So.
About a week ago, our happy, energetic Coach was underfoot.
Like, the poor guy got stepped on.
It was bound to happen at some point. Coach is always in motion. Please refer to exhibits A, B and C:
This is why Coach is usually sleeping in my pictures 🙂
A consequence of constantly being in motion is he’s constantly jumping up around people as they walk. He loves people. Can’t wait to greet them and get some attention. But he doesn’t seem to realize the danger of being an 8 lb. dog running around the feet of grown humans!
Yikes.
A loud yelp and a limp first alerted us to his injury. I freaked. Did he break a bone? Tear, rip or pull something? Was his hip out of place (Australian shepherds often have hip-related health issues)?
So many things to worry about. But he was running around on 3 legs in no time and didn’t show much distress when we, ahem, examined, his injured leg (We watched a Youtube video about leg injuries in dogs. Instant expertise achieved). So, we unhappily decided to leave him home for a few hours so we wouldn’t miss too much work before taking him to the vet. I think we were hoping he’d show some improvement by the time we were home. Our Youtube education taught us that puppies often acquire soft tissue injuries after playing too rough, but they typically bounce back quickly.
I got stuck in a meeting 🙁 but Justin headed home to check on him a few hours later. He was still limping, so off to the vet they went. An x-ray and consultation later, I heard he’d possibly broken his growth plate and could need a splint for a month. Oh em gee. I started worrying about needing to cancel our upcoming Napa vacation, how we’d pay a $500 vet bill in December (a week before Christmas), whether he’d heal well enough – a broken growth plate can result in uneven leg length…oh dear.
Luckily, I got a call from the hubs about a half hour after I’d started my stressing telling me the vet thought some swelling had obscured the x-ray image. She didn’t think there was a break. She was sending the image off for a second opinion and putting Coach on on some anti-inflammatories, but she didn’t think a splint would be necessary. The bill went down to $315. As much as I make in a week, but less than half a grand.
That, my friends, is positive reinforcement for my worry habit ;).
So glad the pup is fully recovered. He didn’t even need a full week of anti-inflamitories-ness. Prescription. Whatever it is. He’s back to his usual nonsense. Check out his latest and greatest:
