This video was made by Rush’s big sister Katelyn! Katelyn has thumbs so it should be good. Thank you Katelyn for making the video.

I took out Rush’s stitches yesterday. What a good girl. I layed her on the bed and just went to work. She didnt move, just layed her head on the pillow and waited for me to tell her “done”
Boy were those stitches tight! When I pulled one you could see this long line of skin just relax, weird!

Now the bad news was that this morning she gave us all a scare because she was up on only 3 legs! She has been on four pretty well, better each day until today She wouldnt bare any weight. I gave her some Rimadyl and a good massage. When I touched the leg it was really cold, really scared me. But, when I finished the massage her leg was much warmer. This evening she is baring a little weight, much better, hope tomorrow is even better…. Yes Julie, I AM trying my best to keep her quiet!

She has not sat since surgery. Last night I was asking her to give paw and she kept saying she couldnt because it would only leave her with 2 legs!!!! But today, she was conning me out of food and sat and gave paw! Progress! She also tried to jump into my arms -aahhhhggg!!!! I will never make it through these recovery days!!!!! Life so sucks!!!

On a good note, two of my students made this wonderful collage for Rush and displayed it at the Christmas party. Wow… it was really nice - and also proof that SOMEONE actually DOES read my blog! LOL. Thank you Tina and Lana for putting this together your generosity was overwhelming. And thank you Lisa, Donna, Tina and Lana for your monetary gift to help pay for the surgery. It truly is a blessing to have such kindness in my life.

I know many of you have been wondering where we are with Ms. Rush and her recovery. She is doing well. Almost done with all her medications. Rehab is slow. She will walk on all four legs if she is moving slow. If she wants to go somewhere fast she is on three. The incisions look good - I mean for incisions that span the entire length of her little leg. But no infection. I plan on removing the stitches myself in a few more days. She is impossible to keep still or quiet. She wants to play tug, run, wrestle you name it. She spends almost all her time crated or alone. I allow her to get up and down off the couch and bed by herself. Stopping her was just impossible and she will do it with only two legs so I let her. We dont get to walk often, too slippery. We had to add rugs to the downstairs and the front door because she would slip when coming in. We keep the whole house gated so that she cant gain any kind of momentum. Its hard. Its stressful. Ice is feeling the pain as well, we dont get to play very much lately. I will post my photos tomorrow.

Rush with 10 purple stitches for a girl!

Hah!!! This time it was NOT MY DOG!!!! What do these two photos have in common?

They both once belonged to this……

But it was Rip this time that was the culprit! Had Rush not been in her crate, she of course would have been blamed, but sorry - not this time! And thank goodness. This is a biggee, wouldnt want THIS one on her record!

Rush is doing pretty well. She has to take all kinds of pills for pain and infection so I have been giving her little meals throughout the day so she always has something in her stomach. She is crated mostly, but when its quiet I will let her wander the house. Keeping her off the couch is the hardest. She does go out and potty by herself has since the day following surgery. Its a small yard so she cant get in too much trouble. I do have to stand and watch her because when she is done she tries to jump up on the landing (two steps high), so I have to make her go around that. Other than that, its pretty good. Last
night I started the massage and ROM work so she doesnt stiffen too much and then we ice it. She has not messed with her bandage at all (10 or so stitches are under the bandage). She has not had to wear the E-collar that the vet sent home with us… pretty much hoped it would be that way. Hate those things.

Today I noticed her starting to put that toe down. Its not bearing much weight but up to today she was holding that leg way up…. so this is progress. I have added some photos for you.

Her are the before and after photos of Rush’s new hip.

Before:

After photos:

Things went very well today. I took her in at 7:30 this morning. We were actually there at 7:45 because of the awful snow storm last night. Slow going all the way there - took 45 minutes. Anyway, I stayed with her the entire time…. except when she was in surgery which I had to be away from her, but I didnt leave once… I have attached the photos of her in recovery with me… and also the before and after photos from today. She is doing well tonight. She had some dinner and wont stay off her leg so she is crated… I even caught her climbing up on the couch, so back in the crate she went… Its going to be a very slow, long, painful recovery - for ME not her!

Okay, we finally worked out the details and have rescheduled for this coming Tuesday.  She has to be there at 7:30 a.m. and they plan to do the surgery around 10:00 - 10:30 a.m.  I will stay with her as long as I can and then I will be there when she wakes up.  She will need to stay a little while after that, but if all goes well I should be able to take her home around 2:00 p.m.

This is SO incredibly hard.  I know she needs the surgery because without it she will have a limited ability and alot of pain but when you see her running around with the other dogs so well it just kills me.