Thankful Thursday

 Hi everyone, it's the Mom here with an update on Giovanni. We are joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop today.

Giovanni went in yesterday (Wednesday) for his mast cell tumor removal surgery. I knew he would be really scared at the vet, so I brought a shirt I'd worn recently along with me so he'd at least have my scent with him in his kennel while he was there. 

Giovanni got the awesome vet tech that loves Tylan so much! She was very attentive to my baby. She texted me right before they took him into surgery and gave me a nice detailed update when he woke up. She said Giovanni was really scared by the dog they were spaying yesterday, so she covered his kennel with a towel. She said that helped some, but she could tell he was still really scared. She had put my shirt in the kennel with Giovanni, but when she noticed how scared he still was, she took my shirt and covered him up with it. Then, he curled right up and had a nap! Mama for the win! I'm so, so happy he finds comfort in me, and I'm glad I thought to bring something with my scent on it for him. The vet tech suggested I bring a shirt with us every time we come because it helped him so much. So sweet.

After some discussion with our vet, we decided it would be best to go ahead and amputate the toe with the tumor on it. We didn't want Giovanni to have to undergo a second surgery if the vet didn't get clean margins. 

The vet tech said Giovanni did great during surgery. There were no complications. She said he promptly ripped off the bandaid they used to cover his IV site but showed no interest in his foot bandage. 

They sent him home with buprenorphine, gabapentin, and orbox. They want me to try to keep him relatively calm/sedate and not let him run around like a nut (which he loves to do!). 

He will need to get his bandage changed 3 times before they take out his stitches on April 9th. 

They sent home a soft cone with him, but I thought Giovanni might tolerate this donut-like collar better. Giovanni has never let me put a regular collar on him. He gets really upset about it, so I eventually gave up and just let him run around naked. 

He isn't all together pleased about his donut collar, but so far, he's only taken it off once. He is tolerating it much better than I thought he would. We will see how it goes in the coming days. 

Giovanni is home and very sleepy (as is to be expected after surgery). He is eating really well and was cooperative at medication time. 

I am so thankful that everything went well for Giovanni's surgery. I hope and pray his tumor comes back benign. We will have the pathology report back in about 1-2 weeks.

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent us purrs, prayers, healing/good energy/thoughts, and for all of your incredible support. The pet community is such an awesome bunch of people!