Ruff, ruff day

Dakota isn’t feeling up to writing down his feelings today so I will try my best to do half as well as he does at this blogging business.

Yesterday Dakota had a hard day. He had a few times where his incision or his shoulder was bumped and he yelped. Evelyn was playing and got very exuberant and jumped at Dakota like she’s used to doing. She landed on that poor shoulder and Dakota yelped something awful and then tried to eat Evelyn. I rescued her and sat with Dakota trying to calm him. He was trembling and very shaky. I convinced him to  lay down and then sat beside him until he seemed to calm down.

Later in the day, D must have gotten bumped somehow when he was going outside. I’m not sure if he brushed against the door jamb or if he stepped over the threshold funny or what, but he went through the same yelping and trembling. I went out with him and he appeared to become distracted and able to check out the scenery.

Dakota did spend a lot of time worrying his incision site yesterday. He completely soaked the shirt I had on him. Even though he’s wearing a shirt, he can still irritate the wound with all the licking. I had to put him back in the pink fleece that he hates. It’s really thick, so he can lick all he wants but it doesn’t get wet. I made him sleep in it, too.

After the second yelping episode, I gave Dakota a single Tramadol. He’s been off all pain meds since day 11 or so, but I didn’t know what else to do. I also hoped it would sedate him enough to interrupt the constant licking.

This morning, Dakota did the yelping again when he went down the single step into the back of the house. He even tried to bail out and not do the step down, but hey, with one front leg there’s really no bailing out. I had to go out with him to encourage him to pee. He was convinced, I think, that only pain would come from moving around.

Also, the inside of the pink fleece is stained this morning with seepage. I guess Dakota has irritated this thing enough to where it is leaking. I think I’m going to paint some vinegar close to the incision line and see if that stops the licking. If not, I have Cholula and Tabasco!

Dakota has eaten well so I don’t think anything serious is going on. Still, it’s disturbing to hear him cry out so. These are not minor yelps like when you step on a tail; these are the “oh dear lord I’ve been hit by a bus!” kinds of cries.

So that’s the report for 2 1/2 weeks. Hopefully Dakota will feel better this afternoon. If he does, perhaps he can post an update himself.