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4. Radius Curvus – Rehabilitation
The corrective osteotomy is a relatively easy and short surgery. In Czech it is also relatively cheap – we paid about 600 euro for it, and this was the only time the breeders showed some good will as they reimbursed total costs of this operation. The most difficult part of the operation is actually the rehabilitation after it. I will describe the difficulties using our example as thoroughly as I am able to.
I do believe that the majority of the difficulties are results of two main factors: we have a sighthound here, and we have a puppy who had osteotomy on both front legs.
Generally, I think that any kind of growing disturbances or injuries at a puppy-age with sighthounds are so difficult to deal with, then even if there is no need for surgery but you have restricted exercise or pain discomforts, brining up such a puppy is a torture. In cases of surgeries and long rehabilitation I think that the quality of life of a sighthound and of its owners changes into hell. Sighthounds are born to run. Their body and their soul and mind make one big engine – for high speed! They are always ready to run despite pain or any kind of problems. Of course puppies do not run as fast nor as long as grown ups, but they are definitely much faster, much more energetic, much more flexible then puppies of any other breed. Their metabolism is different, their body is built differently and they use all of these to produce high speeds. The first two years of their life are decisive for their body and mental development. I think that even the best vet who never had a sighthound does not imagine what their patients and the owners have to go through whenever there is any major problem with a sighthound puppy.
How did Tarat deal with his rehabilitation?
The very next day after the surgery Tarat was feeling quite well, and he didn’t seem to feel any pain. He spent his first night after the operation at the clinic. But he was not able to stay alone even for 5 minutes. He was jumping in his cage, he was taking the bandages off, he was screaming and it was all too dangerous. The vets didn’t want to sedate him again right after the surgery to keep him clam in the cage. In the end one of the assistants had to stay with Tarat in the reception of the clinic all night. When with humans Tarat was like a little angel. Any trials of placing a protective collar around his neck would finish with suicidal running and banging on walls… This is why Dr. Hnizdo called me the next day after the operation and asked me to take Tarat home – even though he was supposed to stay there till Monday – we left him in the clinic on Friday. I was advised I should sleep with Tarat, he should be with me in the bed. Only that way I was able to “keep an eye” on him during the night. This was the only way to protect him from taking the bandages off as well as from jumping on the bed. This is what Tarat looked like the day after the surgery:
 
Taking care of Tarat at nights
We organized our life around the puppy. I moved to a bed-room on the middle floor. From that day my nights became short and I was somewhere in between sleeping and being alerted. The smallest moves of Tarat would wake me up – I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t hurt himself. I was afraid he could fall off the bed too. The first nights were real nightmares for me – I was at the beginning of my pregnancy, always tired and sleepy.
Taking care of Tarat during day time
Tarat was not able to stay alone even for 1 minute. The place in which he was at the very moment had to always be protected against him jumping or running. Every time I wanted to go to the toilet I had to take him with me, make sure there was nothing there that could cause any troubles. I had to carry him up and down stairs. Taking Tarat outside for his toilet was restricted too: only out to the garden, only on the leash, with plastic bags around his bandages, most of the time he was carried there too. 2 days after the surgery Tarat felt so good that he started to jump and he was trying to pull and escape on the leash. I thought I was going to go mad. Luckily he was still just above 10 kg at this time and I was still able to lift him up. My gynecologist was tearing her hair off when she heard I was carrying a 10kg puppy everyday. But I really had no choice.
We had a pet sitter who would come everyday for 4-6 hours, but the rest of the day I had to deal with him. Living with a sighthound puppy after the corrective osteotomy is a slavery. And if you have more then one dog at home and your pets live at home like ours as your family members – your life riches an absurd. You need to make sure they are always separated, always attended, you cannot forget to leave any doors open etc, etc. And it takes months! I didn’t leave our house even for 5 minutes within the first 4 weeks after the surgery. I didn’t sleep one night through. I didn’t go alone to the toilet unless someone else was at home. This is what my 4th and 5th month of pregnancy looked like.
14 days after the
operation the vet removed Tarat’s bandages. The scars looked really well –
small, clean, almost invisible. However his paws – weak and deformed after
2 weeks of being in the bandages – looked awfully dramatic:    Just the way the paws looked was depressing enough. But to add to the drama of the whole situation we had to deal Tarat’s psyche. Without the bandages Tarat was no longer limited in his movements. He didn’t feel any pain. Obviously a dog does not realize his legs are half handicapped. How should we make him understand he was not supposed to jump nor run – he was able to do it within a 2m2 of space! During one of his dramatic fights for freedom to move he abused his left wrist joined. He started limping. We got Rimadyl for him and he had to be really kept very short. My relationship with Tarat turned into a constant “fight”, constant “no”, he was restricted to sit down and chew a bone. He was getting mad. Me too. We still had to carry him up and down the stairs. One good change was at nights. Tarat could move and change positions without my help and I was able to start to teach him to sleep in his own place again – next to my bed. He got used to it quite quickly. We slept better at nights and it made him even more active at days. Vicious circle.  Every day Tarat was behaving differently. He was getting very frustrated. I was close to collapse too. I was tired, I was angry that I had no time to take care of myself. To add to this our vet had left for 3 weeks vacation. 5 days after taking off the bandages, so at the end of the 3rd week after the operation Tarat stopped limping. Very soon after it – few days later at the beginning of the 4th week I noticed that one of Tarat’s paws was much worse then the other. The worse one was the right one. I thought it was a result of the limping - he did put all his weight on his right paw to save the left one which he abused:
I observed the legs for a few days. In the middle of the 4th week I decided to go and show him to the vet that was substituting for Dr. Hnizdo. Dr. Gregrova looked very concerned about Tarat’s right paw. She didn’t know what to think about it. She decided to put it back into a bandage to protect it from being overloaded. This bandage was huge – it was above the elbow. I didn’t like the idea, but seemed we had no bases to negotiate it. Tarat did not want to cooperate at all. He was not in pain and putting a bandage was painless but he would not let us do it. 4 grown up people could not hold him. So, Dr. Gregrova decided to sedate him in order to put the bandage on. On Wednesday, April the 24th Tarat got a bandage back on his right leg: 
It really was a step back for all of us. Tarat couldn’t sleep again. All his body weight was now on the left Radius. He was absolutely unhappy about his new bandage. We went back with him to have a check up on Friday evening – just two days after putting the bandage on. Dr. Gregrova had contacted Dr. Hnizdo in the meantime and she agreed the bandage was a mistake. She said the right paw was showing a more dramatic Carpus Valgus but there was not much we could do at this moment. We just had to wait and observe. She took the bandage off. Tarat was in heavens! He was so relieved. And we too. He slept all night like a little angle. The next morning was one of the worst ones in our life. 
 Saturday, April the 24th
Tarat got up at 9.00am. He was lively and absolutely hyperactive. I was not able to hold him. He was already 14kg and 60cm. He was trying to run away from me, he wanted to run around the table etc. My husband went to the shop to buy some fresh bakery. I stayed alone with Tarat at about 9.15am. After 20 minutes I started to feel like if I was going to burst – I just had to go to the toilet – 5th month of pregnancy! I tried to carry him with me – no way – he was jumping like a fish and it was just very dangerous for both of us. I decided to close him downstairs. I closed a stair gate and I ran upstairs. He wouldn’t wait. He managed to squeeze himself under the gate and ran after me to the second floor. I tried to catch him, but it was impossible. I wanted to go down with him, but he took me over and jumped from the last 3 stairs… It was enough. He fell on his left leg and the Radius there broke……
I was devastated.
This is how Tarat manages to get under the gate – he didn’t try it before, especially when he had bandages on – he would not succeed anyway. But without them – he managed. It is 20cm over the ground. The last time I saw him doing it was when he was 3 months old. I really didn’t realize he could get himself through it. I couldn’t be more wrong
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