Dog Training & Health

[Jasmer]

Here's Shadow last winter with the cat. A friend at work caught a feral cat behind her house and I took him in. He loved the dog, and I miss the little monster. We moved and could not have both a dog and a cat, and my husband is allergic to cats, so he's been rehomed.



Shadow ran away a while back, but he's back home. While he was gone he'd been shot. The bullet went through his chest and into his leg, breaking it in 3 places. It was too late to set the bone without surgery, which we could not afford. We're going to get another x-ray when its healed and see if we need to save up to have pins put in. Since he's been home he sleeps all day, except when we carry him down the stairs outside. He likes to roll around and nose around in the grass, a lot more than he used to, and gimp around the field out back. It's a lot of work for his one good front leg to do, though, so he takes frequent breaks where he just lies down and sniffs the air. You can see how his left foreleg bows now. I'm convinced that he won't be able to run around even once it's healed, it just looks too unstable to me. Hubby thinks it'll be fine and he'll be running around like a bat out of hell again in a few months. The vet, annoyingly, doesn't have an opinion yet. X-rays of the healed bone should tell us.









In some ways he's a different dog, and in some ways he's different for the better. He's confined to the kitchen most of the day so he's not only readjusting to household goings on, he's far less jumpy than he was before he ran away. But in other ways he's distant and doesn't wag his tail as much as he used to, except when he's gimping around outside. Every day he's a little calmer and happier, though. I'm just glad to have my dog back and I'm just glad he'll regain at least enough stability in his leg that he'll be able to walk on it. He won't be allowed to run on it until an x-ray and the vet both conclude that it's stable enough.

[meezermom]

Shadow is still very thin.........he needs to get some good weight on him yet and that takes time.....Yes, you can see the break easily and that bone may never be real stable....If it does not heal right, it is possible it could re-break with him running on it or anything else like a jump off the bed or couch! He does look different though. You can tell he has gone through a lot. That cat is a lynx point Siamese and meezers do tend to like dogs. I know mine love to hang with the dogs! Hope Shadow makes a full recovery and one day the old boy returns to his old self.....

[Jasmer]

He's gaining weight at a good pace now. He eats extra to build his fat stores. I'm thinking his leg will remain rather unstable as well. That's why I'm insisting on another vet checkup and x-ray once it's fully healed. Shadow doesn't get on furniture or the bed, thankfully. It's something he's never done and is not comfortable doing. If it's not stable enough for him to run on then he'll be doomed to a life on the leash with longer walks to make up for the loss of exercise two daily runs used to give him. If pins will stabilize it and it's within a price range we're able to meet then we'll probably do it. I'm also going to ask if there are any orthopedic type of devices we can put on him for some additional support, kind of like how an ace bandage can give extra ankle support. I will never allow him to run if the vet won't tell me that it's 100% for certain that it's stable enough for him to run and jump and trip over potholes while off a leash.

You should see the video I just took of him. What a lazy dog. His food is next to his bed--which happens to be an old twin-sized memory foam mattress folded in half lol--and he was just laying there in bed stuffing his face. My camera doesn't take very good quality video but I managed to get this off of it:



For the first time since he came home he let somebody actually know he wanted to go outside. Hubby was on the phone and Shadow was laying in bed after stuffing his face with Canidae. Shadow got up and gimped on over to the door and stared at hubby. He asked him if he wanted outside and Shadow just wagged his tail, so he hung up and carried him out. Shadow wandered out behind the apartment so I went outside and called his name once and he limped back around front as fast as he could with his ears all perked up. I think after his last experience with getting away from family he's quite happy to be near us. On walks he'll rarely go more than 10 feet away from us before stopping and waiting. If we keep going he gets up and follows.

[meezermom]

His leg does look pretty unstable there doesn't it? I would think any type of orthotics or orthopaedic devices would cost a great deal more and do less good than having an amputation. I know that is not at all what you want to do but it may be there is no other choice. Not sure if re-breaking and pinning will work and even if the vet wanted to try, it may be very costly....what a mess. At least he does seem to be recovering emotionally and is feeling pretty well... I am used to "lazy dog feeding stations" so it isn't a real issue! He sure needs the weight though, doesn't he???

[Jasmer]

The vet gave an estimate of $1500-2000 to have pins and stabilizers put onto the leg, cost varying of course by equipment and procedure used. He also agreed that it may not work out as well as one would hope, and that he hadn't seen enough animals with the type of injury Shadow has to make a reliable guess about what his chances of recovery are.

Since we're getting the leg amputated I really, really, reallyreallyreally want to get him a peg leg and a pirate patch. I'll be doing research on prosthetic legs or orthopedic braces in the event the extra strain on his one front leg becomes too much and he needs some help.

[meezermom]

Wish you were closer! We have a company here that does prosthetics on dogs! In fact, my breeder has worked with them some.......it has been quite interesting!!