Only I…
…could have a dog who caused two days worth of veterinary visits and medical scares because he fell out of bed. My bed. Which he gets on and off of at least 3 times a day, and usually more. My bed that even has a step so that he and Kaia can get on and off of it safely.
Caspian managed to do just that. In fact, he injured his leg badly enough (or was such a big baby about said injury) that he would put no weight on his left hind leg, and we rushed him to the vet. The vet examined him, and with some surprise decided that the injury was in the tarsus (read: what passes for a dog’s ankle). My best guess is that he did his usual stretching routine, where he leaves his back legs on the bed and walks down onto the floor with his front paws. He probably walked forward too far and his back left leg came down off the bed onto the corner of the step. You know, the step that I put there in order to keep them safe while they get on and off the bed.
So, Brint calls me at work to tell me what happened, and I get my boss’ permission to go home so that I can take Cas to the vet. We spend an hour on x-rays and poking at my poor boy, who’s clearly in the most pain I’ve ever seen him in before. He actually gave a pretty clear, open-mouthed head turn to the tech who restrained him, though she didn’t notice. (This is considered a sign of excellent bite inhibition, as it means his first step when feeling threatened is to give a clear message without causing any pain.) We muzzled him for the x-rays, just to be safe – my choice, not the vet’s. With no breaks found, the vet sent us home with rimadyl and strict exercise restrictions for the next 2 weeks.
But the saga doesn’t stop there, of course! That would be too easy. The saga continues when Brint and I are woken up at 4am the next morning by the lovely sound of a vomiting dog. And again at 6am, and again at 8am. Brint says also at 10am and 11am. Here’s where things got frustrating: I called the vet’s office at 9am to report all of this, and was told that they’d pass the message along to the vet and get back to me. At 5pm after work, they still hadn’t called back. I called, a little frustrated, and was told to come in to pick up new pain medication.
The new stuff made him vomit, too. So I called back, and actually got to speak to the vet, who basically asked why on earth we hadn’t come in when he first started vomiting. I answered, not very patiently, that it was because I’d called and been told he would call me. (This would be a good time for me to admit that I’m really not very nice in these sorts of circumstances. I was very worried about my boy, and very annoyed at the lack of attention we had been given that morning. The vet initially handled me poorly, which made things worse, but the story ends in some very good veterinary care, a few waived charges for the latest round of care, and a dog who seems to be feeling better today.)
So instead of going out to dinner with my coworkers last night, Brint and I went back to the vet’s office. Caspian got two injections, some subcutaneous fluids, and strict instructions to keep up the exercise restrictions and add a food-and-water fast until this morning. Today he seems annoyed about the exercise restrictions and well enough to be begging for my breakfast, but he hasn’t yet shown any interest in drinking his 1/4 cup of water which is all I’m allowed to give him for the moment. The vet gave me a very nice call this morning to check in, and I just left him a voice mail with this latest update, so we’ll see what he says about the lack of interest in water.
For the moment, he’s asleep on the couch, looking very much like his usual self. He’s hardly even limping, and he hasn’t had pain medication since around 7pm last night. I’ll keep offering him water, and wait to se what the vet says. I’m trying not to worry about him, and I’m feeling very lucky that all of this happened while Brint was here. If it hadn’t, poor Cas would have limped around while I was at work, and I would have gotten to pay emergency vet bills instead of standard ones. Now I’m just hoping that things will go smoothly from here out. This house doesn’t seem the same without Caspian crashing around like his usual maniac self.