Talk to your surgeon about the steps. My yard has two steps down to the grass. Our surgeon said as long as I used a sling to support her back end (basically holding the leg off the ground), she was fine with those steps. He had a tech show me how to use the sling appropriately.
Sedatives came in really handy for us (mostly me) because she was bored stiff and ready to go by day 3. I had to keep her pretty sedated the first week. So definitely ask about that.
The one thing I really wasn’t expecting was my girl who will eat anything including cardboard on most days went on a food strike. I had to get really creative trying to entice her to eat, because she was refusing almost anything. Part of that was the aforementioned sedatives, and part of it was just her being stubborn. Once we hit the 8 week mark and her movement restrictions were lifted she went right back to her normal diet.
Also, if you think she’s going to mess with the incision, this worked much better for us than a regular cone.
This might be more useful for future reference but, this has been more successful with my dogs than a regular cone. My super flexible girl doesn’t even really get slowed down by a cone but this has kept her from getting to her feet when needed. My boy just likes it better because it’s not a cone. But if you can find one locally, that would be cool.
Sedatives/pain meds will help too. I joke with my vet about drugs for me while I’m trying not to lose my sanity post-op with my idiot dogs.
Good luck!
This worked really well on my extremely flexible girl, keeping her away from incisions/stitches when the regular cone was useless.
I’m not sure how big your dog is, but this has been really helpful to me. It made it a lot easier to keep her off that back leg, and to help her in and out of the car. She weighs 48 lbs, and in height is a little taller than my knee. So, this is pretty helpful. Side note I have one for my big boy too, and it is a lifesaver on days when his arthritis is acting up. He’s 80 lbs. and with the harness I can actually maneuver him around fairly easy.
I tried getting some new and different food puzzles, but she had zero interest. My girl is an oddball though. She went on a two-three day hunger strike hoping I’d set her free. Didn’t work. But I had to resort to extremely high value food she only gets super rarely, to end the strike.
I stupidly bought her a new, fancy orthopedic super special crate mat/bed. She destroyed it in about 5 minutes.
Normal e-collar/cone of shame DID NOT WORK. She’s way too flexible. And it added to her frustration. Inflatable collars also did not work. This did:
https://www.amazon.com/BiteNot-BN6-Collar-27/dp/B001VP87OY
Also, (did I mention she’s weird?) she really likes wearing clothes, so a surgical suit works, but I discovered a far cheaper option. Measured her waist, and her legs, went to Walmart, bought some size 2T toddler little leggings and sweats, cut a hole for her tail, and that worked well for if I had to leave for a while and she wasn’t going to need to go to the bathroom soon. The surgical suits are better for potty trips.
So, other than having special treats/food and a good harness or a sling to help her keep the weight off that foot, something to keep her away from the incision, (and drugs) (and maybe a bottle of wine or 3 for you), I can’t really think of anything.
Edit to add: we had a surgical suit like this:
It will seem like 8 weeks lasts forever, but it also will go very fast! Good luck!
My girl does this approximately twice a year. Her tail is deadly. I joke about the crime scene she leaves behind.
What I do is wrap it with some gauze like the vets do, and then tape some of this over the wrap so when she’s whipping that thing around, the padding absorbs the blows. I change the wraps every couple days.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-2-in-x-6-ft-Foam-Pipe-Insulation-ORP05812/204760811
AND she gets to wear this, instead of a cone, to keep her from chewing at it. She doesn’t tend to chew bandages, but I make her wear it anyway until it’s healed, even after the bandage comes off.
https://www.amazon.com/BiteNot-BN6-Collar-27/dp/B001VP87OY
Edit to add: we are almost 10 years in, and, well, there’s no slowing that tail down.
I truly understand how much this sucks!
For the chewing, in my experience, this works a lot better than the cone. It makes it so hard to get to the tail, but isn’t as awkward as a cone.
https://www.amazon.com/BiteNot-BN6-Collar-27/dp/B001VP87OY
My girl has the happiest tail ever. It hurts when she whips you with it. And I have cleaned many a crime scene from her breaking it open. I was really close, at one point, to amputating, but I wanted one last chance to see if I could get it to heal. My son, being a plumber, devised a way to protect her tail, wrapping it with gauze tape first, then this:
It comes in different sizes for different size pipes. He duck taped it closed so it couldn’t come off unless he took it off. (No tape touched her). That way when she was beating that tail on walls, my legs, etc, the insulation cushioned the blow. So, between her not chewing, and the plumber bandage, we got it to heal. We took the insulation off and change bandage every couple days.
Once it was healed, she stopped chewing it because it didn’t bother her any more. Every once in a while she’ll bust it open again, and the insulation goes back on.
Do you have a sturdy box or exercise step you can use as a stepping boost in and out of the SUV? You can get a straight no-bite collar as an option, similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/BiteNot-BN6-Collar-27/dp/B001VP87OY
(Note this is not a particular endorsement of Amazon or the brand of collar, just an example.) Otherwise, you could try putting a cheap men's under-shirt on the dog. Your vet might have other ideas and can tell you how long to curtail her activities.