My Precious Sadie

[Granbonny]

I hope Sadie will feel better, soon....I remember anytime, we had to give our pets their meds....wrap the pill in a bit of cheese..they would take it. ......Bonnie

 

[Andrew'sMom]

bob,
i've been off line for a while, just catching up tonight. so sorry to read about your pup. it seems like she's taking those baby steps toward recovery. good luck tomorrow at the vet, i'll say a prayer for you guys.

 

[Diesel]

Good luck at the VET TOMORROW!!! I'll be thinking of Sadie while she's at the Dr. I hope that the baby food trick works for you! Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers!
Diesel

 

[gadgetman]

Bob,

I feel your pain. We have been praying for a quick and successful recovery for Sadie.

We have a retriever mix that has to carry something in her mouth when we walk. Not long after we rescued her from the side of the road I was out in the field walking her. She picked up a small pine limb to carry. I was tossing it and having her bring it back. I was playing ?keep away? and had it above my shoulder getting ready to throw. She took a leap to take it away and came down bad on one of her rear legs. She let out that horrible yelp sound and collapsed. I swooped her up (just knew she had broke her leg) and went running for the house (a feat for which my wife claims I would never do for her in the same condition?I keep offering to have her jump for a tree limb?she won?t take me up on it ). As I came thru the door I told her to call the vet. We rushed her to the vet and found out she had torn the ligaments in the back leg. The vet said it would take longer for her to heal from that than if she had broken it. She was there for about two weeks before we could take her home. She now runs (but does run) throwing that leg out a little but has healed OK.

Hope Sadie?s vet gives you good news.

May God Bless,

Danny

 

[Superbob]

Sadie's home again

Sadie's home again

Sadie's back from the vet and at my feet in the computer room, as usual.

They took another x-ray and so far the hip is holding in place. Vet wants to keep the emergency vet's sling on the leg, if possible, til I bring here back in on Friday to be checked again. He said if it doesn't hold, we could discuss "other options" then but I asked him to discuss them now (being a worrier and needing even more to worry about. )

In short, he said Sadie wouldn't have the option of a pin because her socket is so very shallow. But he could remove the "head" (I assume of the hip bone) and just go with that -- something they've done with other labs. Or she could go to nearby Virginia Tech (they have a great vet school there) and have a total hip replacement. Please keep praying for the hip healing -- we do so greatly appreciate your prayers. Good to know, though, that there are other options.

Kids and grandkids are coming here this weekend for son's birthday and Mother's Day so I'm going to have to be the bad ol' Pop-Pop keeping the grandkids from romping with Sadie and Sadie with them.

I am keeping this up to date because there are so many dawg lovers (or "dog," in other than Georgia and other hillbilly regions, such as western Virginia ) on here who have been so gracious with their comments and support. Danny, I appreciate you sharing your experience. When Sadie hit the dashboard, those yelps of pain cut like a knife right through me. It was Friday closing time for the vets so we headed right for the weekend emergency clinic. Thank God, there was one, and they seem to have done a good job. I still feel stupid for having let her jump in the front seat and thus be so vulnerable, but our regular vet today said Sadie's leg is such that it could have just happened anytime when she took a leap in the yard. (Which is scary, because she is a very exuberant dog and jumps and runs a lot.)

Guess I will have to try to convince Sadie to live the life of a refined Southern lady of leisure from here on out.

Thanks again, to all.

 

[Ross]

Sounds like how I discovered I needed my hip replaced. I thought my son killed me. He is in to big time wrestling and I was sitting in my chair when he came up, grabbed my knees and jerked them apart quickly. YOWWWWWW. Once xrayed, the Ortho informed me that it was just a matter of time, that my femoral head had necrosed and was quite dead and needing replacement. I was symptom free until Steve did that, then it brought it to the daylight.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

We have a 5th grade student who had two surgeries this year - one on each femur. They said the ball at the top of the bone was deteriorating so they replaced them. He's getting around like any other 5th grader now.

 

[hensylee]

Rob, I know that you are comforted with her sitting where you can reach out and touch her. There are so many of us who can empathize with you. Our animals are our family just like the humans. Thank you for keeping us up to date on your dear Sadie.

 

[Kathleen]

I have been reading Sadies posts to my Ruby June. She said to send her a big barkity bark from MN. We will keep watching for improvement coming her way.
Kathleen

 

[Karlynn]

Will keep Sadie in my prayers. (Yes, I feel animals are worthy of our prayers. )

Buckley sends his very best wishes. He highly recommends napping. It's his favorite activity when by himself.

My Sadie (my African Grey) sends your Sadie her very best.

 

[Superbob]

Late this afternoon, after dinner, I let Sadie loll in the grass in the backyard while I sat on the deck. She was seemingly very comfy, still, napping for a long time -- perfect. Then suddenly she went flying down toward the fence (we have an acre here in the mountains), chasing something -- a squirrel probably, with that rear yellow-lab leg tied up, a three-legged speed demon. And I ran after her, yelling, "Sadie, stop it, you're going to mess up your leg!" Neighbors must have wondered yet again about my sanity.

Happily, Sadie wasn't yelping afterwards, so hopefully she didn't pull it out of joint. But honestly what am I going to do with her to contain her? I guess I'll have to loll in the grass with her, and throw up a stop sign if some creature dares to wander near our yard.

Sadie really, really appreciates all these expressions of good will, from canine buddies and vr.com-ers alike!

 

[Karlynn]

My good friend's 2 year old lab/Rottie mix had ACL surgery. She was supposed to keep her quiet for 8 weeks after the surgery. Elfie (the dog) would always go a bit crazy when she'd see people walk by the house with dogs. So my friend had to put newspapers on all her 1st floor windows so Elfie couldn't see out. She said she was sure the neighbors probably thought she'd lost it.

 

[Bina]

I'm not the only crazy one.....when my Airedale sprained his leg I also put paper on the lower windows so that he could not see the action on the road and get all jumpy and wild.

Sadie, you silly, silly dog!!!!
She would probably need to be taken out on a long leash for quite a while, she is proving to be a trickster

 

[Guest]

Good to know progress is coming along for Sadie!


Thoughts/prayers for continued SUCCESSFUL recovery ... and more of a "southern refined lady" attitude and actions for her . He he



Cort:33swm."Mr Monte Carlo.Mr Road Trip".pig valve.pacemaker
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"It's only a matter of time" ... Mariah Carey ... 'Always Be My Baby'

 

[hensylee]

suddenly she went flying down toward the fence (we have an acre here in the mountains), chasing something -- a squirrel probably, with that rear yellow-lab leg tied up, a three-legged speed demon. And I ran after her, yelling, "Sadie, stop it, you're going to mess up your leg!" Neighbors must have wondered yet again about my sanity.

Happily, Sadie wasn't yelping afterwards, so hopefully she didn't pull it out of joint. But honestly what am I going to do with her to contain her? I guess I'll have to loll in the grass with her, and throw up a stop sign if some creature dares to wander near our yard.
QUOTE]

Rob, I think she might figure out her limits like we do. If you can just keep her calm long enough! If she was not interested in the other animal threatening to invade her space it would be worrisome. Is she eating yet? She must be getting some nourishment or she couldn't do that bolting down the yard like that.

 

[Superbob]

Good point, Ann. I would be worried about her being lethargic if she weren't ready to go after squirrels and other critters. I think I am going to stay beside her, though, on her backyard excursions for some time to come. She really does go after those furry invaders of her space in a frenzy, and I just don't know when I will trust that that leg is well enough for her to do that.

And yes, thank God, last night she hungrily ate a small plate of boiled chicken and then polished off seconds as well. So more chicken and rice for her today. The vet said to keep it bland. We'll probably have her finish the Pedialyte, too. The vet said we had done a good job of keeping her hydrated. He didn't have to give her any fluids yesterday.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Do you have one of those 20 ft automatic rewinding leashes? If not, it sounds like you need to get one and secure it to a stake (most pet stores have these screw-in anchors that you can put anywhere...also various lengths of plastic covered aircraft cable leashes).

Sounds like Sadie is coming along just fine.
Good Luck keeping her still for 8 weeks !

'AL Capshaw'

(so far the only squirrel my 3 year old pup has caught is the one that got loose inside the house after falling down the chimney)

 

[Bina]

That's fantastic that Sadie has her appetite back! Yum, chicken and rice.
If she needs more fiber, cooked carrots and peas can be added.

Thankfully her back leg was still tied up and not injured in her running episode.
And yes, it will be hard to keep her quiet for several weeks.

The retractable leashes are great if you hold them, but they are not recommended for tying the dog out. Horrible risks of entanglement.

The corkscrew ground stake with a vinyl covered cable works well, but she can still try to run and when she gets to the end of it she'll fall backwards and hurt the leg again.

With injured pets (dogs, horses, goats, etc) the usual veterinary protocol is to "hand walk" the animal as long as healing is in progress.

Best wishes to sweet Sadie.

 

[Pegasus]

Yup, 'hand walking' it is. We had to do it months with our dog with a sling. All she wanted was go to work, her brain was 'wired' that way and it was that drive which made her overcome the nearly impossible. It's just hard to keep them still sometimes although dogs are very agile (well maybe not Bulldogs - not wanting to insult them though) and they adapt quickly to 'handicaps'.

I am so glad Sadie is showing interest and appetite! This is good news. Not sure what you house looks like or how heavy she is to lift in the car but I like the dog ramps from this company: http://www.dogramp.com/
We had stairs in front of the house as well and we built a cheap ramp and put outdoors carpet to make it anti-slippery.

This is another good web site to have: http://www.handicappedpets.com/
It's products for handicapped dogs and cats and post-op items which I hope you won't need though!

Adding veggies is a great idea for vitamins and fiber. My dogs are not keeble fed - they are fed the old germanic way - on a raw natural diet. Bit of work though but that's my choice. You can ground finely raw carrots and add this or fresh pressed carrot juice or steam veggies slightly. Celery, sweet potatoes, broccoli work fine too but since Sadie is probably kibble-fed, I wouldn't do any drastic changes to upset her stomach. Carrots are well tolerated usually.

All the best to Sadie and hopefully she'be as good as new soon!

 

[Superbob]

This is some great advice! Thanks, all. For the foreseeable future, I think I am going to do the "hand walking." I have some part-time work, but it's almost all from home. So I'm rarely away more than a few hours. There will be times when going strolling with Sadie will be inconvenient but I want to give her the best possible chance to heal. Besides, it won't hurt for me to get off my keister and do extra walking!

As for the food prep ideas, I will run those by my wife. I am the stereotypical "helpless male" when it comes to fixing something to eat more complicated than peanut butter and jelly. But maybe I'll give it a try at some point.