Groggy Dog

This morning I drove Bear down to the Humane Society  for his surgery. I was directed to put him on the scale and the poor thing, confronted by the other caged, barking dogs and the scale business was just shaking and shuddering in terror!

But he went nicely into the kennel that was brought for him and looked after me plaintively as I walked away to go to work.

I picked him up right on time as directed, and the Tech told me he had done very well, especially for an older dog.  He was cooperative and so sweet he apparently won their hearts!

Of course, it was quite obvious he was very doped up. Although he sat up when he saw me come in to get him, he had an intense, unblinking stare that revealed his complete and utter confusion in that moment. They told me that the fact he was even awake at that point is amazing for a dog of his age and so I slowly walked him to the car, hoping he'd be able to figure out how to get in!

Now, a few hours later he's still groggy and confused, alternately sitting and staring into space, then wandering to someplace, like, say, the water bowl, where he decides it's too much work to go back to his dogbed so he plops down right there for another snooze.

Ah, yes, the endless entertainment of a groggy dog....

*SHHH!  He's sleeping again...*   :-)


UPDATE AND PRAYER REQUEST:

I saw a little swipe of blood on Bear's leg, touched it, noted it was fresh, checked the incision site which seemed at that time to be "oozing" a little.  Nothing huge.  Noted a page of matted hair on the inside of Bear's leg (he is a long-haired dog!) which I suspect had become "attached" to the incision site in through movement, pulled away and caused a little bleeding.  Ow.

I did some internet research to see if I should worry, which of course, the sites make me do! I suspect, though, that when they talk about "oozing"  (or similar words) I think they are talking about more substantial signs of real bleeding and infection.

Bear is walking a little weird, but in his skinniness, he seems to me to walk a little weird anyway, so now I don't know if I'm just being paranoid or WHAT!   He's still groggy from the meds, started licking once or twice but I stopped that behavior and he quit without a problem.

Having seen a dog with bone cancer, I know the signs of real pain and distress in a dog, and none of those signs are present in Bear...

So for now, I'm just keeping an eye on things, have decided NOT to call the animal rescue unless it really becomes necessary. I think what I'm seeing is within a range of "Normal" and I hope it stays that way!

But, please pray anyway because I'm paranoid and will assume the worst even when it's nothing.

:-(  

Right now he's just hanging out napping on the floor and actually looks pretty comfortable.