We went back to VCA Douglas County Animal Hospital to have his bandage changed. Today, Dr. Eppard saw him. She said that the incision is still looking good. I also had her draw some blood so that we can send it in to Canine Health Information Center (CHIC). CHIC was started by the Canine Health Foundation's (CHF) in cooperation with Orthopedic foundation for Animals (OFA). CHIC is developing a database which will serve as an information resource for researchers, breeders, and dog owners.

Of course, it wasn't until I got home and couldn't figure out why Newton's t-shirt was all wet, when I realized that Dr. Eppard didn't bandage the "Y" portion of his incision or the drain. That will teach me not to pay attention.

Newton spends most of the morning in his room (not sure if he is still feeling run down from the surgery or if he is depressed). In the afternoon, he is a bit more social and will come hang out with me. He doesn't seem to want to eat much either.

I decided to sleep on the couch so that Newton could cuddle with me.

Newton is still doing well. The swelling in his right leg is going down. Although his back legs seem to be a bit stiff. He spent most of the day either lounging in front of the TV or sleeping in his room.

Laura came over and helped me change his bandage. He is still seeping quite a bit and his incision (while the hole isn't nearly as big) doesn't look any different to me. Of course, it wasn't until after I got the new bandage on that I realized that I didn't take any pictures. Opps, my bad!

Dr. Perry wanted us to have the bandage changed everyday. So, we loaded up the mini van once again and headed to VCA Douglas County Animal Hospital. Newton weighed in at 152 lbs. Since Dr. Roberts is still on vacation, we saw Dr. McVicker. She said that everything looked good and showed me how to do the bandage so that I wouldn't get hit with an emergency room charge if I had them change it on Sunday.

Newton is doing pretty well today. He is still a bit lethargic, but is eating well and is a bit more spunky than he was on Friday. As I figured, he is not a fan of the new antibiotic addition and is doing everything in his power to avoid any pills. He is also being a brat when it comes to changing his t-shirt.

I realized today that I am going to have to get me a new car. Getting into a Jeep Wrangler that has a 3.5 inch lift just isn't going to be an option. At the moment, I am leaning towards a Honda element.

Once again, I borrowed Mary's mini van to haul Newton up to CSU. He had lost a couple more staples during the night so now the hole (in essence, the "Y" portion of his incision) was huge. He was also seeping quite a bit from the hole.

At CSU, I had to have 2 nurses help me get Newton out of the mini van. Once inside, we were greeted by Dr. Ehrhart, Dr. Culp, and the 4th year vet student, Juli Peters. Dr. Ehrhart indicated that they would keep Newton for a few hours, get the area cleaned up, most likely re-suture, and possible install a drain.

Four hours later, I got a call letting me know that Newton was ready to come home. When I got there, Dr. Perry indicated that the "Y" portion of Newton's incision was infected (as a side note, there was no foul smell coming from the incision). They cleaned the area, removed the contaminated area, re-sutured, installed a drain, and bandaged everything up. They also put Newton on 3 capsules of Cephalexin (500 MG) three times a day. Oh boy, Newton is not going to be a happy camper!

Needless to say, I am glad that we made the trip to CSU. A full-blown infection would have totally sucked!

I also took a trip to Petsmart today. I bought one of those pill guns. I'm hoping it will help me get Newton's meds into him without a total struggle. I don't think that he realizes that they are going to make him feel better. I wonder if he misses his leg?

Okay, now I am pretty much freaking out. Newton's front right leg has gotten huge. I left a voicemail message for both Dr. Perry and Dr. Culp. Newton's regular vet, Dr. Roberts in on vacation until October 20th, so Mary (my breeder) came over to take a look at his leg. Mary thinks that the leg is more muscle related and probably has to do with the fact that he is having to adjust to this new way of walking.

Mary also took a look at his incision. While she was looking at it, she noticed a couple of staples that were only holding onto one side of the incision. Worried that they might drop into the wound, she removed them. Over the course of the day, I had to remove two more staples. Now there is a huge hole. When I look in the hole, I can see where they sutured him up.

Once again, I left Dr. Perry and Dr. Culp messages. When I hadn't heard from either of them at 4 pm, I called CSU again and asked if I could talk to somebody about what I was seeing since I was quite worried. They tracked Dr. Perry down. I told Dr. Perry what I was seeing and emailed him a picture of the "Y" portion of the incision that was losing the staples. He indicated that in looking at the pictures, he doesn't think that Newton will have trouble healing as long as it stays clean. He also indicated that I could come up to CSU on Friday and have them look at it if it would make me feel better.

You can guess what I decided.