Thanks for the welcome.

Well, so far it has been a bit rough.  

He had his front leg removed in Wednesday and the report from the vet was it went very well.

Day 1 (Thur) the vet was amazed at how well he was doing so said to pick him up mid afternoon. 

Transporting him was tough.  I have an SUV to get him into that is high.  Also, he is heavy so I'm not able to lift him.  Hubby was at work so I brought along a coworker to give a hand and when buddy tried to lift Zeus he received the most viscious growl.  While we were discussing plans to get him in just jumped in in his own although he did wipe out a bit.  Getting him out was equally difficult.  Tried ramps but he wouldn't trust them.  He ended up getting out on his own through a lower to the ground side door.

He was send home with a fentanyl patch, gabapentin, tramadol, and metacam.

First thing he did was run to the back yard and have a good bathroom stop - #1 & 2.  He was getting around well, in good spirits and seems quite comfortable.

I have a couple days off work and set up to sleep on the couch to be near him for the first few days.

Day 2 (Fri) he again was doing quite well.  Not quite as active as he was in day 1 but getting lots of good sleep, eating, drinking, bathrooming well.

Day 3 (Sat) instructions were to remove the fentanyl patch Saturday morning.  We didn't get it off until almost noon.  He seemed a little more lethargic than the previous day but again sleeping, eating and bathrooming well.  He's been very sucky since being home following me around if I leave him for more than 5 minutes.

Day 4 (Sun) 4:30 in the morning he woke me up crying.  He wasn't very interested I eating and was hardly able to get him to down the good stuff that had were hiding the meds.  He wouldn't go out to pee.  Just stayed pretty immobile and when he would move a bit he'd cry, take a couple steps, and flopped back down.

Called the vet after lunch saying I didn't think Zeus was comfortable any more.  Vet suggested upping his gabapentin and tramadol dosing to every 8 hours.

For the rest of the day no difference and it was really tough to get his meds into him.  

10 at night hubby got home from work!  Zeus all of a sudden had no problems getting around.  Went out to the yard with hubby and peed no issue and had appetite again.  Never once cried.  Totally made me look like I was making up how rough a day it was.

His last dose for the day of gaba and tram i shorted slightely as I'm worried about overdosing him and think going to 8 hour dosing will push him to too much.

Day 6 (Mon) - started a little rough.  He was getting around more but had some serious panting going on for the first time.  The crying was way less.

After a while though he seemed good.  Was eating drinking and going to the bathroom and getting around good.  

Honestly his level of suck was high.  He needed more attention than a toddler.

Was pretty optimistic we may be over the worst and feeling good that this new dosage was working. 

When it came to his last dose for the night however he wasnt budging for it.  Had to shove his pills down his throat.

I'm back at work tomorrow so hoping he's going to have a good day.