Part Two. So Jazzy and I were relieved not to deal with diapers anymore. But … yesterday little Jasmine got spayed. The vet was fairly sure of himself that Jazzy wouldn’t need the cone I brought with me when I went to pick her up. He said it was ok if she licked her incision. Since there were no sutures to rip out, she wouldn’t cause any harm.
But Jazzy also had her rear dewclaws removed and that meant that both of her back legs had bright green bandages on them. And everyone knows that sheltie puppies LOVE to destroy and eat bright green bandages! I had visions in my head of getting home only to find a crate full of bright green and fluffy padding, and Jazzy hiding gleefully underneath! But there was something else – something I hadn’t yet thought about. The vet was kind enough to point out to me that those bandages needed to be kept dry. We had just gotten several inches of ice and snow over the weekend. To top it all off, it was very warm today, which was quickly melting the snow into pools and ponds of water everywhere I looked. AND, it had also been raining all day! Imagine my luck!
Thinking back to the diaper fiasco, I chuckled to myself. How would I ever get her feet wrapped in plastic baggies and get them to stay on her feet while I walked Jasmine in the swamp that had once been my yard?
Back to that good old dog supply box! I was pretty sure I had a set of small dog booties in there somewhere. Luckily Jasmine was still groggy enough that she slept in the car while I found them. Still groggy and sore, she made a valiant attempt to kick off the boots as I tried to make them tight enough to stay on her feet without hurting her incisions. I carried her to the highest part of the swamp (I mean yard) to keep her as dry as possible.
I decided to leave the boots on her all evening until after her last trip outside for the night. I figured if she started to feel better I may have a bigger struggle on my hands to get them back on her, and I knew she would need many trips outside still before bedtime. At first all she did was sleep. But a few hours later, as bedtime was getting closer, she started to feel better and I saw Jazzy sitting crooked on one hip. Looking closer, I saw her other back leg was held precariously in the air while she chewed and tore at the boot! And then the other boot! Uh oh. She was after those bright green bandages, I just knew it! Well, I told myself, at least she is starting to feel better.
And so, much to Jasmine’s chagrin, she now had to wear … THE CONE! Having some experience with dogs wearing cones, I decided to put the soft cone on Jazzy to spare her the constant jarring as she ran into furniture and walls. It was good that I did. She rubbed her head and the cone up against everything, trying to scrape it off. She succeeded in pushing it out of her face while rubbing, only to have it bounce back into shape, encompassing her head and face, as soon as she stopped. Jazzy has a small head, and even smaller eyes, so it was hard for her to see much of anything.
I sat with her for quite a while to get her settled. If I was directly in front of her, she licked me and seemed content, but as soon as she turned her head and lost sight of me, she began searching again. She couldn’t see me past the cone. Once she realized I was still there, she settled down and went back to sleep. She had to wear the cone in her crate all night to prevent her from giving in to the temptation of bright green bandages! She’ll have to wear the cone for a few days until the bandages can come off. I know Jasmine will be SO happy to get all these weird things off her! She’s been a real trooper through it all and it’s a good thing she has such a great bounce-back temperament! Nothing’s really had more than a temporary effect on her.
It will be nice for things to finally get back to normal around here! … Whatever normal is!
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