Leaving your new tripawd home alone? Monitor your pet at home remotely!
Today is a big milestone for me… I went back to work for the first time after Barret’s amputation. It was something that was a huge source of anxiety for me, but truthfully I wasn’t getting enough work done from home because I was so distracted. A part of me thought that my constant fretting might even be making him more agitated and restless than he already was.
Barret had a good day yesterday, so I informed my coworkers that I’d see them at 7 am. I think I jinxed myself because he was up crying and shaking at 1:30 am and we never did get back to sleep (coffee to the rescue).
So what is a girl to do? Being a bit of a techie I had already posted an infographic on That Pet Blog about using Skype for monitoring pets, but never tried it personally. No time like the present! I set up my laptop in the living room, followed the instructions and tested it out on my iPad. Success!
(Excuse the messy living room)
It actually worked pretty well. I “called” to check in on him about every half hour until 11:00am. Then it stopped working. Nooo! Because I work with a bunch of pet people who do this sort of thing regularly, they told me about an iPad/iPhone app called iCam. It’s $4.99, but what’s five bucks for a little peace of mind?
Over my lunch I went home to administer pain meds and set up iCam on the computer. It was easy to set up (easier than Skype) and so far seems to be more reliable. One really unique feature you can set up is motion detecting. It sends an alert to your phone every time something on the screen moves. Ok, I know that sounds great… until you realize how many times a dog will twitch an ear, roll over, or hear something and go running to the window. I had to turn that feature off.
In conclusion, I am a little less distracted here at work, and I am not stressing Barret out by hovering, but I can still monitor him for my peace of mind! Plus, it is kind of interesting to watch what the kids do while we’re not home (hint: a lot of sleeping, a little bit of barking).
Barret seems to be displaying the same behavior he was while I was home. He won’t completely lie down (he’s propped up on the edge of the sofa) and he seems to be awake most of the time, sitting up and looking around. I wonder if his meds are too strong…. It is so hard to tell!
As marketing professional in the pet supplies trade for over 6 years and a pawrent of 3 dogs and 2 cats, I’ve gained a plethora of pet-related experience ripe for the picking, though I am new to tripawd pawrenting. My goal is to share my story and the knowledge I’ve gained with the pet pawrents everywhere. You can also find me on That Pet Blog or Google+.
June 21st, 2013 at 4:39 am
That is awesome! I think I’m glad I didn’t have that or I would have been staring at my monitor the whole first week!!
Barrett’s just having a rough spot. Could be the meds. Have you started weaning him off yet? It could also be phantom pain. I think that bothered Shooter more than the actual incision.
Hang in there and stock up on Red Bull!!
Luanne & Shooter
June 21st, 2013 at 5:03 am
That was so much fun to “peek in” on the pups. Like Luanne, I would be staring at it all day! Theyare both aadorable. Love how Mr. Barret has it head on the table. “Mom’s of ho e….think I’ll smear some dog slobber on it! She’ll never suspect I did it!”
I think I me tined earlier that had Happ Hannah on some gabapentin even going into her fourth week. It’s just so darn nard to figure out if the “symptoms s” are pain related or meds related. Myguess is, it’s still early on and nn’ did overdo it at first, he’s probably pain related…….or not”
And to add to it, Mr. Speedy Gonzalez still has. muscle soreness from overdoing it! Ahhhhhhhhh, the nuances of being a tripawd parent:-) 🙂
Can’t wait to see more ” I Spy” photos!
Sally and Happy Hannah
June 21st, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Yeah, I’ve got to say that this whole spying thing is backfiring today!!! I don’t know if he did this yesterday (since Skype crapped out on me around 11) but today at noon he hopped off the couch and has been walking around restlessly since. Get your butt back on the couch, kiddo!!!
He keeps moving from the steps to go outside to the steps that go upstairs (which are both gated, thankfully). I hope he doesn’t have to go potty, because I’m not going to be home until 1 for his next pill!!
He appears to be moving around just fine, so the limping on his hind leg might just be for sympathy!
June 21st, 2013 at 8:08 pm
That is awesome that you can do the monitoring thing… such a piece of mind.
Sounds like he is doing pretty good though!! So glad to hear.. and see.. that!!
June 22nd, 2013 at 3:12 am
OK this is super cool, we are gonna have to try this with Wyatt Ray Dawg!