Things continue to go well with Ray’s recovery as we monitor his progress and help to provide his basic needs.
He is sleeping a lot, and that’s the best thing. His appetite is also beginning to return to ravenous pre-surgery levels. When he needs to go, he is able to hop outside, with us by his side, and do his business no problem. Reminds me of Forrest Gump’s quote to describe his marathon-running phase: “When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go…you know…I went.”
We are keeping a watchful eye on him from a close proximity and allowing him to not only see what he is capable of with three legs, but some of the adjustments required. For example, he is learning to keep his three remaining feet on carpet (as opposed to tiled floor) in order to more easily get up from a laying position without slipping too much. I have bought and laid down additional runner rugs to help maintain a continuous path of carpet throughout the house to help him with this, but it is still a learning process, as he used to love laying on the tiled floor to cool his tummy. Ray is a smart dog, though, and he is seeing things are different.
I think he’s going through a bit of depression too, in realizing what’s happened to him. Then again, maybe it’s the meds. Hard to tell. He’s also having really frequent, vivid dreams, with lots of running, eye twitching and snuffling. I have to wonder if he’s imagining himself on four legs or three. Hopefully, in the near future, the “new normal” will be just that.