Mood:
blueTopic: Emergency
5-14-08: Gunny came “home” today!!!!!! I picked him up at the vet
late this afternoon, and after a long Q & A session with the staff, I
loaded him up in his crate and set sail. He is really not going for
the whole “lampshade on my head” thing (he looks PITIFUL, not to
mention highly offended), nor was he very fond of being alone in his crate
in the kitchen. We revisited the concept of wailing and screaming
while crated, but he quit that in about 5 minutes. Phew, thankfully! Linc
The Cat greeted him at the door when we arrived, and got a good bit of
tail-wagging in return. Even the other two cats ventured out…I
guess they figured “just how much trouble could I be in for from
something with THAT contraption on his head??”. I wasn’t sure what Oscar
would think of the lampshade and the surgery smells, but he seemed to
take it all in stride. He sniffed Gunny through the crate for about 5
seconds before he went in search of a toy. Gunny is allowed to be
lampshade-free when under close supervision, and Beth, Gunny and myself sat
around on the kitchen floor for a welcome home snack (and an “oh thank
goodness we have made it this far“ beer). We had piles of quilts
for him to lay on, but not surprisingly, he went straight for my lap. He
was sprawled and snoring in about 2 minutes. His leg is red and
swollen, the staples look frightening to those unfamiliar, and his shaved
hind end is pretty sad. You can see even more scars with that fur gone.
Gunny is a bit subdued and seemingly uncomfortable, but he is on a
variety of pain medicine as well as antibiotics. Having said all that,
he is getting around just as well as he did pre-surgery, albeit a bit
more slowly. For now. He goes back to the vet on Friday to have a pain
patch removed (it too is stapled into his skin) and to have his
incision area treated with a laser to stimulate faster healing (cool, huh?!).
He should have the staples taken out of his incision in about 2
weeks. Until then, the lampshade remains firmly in place. One interesting
new development since being at the vet…we have discovered that Gunny
is “a Talker”. He grumbles and grunts and moans and sigh…don’t
worry, this is not a pain thing. Some dogs are just Talkers. If you
have ever known one, you’ll know exactly what I mean. I have no
doubt that we will know EXACTLY the type of mood Gunny is in from now
on…Talkers really are hilarious and so much fun. With all of Gunny’s
personality, I should have predicted this. The other cool thing is that
this means that he is relaxing and letting his guard down even
more…letting his true self shine through. Welcome Home Gunny!
(to see photos of him when we got home got to the Gunny's website page)
Amy
