January 27, 2010: 8 week TPLO check

Well, today we went for Winston's 8 week check.  He wasn't too upset about going to AMVS.  I guess it's been long enough that he didn't automatically expect bad things.  Good to know that he's willing to give us all the benefit of the doubt.  Good boy!

We got to go into an exam room right away and Winston paced and panted.  He also didn't want to go back for x-rays, but did it anyway.  He's so funny.... you can pretty much do anything with him.

Dr. Duerr looked at the x-rays and then did the exam.  The bone has started healing but isn't fully healed.  He seemed pleased with the progress considering what we've been through.  The result will never be as good for a "fresh" TPLO (not following a previous repair).  I asked whether we could take down the baby gate across the stairs.  He asked whether Winston walks up and down them and I said yes, but then qualified it by saying that if someone rang the doorbell, he might run down them.  He recommended waiting another two weeks before we take it down. 

We're to keep increasing his walks as well as he can tolerate them so that we can work on the muscle atrophy.  Today we bumped back up to walking around two blocks instead of just our own.  The pups were both happy when we went that far.

As far as increasing any other exercises, we're supposed to wait on that too and go back for another check in 4-6 weeks.  All in all, it was pretty much what I expected and good news.