Bandage Removal

Chili went back to the vet today for his bandage removal. His incision looks good, and he has a few stitches in (so the e-collar will be on pretty much 24/7). He's very tender on the leg, we got the go-ahead to do a little bit of gentle movement with his hip (with him laying on his good side) but he's so tender he won't really let us. We are also supposed to ice for about 5 minutes a day, but I can't get the ice pack near his leg without a tantrum! The vet says the next 4 weeks are imperative to his recovery: he'll be on VERY strict crate rest! We go back in 10 days-ish (May 15th) to get his stitches removed. Then he doesn't have to wear the e-collar anymore!

With the bandage off, he's trying to move more, so its very hard to keep him still, but we're trying. Bathroom time is hard, because he wants to run all over the yard, but we keep him on a very short leash, so he can only take about 1 step in either direction. His appetite is good, and we're only giving him the sedative at night now (although it doesn't seem to work: he kept us awake ALL last night, I feel like I need a sedative, too!)

I have some pictures of Chili now with the bandage off. They are of the incision site, so may be a little bit graphic. I'll try and post new ones every few days or so, so people can see his progress. His hair is growing back pretty quickly, and pretty much all of the razor burn is healed or scabbed over.

































Hopefully Chili will let us sleep more tonight, I feel like I'm about to fall over! He seems to be in pretty good spirits and is always wagging his tail, which is great. Right now he's finally sleeping, so maybe we'll get lucky and it will continue until the morning! We're setting up a private webcam so I can keep an eye on him during the day (I have some emergency people to call in case he gets that e-collar off)! I'll post an update within the next few days!