one week out from the cruciate operation

I dropped in to Cindy's dog training last night, to see how everyone is getting along. I miss it so. It was great to see eveyone (two-legged and four-legged) and I was thrilled to hear that Cindy's dogs go to the same specialist as Penny did. That makes me feel even more confident of a good recovery.

Penny had the Robert Jones bandage on for a week, instead of the recommended three days. Both our own vet and the specialist suggested we do this. In one way I'm glad we did, as it supported her knee, but on the other hand she seems to have had a skin reaction to the elastoplast that held the bandage on. He poor leg is red raw at the top where the top of the bandage was, and at the bottom. No wonder she wouldn't go anywhere.

She's been set up near the front door for the last few days, so she can look out to the street.



Every so often we carry her out to the back yard or to the street, waiting for more urination or defecation (I thought that might sound more professional than saying we spend ages every day waiting around for her to wee or poo, lol).

When we went out yesterday it was cold and damp, so we set her up with a nice plastic underlay, plastic over her bandage - can't get it wet - on her old familiar mat, and we waited for her to do something.



Hmmm... not much action. Except for frantic licking of what we now realise was a horrible rash at the edges of the bandage.


Now that it's off, we realise we have to be even more careful as she moves around. Hmmm... not a big problem yet. She won't even get off her mat for dinner and has to have it delivered in bed.

a Robert Jones bandage and repair of a partially torn cruciate

Penny has a rather pretty bandage on her leg after the operation to repair her partially torn cruciate ligament. Searching the net today for information, I've discovered an article at PetPlace describing it as a Robert Jones bandage.

The surgeon told us to be very careful that it doesn't get wet, so we've been crawling around the backyard feeling the ground for dampness - ah, what we do for our beloved dogs! But now I've read on the PetPlace site that we should have a plastic bag right over her bandage when we go outside, because she might accidentally wee on it and make it wet.

We took turns to get up at two-hourly intervals during the night to check on her - yawn - and she slept well. She can apparently shift around, because we see her in different resting positions when we check on her during the day.



I read a report on the history and use of this bandage and was pleased to read

By supporting the soft tissues, the Robert Jones dressing relieves pain and may facilitate healing.

And, at another site, I read

It promotes healing by immobilizing the injured area, thereby limiting swelling and providing protection from secondary trauma. Compared with other padded bandages, the Robert-Jones bandage offers limb stability, tissue fluid absorption, and protection from trauma. Generally, most of the compression is lost after several hours to days as the cotton loosens.

One of the best finds of all has been a blog by the owner of a dog who has gone through the traditional repair, as we are doing, and also has successfully completed conservative management, avoiding surgery altogether. (We tried conservative management, but Penny got worse.) I'll be reading each week of that blog to get an idea of what we can expect.

Today's big exercise has been carrying Penny out to wee (yes, a good wee in the morning, thank goodness). We know she can wee with the sore leg in the air, because she's been doing it for weeks.

The next step is to see her do a poo. (Oh, how our dogs teach us to focus on the important things in life.) We're not sure how that will go, as it seems to involve putting her weight on both backlegs. The vet nurse told us to support her with a sling under her rear end, but we've been out three times and she just lies down.





Maybe there'll be some action later...