Ellis is having Emergency Surgery

have you asked the vet if maybe she can take or he can prescribe an anti anxiety pill for her. Like what some dog owners give to their dogs when they are terrified of fireworks or storms?
 
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Good thoughts and prayers coming. Hopefully your vet calls the other vet to inform him of what has happened. I would also be calling Ellie's breeder to inform her. It isn't the breeder's fault, it would be for her knowledge to learn about Ellie and the problems she has had. I'm not a breeder thank goodness, but if I was one, by golly I would want to know, but that is just me.

I'm certain your a wreck, and I would be too. Hurry up and get well Ellie!
 
Oh thank goodness the surgery went well! The poor little thing must be terrified. Every time she's behind bars lately she ends up going through some pain. I'm sure you will work through this with her. I'm wondering if there's another way to keep her in one place without any bars? Maybe use wood planks to cordone off a small room?

Romeo & I send our thoughts and prayers!
 
So glad the hear that Ellie made it through surgery and is feeling better. Lots of good suggestions here for the separation anxiety, I can't really think of any better ones, but we will keep her in our thoughts and try to send calming energies her way :yes:
 
Lahree, I'm so glad to hear that Ellie is feeling better. It sounds like your normal vet has things well under control and is doing all he can to correct this problem and make Ellie as comfortable as possible during her recovery. Continuing prayers for Ellie, you and your DH.


One thing you and your DH might try to help with her separation anxiety is to crate her and go outside for 5 minutes then come back in, let her out and reward her for calm behavior. Slowly increase the time until she gets the idea that when you go out you will come home and she'll be released.

Another thing you can try, and this was suggested by someone in my agility club to help train a dog who was terrified of crates from extended periods of time in a shelter, is to put her in an x-pen instead of her crate when you go out as you work on ridding her of the separation anxiety. The x-pen is still a caged area but is "different" (to the dog's perspective) than a crate.
 
Silaria said:
One thing you and your DH might try to help with her separation anxiety is to crate her and go outside for 5 minutes then come back in, let her out and reward her for calm behavior. Slowly increase the time until she gets the idea that when you go out you will come home and she'll be released.

Another thing you can try, and this was suggested by someone in my agility club to help train a dog who was terrified of crates from extended periods of time in a shelter, is to put her in an x-pen instead of her crate when you go out as you work on ridding her of the separation anxiety. The x-pen is still a caged area but is "different" (to the dog's perspective) than a crate.
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I was going to suggest exactly the same thing. On both the short periods (so she gets the idea that you're always going to come home) and the x-pen which is not as confining, and certainly not like a pen at the vet's office.

Bacca has a soft-lined crate inside an x-pen and it works great. The only reason why Indy doesn't have the same is because his crate is larger and I'm close to to point where I will contain them in a room instead of individual crates.

Best wishes, Lahree! You've had a horrible time. I can appreciate your struggle between your work obligations and your baby. As a working mom, I've dealt with this issue time and time again. It's never easy to find the work-life balance.
 
Well, Ellie did just fine! Richard shut her in the bedroom with her crate door open and access to the bathroom (her other favorite sleeping space). When he came home she was sleeping soundly in the crate! We had to leave her again when we went to get Richard's truck and we left her out and when we came home she was sleeping in her crate again. It convinces me now that she screamed yesterday because she got her mouth caught somehow in the bars of the crate and it scared her. She seems to be over her separation anxiety, thank Heaven! :smile2: She is a tough little cookie and very brave! I am so proud of her. Keep you fingers crossed that tomorrow when we have our first bandage change that everything looks good under there!
 
Lahree said:
Well, Ellie did just fine! Richard shut her in the bedroom with her crate door open and access to the bathroom (her other favorite sleeping space). When he came home she was sleeping soundly in the crate! We had to leave her again when we went to get Richard's truck and we left her out and when we came home she was sleeping in her crate again. It convinces me now that she screamed yesterday because she got her mouth caught somehow in the bars of the crate and it scared her. She seems to be over her separation anxiety, thank Heaven! :smile2: She is a tough little cookie and very brave! I am so proud of her. Keep you fingers crossed that tomorrow when we have our first bandage change that everything looks good under there!
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That's fantastic news! Having to deal with medical issues is bad enough, but I always worry about the trauma of being away from their safe haven when this stuff is going on and whether it will create greater difficulties down the road.

Sounds like at least that part if out of the woods. Crossing paws that medically she's getting there as well.
 
Trying to Get Back to Normal

According to our vet, Ellie's sutures look great! She is healing well and the vet says to just keep doing what we have been doing. She is hard to keep quiet and I feel really bad when she gets her toys and brings them to us and we can['t play with her. We give her things she can chew on instead, but she is starting to get very frustrated. One bittersweet thing is that she is not playing with our cat because the cat is very afraid of her in the collar. She won't get within about 6 feet of Ellie. :( Ellis whnes and tries to follow Zoey, but Zoey just runs under the bed and hides. I feel sorry for them both--Zoey, because she doesn't know where "her" dog went and why the hell we brought home a funny-smelling substitute with a big ugly and evidently scary blue collar and Ellie, of course because her best fur friend won't come near her. We took the collar off today when she is sitting with us watching tv and she has been very good about not chewing on herself. She is very smart and knows if she starts to chew, on goes the collar, so she is as good as gold when she is in our sight. If she goes out of sight and we follow her and catch her chewing or attempting to chew, the collar goes on, so she learned that as well and sticks with us. We rub her neck and give her a massage when it's off bcause we figure that really feels good. She will have to sleep with it on, because we know better than to trust her when we are asleep. :wink2:

I think the worst is behind us now and we can feel confident that she will continue to heal. Thanks once again for all your thoughts, prayers concerns and advice. You people are absolutely the best!
 
So glad to hear Ellie is doing so well! That's great news. Soon she'll be up and playing with both you and your husband, and her kitty friend too.
 
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