Home from being spayed!

I'm relieved to report that Sofi's spay is over and done! She went in Tuesday morning and we picked her up on Wednesday. The experience didn't seem to set her back at all, actually.

I expressed some concern about her anxiety around barking dogs, and Dr. Bradley gave her a private exam room for the whole day while she waited for her surgery (an emergency pushed surgeries to the end of the day). We had planned to bring her home that night, but ended up waiting until Wednesday.

It's been a bit of a challenge to keep her from over-exerting herself, but she's getting plenty of rest and lots of hugs. Her zipper looks pretty good at this point. And, you can tell that her dog suit is filling up with proper dog stuffins!! The scale at the vet confirmed my own crudely-conducted weigh-in at home--she's gained 13 lbs.

Dr. Bradley thinks she is finished growing, at least structurally. We will make a plan to move her off the puppy food, and hopefully onto the food Tucker is eating in the coming weeks.

I'm trading voice mails with someone at K-State, and I have lots of "what if we don't do this" questions to ask them. Dr. Bradley added a consideration this week--since the head of the femur is actually above the hip joint at this point, with lots of established muscles keeping it there, would she be a worse candidate for the hip replacement, since the muscles would have to stretch a greater distance during recovery than in typical cases?

All food for thought at this point, but I'm just glad to get this first surgery obstacle marked off the list!

Update long overdue

What a tremendously long time it's been since I posted an update on dear Sofi. I keep meaning to write a few lines, then life and work gets the better of me. Also, it seems like the triumphs these days come in very gradual progressions, as opposed to the dramatic breakthroughs of our earlier days together. But looking back at the last few weeks, I can see that our progress is pretty dramatic.

Highlights:

• Sofi now weighs 57 lbs, up 13 lbs from when she came to us
• Sometimes she gets so excited to see one of us after a short absence that we are afraid she will hurt herself jumping around
  
• She has recently started to seek out affection pretty assertively--pawing at me until I give her a good rubdown
• She will actually come over to me while I'm working at my desk and rest her head on my lap and gaze up at me with tail wagging
• We've had hit and miss success with walks--ranging from happy-go-lucky trotting to full-fledged panic attacks when there is too much dog and car traffic around us
• She's lost most of her interest in poop-eating, though every once in a while she falls off the wagon
• She is spending more time in the living room if we are all out there, although she still ultimately prefers her "room"
• She loves to be hugged!

OK, when I look at the list, I do realize we've come a long way together in a relatively short time. We have all fallen hopelessly in love with Sofi, and I think the feeling is at least somewhat mutual. It is beyond gratifying to have our affection returned by her.

She is still on anti-anxiety meds--we will start backing off of them after she goes in to be spayed on 10/21. I have a message into K-State to discuss a plan for the hip replacement. I hate to do it to her, since it seems she is doing so well the way she is, but who knows if she is in pain? The X-rays indicate she should be, though you'd never know it by watching her move. I'm still not 100% convinced it's the best course of action.