Mr Rams

We had our check up at the vet a few days ago and he’s been given another course of antibiotics and pain killers.
The site is looking really good, the swelling has gone down, it’s slightly red in a few places but hopefully next week the stitches can come out.
I did catch him licking the area yesterday when I left him alone for 5 minutes so the cone has gone back on, it was red where he had been licking it but this morning it was looking pretty good. It’s becoming dry now so no doubt it’s itchy. I think he’s starting to experience small amounts of phantom limb pain too. Yesterday he was asleep next to me and then he suddenly bolted up and was looking at the wound trying to lick it and became pretty stressed. That’s the second time it’s happened within a few days.

His cramps also came back  with a vengeance. They started off small and progressively became worse. I let him rest but the longer he rested the worse it would get to the point that he was yelping when he tried to get up.
When I got him moving he was fine hopping a long, but once he’s back on his back he is quite hesitant to get back up again.

I was looking through the forums last night and with some reading and suggestion from others I’ve tried a few different things.

I’ve been massaging him and he’s taken that pretty well, the back leg I try to massage as much as he can take. He doesn’t show any significant reaction when I touch it but I can feel the muscles tensing. He will still twist his foot slightly when he stands and almost lets that leg collapse due to it still getting tired and he’s front leg extends out a bit to compensate. The vet reassured me that this was normal and that in a few months once his strength is back he’ll walk and stand normally again. There are a few exercises that I want to try with him but won’t be starting them just yet.

I’ve also tried a heat pack but he’s really not interested. He’ll sit there for a couple of minutes with it then almost slide off his bed not wanting anything to do with it.

As of last night I’ve been given him a little bit more of his vitamins to help his body receive extra nutrition, he’s been drinking plenty of water and I’ve been adding bone broth to his meals to help his overall health and to keep him hydrated.

This morning when he got up he was a little stiff and he cramped for maybe around 30 seconds, but there was no yelping and he came over willingly to eat his food. He even grabbed his toy to play so we played a small amount of fetch.

Today I’ve been getting him up to walk around that little bit more. Every hour and a half to two hours i’ll help him up to walk around for about 10 minutes. Its the afternoon now and he’s just gotten up by himself to see what i’m eating. No cramps! So that’s good!

I know the cramps can be normal but I think I may have pushed him a little too quickly last week. Even though there are times he really wants to play I still have to be mindful of how much he’s gone through and how much his body needs to recover. I’ve come to the realistation that all this is going to take longer than I anticipated. And so it should. He’s really been knocked around!

I’m just so use to doing daily activities with him and watching him bounce back so quickly because of he’s high drive that I’m already expecting him to be back to his normal self.

It’s all still very hard.

Lot’s of small steps for the both of us!

Mel x