Oh dear, oh dear... Dylan's birthday this year

Amidst all the chaos I have just realised that I never did a birthday post for Dylan on 23rd June! How bad is this.

So here's a very late birthday wish for my baby boy... and some pictures to go with it taken on the day.

10-minute walks

Dylan has been doing really well with his 5-minute walks for a week. Today is the first day with 10 minutes! I did a longer walk this morning with him which turned out to be about 8 minutes, so slightly longer this evening! He is pleased to have some different scenery.

He is doing really well. He walks nicely, still a little with a limp, but certainly without problems.

Since this morning, he is also on new antibiotocs as Ceporex only covered one of the two bacteria that caused a the infection. So he's now got another two weeks worth of antibiotics.

Walks going well

We do three or four walks a day and they are going really well! Dylan enjoys going out, though he doesn't understand why the walks are so short. LOL But it's better than being stuck in the kitchen all the time!

First walks

I took Dylan out for the first time last night for a 5-minute walk and again this morning. He is really enjoying it, though doesn't understand why they are so short. LOL
I have to make him walk really slowly as well to make sure that he puts weight on the leg, but he walks nicely overall and hopefully his recovery will continue to be good.

Stitches out

When I called Fitzpatrick's yesterday, I was told that I could have the stitches removed at my primary vets to save me a long journey.

So off Dylan and I went this morning to Mark's who took the stitches out. Two were harder to removed as they burried themselves during the infection, but we got there in the end.

Dylan is still wearing the buster collar until I am 100% sure that he will leave the wound alone and it is healed over enough.

Back on track

Dylan is perfectly fine again, leg only very slightly swollen now, not too hot anymore either and Dylan is very bouncy again (had to stop him from jumping again this morning). So glad this episode is over.

I shall call Fitzpatrick's today to schedule another appointment for the stitches to come out.

Dylan much better

Last night, Dylan turned the corner and he is back to his usual self. The leg is still swollen a bit and warm to the touch, but he is bouncy again, walking on all four and generally much happier! I am so glad this episode is over.

A set back

Up to Friday, Dylan was doing so well: walking almost normally, happy, almost too bouncy in fact (had to stop him a few times from jumping up) and I was so pleased that all went well. He was due to have his stitches out on Monday.

However, on Friday evening, when I came home, he looked very sorry for himself, wasn't putting weight on his leg at all and the leg felt quite warm. By Saturday morning, he didn't even want to get up to go out to toilet (I lifted him up in the end) and the leg was quite hot now. I called Fitzpatrick Referrals and they called me back an hour later to bring Dylan in.

Natalie Watson, who saw him, said it was an infection and put him on Ceporex antibiotics, but also too a swab to find out what bacteria exactely it is.

Today, Dylan is feeling a bit better, though far from back to normal. But he is putting his leg down again (limping a bit more than before, but not too badly), he has eaten well (I added a lot of water to keep him hydrated)and he got up without much hassel to go into the garden. He was also much more interested again when I prepared the food (though again, not as much yet as he was before).

I am going to get a bigger buster collar for him today as he has somehow worked out how to get to the leg even with the collar on... That's how he got the infection into the wound.

Day 6 - Dylan's doing very well

Dylan is doing very well indeed. In fact, I had to stop him from jumping up on me yesterday. He is starting to put quite a bit of weight on his leg now and actually walks without a limp when he walks slowly.
The leg is also returning slowly back to normal colour, so the bruising is disappearing.

I have noticed this morning that the "bump" (the bone sticking out a bit on the inside of his knee) has decreased on the operated leg. I will have to ask Noel whether that was a symptom of the problem in the knee. The other knee has still got a larger "bump".

And here are some pictures that I took yesterday.

Day 2 post surgery

Dylan is feeling much better. He was fine when I came home from work. He doesn't understand why he has to stay in the kitchen all the time and can't join us on the sofa, but he is for the most part settled and happy on his duvet in the kitchen.

He very occasionally lets the foot touch the ground, so it isn't as painful anymore.

So far, I am happy with his progress. I have got half days until Tuesday (back full days on Wednesday), have also cancelled all my training commitments so I have a few days ahead of me that I can look after him and relax a bit. I need it!

Surgery went well

I was really stressed yesterday waiting for that call from Noel. But he finally called just after 5, and I was able to pick Dylan up last night. I got there at 8.45 pm, the vet (Kristian) talked me through the next steps and then brought Dylan out. Dylan looked very sorry for himself, a quick wag of the tail...

After I had paid the bill (over £4300... wow) I carried Dylan out to the car and managed to get him into the crate carefully! He cried all the way home, I think perhaps because the roads are quite rough and in my old car that causes quite a bit of vibration.

Anyway we got home, Dylan did the longest wee ever, and then I settled Dylan onto his duvet in the kitchen. I decided not to crate him but to have him in the kitchen instead with a baby gate. This way he has a bit more room to manoevre with the buster collar on.

The leg looks good on the outside, but is very bruised on the inside. The homeopathic tablets should help with that.

Dylan had a comfortable night after he had a bit of food. I slept on the sofa, less relaxed, but over the moon to have my baby home again. I am tired today, but much less stressed. Now that everything is organiesd, I feel much better. Work has been great too with giving me time off, I have this morning off too and Dylan will be fine in the afternoon.

Now that he's had his painkillers this morning, he is more comfortable again and is resting on his duvet.

I paid the remaining £844 this morning as I didn't have enough credit left on the card I took with me last night. But they will now process the insurance claim. I still have to pay 20% of the total bill (because Dylan is over 9 years old), but that's better than 100%...

Dylan at Fitzpatrick Referral Centre

Yesterday morning, I had an appointment with Noel Fitzpatrick to look at Dylan. He watched Dylan walk and he examined his spine and back legs. He said that he thinks the problem is in the spine.

At 4 pm yesterday I got a call from him saying that they can't do the MRI because their machine broke down. So they kept Dylan in for today.

Today at 5 pm, Noel called me after they had done the MRI. He said that it was actually not Dylan's spine, but his cranial cruciate ligaments in both knees. There is a partical rupture. He said that there are some dry discs in his spine, but that those weren't the ones causing the problem. It's the knees that are causing the pain in the spine.

He said that one option is permanent medication, the other is surgery. I asked what he would recommend - and he recommended surgery. So tomorrow, Dylan is having surgery on his right knee as that is worse than the other. He is having TPLO surgery (Tibia Plateau Levelling Osteotomy).

So at this moment in time, Dylan is still at the referral centre. I miss him terribly and am of course worried and nervous about the surgery. However, I am also very relieved that it is not his spine after all!

Tomorrow morning I have to send them Soloxine tablets as they haven't got any there.