Halloween in our New House and Lucy getting Spayed

Happy Halloween!!! This year may be a little different because of the pandemic but mark my words, I will still be at my door ready for any brave trick or treaters to safely come to our house! We will be there. I have been looking forward to this for almost 3 years!!

 

Here is our family's themed costumes this year! I'm excited for next year's theme too! Oh and Lucy HATED her costume.

  

Other family. We loved having 3 groups of people from our family come visit us!!

 

We wore Lucy out! It was a nice change of pace lol!

 

Thanks to my mom, she helped me decorate outside for Halloween!!! So happy!

 

Is it spooky!!!?

I'm waiting for more leaves to change color! Our area is so pretty!

 

(we got her area prepared for spaying surgery recovery so she can eat and drink with the cone and be comfortable. She fell asleep the night before the surgery all bathed and clean and 100% unsuspecting what was waiting for her tomorrow morning).

When we were planning to get sweet Lucy girl we knew we had to time it just right and find a good breeder and a dog that would be born to fit the timeline we needed. We knew we wanted to be in our house for 6-12 months (preferably 12 but that didn't work out >:(......) before getting a dog and we knew with our work schedules it would have to be the end of June when we picked up Lucy for Cody's first football bye week so he can be with her for 2 weeks transitioning her into half day's in her pen inside after that until school started 2 months later where we would leave her outside/in the garage full time while we were at work. 

If we had gotten Lucy any other time, we wouldn't have been able to do that. And our timeline perfectly matched up for when Lucy would have had to be conceived and born for this to all happen with the perfect breeder and when that would mean she would turn 6 months (to get spayed) right before and during Cody's Fall break so we could properly take care of her for those next 10-14 critical days. 

So the Friday before Cody's Fall break, we dropped sweet Lucy off at our (amazing) vet at 7:30am and she happily trotted in! She doesn't make many negative memories, she's tough and the alpha of the litter and loves adventure and people. 

We picked her up at 3:00pm to a very loopy looking dog. She stumbled into our backseat and Cody held her the whole drive home (20 mins) with her crying the whole way. She hates cars though. 

They told us she didn't need a cone because she wasn't messing with her stitches but when they brought her out with a cone they said, never mind, that was the other dog. Lucy tore her catheter out and wasn't having it. lol.

When we got in, we took her to get some water and to go to the bathroom and poor thing struggled to go #2 because she was in pain. 

 

When we first put her in her pen to calm her, she was NOT a happy girl. Her arm hurt from the IV, her shoulders hurt from the microchip, she couldn't poop, she was hungry and weak but the pain medicine curbed her appetite, and her nails were freshly clipped. Lol. She was NOT happy. On top of that, she was so tired and hated the cone. She was only given 3 pain pills for the next few days and was told to restrict her activity.

Later that day she was able to go #2 better and finally got comfortable after we caved and let her jump on the couch. That was the happiest we had seen her that day. She napped just like that for hours. 

I tired to lay with her to make her happy. She wasn't ha. 

 

She tried CONSTANTLY to get the cone off of her head and was so frustrated. She actually bit me a few times she was so mad.

We knew we had to do something because she couldn't take this the next 10-14 days. And the next 3-5 days were critical they said.

So we bought her an inflatable ring thanks to Jordan my co-workers recommendation!

The moment we took off her cone and put this on, she was a different dog. She says, I'll hold my doggie so he isn't scared, lol. 

 

We literally saw her transform right before our eyes!

Now for some real rest!

Her stitches if you are or will be in our shoes and want to know if what your dog looks like is normal. This is what Lucy looked like right when she came home from the vet and it only has gotten better from then on.

On the third day, Lucy had zoomies around the couch and we had to hold her down and get her in her crate so she didn't hurt herself. The second day after surgery on, they will be back to normal but have the same strict restrictions. It is so hard to keep her still and we had to crate her often. It's harder on you than them definitely! From day 2 on, we let her jump on the couch, jump on us (not on purpose) and play with her toys and she is just fine. The vet doesn't really touch on how much they can really do.

With love,

Kayla Raborn

10/12/20