Sorry for the silence…here’s just an update on dear Rex:
Rex went to the doctor on 14/10 and was given an “ok” from the doctor! Rex weighed in at 28.2 kgs and has since developed some leg muscle on his right (operated) hind leg which is a good thing as the doc was earlier worried that Rex would not put weight on his operated leg. The doc was worried that Rex’s operated leg muscle would slowly ‘die’ if he does not start moving and exercising it. We were advised to help him exercise e.g. run so that he will build up his leg muscle. Running…well that is certainly not a problem for Rex, we are just sometimes afraid that he will not stop running that’s all!!!
Meanwhile his left hind leg condition has been diagnosed as “straight hock” (definition: the tarsal joint of the hind leg of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse or dog, corresponding to the human ankle but bending in the opposite direction) basically meaning that Rex’s left hind leg bends in the opposite direction when he stands for too long. The doctor confirmed that it is not life threating and something that Rex will have to live with for the rest of his life; not even a TPO operation will be of help. Well Rex is thus spared from going through another round of the dreaded TPO!
The doctor’s only advice for us is to help keep Rex’s weight below 30kgs so that his body weight will not put too much pressure on both his hind legs. Other than that, Rex is as healthy (and handsome) as a golden retriever can be!!!
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Oh by the way, Rex turned 1 year old on 15/10 and was rewarded with a bone which he relished and guarded with those sharp pointed teeth of his!
TPO surgery is by far one of the most excruciating and major operation that a dog can ever possibly go through. We are all glad and thankful for the means, love and care we could give to Rex to help him overcome this epsisode in his doggie lifetime.
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Quick update from where we left off 2 weeks ago.
Rex has been steadily recovering; and apart from the brief shock Jie had with mr rex boy biting off the stitches around his weewee area :P, thereby exposing the half dangling piece of exposed freshly-operated-flesh, rushing him to the on-call vet at GlobalPets who stitched him back up on a Sunday afternoon; – he’s doing pretty ok. in fact he’s had his first shower since the op almost 3 weeks ago.
just a note to mention he had a bit of problem walking on the operated hip/leg last thurs night/friday morning and we were a bit concerned. so we took him in for a checkup in the afternoon and the doctors say its nothing to worry about. in fact they thought he walked fine, for a 3-weeks post surgery condition. so kind dr Lim just did the normal stuff for him like clipping of his nails, cleaning his (very dirty) ears, and shaving off that overgrown fur around his paws. nonetheless we felt it was something out of the ordinary cos he walked much better before that. in any case. he’s doing much better now and walking almost ordinarily, as he would have before surgery. at least putting some weight on the right leg. if anything, his left hip looks like its developing some sort of problem now! for one, his left knee is like jutting out when he’s standing still. hopefully he starts putting more weight and relies on the right now that it’s fixed and hence not aggravate whatever problems he has on the left side.
i’ll update more soon. but for now just to put on record the underlying reason for this blog is to create awareness to owners of man’s best friends so they know what’s normal, what’s not, what the doctors dont tell you after TPO’s done (thank you very much) and why your dog doesnt sleep on the first night after he’s back from the operation, when he does his first potty after that, how he doesnt like E-collars, when the dissolvable stitches go away etc. at least we’ve been through it and seen it happen to rex. so here’s to all golden retriever owners. to the best dogs ever.