Prince Vince

Vinny’s home! 😀

The doctor called me this morning to tell me how well he was doing and that he’d be ready to come home later in the day. I was very happy to hear this.

I picked him up a couple hours ago. As soon as I saw him, I stuck my fingers in the door of his crate and he rubbed his face against my fingers. Awwww. They were really adamant about how well he was doing. Yay! Before leaving, we went over everything and I asked a million questions. Take home medicine includes the Metacam that he’s already been on for a week – and continuing it for 4 weeks. And 5 days worth of tramadol. Easy peasy!

Once we were in the car I started chatting with him and giving him some treats – he was eating right away! This made he happy. He was very alert on the drive home and continued eating treats from my fingers.

When we got home, I put his crate in the cozy hideout I created for him, and let him out. I thought that he would just stay in there for a while, but right away he wanted to go explore the house. It’s obviously still hard for him to walk.  He’s sort of hobbling – but it’s not stopping him.

One interesting thing that the doctor mentioned was that often the animals have already practiced walking on three legs, since the pain in their amputated leg may have caused them to not use it much and shift their weight to the other three. Very interesting. Makes total sense!

I let him walk around a bit (we’re in an apartment, so he can’t go far) and I walked with him. He pretty much went right to his food bowl, so I didn’t hesitate. I want to get lots of nutrients into him right away, so he can begin healing! He ate the whole portion right away. After he ate, he literally went and used his litter box right away, with no issues getting into it or using it at all.

He came out and hung out in the hallway on the cool floor tiles for a while, just purring away like crazy. (He’s got a really loud purr – like a car motor, haha!) And to my delight, he even chatted with me a bit! After a bit, I moved him into my room with me, so we could just relax for the next little while before dinner. I’ve moved my bed frame into another room, so that now I just have the mattress on the floor, so he can easily get up and down, since he loves to be on the bed and cuddle at night. Now we’re just hanging out here. He napping and seems quite content (and still purring).

Only a few hours in, I am already amazed at how well he’s handling this. And I’m also impressed at how clean the incision looks! I didn’t know what to expect, but it looks great. He’s had three surgeries before, and he was never once interested in licking the wounds, so he never had to wear the e-collar. I was hoping it would be the same this time, but unfortunately he’s already tried to lick it a couple times. So, the e-collar will have to go on when I’m unable to pay 100% attention to him. We have a special one we picked up a few years ago though, called the Trimline. It does the same thing, but it’s soft and a bit more tolerable than the hard plastic one. It still sucks – but it’s slightly less awful for him.

Now the recovery journey begins. The doctor sent the leg to the histopathologist to check on the margins. I should hear back about that within a week. Then after recovery, we’ll see the oncologist for the next steps.

But for now, he’s home, and seems happy. One day at a time.

Love, KJ & Vinny

Vinny – 2 Hours home. <3