Recovery Roller Coaster

Scarlett’s return home after surgery was filled with smiles and laughter. The light in her eyes, once dimmed by the pain of her deteriorating femur, had returned. She seemed to be completely oblivious to the lack of limb. And I admit, her new hop was quite endearing. In my mind she had transformed from a hurting pup to a magical golden kangaroo! This was the peak of the roller coaster.

I began blogging Scarlett’s new tripawd adventure the moment we picked her up from the hospital – which you can watch in this video.  The amazing tripawd community offered tons of advice and support through their comments on our posts. Mixed in with the cheers of encouragment was the disclaimer that there would likely be ups and downs in the recovery process. I suppose this is common knowledge. I even found myself relaying this message to other members of the family. But seeing her so upbeat during the time I figured would be the most physically difficult, I began to believe Scarlett was the exeption to this rule. No Sir-ree. Upon day 2 of her recovery, I began to see changes in her behavior and mood…

Hard Wood Floors – The beautiful hardwood floors that my parents spent a small fortune on where now a huge inconvenience. The wee puppy Scarlett would once glide across the glossy surface after an intentional running head start, only to collide with a wall. This was a playtime activity for Skrit (family nickname) that would provide endless laughs for the family…. We tried to prepare the area for Scarlett’s homecomming by covering slippery surfaces with area rugs. With all rugs now being used for de-slipping purposes, there were still spots of wood floor exposed. Scarlett’s front paw seemed to have a magnetic attraction to the scarce patches of hardwood. And each time she would stumble, loose balance, slip, and sometimes fall to the ground. I didn’t want her to become more aware of her “dissability”. So with each stumble, I would shower her with encouragement and excitement. Either way, she is now afraid of the floors because she knows she may slip and fall. It breaks my heart to see her head down and frozen in place when called to go “outside”, knowing she may encounter wood.  I much prefer the old carpet spotted with puppy pee stains.

Doggy Diet – Scarlett is 80 lbs. She needs to be 65 lbs. Long before we receive Scarlett’s diagnosis, her vet offed adviced that she loose some weight. Looking back I now see that our family did not take this very seriously. In contrast to humans, it is not nearly as easy to spot an overweight dog. Especially a golden retriever whose hair makes up half of their mass. Is there even a dog under all of that hair?  If there’s this much hair on the couch, and she’s not bald, how much hair is there really?!? Another weakness was treats. Scarlett was so obedient and SMART! In her first few months the family taught her a plethora of tricks. A favorite family pastime was watching Scarlett trick shows, which required many edible rewards. During family dinners Mom would always say, “Don’t give her human food.” I think that secretly everyone wanted to be the nice human that would sneak a bit of steak under the table. Problem is, everyone was that “nice human”, including Mom. No wonder she sat under the dinner table.

The extra weight doesn’t just make her look fluffier anymore, it makes her life more difficult. She struggles to lift herself from the ground. The front leg begins to tremble if she stands too long, and has even buckled beneath her a few times. This particular struggle is most difficult for me because we humans are to blame. I know that with the strong will of her humans, Scarlett will meet her ideal weight. But readjusting to her new condition would likely be more comfortable and with less discouraging tumbles if her humans had listened the first time.

Scarlett, all smiles.

While this isn’t our typical uplifting post, it is reality. There are ups and many downs to this process. But I am happy my dog is alive and with practice, will be able to live an active lifestyle again. It is important to stay positive for our pups. Although they do not morn the loss of limb as humans do, they certainly can read their humans emotions. Each time I wanted to be sad, I put on a happy face…for Scarlett.

8 thoughts on “Recovery Roller Coaster”

  1. Yes, recovery is an absolute roller coaster ride, one that can literally make you sick to your stomach. But, as you said, you have to be strong and put on a brave face for your beautiful girl. I just read through your entire blog. You’re doing fine, trust me! Your girl is back home where she belongs, with the family she loves. Please keep posting, and ask any questions you may have in the forums, as there is a lot more traffic there. Give your pretty girl a belly rub for me!

  2. You’ve pretty much nailed it! Scarlett will be able to get a girlish figure with a lot of help. If she’s a chow hound and likes most everything, it will be easy. I have a bulldog prone to being tubby, but she eats everything so I just make sure her treats are not fattening. She adores apples and bananas and would kill me for a strawberry. That’s an easy reward.

    Scarlett will get the hang of the floor business in time. Dakota has learned to just stop at the edge of an area he is uncomfortable about stepping onto and wait. He just stares at me and wags. When I notice and make eye contact, he wags hard. I interpret that as “hey moron, how about a rug over here” and then I move a rug for him. We’ve worked it out. You will, too.

    Keep up the good work, Scarlett! You’ll figure this out in no time.

    Shari

  3. scarlett will figure out the floors. remember, she’s probably still on alot of pain meds and that’s like trying to walk on ice after drinking a fifth of jack daniels (it’s not pretty). as for the weight…it’s hard, but there are lots of great diet info on the forums. green beans are a great ‘filler’ and dogs usually like them a bunch. just add a can of them with the kibble, and she will get fuller on less. remember to catch your breath, and keep loving on scarlett. the rest, will come with time.

    charon & spirit gayle

  4. Hi Scarlett I watched your video the other day, you and I could be twins! We lost the same arm and of course we know Golden girls are the prettiest!

    My doctor tells me I have to maintain my weight, under 40 pounds, It makes it a lot easier on my other arm. He also told me to make sure I rest when I’m playing and he told mom and dad they have to message my shoulder and that I shouldn’t jump in and out of the truck, mom and dads bed, my couch, nothing, no time, nowhere. They even built me a ramp so when I go out the front door I can’t perform one of my graceful leaps. No fun but i understand

    Your Mom and Dad will figure everything out, you just concentrate and get over your surgery.

    Take care, your friend Shelby, the P.P.

  5. I think we all had that moment where we thought our dog was the exception. Butchey walked around the house the day we brought him home, then got real sick with an infection.

    Unfortunately, this entire experience will be a roller coaster. But that is what makes this community great. We are all hear through the ups and through the downs.

    She WILL figure out the hardwood floors. There is just a little learning curve.

    We are sticklers for weight, since it is now more important than anything. At the advice of our holistic vet, we follow a no grain diet. Butch eats a protein and fat diet with some low glycemic veggies. But absolutely no flour or grain. There is info on these diets here on Tripawds.com, too.

    The good news is you can still have the trick shows. This is good for Scarlett and for her people! She can still be the dog she always was, and the exercises can be great PT. You just have to replace the treats with something lower in calories, like green veggies. It cracks me up that Butch works for cucumbers! He LOVES them.

    Give her a couple of weeks. Her body has to adjust and the muscles have to adjust. You can also check out some of the exercise work Tripawds do with FitPaws exercise balls. They are great for core work and getting those muscles good and strong to compensate for the missing leg. And where she’s a performer, she’ll have fun with them!

    Nancy and Butchey

  6. Hi! Chloe’s mom here. I have been reading your posts with interest as our Chloe had her amputation this past Wednesday so you are just two days ahead of us. We too have lovely hardwood floors and we put yoga mats (not so pretty but very non-slip) everywhere she walks. She almost always tries to walk around them! No fear of them at this point, even though she had slipped a couple of times. I’m sure Scarlett will get back to walking on them without fear. We continue to be reminded that dogs live in the moment. We also have some weight to lose. My husband has always been the culprit with me continually nagging him. Now he knows…I hope. She weighs 72 lbs, but was 67. The limping started in August and so did the increased inactivity from an amazingly active dog. Now we have some work to do! She is 11, but asks like she’s 3! Chloe also has a massive coat. She hasn’t been groomed in awhile with the diagnosis and all. The vet said it was like shearing an sheep!!!Oh, by the way, she is amazing us with her recovery as far as how quickly she’s adapted to the missing leg. Seems a little tired today, but is determined to do things like she used to, like laying on the nice leather sofa 🙂 Good wishes to you and Scarlett!

    Denise

  7. Hi Scarlett, you are one pretty Golden! Chili Dawg had a hard time with the wood floors at first too, but once he came off his meds, he navigated them like a champ and would avoid the carpets that we put down to help him get “traction”- probably because it was summer and he was cooler on the wood. Chili Dawg needed to drop some weight too, and part of that he did while on the meds- he didn’t want to eat at all, so we had to hand feed him for the first 2 weeks post-amp.

    Hang in there, you are doing great!

    Jenna & Spirit Chili Dawg

  8. Scarlett and family, you are doing GREAT! Your attitude about being a Tripawd, the things you are doing around the house to make her life easier, and your assessment of what needs to change in her life (I know it’s so rude to talk about a girl’s weight, but when it comes to being a Tripawd, we know how critical it is to be svelte!), all point to the fact that you have a good head on your shoulders about what’s going on.

    Even though this post wasn’t as upbeat as you would’ve liked, the reality of what you are going through and how you are reacting to it will go on to help SO many others who will find themselves walking (or hopping) a similar path. Thank you for your honesty and willingness to share your story,we are honored that you chose to tell it here.

    Keep up the great blog posts!

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