Well, the same night we brought Thea home, she shook off the anesthesia and was ready to play. This was at about 4AM in the morning. We were only very slightly amused. Since then, it's been pretty futile trying to keep her calm. Even giving her a half dose of a sedative in the day and a full dose at night, she's pretty active. It seems to get her kind of high. That is, she walks a little goofy and seems pretty content just sleeping or obsessing over a raw hide bone, but it doesn't totally squelch her energy level altogether. She still will play at the drop of a hat. It looks like she's stretching the skin near her stitches a bit. I'm really really hoping she doesn't pop her stitches.
On the plus side, she hasn't been licking them. Small consolation, really.
It just kills me to have to sedate her, but since she'll hurt herself if she doesn't keep still, it appears to be the only recourse. Anyone have any good suggestions for putting a pup in suspended animation, while she heals?
One thing that does seem to calm her down is the sound of El Matchador. I've done a lot of spinning this weekend (more on that in a future post) and it usually lulls her to sleep.
She was particularly goofy after the first dose, I gave her. She was a touch wobbly, and then hopped up on the couch and reclined in this position for a good hour.
I figured that the dose was a touch too strong, so I cut her back to a half, for any daytime hours. The vet said that we might have to play with the dosage to get it just right.
In entirely unrelated news, we have a little mystery.
Leo found this leaf, with a rock and a q-tip on top of it, perched on the corner of our house. There's a little brick facade running along the bottom 3 feet of the house, that juts out a couple inches. Someone had placed the items there.
We are thinking that it was something the neighbor's kid made for us, but we haven't seen her around to ask. If so, it's a cute gesture, however, if it wasn't from a kid, the q-tip really creaps it up a notch, you know?
Here are the q-tip and back of leaf and rock. We placed them all in a bag, just in case.
We have no idea what the writing says, it's a little hard to read, but it sort of looks like the biggest words are, "The King."
Anyway, does anyone have any idea what could have been used, in conjunction with a q-tip (ie, a liquid) to produce the blue writing on the leaf? Hopefully, it's something totally benign.
Looks like some sort of marker perhaps ?
Thea is so cute - the way she crashes out on the couch after you gave her the dose - she looks K.O. :)
We can't sleep on our backs like that, but it sure looks like fun !
it almost looks like the metallic sharpies i bought a few months ago (not actually sharpies, they're made by rose art, but that style of marker).
as for thea, i know someone who ran across doggie treats that have her dogs taking naps every afternoon. maybe you could try those? if i knew where she'd gotten them, i'd tell ya, lol. i'd like to get some for my daughter's dog!
Random lurker delurking--it definitely looks like kid writing and drawing, and from the stuff on the back I'd say a sort of map. My guess is that your neighbour girl was playing some sort of fantasy pretend game, perhaps where she was a spy who had to leave a map for the king to make his way through the forest...
Not that I read too many fantasy and SF novels or anything.
Uh... at least it was a clean cotton swab?
But why does it have the words "go to" underneath "the king"?
glad to hear your little girl is recovering well. the 'drunk' photo is really too cute!
I really love that spinning makes her sleepy. Little Thea. So very cute.
It's kinda cute that the medicine is making her loopy. Rex always fights any sedative I give him, so it's good that Thea is just giving into it. And that picture of her on the couch? OMG! That is so cute!
No clues about the litte monument. Kinda weird, but this is Portland we're talking about.
Uff, dog, get some rest! You're making your mother nervous.
Thea looks quite comfortable upside-down! For our dogs we could only keep them "quiet" with sedation plus kenneling them. How long does Thea have till her stitches come out?
And what a mystery!
Hmm, at first I thought the leaf thing might be some form of geocaching. But the back looks like a map or directions of some sort? If it were me, I'd put it back and see who comes by to pick it up. But I'm weird like that.
As far as the pup, here's where reasoning and telling scary stories about popped stitches would really come in handy. Our girl's all healed now, but it was a rough first week (sorry). We did everything we could to keep her occupied and tired. First, we separated the dogs. Old man Gibson was very happy to have a few days of rest. He hung out with my husband, while I watched the girl. If she started acting playful, I'd take her out on a walk. We'd come home, she'd get something to chew on, and she'd fall asleep. Basically those two things, walks and chews, got us by. I think, though, that we were gifted with a relatively low energy dog - but she makes up for it in the crazy department. Also, she wore the cone the whole time cuz she's a licker, so that helped also in terms of her feeling less frisky. Kinda hard to play around without bumping into stuff all the time - but I can imagine that wouldn't stop Thea, eh?
Have you tried Bach Original Flower Essences "Rescue Remedy" formula for Thea?
I don't know if it'll calm her down the way sedation does, but it's homeopathic and can't hurt. . . My friends use it for their dog who goes crazy during fireworks on 4th of July.
It should be available at most natural foods stores like Whole Food Market.
If the spinning works, go with it. But if you want more "natural" sedatives, I've noticed a distinct drop in dog activity after they get rice and warm chicken broth. We also give them a terrific ethnic dish once in a while that has the same effect. (E-mail me if you want the recipe.)
The vet recommended it as a bland diet when our little girl had tummy issues, and the two of them curled up on the couch and were crashed out for the better part of the day.
Popped stitches aren't the end of the world, either, so don't overstress.
Spinning wheel lulls her to sleep- again, I say she must have been a spinner in a past life. The far out pose is just too funny.
I think the leaf is a fairy map and the q-tip is a scepter...it sounds just like something my daughter would have done years ago.
Definitely kid art. I have a little neighbor who leaves drawings of cars and picked flowers all over my back yard. One time he outlined all of the spots on our sidewalk with painter's tape. This looks like similar behavior.
Maybe the leaf & Q-Tip was a clue set out for a treasure hunt ? Having done a few, there are some odd things used and it's not unknown for someone to move the clue before the hunt starts ;)
Hope Thea heals quick.
I am so glad to know she is playing. Dogs know when to just rest and let themselves heal. The belly is just so darn cute--I love dogs bellies. At night when I stand up Cerino always turns on his back so I can give him a belly rub...It just melts my heart.
Glad Thea is healing...sorry you guys have to dope her. But isn't she just the cutest thing? I love her sleeping pose. :)
The leaf, it if it is a map...could the q-tip be like a compass pointer?
Um, dude, I'm kind of scared.
My mind always creeps over to the wrong end of the spectrum.
Thea's sleeping position is pretty common in our house and pretty common for greyhounds. It is called cockroaching.
I'm much more inclined to think it's a map. "The King" has to "go to" and follow the map on the back. The q-tip is a ummmm scepter. Right? King? Scepter? My older brother and I used to do that kind of stuff all the time when we were little...