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May 6, 2008
Injury Strikes!
Fortunately I'm not talking about myself but UNfortunately our little puppy (she's not really a puppy but that's what we call her) is injured!
Not really sure how or when it happened but all of a sudden O and I noticed that Roxy was favoring her left hind leg! She doesn't appear to limp when she is walking (or even running) but she has a good deal of trouble getting up the steps and jumping up into the bed. It's so sad to see her gimping around!! She ran with us on both Saturday and Sunday and was fine.
We did a thorough check of her whole entire body including her pads and paws, checked for any hot spots, cuts, ticks, or any particularly sore spots. We can press all over the leg she is favoring and she doesn't pull away or wimper but she is certainly not herself! She usually bounds up the steps in about 0.0055 seconds and last night (and still today) she is stalling out halfway because of that dang back leg.
So of course I did an extensive google search on the matter (what did we do before either (1) the internet or (2) google?) and found about 10,000 different things her limping could be from. The consensus, however, seemed to be that we should give it a day or two or three and if it is not improved at that point, go to the vet and see what's up.
I was hoping to come home from work today and see that she was miraculously better but this unfortunately wasn't the case. Still limping. In an effort to reduce any stress on the injured leg I've been carrying her up and down the steps but she's a bad patient and as soon as I carry her up the steps she runs back down. Dumb dog! :) Then, she was begging to go outside so against my better judgement I let her out. I was pleased to see that she had just chosen to lay down on the back porch and take in some sun. So I walked away for about 2 minutes and come back to find her racing across the yard to chase a bunny out of her yard! BAD dog! I gave her a little lecture on the fact that her injury will not heal if she doesn't take appropriate measures to reduce use of the injured appendage! So what does she do? She licked me and begged for a treat. I can see this is going to be a tough!
I read that dogs generally aren't intelligent enough to know to back off when they are hurt so it's important to limit their activity even if it requires caging them. I had to laugh a little because there have been MANY times when I too wasn't intelligent enough to know when to back off when I was hurt and caging me might have been quite the stellar idea. :)
Regardless, the plan is to give it a few days and go to the vet on Saturday if we haven't made any progress. Anybody with a similar limping dog problem in the past that might have any suggestions?
By the way, it's now official, I can never have children. I've been so worried about Roxy's leg and she is a dog and it's probably only a little strain! Imagine if I had a child that was seriously ill?! I would be non-functional! I don't know how you parents do it! :)
Posted by beth at May 6, 2008 6:02 PM
Comments
hahahaha! that is very funny about caging yourself when you had an injury. I hope Roxy gets better soon, they are so sad when they are hurt. We also refer to Tassie as 'puppy' even though she really isn't anymore.
Posted by: Bri Gaal at May 6, 2008 7:36 PM
Hi! I enjoy your blog, but I've been shy about commenting. :)
Anyway, around Christmastime my dog was favoring one of his hind legs (limping or not using it at all). At first the vet thought it was a torn ACL (yikes!). A blood test eventually revealed that it was Lyme Disease. We treated it aggressively with antibiotics for 6 weeks and I'm happy to say he's fine now.
Hope Roxy feels better soon!
Posted by: Leah at May 6, 2008 8:38 PM
I hope Roxie gets better really soon. We call our dogs "puppies" too.
My puppy (she was actually a puppy at the time) growing up was actually limping a bit when we first got her. the limping got worse and we took her to the vet and it turned out her front leg was broken. She had to wear a little doggie cast for a little while. It was sort of cute--she used to knock on the door with it when she wanted to come inside or outside. Hopefully it is nothing that serious.
I wouldn't wait too long to take her to the vet. I often call my vet and ask if they think I should bring the sick dog in or wait it out.
Posted by: maija at May 6, 2008 8:54 PM
Get well soon Roxy! Had to smile about the athlete v dog comparison. So true! Hang in there Beth - a phone call to the vet might be the order of the day...
Posted by: marit c-l at May 7, 2008 8:17 AM
Sorry to hear about Roxy's leg. Maybe she and I should be caged together while we're healing! Hope it gets fast soon.
Posted by: Ness at May 7, 2008 8:21 AM
hope Roxy gets better soon...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at May 7, 2008 12:22 PM