WEEK TWO!!!! - Day 1

I cannot believe it's been a week today since Zeus got his TPLO done. I hope the next 8 weeks go by quickly, and we'll see if he's able to get his 2nd TPLO done at that time.

I don't know how I forgot this piece of info either!!! When Zeus had his knee x-rayed before surgery I had them x-ray his hips.....and GREAT NEWS!!! THEY ARE NORMAL :) The surgeon said he's happy to say we have those two good joints to work with :) YAY!!!!

Now onto Week 2 - week 8's Physical Therapy Plan!

Week 2 - Week 8

• Slow, very controlled leash walks for 10 minutes 3 times daily.
  
• Continue massage of upper leg muscles after exercise
• You may wish to continue ice packs following exercise
• Radiographs should be obtained to confirm healing of the bone at 8 weeks

I'm not going to just start doing 10 minute walks a day, I'll just slowly increase the time over the next few weeks to get to that point.

**** 12:00pm

Zeus is getting REALLY antsy and wanting to get out of that crate! It's raining right now and that always makes him very giddy, and so today when I took him out for his potty break and short sloooow walk he was acting silly and I could tell trying to get me to play by wiggling his bum and trying to bite his tail. He cracks me up!! I feel so bad for him :(

I also was reading over the papers that the surgeon gave me...here are some comments he made:

Playing with other animals is not allowed during rehabilitation. Remember that Zeus will want to 'overuse' the leg once the discomfort of surgery subsides. You will need to actively confine your pet to prevent overuse of the limb. If at any time you notice increased pain or lameness, please give us a call or inform your veterinarian.

I am concerned about the severity of articular cartilage changes in Zeus' knee relative to the extent of cruciate ligament damage. Hopefully, removal of stress from the cruciat ligament will control the inflammation and ongoing deterioration of the joint. Assuming Zeus' progresses well on the left stifle, we should consider surgery on the right side in approximately 8 weeks.