Yesterday when I got to the vet's, Dr. Marine showed me the new x-ray, he showed me this broken off piece of the pelvis (ouch) and compared it to the normal side. I told him I am keeping Mack for a week and if he thinks he'll be ready to travel by next Saturday, he thinks Mack will be able to travel by then, although he will still have some pain, it will not be more than what he's been having. He said actually he'll probably feel better after the surgery, and the goal is to see some toe touching (the ground) at the end of the day (of the surgery I guess). He said some dogs recover in one week some two or three. Then he opened the cage door for me, and I put my hand in there trying to pet Mack, but he snapped at my hand, and I quickly removed my hand. Dr. Marine said he's been like that ever since they gave him the sedative, and actually the vet tech and he were not able to put the muzzle on after that, so he made a noose with leash and strapped Mack that way. So I told him I'll go get the muzzle from my car. After I came back and the vet opened the cage door open for me again, I put the muzzle on with no problem (did it very fast before Mack had time to react). But when I reached for Mack to try to carry him out, Mack screamed, so I asked the vet how to scoop him out of the cage (he was lying on his injured leg, and he was still groggy and could not get up at all), the vet said to haul with the towel under him, plus it would help catch urine if Mack leaks again, so that's what I did (I think Dr. Marine did not want to deal with Mack's biting at this point anymore; he's the same way with my cat when I take her in, she does not like him because she has painful mouth problems and he's pretty much the one who's been examining her since the first day I got her, after a few times of her trying to bite him, he always asks me and the vet tech hold her now). Anyways, Mack screamed when I lifted the towel off the cage, but once I had him in hugging position, he was okay.
When we got back to the apartment complex, I tried to get Mack to potty, but his rear end just collapsed under him, could not get up at all, so I just carried him back to the apartment, and put him into the cage (Tara heard my opening the door, so I tied Mack to the door, then lured Tara to the back, then carried Mack to the crate). He just seemed so groggy that I just gave him his meds (from Curtis' vet, Dr. Marine said to continue giving them) and let him sleep. I also checked x-rays from Curtis' vet, and I also saw the broken piece of pelvis that Dr. Marine showed me earlier. Poor pup. An hour later I showed him some more Bil-Jac and he ate about 1/2 cup.
I took Mack to potty again around 10 PM, this time he's more energized and awake, actually wanted to come out of the crate when I opened the door. Tara was still sleeping, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I put muzzle and leash on before walking Mack out of the door, then removed the muzzle and carried him rest of the way down to the grass. At first he was just standing there, not moving, so I carried him to another spot, still no interest, then carried him again to some bushes, he sniffed the bushes, tried to mark (I told him "you better not try"), but realized his leg cannot support him, so he just stood and peed. I was happy and kept praising him. He sniffed around some more but no poop, so I carried him back to the apartment for the night.
This morning after I took Tara out potty (no barking or whining from Mack so far), I took Mack out potty while Tara's eating breakfast. Again muzzle on just in case until we are out of the door, but he is more energized and walked fast on three legs. I carried him down to that spot where he peed last night, he sniffed and peed there again (ya!) and walked a few feet and pooped (woo-hoo!), and then he walked around and sniffed, so I let him for about 30 feet, then I carried him back to the apartment.
Still not sure if Tara knows there's a new dog in the house, but I can say she does not appear to care (see attached picture), because Mack's contained in the crate. This morning I had the crate door open to pet him, and Oscar came to sit on my lap, Mack just looked at her, didn't even sniff, and of course no chase or attack. I personally think he'll be okay in a family with dog-savvy cats, but we'll see how it goes after he's more awake in a few days. Also, on Thursday night, we passed by three dogs, about 50 feet away, he stared at them, but no lunging or barking, not even walking toward them.
A few other things about Mack, he does get startled easily with loud sudden noises, not freaking out, but definitely startled, like when I was using the paper shredder in the livingroom last night. I'll try to vacuum the bedroom carpet today, but with the door closed and Mack in the livingroom, and hopefully that'll reduce some noise and he won't get too frightened. So far there has no inexplicable barking/aggression, and so far I do not think it's dominance aggression either. I do think he possibly have some food aggression with other dogs (NOT with humans, although we have not tested chew treats), maybe possessive aggression with other dogs over "his" human, but I think probably the aggression he displayed at Curtis' was fear aggression rather than dominance. I mean I wasn't there so I don't know what really happened, just from Curtis' descriptions, although she did use dominance also to explain the aggression between Faith (her first foster) and Bo (her own Springer). However I can say so far I don't see major dominance aggression in Mack.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Just dropped Mack at the vet's. After I put him in the backseat while we were still at the apartment parking lot and I closed the back door and opening the driver door, Mack jumped from backseat to front passenger seat. I guess he likes to ride in the front. Anyways, I carried him back. At the vet office, as we walked toward the front door, I saw through the glass, that a man was waiting at the receptionist desk with his little dog, so I picked up Mack, and when he saw us coming, he picked up his dog too. The dog is some type of Doxie mix, with Doxie bone structure, but fur looks like yellow Lab. The dog was very friendly and curious. After I sat down on the bench and Mack stayed on my lap, the man put his little dog down on the floor, and the dog pulled on the leash trying to come near us. Mack was watchful of the other dog, but did not growl or lunge or bark, not even when the other dog got to my feet, and I raised my leg to try to separate the two dogs (the little dog�s owner said, �he�s friendly� or something like that). The little dog still tried to get near us, so I finally decided to extend my hand to pet him (really cute dog!). As I was petting him, Mack growled. I think maybe he was being possessive of me or something.
I only gave Mack one doggie Oreo cookie during the day yesterday, then his medicine with peanut butter right before dinner, so he was probably really hungry by 6 PM. I gave him 3/4 cup of Solid Gold kibbles, and he ate all within five minutes. Housetraining are still going fine, although he hasn't gone much outside of the crate at my apartment anyways. He is much more active in the last 24 hours, and I think he's starting to get frustrated being on bedrest. He growled at Tara about ten times in the past 24 hours, and once at the cats. The cats were both sitting on the cat tree (about 5 feet from the crate) staring at him. Also, about half of the time Mack growled at Tara for her getting too close to the crate, and about half of the time for her appearing to have the dominant stance (facing him straight, appeared to be staring at him), although I don't think Tara is a dominant dog (just used to be the baby of the family and spoiled), and of course she can't give any dominant stare since she's blind. But Mack's reaction reminds me of Brenna's, although Brenna had a much more aggressive display when she first came to live with me. Mack just growls, rarely barks, and so far he's okay with the other dog far away (whereas Brenna barked and lunged, even when the dog was 50 feet away, especially at dogs with dominant stance; she's much much more socialized now). Mack's young too, so I'm sure with Hurb's training, he'll become well-behaved and socialized as well. Anyways, since Mack's getting bored, I gave him a tour of my apartment last night, just 5 minutes of sniffing around (leash and muzzle on). He's okay with the cats just walking slowly around him, but if they run, he wants to run after them, but I really don't think he would physically harm them. Again I think he'll be okay with dog-savvy cats. So far Tara has been very patient with him, no growling or barking back, but I will continue to closely supervise them both.
I called Dr. Marine at 5 PM today. He said the surgery went very well, he's very pleased with it. He also said (I'm paraphrasing here), "In most of this type of surgery I do, I can still see some sort of intact joint capsule. But in his case, when I opened him up, his joint capsule was shattered to pieces. He got licked pretty good when he got hit." Dr. Marine also said Mack's behaved really well today, even after they have him the sedative before anesthesia (I'll ask them what kind of sedative they gave him both times). He said Mack's doing well after the surgery, taking pain medication. I asked him how his ears look. He said he saw three or four ear cases today and just saw one before he called me back, he said he got the cases a little mixed up and couldn't remember exactly what he saw in Mack's ears, but he said he doesn't remember prescribing anything for them, so they were probably not bad. I asked him when I can pick him up, he said they need to observe him walking tomorrow morning, and make sure he poops and pees and is eating fine, but he should be ready tomorrow mid-morning. I told him I'll pick him up around lunch time and he said that's fine. I asked him if he thinks Mack will be ready to travel on Saturday, he said Mack will probably still be limping, but no more than before, so he thinks Mack will be ready to go on Saturday.
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