Jane's Katie Je 2013 surgery Neck

My husband called the vet about tapering Katie's pain meds. Instead of giving her a dose morning and evening we will be giving her a dose in the morning for several days and then reducing to morning dose every other day. Katie goes back for her six weeks follow up appointment next Thursday.

We did have Katie wake us up last night barking. I got up to check on her and she settled back down. Of course, as soon as I laid back down, she started barking again. I got up again and opened up her crate. She ran out and went to the water bowl. She didn't want to go back in crate. She rolled on her back wanting to play, so I rubbed her tummy and petted her for a few minutes and then put her back in the crate. I think Katie is getting tired of her crate rest.

Katie is doing well on the reduced pain meds. When we opened her crate to take her out this afternoon she dashed over to Maggie's (our slowest, pickiest eater of our six) food dish and tried to finish it off for her. Her old personality is certainly coming back. She is moving really good. Katie will go this coming Thursday for her six week follow-up with Dr Milton at Birmingham Veterinary Surgical Center. I'm sure he will be as pleased with her progress as we are.

If she didn't have areas shaved from surgery and myelogram you probably would realize she was recovering from surgery. In 2011 we had to put Katie on vitamin E because her hair was not growing back as expected. Dr Milton told us then that was not usual, but the shaving can sometimes shock their bodies. Fortunately, it is summer this time. Last time we had to keep her in a fleece vest while her hair slowly grew back. Do you have any other suggestions of what we can do to encourage her hair growth? Last time it not only grew back extremely slow, but did not grow back evenly.

I tried to load a picture of Katie in the photos, but I guess I'll have to break down and pull out pc to get that to work. I was able to change my avatar using my ipad to a picture of Katie that we took this afternoon.

Pauliana,

Thanks! We will discuss the hair growth with Dr Milton and see if he as any further suggestions too. I remember him looking surprised in 2011 when we returned with Katie for her follow-up that there was so little hair growth. I'm sure he will think the same this time. I'll let you know what he says.

Katie took her last steroid dose yesterday. She has one more pain dose tomorrow before she returns for her six week evaluation with Dr Milton. She is doing really great. When we open her crate she is eager to run out. She wants to play and rolls over on her back teasing you as you try to get leash on her. While walking her in the yard to do her business she is beginning to try and pull you along. I'm sure if you took her off the leash she would be bouncing all over the backyard. She is getting reluctant to get back in her crate when you bring her back inside and wants to play. She is certainly exceeding our expectations at this stage of recovery.

When we let the other dogs out, feed them, etc she is voicing her disapproval that she is not included, as my husband says, " Katie has her bark back". I'll update you Thursday after her appointment with Dr Milton on if he discontinues all medicine and the recovery changes on the crate rest. Also, his suggestions to encourage hair growth.

Hi Jane,
I'm Val, a new member also. My Joey is in his 3rd week of recovery from back surgery. This site has been a treasure trove of information; don't know what I would have done without it.
I've been following along on some of the other doxies here. Katie is a doll! I am wondering how you finally resolved her harness issue? Were you able to find something that would keep the pressure away from her neck area? I've seen quite a few contraptions on links from this website, some seem to be for the rear end. i hope you are able to resolve that.

Good luck with all your doxies, you sure have your hands full!
-Val

Val,

We did find several harness that would work though Katie does seem to be between sizes. I like the design of one my husband paid way to much for at PetSmart, but it wouldn't adjust as much as needed and the material was stiff. I actually found the one she is wearing in my profile pic at Burlington for a fourth of what the other cost and the material is softer. 

Pauliana,
We definitely don't plan to rush her. Our house is pretty back friendly already as there aren't any steps. We only allow the dogs on the furniture if we have a throw to protect from scratching the leather or Katie's obsessive licking. Also, they are not allowed to jump up or down. Katie knows to turn around so I can lift her into the chair with me. The smaller dogs are crated during the day even though I work from home. Our one male, Mikey, has some issues and does behaves better when only a couple of dogs are out with him. Big problem to have them constantly barking every time he gets excited as I'm on conference calls off and on all day. We have always used harnesses for the dachshunds as some of them do tend to pull more than others.  Also, with Katie having the problem with her neck we have purchased a small set of raised bowls for her. I'll read through the links you provided to see what else we can be doing. 

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Katie is still doing great. We are letting her out with our other five dachshunds, but still watching her closely to make sure she doesn't overdo. We are also still keeping her crated in a separate room, so she isn't racing to the kitchen door to go outside with the others. We have been letting her in and out using a separate door in our den. Don't want her to get hurt in the fight to see who can get out the door first. Katie is not only walking well, but is racing across the room or yard. If you couldn't see where her hair is growing back on shaved areas you would not know she had recently recovered from surgery. She is still taking the Allerg-3 to help with hair growth. Her back is beginning to show some hair growth, but under her neck where the hair was thinner is taking longer. All the other doxies are happy to see her out and about. We took her on an outing to pet store and our new bark park Saturday. You could tell she enjoyed it, but she did seem to tire easily, of course so did I.

Katie is continuing to do well. You can just barely see a line where she was shaved on her back, but under her neck is slower growing in. We no longer keep her separate from our other dogs. She is back to taking walks on leash with harness and trying to chase the squirrels. She has developed one unrelated issue. One of her hind paws has been looking inflamed. The vet at last visit x-rayed her paw and said there is a lump and arthritis. They prescribed a second round of antibiotics and Rimdayl. If it doesn't improve vet recommends removing that digit. She say Katie won't miss it and if we don't do it it will begin to affect her walk. We certainly don't wont to throw her walk off and in turn possibly affect her back since Katie has both neck and back surgery.

It's been a little over a year since Katie had her cervical surgery. She is still doing great! She has not had any further episodes with her back since surgery in 2011 or her neck since surgery in 2013. We do tend to watch her and Maggie (she had back surgery in 2010) closer since they both have had surgeries. Also, per Dr Milton we keep an eye on Schatzie, Maggie's litter mate,since this could be hereditary. They are getting older, but so far show no signs of slowing down.