If you don't mind me throwing another option out there, please keep her quiet. No jumping or running. Even if you have to bring her snack to her, that's ok for now. The more rest she gets now the better it will be for her healing. 

This is just my experience. I am not a vet but if she does too much now it's just going to delay her healing and give her more discomfort and the possibility swelling and leakage. 

Jackie and Huck ❤️

I wonder why it is just at night. The only thing that my memory with others has experienced similar was because they were running low on pain meds and with the help of their vet they rearranged the medication schedule so that the meds lasted better throughout the evening and the panting stopped. Other than that I am out of ideas. 

Swallowing food without chewing.. Mitchell does that lol.. but he has always done that. That is his "norm" if you want to call it that hahah. I don't know why she would all of a sudden do that, kind of odd? Will be interesting to see if a med free day changes that new behavior. 

The panting could be an effect of the medicine, and then you have to weigh out her comfort level with and without it. I would think at this point you will be able to see a difference even if it is a small difference in her to gauge her pain level. They are so good at hiding pain, it is their instinct not to let anybody know when they are injured as a method of survival so just watch her, her appetite, if she flinches at all or goes for the incision area and see how she does. The only worrisome thing is if pain reoccurs it is sometimes harder to get back under control, just like with people. 

I hope you all have a good day today, hang in there, recovery can be tricky and we have all gone through different things with ours as they healed. This will all get better!!

yaya said
Very little panting during the day today so far. It happened last night -in the middle of it and we cannot find any pattern or association.

Her vet recommended to stop all medications tomorrow onwards to see if its the side effects.

The other thing we noticed after amp. is that she doesn't seem to chew her food but swallows it instead (even the knibbles or pieces of cucumber or carrot as an example) It has improved over the days but i am still not happy with that. Any similar experience?  

A couple of things come to mind here.  The panting thing is so tough to figure out - it could be meds, but in our specific experience, only Prednisone has had that impact.  I was convinced when Pofi started the Gabapentin pre-amp that it was causing him to pant - and my vet said we could try dialing it back, but panting, which was a sign of discomfort for him, immediately got much worse and instead we increased and he did much better.  He was never truly dopey despite the meds, except after GA.  But again, my dog and our experience.

Pofi's nerve sheath tumor was clearly larger and more "diffuse" - it had reached the point of having "tentacles" that spread in multiple directions.  As you know, the nerves reach into muscle and muscle atrophy of the triceps is an indicator. It is not just the fact the dog is trying not to bear weight on that leg that causes the atrophy of muscle - it is the cancer. One of the things we learned just pre-op was that muscle atrophy was more extensive - the diaphragm muscles on that left side of the body were impacted and were not going to recover. They could see that in the imaging - so left lung - left side of this system did not work as well as right.  I asked if that was going to impact him in exercise and play - she said she would be concerned if he were running marathons. I personally believe, however, it was more impactful than that. It was nothing alarming, but I think the detriment was just more apparent when he was running or walking or warm.

Immediately post amp, Pofi also had sort of a droop to his left eye and his second eyelid seemed like it would not open fully - you could see it a little when he was awake and alert.  It made me really said when I inquired and the surgeon said it was probably a permanent side effect of the damage from the tumor itself and damage to the nervous system in removing it. She talked again about how much soft tissue is removed and how complex the nervous system is.  It was not uncommon for the NST in this location to be radiating out in different directions including up the neck and toward the face and jaw.  For whatever reason, this was not permanent for Pofi - his eye looked normal again in a few days and lids operated normally.  In the last few days of his life though, when the NST was back in his spine, that slightly altered appearance and lazy inner eyelid seemed to be back.  

So I wonder if the swallowing could be an impact of the tumor and removal - some nerves might not be fully functioning or there might be some atrophy of muscles in the neck, esophagus.  And it might be temporary - some nerves repair their own damage over a period of weeks.

Just thought I'd share these specific NST experiences - may or may not be in play with Belle.

to your pretty girl.