Hi everyone!
So a week ago today, I had Juliette spayed. The operation went very well, but naturally, I was pretty worried and anxious. Luckily, I was able to bring her home that afternoon, but I was just nervous about her over-exerting herself.
The first night was pretty easy and she wasn't over doing it at all, mainly because she was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. I opted to forgo getting her the "Elizabethan Collar" or E-Collar -- basically the cone thing. (If you've seen the movie "Up" you know it as the Cone of Shame.) My theory was that Juliette has someone around her 24 hours a day. I am the world's lightest sleeper. I wake up if she changes position in bed, or if she starts dreaming in her sleep and changes breathing. We didn't have any issues and she basically learned that if she so much as sniffed her incisions we'd all say "NO" in surround sound, so she stopped.
On Monday, she had a little excess drainage from the wound, so I took her into the vet who put her on antibiotics as a precaution and also forced me to take the E-Collar, which I knew she didn't need. Since then, the wound has calmed down and Juliette has also not gone after the wound. It's healing very nicely, and so is she! The most difficult part of the process has been that we can't play with her the way she wants to play, and she doesn't understand why.
The upside for her is that she's gotten to try a couple new things as a result of the surgery and us trying to find other ways to entertain her. For example, on the first night afterwards, I went to Wal-Mart and bought her Frosty Paws Ice Cream by Purina. It comes in an original flavor and also a peanut butter flavor (which I couldn't find). But she loves it! I thought it'd be a nice treat and in the first 24 hours, she wasn't eating much, and the vet actually thought it was a great idea as something soothing and appealing, but soft for her try in the first few hours. Also, she has a pain medication that she gets once a day by syringe but she actually really loves it -- it's formulated to taste good for dogs, and she's so patient about it, she will literally open her mouth for me to squirt the medicine in. And, to make the process of her taking an antibiotic a little more easy, she, like all our dogs before us, has discovered the joy of peanut butter between a couple little crackers.
Now, Juliette is doing great. She gets her stitches out on Monday, but she's been feeling much better for days. She is still sleeping mostly on the floor, but we've gotten all our extra comforters out and made beds for her so she can be comfortable. But two nights ago, I was sound asleep when I woke up with one paw on either side of my head. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but she had bounded up on the bed to save me from a spider dropping on my face, which I caught and squished.
Now, she has become our little spider hunter. We have a very big back yard, and as it is, spiders tend to gravitate towards our house. But with all the rain, they're really showing up. I swear, it can be dark and soundless in my room, and she can be out like a light, but she'll jump up and fixate on it. However, she is making it very easy for us to find and catch them. Luckily, with Memorial Day coming up, my dad and brother will be doing a lot of gardening and I'll be doing some cleaning, so that will minimize the problem. It is very funny though -- she gets very excited when my dad squishes them and lets out a happy bark. Now we joke that she and my dad are going hunting together!
I'll be posting pictures of miss Juliette eating her softy paws ice cream soon! :)
Until then, lots of love from both of us!
--Heather & Juliette
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