The Bionic Puppy

The dogs love to chase each other. Ginger being a puppy nips and nips at poor Abby. Abby is our ten year old golden retriever. She is a big lump of love with a little bit of arthritis in her hind legs. The legs Ginger loves to nip at. Thursday night the dogs are rough housing in the kitchen. I go to yell at them, I hear Abby whine and then Ginger scream. Apparently Ginger bit Abby in the leg and for the first time Abby bit Ginger back.

In a freak situation, Abby got Ginger in the right hind leg. She bit through the Achilles tendon. Ginger could not walk and was bleeding terribly. Luckily TJ is home from college so he used his EMT skills and wrapped Ginger's leg and we went off to the ER vet. The ER vet took X-rays and told us that the tendon might be torn, might be ruptured and might not ever heal. She sent us to the ER vet surgeon over one hour away.

The surgeon saw us at 11 pm that night and told us that her prognosis was not great. The soft tissue specialist would see Ginger in the morning and call us and give us his opinion. We left the puppy and drove home. I am proud to say I did not cry. I was thinking that I did not know that there were vets that were soft tissue specialists.

The specialist decided that he could repair the rupture based on the X-ray. His only concern was that the x-ray did not show whether or not the whole tendon was there. We decided it was worth going ahead with the surgery and hopefully give her a 90% mobility range which is what the surgeon was hoping for.

The good news is that the surgery went better than expected. They found both parts of the tendon and were able to suture them together and to the bone. They now hope for 98 - 99% mobility. The poor puppy is in a splint with a metal rod and an e collar for six weeks. She needs to stay quiet and locked up for six weeks.

For anyone that has read my previous posts on this blog, six weeks in not something easy for Ginger. Heck she cannot make it six minutes. She is locked in her cage and let out to eat, a little TLC and a quick bathroom run. She hates it. We had to explain to the kids that this is for her own good so that she heals properly. It is terrible to hear her howl. But we know it is for the best. And considering that on Thursday night the vet was preparing us to have her put down, this is ok.

I have told TJ that instead of going pre-med he should go pre-Vet. For those of you with pets you can imagine the costs that were involved with this. The specialty animal hospital was nicer than some of the hospitals for people. As TJ put it, the patients would be nicer as well.

Here is a picture of the bionic puppy as I refer to her. The pink thing in the back is her splint. We need to go to the vet weekly and have it changed. I consider us very lucky that she is ok. I love this stupid dog so much. She has been a great distraction for me from the insantity and chaos that my mother causes. I am so glad she is going to be ok.

On other fronts, I finished the state competition with my students. 77 students, chaperones and me their fearless leader on our way to Cherry Hill for three days and two nights. I had 20 students qualify for nationals. This is why I have been so busy. I hope now to have some time to scrap and have a life again.