No Bad News is Good News

We made it two days without a visit to the veterinarian's office and nothing out of the ordinary to report. Monte's wound has been re-bandaged daily and it appears to be healing well. The most recent stapling only required five or six staples, about half as many as the initial procedure. Our ordeal started exactly a month ago and I am hoping that things will be back to normal this weekend.

We have used the sedatives a couple times and they are either very strong or Monte is extremely sensitive because a half dose literally knocks him out. The new collars should do the trick, but that's what we thought last time. It's nice to have the insurance of "knockout drops".

As we tire of the whole ordeal, our pity for Monte increases and we have relaxed a few puppy rules. The last two nights, we broke a puppy raiser commandment and allowed Monte to sleep outside the crate - next to our bed on a pile of pillows. It was difficult to watch and listen to him banging around the crate with his conehead. It's the least we could do and it increases the chance that we might hear him eating the bandages.

Update 12/2: Monte seemed uncomfortable after we changed his bandages last night. He had a restless night and was whining in his crate at 3am. He shouldn't have to potty, but I took him out at 3:15 this morning. He did have to go, however the whining continued. Administered a small dose of sedative and pain medicine to help him sleep. In the new day's light, we could see that Monte's recovering paw was double the size of his right one. Another trip to the veterinarian and the diagnosis was either it was wrapped too tight and restricting the blood flow, but more likely it is an infection based on the oozing and re-stapling.

We almost made it three days without a vet visit and more expenses.
Next step will be to amputate the leg :-)