As Maia has continued to progress with her exercises and healing, we of course had to have another scare. While this was not joint related, it was still worrisome. During the month of April I noticed an uptick in Maia’s water consumption. Basically she would drink water quite a bit more often than normal. Since we always kept a fresh bowl of water by her beds as she was not allowed to roam free, we would hear her drinking water during the night quite often. So, off to see her regular doctor we went.

Taking Maia to see her regular doctor was scary itself because Maia was barely a month into her recuperation of her right knee surgery.  I made sure to bring her belly sling and put her ruffwear boots on her back paws for extra traction since our veterinarian has tile surfaces throughout the office, as most probably do for obvious reasons. So, we loaded Maia up into the backseat of my truck, put her Pawaboo harness and seat belt on and with my wife sitting next to Maia in the back seats, we made our way to see her doctor.  We arrived with no issues and took Maia into an exam room and discussed the issue we were seeing.  The first order of business was to take vitals and then collect blood and urine from Maia for lab work. Instead of taking Maia into the back, they brought all the necessary equipment into the exam room to collect the samples, which I was grateful for. I actually had no idea that the method to collect urine from a dog was to turn the dog on their back in a big V-shaped foam bed, or “troft” as they called it, and stick a giant needle into their bladder to collect it. Yikes! Needless to say, I did not watch them actually performing the urine collection as I turned away.  Anyway, the samples were collected and the appointment went off without a hitch. We even had Maia’s nails trimmed while we there since it had been a while since she had a pawdicure.  The doc stated that Maia looked good and her vitals were good. Now we just had to wait for the lab work.

I should point out that Maia had been continuing to take her Deramaxx (NSAID for dogs) that was prescribed some time ago. When I noticed the increase in water drinking, I immediately discontinued giving this to her as it can in fact cause liver and/or kidney issues, or so I’ve read.

A couple of days later we received a call from the Maia’s doctor’s office stating that she had elevated kidney and liver values. Her “ALP” value was 1,135 with the normal range between 5 and 160. It should be noted that due to her surgeries and the bones healing, that very well can cause the ALP value to spike. However, they recommended I stop the Deramaxx (which I already had done) and that we also do another test to evaluate her thyroid, for which they had collected enough blood for but needed to charge for it. They also recommended perhaps doing an ultrasound on her liver. A couple of days later we received a call that her thyroid test was normal and that we should take a wait and see approach and reevaluate her blood test in a few weeks.

A week or so later, Maia’s water consumption was back to normal and everything seems to be okay. I believe the Deramaxx was the culprit. A few weeks later we returned and Maia’s blood was taken again, while it still showed an even higher ALP value,, her other values were mostly in range. Whew.

During all this it was time for Maia’s 8 week check in on May, 4th with the orthopedics doctor to do x-rays to see how her healing is progressing. Since she had x-rays on her left leg when her right leg surgery was done, we did not do a 2 month follow-up. So, during this visit Maia will have x-rays done on both her right and left legs to evaluate her healing. Here right leg is at 8 weeks, and her left leg is not at 12 weeks.  We met with the doctor and went over the x-rays and Maia’s legs were healing up great, in fact, her left leg appeared to be completely healed with her right leg not far behind. This was great news! Maia was now cleared to be a free dog, no more fences and she can wander around the house on her own now.

Since we had been taking it easy on her rehab, it was time to kick into high gear and get back to some walks in the desert before it gets too hot, which is coming fast.

For the last several weeks Maia’s main exercise, other than just walking is her sit-to-stand exercises. she does two sets of 20 exercises, twice a day, once right after her breakfast and once right after dinner, as this is when she has the most energy.  As we continue to advance, I get Maia to sit, the get her to stand up as quickly as possible so she is kind of lunging out of her sit. Of course we do several warm-ups first, but she is doing great. Ever since Maia’s initial injury, and of course through her surgeries has not really been interested or allowed, in running. Because of that even when outside she would just watch the cottontail rabbits that jump through our view fence and eat the grass and plants. During the last few weeks, when going outside, Maia is actually starting to run after them. Although she is still weak, she is giving it a shot and that tells us she is feeling better and better!

Maia’s TPLO experience and our journey through all this has had it’s highs and low’s. I was devastated when Maia injured her right leg, barely 3 weeks after her left leg surgery, it was very difficult to process that, but thanks to a great doctor, lot’s of love and patience, Maia is a happy dog today and through all of this, no matter what, the sparkle in her eyes has never left.