This week Kara had surgery to repair her torn ligament. (It’s called TLPO surgery, if you want to look up the gory details). The good news is the surgery went well and in about 8 weeks we should be able to start (gradually) hiking and running again. The bad news is that she doesn’t get any walks until her stitches come out 2 weeks post-surgery, and then only short walks. Aaaand she’s already almost back to her pre-surgery energy levels.
So this week we’ve been figuring out our new routine of supervising and containing a dog who’s supposed to avoid most of her usual activity but doesn’t understand why she’s not allowed to get on the couch, or run around the yard, or, or, or… The first few days while her leg was completely bandaged she was quite the pitiful sight, but now that the leg isn’t immobilized she attempts to do pretty much everything that she isn’t allowed to do. Oy. Here’s how our week went:
Monday: Gym, and usual weekday stuff.
Tuesday: I dropped Kara off for her surgery before heading out for a speed run.
Wednesday: The vet wanted to give Kara her breakfast and make sure she was keeping her food down before they sent her home, so I headed to a nearby trail for a few miles before I picked her up.
I spent the rest of the morning getting Kara settled in at home and keeping her under supervision to prevent, for example, jumping on the couch or chasing the cats. (We have not been 100% successful at either.)
Thursday: I slept downstairs with Kara Wednesday night, and neither of us slept well since she kept getting up and rearranging herself to get more comfortable. It was my day to stay home with her, so we both had a chill day. For Kara it included laying outside for a while for the first time since her surgery.
Friday was my husband’s turn to stay home with Kara, so I headed out for my usual Friday steep trail run. Strava says I ran a ton of route PRs, but I`m not sure what it’s on about since this run was actually slower (though just by a few seconds) than last time I ran this trail. The uphill is starting to feel easier though, which is the more important part.
I took care of all the lab work and errands that accumulated while I was home with Kara, and managed to fit in a quick gym workout also.
Friday night we both left the house for a couple hours, for the first time since the surgery. Kara was content to take a nap in her crate.
Saturday Kara got her bandage off. She was ecstatic until she learned that the cone of shame had to come out to prevent her from licking her stiches. Fortunately she’s not actually all that interested in licking, so she only has to wear the cone when she’s unsupervised. The tricky part is that her cone doesn’t really fit in her crate, where she’s supposed to stay when unsupervised. We’ll probably improvise by barricading the living room.
Sunday I got in my long…ish run. I went out to a trail that I thought was quite a bit longer than it actually was, so what I ended up doing was going up the trail, down the road, and repeating with a parallel section of trail for 6.2 miles. I had planned on 7-8, but I wasn’t feeling like running part of the same route for the third time…not to mention the rain interspersed with bouts of graupel.
Meanwhile, Kara thinks she’s feeling well enough to be allowed to run around the yard unsupervised….when actually she has to stay on leash any time she goes out for another 5-6 weeks. Send help. Maybe a dog whisperer?
How do you feel about running the same route multiple times in a row?
Any tips on doggy surgery recovery?
Linking up with Meghan for week in review and Holly and Wendy for Weekly Wrap
I had to look up “graupel”! I’ve never heard the word before. Is that a common occurrence where you live?
Glad to hear Kara is healing and recovering well. Dogs don’t stay down for long!
I used to just call it “tiny hail” but figured I should learn what it’s actually called 😂 We get it fairly often.
I usually run the same routes all the time. When I venture out to another route I tend not to go too far because I never know where it leads to and I don’t want to get lost…haha.
I’m fine running the same routes – not so fond of running the same route twice in a row though!
Happy to hear that Kara’s surgery went well.
We dont really have any running paths in my town so I normally run the same routes (which always include running on streets and stoplights). It can get kind of boring and I wish I had a way to mix it up!
I’m an odd runner in that I don’t really mind stoplights. Running on the street scares me though!
The way you feel about Kara is the way I feel about Ave when she’s overtired. I need to reduce activity without the risk of pissing off said child. It’s a conundrum to be sure. 🙂
The nice thing about dogs is they never really get pissed off at you. We get the sad-puppy-dog-eyes guilt trip instead.
I do not like loops.
Chester was a puppy when he had his surgery, but oddly enough, it really completely changed his energy level. We didn’t know at the time that he had a heart murmur and would end up dying of heart failure — at 10. 🙁 And he’s small, so it wasn’t too hard. Except the jumping on & off the couch thing.
The hardest part was we adopted Lola about 1 week before he got the ok to return to normal activities, so he had to be on a leash and supervised with her that first week.
All I can tell you is that you will get through it!
The couch is the hardest – we have stuff piled on/in front of it, but she keeps finding openings somehow!
I love where you run…it looks gorgeous! I have a cat…he never listens to me. I can’t imagine how miserable he’d be if he had to wear the cone of shame. Poor Kara. Hope she gets better soon!
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I really can’t imagine one of our cats wearing a cone of shame. They’d get out of it in no time!
It’s great to hear Kara did so well with her surgery, but I can’t imagine keeping a dog from running around for that long. I don’t mind repeating a route over and over. It an odd way, it’s comforting. And if it’s a pretty trail like yours, that’s just a bonus! Thanks for linking!
I can’t say that keeping her from running around is 100% working….
Oooohhh Kara!! What a huge sport. I wouldn’t wish that discomfort over anyone – dog or otherwise. Thankfully she has some pretty loving, dedicated parents. Good for you guys. You must be tired…
When I did run, I actually loved having my set route to repeat. A new route was fun, but I liked knowing I wouldn’t have to think about where to go or how far it would be – I could just run, turn off my brain and knew all that stuff ahead of time.
We’ve caught up on sleep some…but my body is pretty confused by spending alternate nights on the couch.
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