�Holly wants to help too.� David made a rescue poster with his previous Springer, Holly, as the model.
We finalized the plan, to transport Mackie from Curtis near Huntsville to Auburn on Thursday, as she was leaving for Ireland on Friday. Then Mackie would stay with me until Saturday, when Hurb and his wife, Linda, would be ready to take him. Julie in Birmingham volunteered to help with the transport, so the plan is for Curtis to drive Mackie to Julie in Birmingham, then Julie would drive him to Clanton to meet Angie. Then Angie would drive him to near Montgomery, where I would get him. Curtis said about Mackie, �The crating of Mackie has saved our lives! He actually liked it after a few times, and calms down, obviously feeling secure. No mess in the house in 3 days, no pee in 2 days....dare I say it?� I also asked her what kind and size crate she�s using for Mackie, so I would using something similar for him when he�s here too. She said she uses the 24 by 36 inch wire crate with him too.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
So, last night, after I washed my hands and took Tara out potty after I came home, I went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. When I passed by the kitchen earlier, one of the cabinet doors was open and there were some white wrapping paper out (the door next to the oven and I store wrapping papers in there), but that had happened before, when Oscar gets bored and wants attention, she would open cabinet doors. It's just a little strange she did it when I wasn't at home, maybe she was stressed for whatever reason? Anyways, because of the prior experience, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the open cabinet door and paper on the ground when I passed by the kitchen when I first came home. But then I was in the kitchen and turned on the light, I saw that the kitchen trashcan (open-top kind, no lid) was also out, and all the trash strewned all over the floor! But amazingly, the door of the cabinet where I kept the trashcan in (under the sink), it was closed. And the food processor that I kept in front of that door so Oscar can't open that particular door (she only weighs 8 pounds and the food processor weighs more than she does), it was pushed however slightly to the side, but still right next and against to the cabinets under the sink. I have no doubt that Tara and Oscar worked together, because Tara had never opened any of the cabinet doors before (Virginia gave me that food processor when Oscar moved in with me, and none of my other animals had opened any cabinet door before, even without the food processor in front of the door but child-proof latch inside; but as Millie had said before, if Lexi had lived with me longer, she would've found the way to open it too; Lexi's one of those smart dogs who tries to entertain herself if she gets bored), and Oscar would've never been able to push that heavy food processor away from the door or go through the trash that way. I don't even think I had any food items in the trash that morning, and I don't know if Tara and/or Oscar had eaten anything from the trashcan. I think somehow Tara bumped in the food processor to kick it away from the cabinet door, then Oscar easily opened the cabinet door (yes she knows how to open child-proof latch, but I think Anastasia and all the dogs who have/had lived there do not), and then Tara (and maybe Oscar too) raided it. Oh well. After no trash-raiding incident for six years that I've lived in this apartment, I guess it's finally time for finding a more secure waste disposal system. So after I took Tara for a campus walk last night, I stopped by Walmart and bought another trash can, the kind with metal outer shell, no-rim lid, and step-on pedal. Tara and Oscar won't be able to lift open the lid this way without opposable thumbs, plus the tight-fitting lid will help contain any food odor (just imagine how much more enticing the trash would smell like to the animals if I eat meat), and the metal shell would be too tough for Tara to bust open. Well, actually, I'm hoping they won't figure out how to step on the pedal...
Oscar threw up again last night, which she hadn't done for over a week. But I guess with her overgrooming in the last few days, it was to be expected, even though I have been giving her hairball paste for over a month. Oscar threw up on the knapsack where Virginia kept Oscar's clothes, in the bedroom, so I had to clean up the mess on the cardboard boxes and wash the knapsack. And how did I find out the vomit that was hidden in the bedroom when I was watching TV in the livingroom? I saw Tara walking back to the bedroom and I was worried she smelled cat poop, but when I followed her back into the bedroom, she was sniffing on the other side next to Virginia's cardboard boxes. I couldn't figure out why she was sniffing there, but I knew it had to be a reason. So I looked around and tried to locate any food smell, and I smelled cat food (which shouldn't be any because all food are kept near the kitchen) and found the pile of vomit. Tara and her amazing nose.
I got this email late today from Curtis, �None of you are going to believe this, especially those who have been following the trials and tribulations of little Mattie. The good news is that the vet says she thinks he will be OK and can still travel tomorrow as per schedule. The bad news is that I ran over him and he likely has a broken right hip.
I am responsible for cutting grass at a family cemetery and came home with lawnmower on trailer. Did not know dogs were out....Alan had gotten home before me and let them out. I backed the trailer into the yard and bumped over "something." There was no yelp so not until I got out and saw Mackie limping did I understand what had happened. I immediately took him in to the vet who made the preliminary diagnosis of the broken hip. He needed to be sedated and the x-ray cannot be made until morning, but if things are as she thinks they are, Mackie will be dismissed by noon with meds to be given along his route to Hurb and the need to see another vet at the Georgia end also. My vet will have all instructions spelled out and she thinks it should all be very do-able.
The meds, I am afraid are going to fall to Phyllis. I am assuming there will be some sort of splint or restraint for the hip. And poor Hurb. How he will undertake training now, I have no idea. And I cannot say how sorry I am.�
I told Curtis if she thinks Mackie would still be able to climb the stairs, or would I have to carry him up and down every two hours. Curtis said, �I hope it won't be every 2 hours. We had gotten him to lasting 4 and 5 hours. I'll find out how he needs to be carried if that's necessary. Mackie had obviously never seen stairs until he got here, but learned forthwith and was quite nimble on them until this. I have no idea how they set a hip or immobilize it. I'll find this out as early as I can and email asap so you can think it through. I imagine my vet will have clear instructions. I actually used a blanket to pick him up and transport him to vet. He is a little fellow.�
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Another update from Curtis about Mackie, �Yesterday, not knowing that Mackie was out, I backed the lawnmower trailer over him in the yard. At first the vet thought his hip was broken, but x-rays show it is dislocated and that his prognosis is good. However, he must wear a sling for a couple of weeks and has pain and infection prevention meds. The vet says he ought to be able to navigate on his own, but that after a few days he may manage to get out of the sling and if that happens he must be crated until he can be gotten to a vet to put it back on. Further, the vet says that dislocation stretches the ligament and makes it easier for another dislocation.
You will already know that Mackie was not house trained, that he is dog-aggressive and has barking episodes we cannot understand. With the careful coaching of Phyllis, we put Mackie on a strict and frequent walking outside on leash and it has been 3 days since we had either peeing or messing in the house. We are now up to 4 or 5 hours between walks. Phyllis also suggested crating which we are doing at night as well of course as when we are gone. At first he did not like the crate and had to be lured inside, but the last couple of times he entered willingly and when he is inside it...by whatever means...he seems to be content and calm. The barking may be a little less, but still inexplicable to us. Barking and dog-aggression continue, often for no reason we can see; sometimes I think he just starts it up for something to do.
And everybody who is going to handle Mackie needs to know that he did bite me at the vet's when he was being examined. I know that was the vet's fault and not his; he ought to have been muzzled before she examined him. Just to be safe, I think he ought to stay muzzled when he is being transported until Phyllis can get him in the crate. In fact, with his pain meds and the hip immobilized, he ought not be hurting at all and the muzzle therefore an over reaction. Still, let's take no chances.�
While I was waiting for Angie to call before leaving Auburn to pick up Mackie, I got a call from Curtis, saying that she forgot to give his medications to Julie, so she was rushing to meet Angie in Clanton, but that Mackie was very sweet with both Julie and Angie. Angie emailed �He slept the whole way in my car and was very sweet. He is probably very tired from his trip today and he may really start to notice and care about things tomorrow.�
I had some experience carrying Springers with injured elbows with Penelope (she "ran into a moving car" when she was still living with my uncle, her second owner, and they refused to spend the money to take her to see the vet; that's when I decided they are unfit pet owner and started getting Penelope to live with me; I took her to the vet and found out she had "sprained ankle" and she wore a splint for two weeks) and Tara (she fell twice before, when we were walking on campus and I could not slow her down in time, she cannot see the change in elevation on the ground, I think she had twisted her ankle too and was okay after two days of rest). What I do is I lift their body by putting one arm around the chest and the other arm around the butt, with their side against my chest, and their injured leg facing out and dangling. If the dog's heavy (Penelope was 55 pounds and Tara's 42 pounds), I would make a circle with my arms and hold my hands together, and three legs inside the circle, with the injured leg free and dangling. And I carried/lifted Penelope around all the time when we were on our roadtrips and had our pictures taken together at various tourist attraction. Anyways, I never had to carry a dog with injured hip before, so I wasn't sure how I would do it with Mack. After Angie got him out of her car and put him on the ground (we sort of just grabbed his torso; Curtis had called earlier and said to carry him with a mat she got for him, but the mat was not under him in Angie's car), we thought we would try to get him to potty before going into my car. I coaxed him a little bit toward the grass, but he was hesitant to move, so I bent down to carry him. It was almost instinctive, that I just carried him like I do with injured elbow, except this time with the back leg dangling. At first he wimpered (muzzle still on) and struggled, even though I wasn't even touching his injured hip, I think it's from his painful memory of being moved around in the past 24 hours. I was concerned about his wimper and asked Angie, thinking maybe both his hips were injured, but Angie said just his right one. Anyways, I left him and put him on the grass, he did not pee, but when I lifted him again to carry him back to my car, he did not wimper or struggle this time, I think he had learn to trust my lifting him. I also tried to give him some peanut butter, something he could lick off even with muzzle on, but he wasn't too interested, so I just dabbed it on his nose, and he licked it off. Angie also gave me the money for day boarding for Friday.
About 2 minutes after we got on the freeway, he sat up and tried to move around. I thought maybe he needed to go potty now, so we stopped at the next exit. I thought since now he is okay when I carry him, I can probably take the muzzle off too, so he can pant if he wants (it was a warm day but I had the A/C on for him in the car). So after I lifted and set him on the ground, I took off his muzzle. Then we walked slowly (he was putting a little pressure on his injured leg, hobbling) toward the grass. He was more curious this time and sniffed around, but still following me closely and still did not pee. So we walked back to my car, gave him some icy water I brought, at first he was cautious and did not drink, but when I put the bowl on the ground he licked some. I offered him some more peanut butter, but again he did not show interest in it, so I just wiped it in front of his mouth and he licked it off. And then I lifted him back into the car (without muzzle) and gave him a doggie Oreo cookie, but he would not eat it. He slept most of the way back to my apartment.
At the parking lot, I was thinking how should I get him past Tara and the cats, but I decided, since the sun is already down and the car is cooled by the A/C, that I would go inside the apartment first to lure Tara away from the door and keep her occupied with bully stick (chew treat). Then I went back to the car to get Mack. We walked around the apartment complex to see if he would potty. Some neighbor kids came over to ask about my new dog and petted him (two kids were about 10 and one was about 7), they petted him on the head and he did not care. Still no potty. Then we walked back toward my apartment. Mack tried to climb the stairs, he could get his front paws on the first step, but lacked the energy to pull his back end up more, so I carried him up.
Around 11 PM, I thought I would take the dogs out for potty before we turn in for the night. Tara was asleep, and I opened the crate door and put muzzle and leash on Mack, and walked him from the crate out of the front door, Tara was still sleeping. I removed the muzzle once I closed the front door. Mack was pretty much walking on three and half legs at this time, but I still carried him down the stairs. He was curious and sniffed around and even pooped. Then we were walking around, trying to get him to pee. As we walked past a tree, he stopped and sniffed and before I could stop him, he half lifted his left rear leg and stood on his injured right rear leg (the tree was on our left side). Within a split second, he whimpered and put his left rear leg down and his injured leg was completely off the ground (before he was hobbling on it and would put that leg every couple steps to help steady himself). And I thought, oh no, I hope it's not dislocated again. Anyways, I carried him back to the apartment. He did not make any sound when I then took Tara out for potty.
Mack still did not pee as we walked to the parking lot. But when I opened the back door, Mack jumped into the back floor board by himself, before I could stop him, but I lifted him onto the seat.
Mack hasn't barked at all so far. He did growl once when I was giving him and Tara treats and when Tara came within an inch of the cage door. He's watchful of Tara, but has not growled at her otherwise. I think Mack is very "intuitive" little dog, I think he realized within 2 minutes that somehow Tara's "differently-abled". Also, I personally would not recommend Mack going to a home with small children. When he was in the crate, I stuck my head in there, no problem, but when I kissed him on his face, he didn't exactly growl, but he made his guttural sound, like saying "huh..", so I don't think he was comfortable with that (no I don't usually mess with dogs in crate, but just wanted to test him). Otherwise he's very sweet. He has several scabs on his left ear flap, not sure how he got them. Once I put him in the crate, the cats were sitting right in front of it, and he did not cared. Not sure if he would be okay with them after he's all better, but so far he has not paid any special attention to them. Also I saw in his records, that the Atlanta shelter actually gave him his vaccines in July, so he had been there since July, that�s more than six months from July to April! It�s hard to believe they just kept him in a cage, without even grooming him, for all these months. Anyways, there�s no need to look back, because Mack has a brand new start in life now.
So this morning I asked the vet to see if it's dislocated again. He felt the hip joints and said he thinks it's out again, because one side is a good inch higher than the other. He said he would do x-ray and anesthesia and set it back for free since it's a rescue (and he saw Curtis spent about $300 already for it yesterday, when I showed him Mack�s records). I said I would call the rescue coordinator, then he said let's do x-ray to make sure. The x-ray came back dislocation. He said he'll set it back but there is no guarantee it'll stay in, and we might have to consider FHO (femoral head ostectomy http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/vmth/clientinfo/info/saortho/fhofaq.shtml ) down the road. I called Angie and left a message on both her house and cell phones, then tried to call Hurb, left a message on his cell phone too. Then I decided to call Heather, got voice mail too. So I told the vet that I would like to leave Mack there for the day (I had made reservation for day boarding anyways), and that I would call him back about what to do when I hear back from the rescue coordinators. When I went to school, I sent out an urgent email, asking them if they would like my vet to put the joint back, or I could transport him to the vet they use in Atlanta today if needed.
Heather responded first, �I'll jump in because I don't know if Hurb is on-line right now and I am :) Please let them set it. It's not your fault and things happen even with the best of intentions, things can go wrong. No one is to blame and we will get him better. He is also already much better off with us than his previous life of abandonment. Healing from an FHO surgery is usually very quick and they get around very well. I would bet that if it popped out so quickly it will likely pop out again, but I would suggest that we probably need to use a sling under his belly to walk him for now and keep him on crate (or lap :) rest for now. Check with your vet to see if the sling under his belly is the best way to keep him from putting weight on it. I'm not sure if that would help or make it worse, but maybe they have another idea?
Also ask if they can give you an estimate for an FHO. Even though we might not do the surgery there, it would likely be less at Crabapple Knoll and we could then request Board Approval for him to be Special Needs to get the leg taken care of. Personally, I think we should go ahead and do the surgery because it's unlikely he would get adopted with the possibility of a pending surgery.�
So I called the vet, he was getting ready to go into surgery. He said after the cat surgery he has another exploratory surgery and then he'll do Mack's leg, so he won't be ready until late this afternoon. He gave an estimate of FHO surgery $350-450, but no closer estimate right now because he didn't have time to look it up when I called. Then Angie called and I gave her an update, and told her that Heather said to have my vet put the joint back in. Then Nita and then Hurb called, and I told them the same thing.
When I checked my email again, I saw another email from Heather to the coordinators, �So do you agree we should have the FHO done? If so, it sounds like Phyllis's vet is very reasonable. It was much more than that over here for an FHO surgery on Layla. And I did have to make her walk on leash to force use of the leg after FHO surgery as well. She wanted to just run, run, run, but we had to do leash walks and I tickled her paw to make her move the leg up and down to build muscle strength. The other thing they recommended (which I didn't need to do) was to tape a tongue depressor to the bottom of her good leg, so that she felt uncomfortable running on it and would, therefore walk on her healing leg. Phyllis, when you pick him up do you want to ask if he can have it done there and if so, how long it would be till he could be moved to Hurb? Are you up for the initial recuperation or should we try to move him first?�
I got an email from Nita too, she said, �Have just spoken with Hurb to catch him up on all of this. He is at work and not accessible to the emails�& limited phone calls. IF, Mackie is able to travel, he feels it might be best to go ahead and move him to Hurb and let him see him through the surgery and recuperation. He says he has access to several vets there. Doesn�t want to put too much of Phyllis, especially with the stair climbing issue.�
Then around noon, I got a call from the vet, he said he had some trouble putting the leg back in, so he decided to do another x-ray. The x-ray shows Mack also has a fractured pelvis, that�s why the leg would not stay in. He said actually, when he put Mack on the x-ray table, the leg popped out again. He had not put the joint back in again, because he said it�ll just keep popping out. He asked me what would we like to do, and I told him I could contact the coordinators again. I told them that carrying him up and down the stairs hasn't been a problem, he only weighs 30 pounds. I'm pretty sure he can travel on Saturday if needed, don't see why not, he was okay in the car on the way to the vet this morning, although with this broken pelvis thing... I also gave them my vet�s name and p phone number, in case they would like to speak with him directly. Heather emailed back and said, �I would go ahead and do the surgery at Phyllis' if it were up to me rather than move a dog with a fractured pelvis, especially since Phyllis doesn't mind. Then move him next weekend and he should be good to go. They heal very quickly from FHO. (knock on wood) poor baby must be in a lot of pain.� Angie called me to ask me what do I think, and I told her I would be fine either way, whatever they decide, and I gave her my vet�s phone number again. Angie emailed later and said, �Ok. I spoke with Dr. Marine, very very nice. He will do surgery on Monday. 300-400 dollars. Good price.
The fractured pelvis should heal on its own with no problems but the hip does need the FHO.� Nita also emailed back, �Sounds fine. I was not aware of the pelvis at the time I spoke with Hurb, so he did not have that information. The poor boy has been through a lot and it may be best to give him a break. If everyone is in agreement, I will start looking into transport arrangements for next weekend.�
This morning, I took Tara out potty first, then gave her breakfast. While she was eating breakfast, I walked Mack out for potty. He now walks fairly fast with three legs, but still not putting any pressure on the injured leg, and he even tried to climb the stairs, but I stopped him and carried him. I gave him more of the Bil-Jac, no problem with morning dose of antibiotics, and now he would take the food from my finger (through the crate bars, I pretty much kept him in the crate the entire time while he was in my apartment), and shared some of the Bil-Jac with Tara (no growling) as she sat about 2 feet from the crate, with me in the middle. He ate about 1 cup of the food this morning (Angie gave me a bag of venison food to take to Hurb, but I'm not sure if that's for Mack or for one of Hurb's other dogs; don't really want to put Mack on a novel protein when I don't know if he has food allergy, besides I'm not sure if he would eat dry food at this point when he was not interested in the Oreo cookie). Also when I let him out this morning, I was a little slow putting his leash and muzzle on, and the cats were in the livingroom, I was a little worried he would rush past me to go after the cat, now he's had a good nap, but he paid no special attention to them. Also he hasn't really paid any special attention to Tara either, even when she's walking fairly close to his crate. And last night, we slept in the livingroom, and Tara slept about 3 feet from the crate.