On January 3rd at 9 am, Jasper had tightrope surgery with Dr. Justin Harper. He spent the night with antibiotics. The surgery cost $200 more than they quoted me. He was sent home with 4 medications. Tramadol, Zubrin, Cephalexin, and Acepromazine. First advice, the acepromazine is a tranquilizer because Jasper is a big hyper dog, who likes to jump. Jumping and running are the biggest no-no's for tightrope surgery. For 12 weeks the dog needs baby-sitted. Not many can devote this much attention to a dog.
The tranquilizer was too strong and Jasper couldn't walk. He almost injured himself, trying to walk. We cut back after the first dose. Two pills were enough to calm him doesnt 20 mg total. Originally it was 20-40 mg prescribed.
Keep on hand can dog food, lunch meat, anything that dogs love because by day 3 his appetite is really bad. He ate well on day 1 and 2. He wouldn't drink on day 1 and 2 but ate lots of ice chips. One day 3 he wouldn't eat but drank water and wouldn't touch ice chips. I finally got him to eat can dog food.
We found very quickly to take him to got potty before giving him meds. This way he wasn't droggy and had good stamina for the very slow leash walk to the back yard.
We ordered a physical therapy guide http://www.topdoghealth.com/ 'Cruciate (extracapsular Cranial Cruciate Ligament Repair) for $19.95 plus shipping. The vet recommended it.
Another thing the vet didn't tell us, was physical therapy is in addition to the quoted surgery cost. Beware.
He is supposed to start passive range motion exercises this week. 10 slow repetitions 3 times a day. Then slow leash walks 5 to 10 mins 3 times a day. Thats kind of 'potty' trips that he has done since Friday.
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