Recovery navigator
Calibrated reassurance for parents in the recovery phase. Pick where you are. The content below adapts.
Day 1 to 7: the first week home
Acute pain is being managed. Sedation is wearing off. The household is learning the protocol.
The dose lands at hour 0, peaks around hour 2, fades through hours 4 to 6, and the next dose is due around hour 8. So when you see heavier panting or restlessness around hour 5 or 6, that is usually the medication wearing off before the next dose lands, not a new problem. This is the medication-cycle pattern.
Twitching during sleep
Usually normal at Day 4 to Day 7. The nervous system is recalibrating after acute pain. Babi did this every night that first week.
Threshold to worry: Daytime tremor that was not there yesterday. If you see that, call your vet today.
Reluctance to eat the first day or two
Usually normal at Day 1-2 if your dog had sedation or surgery. Both of ours were off their food that first day or two, and it came back as the sedation and the worst of the pain lifted. Offer small portions of soft food.
Threshold to worry: No food at all for more than 24 hours, or vomiting that doesn't stop within a few hours.
Sleeping more than usual
Gabapentin makes them drowsy. Babi slept most of that first week. You'll think it's too much. That's the trade for being out of acute pain.
Threshold to worry: Cannot rouse the dog at all, or breathing pattern changes (irregular, very shallow, gasping).
Heavy panting around hour 4-5 of the gabapentin window
This is the meds wearing off, before the next dose lands. The medication-cycle pattern. Follow the dose schedule; the panting should ease after the next dose.
Threshold to worry: Panting that is heavier this dose than the last, or panting plus shaking that wasn't there at the previous dose. Call your vet to discuss dose timing.
Sources:Bundle 4 (conservative adjuvants); Bundle 5 (pain pharmacology); Maguire 30 July 2025 letter; Babi & Juju canonical record.
Operational reference
The five protocols the household ran. Each opens its own page with the full how-to.
Medications
The Babi & Juju regimen, what each drug does, and the medication-cycle timing pattern.
Body-leash sleep monitoring
How to set up the body-leash technique. Why it works.
Seven-day meal prep
The whole-meal protocol: bone broth, pork mince, sardines, supplements, weekly batch.
Walking reintroduction
Five minutes for five days, then ten minutes for the week, then incremental weekly.
Photobiomodulation at home
Device protocol, session length, frequency. Per Bruno et al. 2020.
