Ddog2 has had a shitty year - she ruptured the cruciate ligaments in both knees in late October last year, and had two lots of surgery to correct this, early this year - something called a Tightrope procedure on one knee, followed by 9 weeks cage rest (6 weeks for the recovery period, then we kept her on cage rest until her next surgery - we thought this would be less upsetting than her being out of the cage for 3 weeks, then back in after the second op).
Her second operation was a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy - so involved cutting out a wedge of bone, then pinning and plating it, to change the geometry of the joint. She had another 6 weeks cage rest, with gradual increase of daily exercise for the last 4 weeks, then came out of the cage around the end of April/beginning of May, and has been gradually getting back to a more normal level of exercise, stamina and muscle power since then.
All that stopped about 3 weeks ago, when she started limping, and x-rays at the vet hospital showed she'd dislocated her kneecap - which meant another operation, to move the tibial tuberosity, which is where the muscle that holds the kneecap in place, attaches. That happened a fortnight ago, and up to early last week, she was recovering well - and had settled back into the cage for another 6 weeks' cage rest.
Then on Tuesday, she started limping, so we took her back to the vet hospital, where they found she had developed a collection of fluid between the tissues - a seroma - which they drained. They kept her in until yesterday for observation and antibiotics, and we got her back yesterday lunch time.
But she has been awful, since we got her back - she whined on and off all afternoon and a lot of the evening, until dh lifted her onto the couch, to be with me - and even then she whined some of the time. She did settle later on, but when we went to bed, it started again, and she didn't stop until 1am - then started again at 6am, so dh went down to be with her.
We've spoken to the vet, and she has had some valium, to try to settle her down, but it has taken at least 2 hours to work - dh took ddog1 out for a walk, and I have had to sit here and listen to her whining on and on.
She is, and always has been, a neurotic dog - she's a rescue dog, who had two homes, including one where she had at least 2 litters of puppies, and then ended up in the Dogs' Trust shelter - so she has every right to be a bit high strung and high maintenance, we feel - but I cannot cope with her at the moment. I have depression and sleep badly as it is, but last night was atrocious, and the whining off and on for a full 24 hours has worn my last nerve to a screaming shred.
We are going to go to Pets At Home, and see if they have the pheremone spray that is supposed to be calming for dogs - to see if that helps - but other than that, I have no idea what I can do to help her. She is quiet right now, but I don't know if that will last long.
The vet has said she can have more valium at bed time, so hopefully, if she once settles to sleep, she will stay asleep.
She did have trouble settling in the cage after the first operation - which is why we got the valium in the first place - she had it one night, and that seemed to break the pattern, and get her settled to being in the cage - I just hope we can break the pattern again.
Does anyone have any advice?