) with little to no assistance. She seems relatively comfortable for what she has been through, and takes lots of "cat naps".  She is doing the t-shirt, as she is trying to lick at some of the drainage that is still coming out.  Right now we are pretty much keeping her confined to one (carpeted) room to keep her from over-doing things.  Her doggie brother and sisters were happy to see her, and are behaving beautifully around her.  We are excited to see her continue to recover and to be a better, pain-free version of her old self!

Madison,

You are home now with your loving, caring and cautious canine and human family. You are a very lucky girl.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and lovely t-shirts to wear  !!!!

Spirit JD's mom

Ok, so today not such a great day.  I think we (including Madison) were all on an adrenaline high yesterday after she came home.  She was okay this morning, but did not want to eat much.  On a positive note, she did go poop today!  Then this afternoon, she got sick twice.  She did not eat much for dinner, which is making me cautious about giving her the meds.  I am going to wait another hour and see if she feels a bit better and will eat something.  Any advice for food when they aren't feeling so hot and don't want to eat?

Yes, with Boo we'd also have a few "up" days followed by a "down" day or two… It's a roller-coaster of a week (or two)!  Enjoy the good days and be sure to take deep calming breaths during the ruff days! 

To get Boo to eat, we mixed her food with rice on the days she wasn't interested – that usually worked for us.  And Boo LOVES mashed potatoes – so we'd put a heaping spoonful in her bowl to get her started once and a while too. (Does Madison have a favorite "people food" you can add to her food)?   …on really bad days, we'd just put chicken noodle soup in her bowl and skip the "usual food" all together!  …not sure how good that is for a dog, but as you saw, she survived! Every day we just tried to love her, and do what we thought was best for her at that time. 

Remember, No Guilt – Just Love!