LIVING WITH A SPECIAL NEEDS CONEHEAD

2 weeks ago Frankly got spayed! If any of you have had a dog, you can likely sympathize on how sad it is to see your dog wear the cone of shame (but kinda cute and funny too since they look ridiculous!). I knew that she was going to be bummed after it happened but what I didn't expect was all the ADJUSTMENTS that Dan and I would have to make in the Broten-Hung household to accommodate the special needs of her cone. The following is a list I've compiled of the surprises and adjustments we discovered:

Little to no movement for the first 4 days: Franks is normally quite the mover and shaker so it was pretty heart breaking to see her not move around like she normally did. First four days pretty much consisted of her laying on her bed. When she did move to go towards her food and water, it was more of an uncomfortable shuffle. Not to make it about me or anything, but it definitely bummed me hard when nobody was whining and begging me not to leave in the morning or racing to come see me as soon as I opened the door. All I got was a dazed look from a pup in pain!

Giant Frankenstein scar on her abdomen: I thought being spayed was a fairly routine procedure - and it is. But I guess I didn't REALLY know what was involved or how invasive of surgery it is. Turns out that ugly Frankenstein scar was because they REMOVED HER UTERUS AND OVARIES. No WONDER she was lifeless for the first four days. If someone removed my reproductive system, I would imagine the recovery time would be much much longer.

No spacial awareness of the cone: Frankly's cone is like inviting a bull into a china shop. She has NO awareness that the space required to accommodate her head is tripled due to the funnel. She returned to her relatively normal rambunctious self on day 5 and tried to do all the same things she did before in terms of running and playing around. Her cone however had OTHER ideas. Many things were bumped, scratched or jostled due to the needs of the cone! When I was home with her, I was constantly running into the living room once an hour because I thought something crashed or fell on the ground. NOPE - always her, bumping her cone around like it was a grand ol' party.

Oh god SHE SMELLS: So normally we bathe Frankly about once a week. Well timing was poor when she had her surgery because it fell on a Wednesday, and the night before she actually had her puppy class where she runs around with dogs 2-3X her size who slobber all over her (she loves it! I don't). So Tues evening by the time she got home, it was so late that neither Dan and I felt like giving her a bath. BAD IDEA - because the next morning she immediately went to get fixed and after, the vet told us she a) had to keep the cone on for 10 days and couldn't get wet and b) we couldn't give her a full bath until 2 weeks from the date of her surgery!! OH great, not only did we submit a smelly dog to get fixed, we would be stuck having her get smellier and smellier until we could give her a bath 2 weeks later! Lets just say by day 8 - it was pretty unbearable for all of us.

All in all, I can happily report that Frankly has recovered quite nicely from her surgery and has returned to living a life that is CONE FREE. Mom, Dad + Pup are QUITE happy about this - all for different reasons likely. HA!