Ranger Update

Ranger is 3 days post op now and doing well.  I posted about first bringing her home on Friday.  The vet tech had told us that her face looked pretty good.  We were a little shocked, though, when we first saw it.  When we got to the car, Davan started crying from the shock of it.  That didn't stop us from loving her up, though.

When we first got home, we tried to get her to settle down in the living room with us, but she kept trying to get to Davan's bed.  She spent her first 3 plus hours home completely sacked out with people around her all the time.

By Friday evening, though, she was a bit more lively.  We still tried to be with her at all times to stop her from pawing at her face.  They did send her home with a collar, but we only put it on her once.

She was such a good sport about sitting there and letting Anthony put it on, but she looked so sad, we couldn't stand to try to make her keep it on.

So, we stuck with sticking close.  Sometimes really, really close.

Mostly, though, we shut the bedroom doors so she wouldn't wander away and moved her blankie to where we could observe her from wherever we were.

We think that the fact that so much of her face is shaved is part of the shocking part of it all.  We've decided she looks a bit like a monkey.

After a couple of days of getting after her for pawing at her face, she's pretty good about not doing it.  We were worried about night, but she only seemed to scratch at it once the first night.  She slept that night with Anthony and I.  Last night she was back in her own bed (okay, Davan's bed) and didn't have any issues.

We had to leave her by herself for a while today for Easter dinner with family, so we gave her her narcotics and hoped for the best.  We took her so we could check on her.  She did great.  No pawing that we could tell.  And we've been able to tell due to a little bleeding when she's sneaked in a little scratching here and there.

Today, we're even letting her sleep in Davan's room without us there a bit.  She's doing really well and seems to be in good spirits.  I note this particularly because when I read the discharge papers closely, they mentioned that many dogs become depressed the first day or two home from surgery.  Our theory is that its because they're made to wear the collar of shame.

Here she is today, resting comfortably.

And being a little silly.

We'll hear the pathology report sometime this week and have high hopes that all will be well there.  For now, though, she's recovering really well from the actual surgery and we're getting used to her new looks...which will be evolving for a while now between her fur growing back and the stitches coming out in a week and a half.  I'll keep you all posted.  :)