I just have to share this with people I know will understand how I feel.
I spent all last night in the Emergency Animal Hospital with Daisy, 17 weeks old. What started out as one of our best and most confident walks with her in the early evening, turned into a complete nightmare. One minute we (my OH and I) were walking her home across the fields and talking about how good she had been on the walk, and the next my OH was tripping over, ankles in the air, and Daisy was screeching at the top of her little voice. And continued to screech and curl up into a tight ball. She had whipped round quickly for a smell, tripped up OH, who fell on top of her.
After the screeching subsided, eventually, I carefully picked her up - she was beyond walking - and carried her home. Phoned the Vet and went straight in. Her back leg was tightly pulled up under her tummy.
It was then one long nightmare of a time. They suspected a broken leg, or greenstick fracture of the spine. Every time they opened their mouths, more and more worry poured onto me. Then follwed a time of waiting for results, X-rays, filling in forms, nurses running in and out of rooms. Awful.
And then they told me to go home without my puppy. I felt like I'd been chopped in two. She's been with me since she came home at 8 weeks, all day, every day, and to walk out that door without her felt just dreadful. Numb.
They were very good and phoned when they said they would phone. Middle of the night, but hey, who can sleep anyway? They said that there were no broken bones, and no greensticks, but massive trauma to the hind soft tissue and muscle of the back leg. She will need crate confinement for 5 days, anti inflammatories and pain killers, and then very slowly walking over 3 weeks thereafter, building the muscle back up to strength.
I feel absolutely 100 per cent dreadful about this. I watch her like a hawk and am accused of wrapping her in cotton wool. So how can this happen? In an instant, that's how. And you can imagine just how dreadful my OH feels about it all. His shingles has flared up over night and he looks awful.
And then you remember why you say to yourself, I'll never have another dog again, I just can't go through this heart ache.
I am truly grateful there are no broken bones, of course I am, but so, so sad any of it has happened. She was coming along so well, building up her confidence and taking her weekly Training Classes beautifully. And now it will all have to end. Poor old Daisy.
Sorry to ramble. Feeling just awful.
Love
Kay
-x-
