Tiger's surgery.

The poor little mite is getting the surgery on her broken/fractured/torn elbow joint tomorrow, it's funny I never had insurance for my old dog and still don't for the little jack Russel brick tank we call Milo and they've never had a single health issue, Roxy had a problem with her hip that was sorted and obviously her womb infection that killed her but we could afford that but with Tiger she had the 4 weeks free pet insurance and I did plan to continue it but had she not gone and broke her leg I probably would have forgotten and given that the x-rays alone cost £278 which is DOUBLE the annual cost for the plan she's on now, boy am I happy the 4 weeks was still in action.

She's such a hyperactive little thing, she licks EVERYTHING, every floor, wall and door has been licked by her, if the cats didn't slap her when she tried she'd probably lick them too.

Anyway, this is just somewhere for me to ramble about her surgery and let everyone know how she gets on, I'm terribly worried too, I want them to just fix it, take a few weeks for it to heal properly and then finally get her out socializing but I have this terrible gut wrenching feeling it's just not going to end up that simple, I'm always expecting SOMETHING to go wrong.


ARGH, SHE KEEPS LYING ON THE BANDAGED ARM, SHE'S DRIVING ME INSANE D:

Has she had the surgery today? Xx

Ah, you must be worried, I would be too. Loki cut his paw a week ago and it was only minor and I was still worried . All you can do is hope for the best, really. Straightforward or not, eventually she'll be out socialising

Good luck with everything, in no time you'll be back to normal

Hope it goes well and she's all better soon ><

Awww, she'll be fine, I'm sure!

I don't envy you trying to keep her quiet for a while afterwards, though!

Aww big hugs >< >< for you both, I'm sure everything will be fine, keep us updated

I was the same with insurance, I never had my old dog covered but Rocky has it and am I glad he does.

I'm sure all will be OK and Tiger will be running around like a loon again in no time ><

Hope the surgery goes well and that she makes a speedy recovery ><

Good luck Tiger! I hope everything goes well!

I hope your both doing ok today & tigers surgery goes smoothly good luck.

I'm taking her into the vets at 10:15 today and I'm not sure whether they'll want to keep her in for a few days afterwards so we'll just have to see.

She's actually pretty good at lying down and staying still when she's in my room with me, it's only when I carry her downstairs and she sees the other dog Milo that she decides it's time to dive on his face and play so we have to hold onto her


She's giving me such a look right now because she's not allowed to eat

Awww poor baby >< Keep us updated on how she goes

She's had the surgery and they're saying she's doing good and we can go pick her up at 5-6.

You will never believe her though, she went toilet, massive toilet before we left the house and she's had nothing to eat since 10pm last night.

The surgeon got her so excited while we were in the consulting room she took the biggest poo I've ever seen, it looked like it came from a horse, I wasn't embarrassed because well, puppies are puppies and he overexcited her and they're vets so they know it's what happens but it was just shocking, how was that still inside of her after she went bathroom this morning.

She also accidentally nipped an old lady who was incredibly understanding as she has her own dogs and knows what puppies are like, I'm going to have to figure out the best way to stop her jumping up at people because while she's small it's cute but she's gonna grow massive, the surgeon looked at me as if I was drunk when I said she was only 14 weeks old because of her size.

Supposedly she should heal within 4 weeks, get x-rays to make sure it's fully healed and then she can go back to diving around like a crazy person.

He made it sound like she broke it by landing on it too heavily, her legs are only tiny and she's quite heavy so it seems she jumped off something, god knows what, landed on her feet and the force went up her leg and broke her elbow joint. No wonder the poor thing was screaming.

They do love to poop in all the best places

Poor baby hurting herself like that - must have been very painful.

Am glad to hear that the surgery has gone well though .. it is such a relief when you get that call to say all is well!

Thinking of both of you .. let us know how she goes when she is home again ><

She's home, came home with a cape attached to her saying "Top dog" it was hilarious, when she's better I'll stick it back on and take pictures

For now, here's the grumpy little girl under my desk.



No play or bouncing for 4 weeks! I'm sure she'll make this super easy on me and just sleep for 4 weeks ;P I wish.

She has two screws to hold her joint in place because of how it broke off and basically if she injures it while it's healing, she'll probably lose total use of the leg so I have to be super duper never sleeping watching her 24/7

Oh poor girly, lots of filled kongs to keep her busy maybe?

Aww poor baby, I'm so happy the surgery went well, and I wish u all the luck in the world keeping her calm & tranquil

Glad she's home now and the surgery went well.

So, 4 weeks rest?

Good luck with that!

Oh poor little Tiger.

My little lad recently had the castration op, straightforward apart from splitting his stitches, and I wrote reams about it on this forum as I went through agonies of worry.

What a wuss I (and tbh, my pup) was compared with what you and Tiger have been through and are still going through.

We both wish you every good fortune in Tiger's road to recovery - do keep us informed.

>< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< ><

Glad Tiger is okay!!! Poor thing, I hope he isnt in too much pain and has a very quick recovery! I wish you all the luck in the world to keep him resting for 4 weeks

Oh dear god help me, how do you tire out a 14 week old puppy who can't run around, she won't stop whining and I can't sleep incase she starts scratching her stitches, she's driving me batty, I'm going to sleep now, my mother woke up and she's gonna watch her while I sleep but dear god, how do I tire her out.

The vet said if she was being too difficult to keep still he'd give her something to "take the edge off" but she's not being bouncy, she's just being really whiney and I'm worried about her scratching through her stitches.

I love her but this is gonna be a looooooong 4 weeks.

I can imagine it is all a bit stressful, and I hope you manage to get some sleep ><

I am sure there are others who have had more experience with this and can offer more advice than I can give, however I would suggest some quiet games to keep her mentally entertained ... and lots of cuddles as I am sure she is feeling rather sore and sorry for herself so soon after the surgery

Perhaps a hide and seek game on a mat (place a treat under a pillow near her and let her find it), practice 'leave' and 'down' if it isn't too hard on her leg, a soft toy or teddy to have a chew/play with .. and perhaps a yummy frozen kong or stag bar to chew?

Oh Kitt, this must be so hard for you and Tiger.

She's so young too, and full of energy once the anaesthetic has worn off. The good thing about being so young is that she is likely to heal much faster than an older dog would.

Much as those lampshades we are given by the vets are terribly restricting for the dog, they do stop the dog from licking at the wound and making it worse. However I do understand that she can still scratch at her front leg with her hind leg which is a natural reaction to the irritation of plasters and dressings on the wound (and later on, to the itching that accompanies healing). I wish I could suggest something to prevent this natural reaction - I know that several other forum members have had the unfortunate experience of their dogs going through similar surgery and hopefully they will be able to give you advice.

Your vet has said he could give her something to "take the edge off" and I would earnestly suggest that you keep in daily contact with him (he'll understand what a serious operation this was, how young your puppy is, and how important it is to promote the most rapid and trauma-free healing possible). At the risk of being controversial, if he suggests sedatives or similar for Tiger during her healing process, in your situation I'd go for it.

Kell has given some good suggestions as to how to keep Tiger entertained and her mind off of the trauma to her leg, and this should help during day-light hours.

It's good that you have someone to help you through this period of Tiger's recovery. At the first at least it's probably going to feel like nursing your pup through intensive care - please take care of yourselves and keep your vet involved.

I send my best vibes ~~~ and biggest hugs >< to all of you.

She's being mostly well behaved for now, she only gets excited when my mom is looking after her because the other dog is downstairs and she wants to play.

She hasn't been biting at the stitches and when I say "Stop" she'll stop scratching at them so I haven't stuck the head collar on her yet

She had surgery on friday and she has an appointment tomorrow and then another in 10 days time and then the final one for her x-rays in 4 weeks to see if she's healed up nice and properly, the vets have been excellent with her on this and I really appreciate it.

Because of how young she is and how badly she wants to play, when she starts using her leg I'm definitely going to consider sedatives or something just to keep her from bouncing because until the x-rays I'm basically treating her like her leg is made out of glass.

I appreciate everyones help and advice too <3

She's almost chewed through her Nylabone out of frustration

When Alfie was neutered a few weeks ago we used an inflatable collar rather than a lamp shade. It worked fine and he was soooo much happier in it, so if a collar would help with the stiches i would say definitely try one of those.

The inflatable collar sounds much more comfortable than a lampshade - wish I knew of it when Kuchar had his bits off. Where can these be obtained?

She licked the bandage off but that was only to stop the post-op leakage it's off now and she got her first checkup today, he's very happy with how she's doing and how far he can move her leg, her stitches are great and she'd not biting them at all she's such a good girl.

There was another female staffy puppy about the same age at the vets today, they spent the entire time whining and wiggling their bums at each other wanting to play, it was adorable, I can't wait until I can let her play with them



Under my computer desk is where she spends most of her time and her antler came today, she chews herself to sleep on it she absolutely loves it! I also got some none medicinal calmer from the vet, he said he'd rather try this than add more drugs to her system right now so they're basically a herbal powdered capsule like a human might use to just calm themselves down, they're usually used for things like fireworks to keep the dog chilled and not anxious.

So all is well with her right now, just a few more weeks and she'll be bouncing around like a kangeroo again.

That sounds really positive! I hope the herbs work for her, it's awful trying to keep a stafford pup quiet!

Good news Kitt! She's being SUCH a good girl ><

Lynda wrote:The inflatable collar sounds much more comfortable than a lampshade - wish I knew of it when Kuchar had his bits off. Where can these be obtained?

"Buster inflatable collar" about £13 from Amazon,

Glad tiger is doing ok

Thanks Lisa. I for one will make note of that - just in case (fingers crossed).

So happy tiger is doing well