Thanks everyone for your :pray: I hope to be able to post some pictures when she comes home. It will be amazing seeing her without her huge lump on her side and I am hoping that without it, she does really well. My vet also said that her kidney failure could also be from the stress of the Lipoma and her overall health may improve now that its gone. :fingerscr Here's hoping she's right!
I'll let everyone know once I call or visit this afternoon.

It's a good thing that you got her in fairly quickly for surgery then, she could've bled out.
I'm glad the vet has kept her overnight, this will help her on the road to recovery a little faster and it never hurts to have her checked on during the night :thumbs up
More :goodvibes: for a good recovery & :fingerscr this helps w/the kidneys too :goodvibes:

Did you get an update on Pepper this afternoon, dbg? :goodvibes:

Anxiously waiting news on Pepper.....hope she had a good night!

I called about 4.30pm and she was sleeping with pain medication and ws progressing well. I slept very poorly last night and ended up lying down for a nap this afternoon and slept until 8.30pm and by then they weren't answering the phone so I had to wait until this morning to find out how she was doing.

This morning she is very reluctant to stand up even with encouragement so they are giving her more pain medication and letting her sleep some more. If she isn't able to stand later today, then it doesn't look like she'll be coming home today. I am not sure what the next step will be because I only talked to the assistant, not my vet this morning. They didn't say whether it was due to weakness or blood loss that she was having trouble standing, or due to pain. I guess time will tell.... They told me to call this afternoon so I have to wait until then to find out what is happening. My vet obviously didn't want to make any new decisions this morning or she would have talked to me. Pepper didn't have any blood transfusions during the surgery so I suspect that may be the next step...

Just keeping my fingers crossed at this point..and praying for her :fingerscr:pray:

:goodvibes::fingerscr:pray: for Pepper. I am sure she is in good hands and needs her rest.

After what she has been through, even with the pain meds, I am sure she will still be a little ouchie. And depressed. Her world is a bit upside down right now.
Can you bring her a shirt that you have worn recently? Your scent may be a comfort to her.

[QUOTE=growler;683471]It's a good thing that you got her in fairly quickly for surgery then, she could've bled out.
I'm glad the vet has kept her overnight, this will help her on the road to recovery a little faster and it never hurts to have her checked on during the night :thumbs up
More :goodvibes: for a good recovery & :fingerscr this helps w/the kidneys too :goodvibes:[/QUOTE]

When I heard that she was anemic and possibly from blood loss I was very happy she was already booked for the surgery because it would be so sad if she had bled out before we knew anything about it. I really wondered when she started lying on that side and tumour moved to a position of being behind her when she lay down because I knew it was attached even though it looked like it was completely independent of her body. My vet and I had discussed that there were blood vessels probably attaching it to her body so this new position really seemed odd to me and I wondered what was happening on the inside.


[QUOTE=Love4himies;683581]:goodvibes::fingerscr:pray: for Pepper. I am sure she is in good hands and needs her rest.[/QUOTE]

yes that is one comfort, I know she is in good hands :)

[QUOTE=Karin;683587]After what she has been through, even with the pain meds, I am sure she will still be a little ouchie. And depressed. Her world is a bit upside down right now.
Can you bring her a shirt that you have worn recently? Your scent may be a comfort to her.[/QUOTE]

I suggested that I should bring her favorite toy if she would be staying another night. They said she seemed to be having no separation anxiety at all when I suggested it. She has a shirt with her that she has worn at home and has all the nice cat and dog and people smells on it. She will wear it home if she is paying attention to the incision at all.

They also told me that she is not eating either, and they had to give her some high calorie liquid to make sure she is getting enough nutrients to give her strength. She has been on a homemade diet for weeks now so I am not surprised that she wouldn't eat the Hills K/D because she didn't like it when she was at home either. She was off her food the day before she went for surgery and I wasn't sure why.

Lots of :pray: for Pepper that she makes a quick recovery.

I heard from the vet and they finally got her to stand up but she still won't eat their food. They asked me to bring her food over and I had to make some, so I am making it now before delivering it. I am more hopeful now that this is going to work out and she is going to recover well. Unfortunately she has stairs to climb to get in and out of the house so we still may not be able to bring her home today because I can't carry her. I am going to take her favorite toy with me so she at least will have that as well as her usual food.
Will post back after delivering the food..

Sounds like she is making progress. Seeing mom and having her regular food will lift her spirits.

Pepper is gorgeous! I hope that surgery goes well. My thoughts are with you and Pepper.

It's possible that Pepper's just suffering from a bit of an anaesthetic "hangover"...that plus pain meds can make for one supremely weirded-out dog who doens't feel right at all...so won't eat or move. Once the meds start to work out of the system, they start feeling better. Stitches on the side of the body can feel really weird too (my girl had a forearm amputation, right to the shoulder) and can make them not want to walk as much (they pull, itch, etc.) IME it's not so much pain but overall feeling of weirdness that makes them act "off". I bet that once the stitches are out, if not sooner, she'll be 100% fine and better than ever. Let us know how she's doing after your visit! Oh, remember too, that many dogs suddenly become hysterical cry-babies when they see mom or dad (I worked in a vet clinic and saw many post-op doggies, who were calm and alert and happy as clams in their cages...until mom came back for a visit and suddenly they were big wailing puddles of woe:rolleyes:...then mom leaves and they're fine again:rolleyes:...so don't be too alarmed if she's very vocal or seems worked up, it's all an act put on for your sake!!!)

She wasn't that interested in the food but was definitely interested in seeing me with a lot of tail wagging and whining as I expected. Though I did want to see her, of course, I was concerned about her reaction when I left her there. bendyfoot my experience has been the same as yours when dogs are visited and not taken home but thanks for sharing your experiences and insight. My experience with dogs after surgery is that they get all excited to see Mom and expect to be taken home then. So I thought it was too bad that she wouldn't eat their food because I didn't want to get her upset. Every dog I've had that has needed surgery has been the same.

I took her outside to pee and she did very well and didn't seem to be in pain at all. She is more awake now and seems to be standing and moving without a problem.

I took her carrot toy with me and she was very happy to see it. All was fine until I went to put her back in the cage..oops that's NOT what she had in mind and stood like a rock, impossible to move and the vet had to take over to get her back inside. LOL she wanted to come home but until she spends another few hours there we won't know if she'll be coming home later today or tomorrow. A lot depends on whether she eats or not. It was a very promising visit and I was so happy she acted normally and without pain. I'll post later when I find out if she coming home today or not.

Thanks everyone for your support of us, it helped get me through the night.:)

Sound like she is recovering very quickly :thumbs up. When she saw you she was probably more interested in being with you and going home than the food, lol. Her tummy is probably still feeling a little woozy from the anesthetic.

Sounds like she's doing great:thumbs up She must have looked quite different without her lump!

Sounding good dbg10 - nice to hear thanks for the update :grouphug: for Pepper,

Wow! This news makes me feel all fuzzy. Sounds like she is rebounding back.
I know she will feel better at home, and so will the family, but your vet knows when the time is right. It rally does not hurt a dog to fast for a few days, with her condition though, eating will help her energy.
I never advise this unless under extreme circumstances...hand feed. It can become a habit but one that can be fixed. Hand feeding is like a "comfort food" thing.
She deserves to be babied!

So great to hear some good news!! :goodvibes::fingerscr:pray: for Pepper!

woohoo I'm glad it went well !

I agree that now she needs rest and it's ok if she's not interested about the food. And I understand that you can't wait to see her without this huge lump , and she will be so glad too !

Speedy recovery Pepper !!! :goodvibes: :fingerscr

She's HOME!!:thumbs up She has a towel wrapped around her and covered with vet wrap to put some pressure on the incision and prevent any further bleeding. She has a drain in place so she will be draining over the next few days. The T-shirt I bought her didn't fit over her dressing and vet wrap, so it wasn't put on her. She is exhausted after climbing into the car (with help)and climbing the 4 steps into our house (with help). She wouldn't eat at all for them so we are giving her hi-cal if she won't eat at home. All she wanted to do when she arrived was drink water and lie down. She is now sleeping in her favorite place in front of the TV :laugh: LOL She greeted two of the cats with a kiss each and the other two are still sleeping.
She was sent home on Hi-Cal..a high calorie vitamin preparation, pain pills and antibiotics and Geri-tabs to help with the anemia. She has to go back tomorrow for another injection and dressing change and we will see how she is then. Her blood work done before the surgery shows anemia and her kidney failure is worse than it was in July:
hemoglobin of 120 g/l normal is 135 to 205 g/l
hematocrit of 0.34 L/L normal 0.39 to 0.60 L/L
Red blood cell count 4.9 normal 5.5 to 8.5 x10E12
urea 33.5 mmol/L normal 3.0 to 10.0 mmol/L
creatinine 518 umol/L normal 30 to 140 umol/L
calcium 3.04 mmol/L normal 2.20 to 3.00 mmol/L

My vet thinks that the Lipoma may have caused a lot of the problems and hopes that at least some of her blood work will improve as she heals.

I plan to keep everyone in the loop as she heals because others may be able to use the information for their beloved dogs or cats. Afert her drain is removed on Friday I will be changing her dressing and hope to take some pictures of the incision but all that will depend on Pepper's co-operation.

I want to say :thankyou: thanks to everyone for their prayers and suggestions through this long drawm out process :D with special thanks to Dr. Lee for his initial response to my first posts about her Lipoma. I send hugs to all. :2huggers:

[QUOTE=Karin;683942]Wow! This news makes me feel all fuzzy. Sounds like she is rebounding back.
I know she will feel better at home, and so will the family, but your vet knows when the time is right. It rally does not hurt a dog to fast for a few days, with her condition though, eating will help her energy.
I never advise this unless under extreme circumstances...hand feed. It can become a habit but one that can be fixed. Hand feeding is like a "comfort food" thing.
She deserves to be babied![/QUOTE]

LOL Karin you should see me feeding her with a spoon or by hand, however she will take it IMHO but right now she doesn't want any part of either method. I think she's just exhausted and will hopefully start eating in a day or two. She at least likes the Hi Cal which I can substitute if necessary.

I am so glad your girl is at home ! And glad that she is resting :sleepy: You will have her back in no time , she will be like a brand new dog , I can't imagine how good she will feel now , without this weight on her :cloud9:

im keeping you and the pup in my prayers!!!! i dealt with this with my chalsie girl!!!! sorry i have not responed sooner,, i still after 4 yrs have a hard time talking about this. she was the best rescue dog ever!!! i loved her to bits, so just know im thinking of you guys!!!:grouphug: brenda and the pins..

[QUOTE=dbg10;684092]LOL Karin you should see me feeding her with a spoon or by hand, however she will take it IMHO but right now she doesn't want any part of either method. I think she's just exhausted and will hopefully start eating in a day or two. She at least likes the Hi Cal which I can substitute if necessary.[/QUOTE]

That sounds the same as nutrical, a high calorie supplement, that's all good. She's home...and happy. Happy means a lot to one who does not quite understand what's going on,
healing will be smoother now too.
She will feel better by the am I am sure.
MUAH Pepper!

So happy to hear Pepper is home, with a little time she will shake off the anaesthetic & be raring to eat

:goodvibes: Speedy recover :goodvibes:

oh that's great news that pepper is home, i truly believe she will recover faster there than at the vets office.

Fantastic news, dbg! :grouphug: It must be awesome to see her without that huge lipoma! :highfive:

I love how she kissed the cats hello :cloud9:

:goodvibes: and :fingerscr that she starts to eat tomorrow!

We took her back for her injection today and my vet is very pleased with how she is doing. She was happy to ride in the car until she found out where she was going. Now our challenge is to get her to eat and to take pills to prevent any infection. I am very happy to say that she is doing well and looks like everything will turn out fine now that the Lipoma is gone. Thanks again everyone :)