11 March, 2008

She is not amused...

Poor D. She's doomed to spend the next two weeks with a lampshade on her head. And unfortunately she doesn't even get to enjoy the tequila buzz that's the normal precursor to this kind of activity. She is definitely not amused...

Her elbow operation was a success-- they removed a bone splinter that had been caught in the joint and has been causing chronic inflammation for who knows how long.

But her feet are still a mystery. How on earth does a dog walk around on (at least) 5 broken toes? The vet says he's never seen anything like it. Which isn't comforting because he also can't figure out how it would have happened. He's guessing that she might have done it when she was a puppy and the bones weren't fully finished forming. (which is ironic because we carried this dog up and down stairs for the first year of her life in order to make sure that she didn't put too much stress on those sensitive Labrador joints...)

I'm just hoping that the vet is right and that this doesn't mean that there's something inherently wrong with the bones in her feet... (*shudder*) In any case, it hasn't seemed to slow her down at all. You would never know that anything was wrong!

I'm trying not to think about worst case scenarios right now, though. Am just looking forward to the point when she's healed and we can let her off of the leash and let her bound around to her heart's content...

9 comments:

Unknown said...

What a beautiful dog! I hope his feet give him no trouble.

Astrid said...

She's a beauty :)

christina said...

Aww, poor puppy! She looks so healthy on the outside it's scary to know what's going on inside.

Hopefully things will heal up and she'll be able to get around without any pain.

anno said...

Poor baby! She is a beautiful dog, and I hope she is romping freely very, very soon.

africakidandtheworld said...

Sweet doggie! They really become part of the family, don't they?

Hope it goes ok with her lampshade...maybe the boys can decorate it with florescent markers? Sending D. wishes for a speedy recovery.

Betsy said...

Thanks for all of your nice comments! It's amazing how fast she's healing-- it's only been two days since surgery and she's now putting weight on her leg and acting normally again. She still hates her lampshade but is starting to be a bit less clumsy with it as she thunders around the house.

We have to be very careful about where we let her out, though. Like all dogs, she likes to sniff around before she does her business, and the lampshade makes a surprisingly effective poop scoop... :-D

anno said...

I never thought about that problem with the lampshade... yikes! Glad to hear she's healing fast.

And: of course Greg will get a medal for his comment. As soon as I can stop running to stay ahead of those vicious teeth of time.

Jen said...

She IS a beauty. And she looks about the way C feels about his brand new retainers that he has to wear night and day for six weeks...

Goofball said...

Poor thing. I can understand you are worrying. What a strange story. Well lets hope her elbow cures well in the first place. Can you get a second opinion about the feet fractures?


Ha ha the lampshade being a poop scoop is funny though ( for us readers that is).