Thursday 2nd September. (Sixteen Days - post op)

10.15am.
Flynn slept well last night, toileted just before bedtime which is lovely as you feel he'll have a good nights sleep and is quite bright this morning. I have taken off his comfy collar and he shows no sign of wanting to get at his scar, just has an itchy area around his knee and heel that he nibbles occasionally, I expect the new hair growth has something to do with that. It's quite strange how the fur on his back and upper leg is growing more rapidly than on the lower leg, say from the knee down and the new growth is a bit like a greyhounds coat, all smooth and velvety. Unfortunately the rest of his coat is still shedding despite daily grooming, do these Mallies ever stop? you wonder, lol.
Now that the staples are out his scar has flattened more and apart from the occasional scab is hardly noticable.
As from tomorrow he will be taking just one Rimadyl tablet daily and I am gradually cutting his sedatives down - he now has two doses per day and I will see how that goes and go on to cut it down to one, then stop them altogether. I will take it one day at a time and see how Flynn reacts to the lower doses as he's still in the "critical" period of his recovery but to be honest I think he will soon settle without them, because even when I have decided he can skip a dose he's still been very calm.
As I said yesterday for safety sake I will continue to use the sling for longer than needed - I just feel that we've done so well a couple more weeks of caution can only be beneficial.
As everything is going so well with Flynns recovery - touch wood - I don't think there is any need for me to update on a daily basis now. From now on I will continue to update my diary and post weekly.
I hope this diary helps anyone who's thinking of going down the same road as it's a hard decision to make, you wonder if it's the right thing to do, if you can cope with this recovery period and mostly if your dog can cope with it and benefit from such invasive surgery. I haven't done it to persuade anyone into having it done, just for them to see how our experience has been and how our dog has coped. I am more than willing to speak to anyone who would like a chat and if you send a pm will get back to you.
If ever you consider it for your dog and it isn't crate trained the one thing i'd suggest is to buy a crate, or even make one and try as early as possible to get the dog used to it. The only time Flynn has ever experienced anything like a crate has been on the three previous occasions he has stayed at the vets and they were only day stays, one being overnight.
I would also suggest taking your dog in the garden on a lead to toilet a while before the op, as this was the one area that I found so alien to him and a bit worrying for me. Also adding plenty of veg to his diet and sliced peaches/mandarins may help from preventing constipation, Flynn has always liked fresh raw veg so was more than willing to eat them and the tinned fruit (juice/syrup rinsed off) were an added treat - lucky boy.
The thing is I literally only had two weeks to do all of this and that included ordering his crate and waiting for it to arrive, so he had around ten days or so to get used to the crate and I never considered taking him in the garden to toilet on the lead, although I have to say that he soon got used to both and as I had no other option consistency paid off, as i'm sure it will with any dog eventually. The sedatives have played a huge part in Flynns recovery, keeping him calm and stress free - me too, lol, and though I know not all vets prescribe them and also that not all dogs will need them, Flynn being a young Mallie and I have to admit a little spoilt has definitely benefited from having them, so if your dog is stressed I personally would ask the vet to prescribe sedatives for the first few weeks. They are only for short term use and can prevent an injury from a hyped up dog leaping around on his new hip.
I hope everything continues to go well for my boy and am very proud of him for taking this all so well.
Will keep up the posts weekly as said but it's bye for now - be back in a week.