May 10-16, 2009, stitches & staples removed

Winston's wound has healed and he doesn't even have scabs left, so once the stitches and staples come out, he can leave the evil e-collar behind -- HOORAY! He hates it every time we put it on, but he's resigned to the fact he has to wear it.

He's eating and drinking normally. I've cut him back to 6.5-7 cups of food per day because he's really not getting exercise and I don't want him to get overweight, but I'd like him to regain a little of the weight that he lost while he had the infection. It's a constant juggling act, but I guess everyone goes through that even with a healthy dog (or ourselves!). I'm just happy when his backbone isn't as prominant as it has been. He had gaunt hollows on either side of his backbone, and to me, that's a little too thin.

In the pictures, you can see in the first one how he stands now -- on the tops of his toes. The second picture sort of shows how much atrophy he's got in that leg, but believe me, the picture doesn't do the real thing justice. His leg is literally 2 (or less) inches thick when you look at it from the back or front. There is also no muscle tone in his thigh. I can push my hands together on either side of the "wide part" of his leg (if you look at it from the side) and feel his thighbone. With his leg so thin you can really see the medial buttress on the inside of his knee. AMVS suggested that I poke it with my finger to see how it feels. If it's pretty firm, all is well, but if it begins to feel softer like I could push my finger into it, then the infection is back. Oh joy!

You can also see how he has to curve his back so that he's got most of his weight centered over the left back leg. I'm sure his back aches. I've been massaging it.

The stitches and staple are OUT! The weather is nice so I think we can spend some more time sitting in the yard so that Winston gets a break from his room. He's been in there so long that we've actually started calling it Winston's room. He's getting around better, and even doing a little bit of toe touching to help balance himself, so we took the exercise pen down and we've got baby gates across both stairways. Josie and Tyler (our 5 pound 16 year old cat) find the gates a little inconvenient but they are learning to live with them.