Thursday, June 28, 2018

Post Tie-Back Surgery - Riley

We are four weeks out from Riley's tie-back surgery for laryngeal paralysis and it is her 12th birthday today.  Overall, things are going well.  She definitely pants quieter and is a little more heat tolerant.
We did have a situation last week where Riley was gagging so hard one evening that she eventually vomited and was desperate to eat grass.  And sometimes she seems to have nonstop hiccups.  She vomited again a couple of nights later. But she has been find again the last several days.
We are back to hiking in the mornings at 6:30 AM. Riley is doing pretty well.  I don't think her breathing is slowing her down at all, but the heat and mugginess does.
I am fighting the polyneuropathy as much as I can.  Her rear end is getting weaker and weaker though.  I still have her do the stairs at least three times a day and other strengthening exercises. We used to have a pretty elaborate peanut, balance disc, and flatwork routines for kibble, but since I don't feed her kibble or tiny treats anymore it limits what I can do with her.  I was mostly luring her through the exercises with kibble, but now I do it with her chunks of food and ask her to do more.  And I back off if she starts panting too much.  So we aren't doing nearly as much as we used to.

Happy 12th Birthday, Riley!