Dakota Status

Dakota had surgery Friday early AM (around 1 AM) and we got a call around 3 AM that she had made it through surgery well and that the surgeon had removed a 6 inch foreign object, thought to possibly be a rawhide although they were not certain, from her small intestine. They had to make two cuts on her intestine to get the object out as well as to reconnect it to a healthier part of her intestine. She has over 20 staples trailing from her chest to her lower abdomen and she will have to wear a cone on her head for 10-12 days until the wound heals and the staples can be removed by the vet. So far we have made it through 3 days with Dakota...8 to go!!! We noticed immediately that she was feeling better because she was wide eyed and shaking with excitement when we picked her up from the vet. She ate her first small bowl of wet food Friday night at our house before she went to bed and she has slowly gotten used to the soft cone on her head though she does still hate it and lets us know every 10 minutes with a whine or a wild shake of frustration. We have kept her in our kitchen in a penned off area so that she cannot jump on our laps or on our couch which she is DYING to do. She hates being cooped up but, it is for her own good so hopefully she will survive this long, boring week or I should say..hopefully I will survive this long week with Dakota testing me every 5 minutes by barking:). She is eating regularly, going to the bathroom normal, no more vomiting and she is as feisty as ever. It's amazing to Joey and I to see her back to her bratty old self again so fast and after such an awful week of worrying if she would even survive! Thank you all for your prayers, support and well wishes for Dakota. We are so thankful that God brought her through this beautifully and that He gave us the strength to make it through a very taxing week and a half. We are thrilled to have our wild child back!