Thursday, March 10, 2011

Doggie Woes

Little Sally Pumpkinhead comes home today. She has been up in Fort Collins at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital where she had surgery on her right leg. She had been limping off and on for the last four months and, after several attempts at treating the limp with rest and pain medicine, x-rays were taken of her leg and sent to a specialist. He could find nothing wrong so our Vet thought it could be some sort of muscle injury and suggested we rest her again and see how she did. She did great for a couple of weeks and then started limping again so our Vet gave us a referral to CSU.

CSU gave us an appointment for Tuseday of this week but my husband left on Monday as that big storm was heading our way. After a thorough examination and a CAT scan, Little Sally Pumpkinhead was diaganosed with Elbow Dysplsia , more specifically, Fragmentation of the Coronoid Process. The cornoid process are the little knobby ends of the two bones that form the elbow and support a dog's weight. One of Little Sally Pumpinhead's cornoids was degenerating and a fragment of bone has broken loose. Using a combination of Arthroscopy and regular surgery (the fragment was too large to remove with a Arthroscopy size opening*) the Veterinary surgeon removed the fragment and reshape the cornoid process. Little Sally Pumpkinhead did well but she did have to stay at the hospital last night as the doctor was concerned by the fact that she had not come out of the anesthesia as quickly as he thought she should have done.

The surgery was the easy part for Little Sally Pumpkinhead on this trip away from home. My husband stayed with family friends and at one point one of our friends said of Little Sally Pumpkinhead, "That is one lost little dog."
This because she was either crying and wandering around the house or just lying quietly staring off into space. Not normal behavior for her. My husband said she also had trouble settling down at night and we are sure all this behavior was brought on by her missing Duke.** She had not been away from Duke since the first night we brought her home. Both dogs have stayed at our friend's house and we think she was confused by the fact that she could smell Duke but could not find him. My husband was worried about leaving her at the hospital overnight but after seeing Vet students crawl into the large cages to comfort or cuddle other animal patients there he felt better. He also took off one of his socks and left it with Little Sally Pumpkinhead so she would have the scent of something she recognized with her.

So, Little Sally Pumpkinhead is doing as well as can be expected but my biggest worry right now is keeping her quiet during her recovery as ordered by the doctor. I hope my husband comes home with a large jar of Doggie Downers.

*He made a 3 centimeter opening because he did not want to remove the bone fragment by slowly shaving it down. Using a 3 centimeter opening shortened the time Little Sally Pupkinhead was in surgery by 45 minutes.

**I must say that Duke was moping around the house while Little Sally Pumpkinhead was gone, too.

More information about Elbow Dysplsia and Fragmentation of the Coronoid Process in dogs here.

6 comments:

drD said...

Where can you get Doggy Downers from? I know some people who may benefit.
Hope the furry friend recovers quickly ;)

Rain said...

Pets are always my worry. It's especially hard when we cannot explain to them what is going on. Hope she's better soon

Blue Witch said...

Re **: glad Duke made himself useful with the housework.  Hope he dries out soon. ;)

And wishing LSP a speedy recovery.  And your wallet... sounds very expensive.

la pergrina said...

<span>Comedians, I'm surrounded by comedians.  </span><span> ;) </span>

(And I fixed it.)

(And it was not as expensive as I thought it would be.)

la pergrina said...

He could not find any "Doggy Downers" but he is bringing home "Mellow Meds."   ;)

la pergrina said...

Little Sally Pumpkinhead is now home, in the slammer (her doggie playpen) and zonked out of her mind. They shaved her right leg starting just above the shoulder and down to just above her paw.  All that naked skin makes it look like she is wearing a fur glove on that foot.  The next two months are going to be challenging.