The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

Holly limping still going on mostly on her left front paw. She has developed a little mass on her outer paw that has grown and is quite painful to the touch. After many thoughts and prayers as she is 12 1/2 I decided to have her scheduled for surgery to remove the mass. My dilemmas are 2: first one she 12 1/2 but I owe her to have the best life I can offered. She will limp anyway if I dont removed the mass, but in the other hand is soo painful that she avoids me touching the area. My second dilema is a repeat one as it happened last year when she had knee surgery. I am going on vacation next week, so the vet stated to have her have the surgery a few days before I go and then they will keep here board at the vet and keep an eye on her.I'll be gone for 10 days. What you guys think? Last year I waited way after I came back from time off for her knee surgery which was way more extensive thatn this surgery. My thought is that they can keep an eye on her while she recuperates but is just boarding with no one at night. They care a lot about Holly at the vet.

Gosh, May, I'm sorry to hear about Holly's foot. Can you have it done early enough before you leave for vacation so that you'll know for sure how she's recovering? If that's the case, I might leave her at the vet's - but I don't think I would enjoy myself worrying about her if you have it done just a day or so before you go. Especially with no one there at night. Do any of your vet techs do house and pet sitting? That's what we do - we pay someone from our vet's office to stay at our home while we're gone. It isn't much more than paying to board, and our kids get to stay in their home environment.

I agree with Tina, I would not leave a dog post op, or even a few days after surgery unsupervised-too much could happen. And you would worry about her the whole time you are gone. Maybe a vet tech would take her home at night as a paid petsitter and she could stay at the vets during the day. Could you postpone your vacation? Honestly, if it were me, I would cancel it. When I got married, hubby wanted to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon, but my dog Nicky had just got diagnosed with cancer, so I said no to Hawaii, and instead went to Key West, which would have been a quick east coast flight home if I needed to. Nicky ended up passing 6 weeks later, 2 months before my wedding, and I still hear about "well we could have gone to Hawaii". But I would have always regretted if I had been in Hawaii and something had happened to him(my parents would have been dog sitting as they had many times before). Maybe hubby regretted my decision not to go to Hawaii, but I never did. I'll get there someday, but at the time my dog was more important to me than Hawaii.

I am thinking about postponing the surgery 2 weeks, so I can be here during the postop care. My plans were to do it 3 days before my vacation, but I think I will be going crazy about how she is doing while I am away on vacation. I think I will get too worried the day of the surgery and the days after, that my plans will get messed up, packing and so on. I can always board her at the vet during the day for care, pick her up and spend the night with her, so she can have 24 hour care.

If you cannot change your plans, I would check into other options. I know my groomer boards and there is a person there 24/7 but the best part is they are right next to the vet is something does occur.