We visited the vet so he could have a look at the incision and decide whether the stitches were ready to come out, if things appeared to be healing properly, etc. I must admit it was a bit of a shock seeing the length of the incision once all of the bandaging was removed. My husband got a bit choked up and had to turn away. There is easily a full 12″ of stitching, but the good news is that it’s healing beautifully. We’ve put Ray in a t-shirt so the incision can get a bit of air, and the stitches should come out Tuesday.
We had cut his meds down to twice a day doses of Tramadol, but I’m thinking that may have been somewhat premature. He was quite restless and couldn’t seem to get comfortable in my office this afternoon so I gave him a couple of pills. Maybe too much activity today with the vet visit and all. He settled right down for a snooze shortly thereafter. I guess that’s what they mean by administering “as needed.”
Another good thing is that Ray’s voracious appetite has slowly returned. That had me a bit worried as 1) we used to joke that “if Ray doesn’t eat, there’s something wrong with him” and 2) he’s already lost 25 lbs in the last six months. Before the cancer diagnosis, he was quite a big boy and we started walking him longer and cutting back on his food a bit, which worked well, but now I’d like to see him re-gain 5 lbs or so.
I started my outdoor walking regimen again yesterday and really missed having Ray with me. I know we may never be able to do the mile loop of our neighborhood again, but I sure hope he’ll be able to go for at least short walks someday.