Day 2
Hey there, mom again. Fionn is too tired to blog. Hopefully he’ll be up to telling you his story in his own words soon!
After his successful pee last night he was down for the count. There still has been no poop, but we were told it could take awhile with all the anesthesia and meds. He’s reluctant to walk far yet, but he’s been motivated to get up when he has to pee so it will happen in good time I’m sure. He laid down in my great room on his gel pad so I decided to sleep on the couch to be nearby. I heard him moving around at 1:30am and sat up to check on him. He looked at me, looked at the couch and, against my better judgement, climbed onto the couch by himself! It’s leather and someplace he commonly sleeps. I’m sure his gel pad had warmed up and the coolness of the couch was appealing. He lost his balance and sort of nose dived into the corner, but managed to right himself and laid down on his incision. 
He seemed fine with it and he was nice enough to leave a little spot on the end of the couch for me. The rest of the night he slept soundly and I was increasingly uncomfortable, but it’s what we do for our fur kids. He got a bit restless around 6am, so I gave him his tramadol and gabapentin with some pumpkin. A recommendation here- I started using pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) in his food prior to his surgery. The meds he was on was causing some loose stools and it seemed to help. He will lick it off a spoon with his pills mixed in. I use peanut butter too, but the pumpkin is better for their tummies. It has fiber so it should help move things along in the poop arena too.
After his meds, he slept for another 2 hours! At first I thought he wouldn’t or couldn’t get off the couch. He had kind of rolled into the back of the cushions. He managed to shift himself though, but I did assist his back legs as he finally got off. He laid on the floor for a bit. My front door is close by and I kept opening it to see if he seemed interested in going out. It was close to 11 before he went outside. He got to the top of the 3 steps and got scared and laid down. I went back inside to get his leash and, by the time I got back out, he had gone down the stairs by himself and hopped about 10 ft to pee by the fire pit again. 
Unfortunately, he wasn’t leaning on it this time and when he was done, his front leg collapsed sending him nose first into the dirt! He lost some confidence and it took awhile before he was willing to get back up the stairs. He does let me lift his back end going up, but he collapsed on the deck and stayed there for another hour. I stayed with him and kept encouraging him, but all he did was roll over onto his incision again. Problem was, the deck isn’t exactly the cleanest place to expose a fresh incision, and he really couldn’t get up once he got over. I finally had to lift his front end with his collar while simultaneously shifting his butt to get him on his chest. He yelped a few times which made me feel horrible, but it had to be done. From there, he managed to walk back inside the house.
Note to those of you heading down this path with a big dog who aren’t able to be this physical- you WILL need help. I’m pretty strong, but I am relived my daughter is coming over tonight to give me a hand because my back is feeling the strain.
He laid back down on his gel pad and rested for a few more hours. If I haven’t said this enough already, get one of these! He really loves it. It won’t stay cool forever, but it just needs a few minutes to “recharge” and get cool again and the coolness lasts for an hour or so.
He got a visit today from a friend who brought him homemade cookies and some belly rubs. She thinks he looks amazing considering and her visit perked him up enough to get up and have dinner. I have been bringing him water, but it’s better he eats standing. It took putting his leash on to encourage him to walk over to his raised bowls, but he devoured his food. Nothing wrong with his appetite! Here’s a few pics of his scar today. Not really any more bruising
My daughter arrived and Fionn perked up when he heard her car beep and then started barking- well, more like mild woofing- when she got to the door. The old Fionn is still with us!. He got up and wagged his tail so hard he almost fell over again. The excitement got him to walk outside to the deck where he promptly laid down. He hasn’t peed for 7 hrs and he’s had water so eventually he will have to get up!
He finally came back in the house and had dinner. I’m giving him only a cup of food with some pumpkin. I don’t want to overwhelm his bowels considering he hasn’t gone in a few days. He got up a bit later and wanted out so we tried the ramp again. It’s a shorter trip than using the stairs that are at the other end of my deck. It took both of us- he really doesn’t like it- but he had a BIG pee. No poop yet. His pee smelled a bit, but it was dark so I couldn’t see if it was discolored. It might just be concentrated since he’s only peeing a few times a day.
Back inside, he was restless and couldn’t settle. My daughter slept on the couch so I could sleep in my bed (thank you Hannah!) and she said he was restless all night. He would get up, but not want to go anywhere.
Day 3 report to follow!
