Piper update

[Piper's mom]

I finally got the phone call I was waiting for!
Piper is doing good, the surgery went well and the vet believes she got it all! She had to remove a bit more jaw on one side than the other ( just the way the tumour was growing) and she was worried Piper’s tongue would hang out but when he woke up he pulled it in…I had to laugh at that image. Poor guy must’ve thought what the heck???? Why is my tongue hanging out? lol

I won’t be picking him up until between 6-7 this evening, she wants to make sure he’s doing good and see what his pain level is at. She’s not sure yet what she’ll send him home with until she determines this.

I can breathe again…I was so worried I’d get bad news (we always think the worst of course)!
I made him pill poppers, got his supper and breakfast tomorrow ready and have some mini meatballs in the oven (something I can just drop in). And got his pen ready for later.
Now I can relax and do some regular cleaning, but without stress!
Yahoo!!! And she said she thinks Piper will be fine! I’ll make sure of that!!!

 

[KarenCurtis]

I finally got the phone call I was waiting for!
Piper is doing good, the surgery went well and the vet believes she got it all! She had to remove a bit more jaw on one side than the other ( just the way the tumour was growing) and she was worried Piper’s tongue would hang out but when he woke up he pulled it in…I had to laugh at that image. Poor guy must’ve thought what the heck???? Why is my tongue hanging out? lol

I won’t be picking him up until between 6-7 this evening, she wants to make sure he’s doing good and see what his pain level is at. She’s not sure yet what she’ll send him home with until she determines this.

I can breathe again…I was so worried I’d get bad news (we always think the worst of course)!
I made him pill poppers, got his supper and breakfast tomorrow ready and have some mini meatballs in the oven (something I can just drop in). And got his pen ready for later.
Now I can relax and do some regular cleaning, but without stress!
Yahoo!!! And she said she thinks Piper will be fine! I’ll make sure of that!!!

 

[Piper's mom]

Boy everything was a challenge this evening. They really removed a lot of his lower jaw (it’s like he has a little mouth with a long top snout) so that and the fact that he was still a little groggy made everything harder. I fed him when we first came home and had to use a spoon and help him while he licked it. After a while I thinned it out thinking that would help but then he didn’t like it lol. So I got some more from the fridge (I’d done up his food for morning) and after a few licks he didn’t want anymore. So I got some of his dehydrated raw and added warm water and softened it, this he liked but still needed help which is understandable . Then I tried to give him his pill…opening his mouth when the incision is in his mouth made this impossible. I ended up opening the capsule and adding a bit of water and using a syringe but only got 1/2 of it in him.
It just felt like the vet could’ve given me better (or even ANY) instructions or suggestions!
At this point I took him back outside (he hadn’t wanted to do anything when we first got home, he wanted to see my mom so bad he was crying!) and he had a poop and a pee…phew at least one thing went well lol!
Back in the house and now I noticed his incision is bleeding (not bad, making more of a mess on his fur than anything). Got him cleaned up and back upstairs (carried him as he was still a bit unsteady and groggy) and in his pen and he finally got in his bed to sleep. After 1/2 an hour I saw he was awake and managed to get the rest of his pain med into him! Phew…the last thing I want is him to be in any pain!

He’s on it (gabapentin) every 8-12 hours depending on his pain level and metacam once a day.
I’ve set my clock for 6 am and will take him out early and give him his pain pill.
I have no doubt that he’ll do better tomorrow, today was a wash with him being out of it from the anesthesia (and they’d given him a hydromorphone earlier as well). It was like he wanted to eat but didn’t have the energy to do it.
The other two dogs didn’t bother too much with him, my brother in law came over and took the other dogs into the bathroom so I didn’t have to worry about them, later when I was feeding Piper Finnie managed to sneak into my bedroom and I let him stay…he’s a good boy and was just happy to be in the room with me. Blueberry is another story lol although once she came in she left him alone.

Piper is now resting…he’s asleep in his dog bed in the pen, content I’m sure that we’re all close by.​

I’m sure tomorrow will be a much better day!

 

[RikyR]

What a relief! Great news!

 

[Piper's mom]

Well it’s definitely going to be a better day!
I got up at 6 (I’d set my alarm but actually woke up at 5:57 lol) and woke him up and took Piper outside where he had the longest pee! Then back upstairs where I got him to take his gabapentin with a bit of yogurt on a spoon. Then he managed to eat just over a cup of the food I’d prepared for him yesterday! Poor guy was so hungry! He just didn’t have the strength to eat last night.
It took him longer and I had to hold the bowl and use a spoon to help him pick it up (definitely a learning curve here…the consistency was good, more of a pate) but he did so well.
Now he’s sleeping peacefully…

 

[Sandy in CT]

Glad you both slept and glad to hear he ate! How long will he be on soft food?

 

[SheepOfBlue]

Got to visit Grandma his buddy

 

[Piper's mom]

Got to visit Grandma his buddy

Exactly! Me…meh…you brought me here!
My mom is the banana giver…she NEVER does anything bad!
I never get any excitement when I pick up my dogs…I thought maybe yesterday I would and was waiting for them to bring him up but it was taking a longggg time (I was almost getting worried), then I see the tech carrying Piper through the outside door! They have 2 sets of stairs from the basement one of which leads to a door to the parking lot and into an exam room which then takes them to the hallway. There was a client in the exam room so she had to carry Piper through the parking lot and then back into the building. So I didn’t get to see him walk down the hallway to see if he was happy to see me.
However judging by his reaction (none whatsoever) to me and then to my mom (crying) tells me I didn’t miss out on seeing excitement from Piper towards me lol!

 

[Piper's mom]

He

Glad you both slept and glad to hear he ate! How long will he be on soft food?

He’ll probably need to be on a softer food for the rest of his life but I do feed him a raw diet so that’s not a problem. It’s just that right now I have him on a dehydrated raw (it’s called Smack) just because of the risk of infection with the stitches. And it’s a hard crunchy food so needs a long soak in hot liquid. But he does love it so that helps.
Because he lost so much of his lower jaw he has to learn how to eat again…before he used his lower jaw to scoop up the food. I may also need to get a different shaped bowl…I’ve seen some that are raised and the bowl part is at a different angle. Once he’s healed he may be able to eat better…he does still have his molars in the back.

 

[Cindy]

I did A LOT of yogurt with Gavin when he was recovering.....mixed in his kibble. I used disposable gloves and hand fed him. I also have dental bibs (it was messy). He was a 2 pieces of kibble at a time guy. anymore and he would spit it out. I felt so awful for him...never knowing if it would get better. But it did. But he got used to the special treatment. I remember he would eat laying down on his side, with his snout in the little dog food bowl I would put in his bed for him.... Still miss my sweet boy.