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An Australian Shepherd recovering from Myxosarcoma. Badger (or “Mr B”) is a 9 year old Aussie Shepherd. He has lived with his two humans, James & Libby, for 18 months.

Month: March 2020 (Page 1 of 3)

Day 30: What a milestone!

I can’t quite believe it’s been 30 days, and wow, what a month! Apart from our own doggy dramas, we are also coping with the mind boggling fallout from the Corona Virus. On the positive side, I am “stuck” home with Badger so I’m do not have to worry about leaving him home alone. We also have a beautiful space to wander around so being confined is less of a challenge.

Badger and I went for his follow up appointment with his surgeon today. It was all very surreal as they collected him at the door wearing gloves and masks and I was not allowed in to see the surgeon face to face. We chatted by phone afterwards!

The good news is that MrB had his stitches out! YAY! He is still bandaged up, as you will see in the video, but after his next dressing change we can leave half of the bandages off. There is still an area of open wound that we will have to keep covered for another couple of weeks. The skin is regrowing, and his surgeon is happy with his progress.

The frustrating part is that he is still quite lethargic and showing pain when he gets up and down. You can see in the video that his back leg is still really stiff. When he stops, he starts curling, and that leg is on an awful angle. After watching a few of the physiotherapy rehabilitation videos (thanks Tripawds!) I have started doing some gently stretching and range of movement exercises. I think it is helping with the pain and stiffness. It’s much easier to move that stiff back leg now and he’s not so defensive when I touch him. He is definitely less jumpy. He is also showing a bit more interest in what’s happening around him. Sniffing the trees, giving visitors the hypnotic “FEED ME” stare, and warning us when someone walks by. It’s so good to see these little flashes of personality again. For the record, his treat of choice is cat food. Ha!

Nice to have a more positive report this time!! I hope the next 30 days get better and better.

Day 26 – Not too bad

Another couple of days of not too much change, which at the moment seems like a good thing.
We are due for a checkup with his surgeon this week. Hopefully she will have good things to say.
He does seem to be in a little bit more pain but I think it might be muscular. Once we get his wound stable, Prince Badgington will be hitting the gym!

(Apologies for the lack of photos with this entry. I’ve hit my photo limit & need to decide whether to upgrade to a supporter account.)

Day 24 Update – plodding along

I’m a little bit lost for words today because I’m not really sure how things are going.  Last Wednesday was a really good day.  I thought we had turned a corner but on Thursday he went a bit down hill again.  Maybe he overdid the walk on Wednesday.  He was more lethargic and there was a small bleed in his wound.  We completely freaked out because the last time he had a bleed it was a serious complication.  The vet reassured us that it doesn’t look to serious, so we are back to keeping him quiet, changing his dressings and hand feeding the Fluffy Prince.

There’s a section of his stitches that is starting to look infected.  I have no idea how because he’s been taking antibiotics since the original operation and apart from cleaning, we are putting antibiotic cream on the site.   We’re scared of the skin breaking down but trying not to panic.  He’s over it and wishes we would leave him alone.

A slightly wary Badger looks up at the camera

Badger looking up at me sweetly, hoping for a treat.

The one positive from Prince Badgington’s perspective is that we’re putting yoghurt on his breakfast as a probiotic to help his gut bacteria.  He doesn’t care why, just says “Keep the yoghurt coming!”

Day 21: Curly Boy

It’s now been three weeks since Badger’s original operation and we feel like we are making slow progress.  He is still sleeping a lot of the time but his appetitie is ok and he’s happier to be patted and scratched.  In the past couple of days he would go to the toilet then head straight back inside.  Today he was happy to explore a little further.

The video was taken about half way through his walk (about 100 metres).  Up until this point he was walking well but then his body started doing “the curl.”  I now think that it’s due to tiredness and possibly a bit of pain.  He was better again after a short rest.

Day 19 – Slow but steady

Another day of slow recovery.  We are back to doing the daily dressing change ourselves and sending photos to the surgeon.  She is satisfied that the wound is improving and told us to keep up the good work. 🙂

Mr B still seems very tired and a bit jumpy.  Who can blame him really?  He’s had a rough couple of weeks.  Lucky for him we have the “luxury” of Covid-19, which means we are obliged to stay home, slow down and spend most of our time fussing over the boy.

Yesterday I persuaded him to hang out in the garden for a little while.  He looks happy.  I think the sunshine did us both good.

Badger looking happy in a very green, overflowing garden

Badger soaking up the afternoon sun

 

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