Wosie hurt her leg last night...

[Jaspermom]

Well, I have had my first ER vet trip, and please let it be my last!! Not to say the ER was bad, it was not, and the care was great and so were the vet and the techs. I just HATE it that my baby got hurt!

At 8:30pm, 5 month old Wosie was playing with us on the bed (I know... bad bad bad Glad) which she has tumbled off to the carpet at least a half dozen times and never had a problem. Last night I went to pick her up off the bed and she playfully backed away from me and slid off the side of the bed. It was almost comical watching her go down as her backside slid off, I tried to catch her but she went over soooooo slowly with her front paws catching the bed spread all the way down, I was CERTAIN there would be no problem until I heard the ki yi ki yi yelp of a pup in pain. Oh no!!

I ran around to the side of the bed to see her tail disapearing under the bed, and I knelt down and called her and she came to me. I tried to pick her up and she tried to bite me! I backed off and she climbed into my lamp crying and whimpering. My husband came running in and he knelt next to me and I talked soothingly to her and lightly petted her and she stopped crying, but was trembling and panting. I again tried to pick her up to see what the problem was, and she again tried to bite me and yelped loud. Oh dear oh dear. By this time I am starting to panic, my stomach hits bottom, and although there is no blood, I am sure something bad has happened. I feel faint, my pulse is racing, and I think I am going to throw up. But I pull myself together, and pet Wosie until she is calm (I should have told my husband to pet me and calm ME), and this time, bite me or not, I am going to take a look at her. She was completely favoring her right hind leg, and now she has started to have muscle spasms on her right side. OK, a call to my vet gives us the ER Vet number, a call to them, and off we go.

The YOUNG (oh my gosh, he's just a kid!! My husband thought him fully capable though, after our conversation, and told me the older I get the more aged biased I get, lol) vet takes xrays, and tells us Wosie apparently scraped her leg on the hard edge of the box spring and slid her tiny little patella off its' rightful place. She is having muscle spasms due to the strain of the muscles attached to the patella ligaments. So they put a splint on her, wrapped her leg in this huge bandage to isolate the injury, and I have an appointment to see her regular vet at 5:20 this afternoon. They also gave us pain meds for her (meloxicam) and suggested a daily dose for 5 days, and gave us the xrays to bring to her doc. They told me to give her pain meds when we got her home, but she had had morphine at the ER and I wanted to wait a bit before giving her more meds. I settled her in a box next to our bed (it's now 10:45) and in about a half hour she is crying big time. I figure it's time for the pain meds, and pick her up to comfort her, and she gets my finger in her mouth and this time draws blood. OK, now I am really going to pass out, and with the dog in my arms!!! OH MY! My husband runs to get her box, I put her back in, wrap a towel on my bloody finger and put my head down with an ice pack on the back of my neck. My poor husband!! He's got a hurt dog and a wimp wife!! Poor guy! But I recovered, gave Wosie her pain meds, and she slept pretty good for the rest of the night. This morning she is feeling much better, is hobbling around OK on her green leg (pretty bandage) and ate her full breakfast, drank a bunch of water, and did all her business no problem!

The ER vet says that in young pups, sometimes the splint will be enough to pull the patella back in place and heal everything. But he was also concerned that the growth plate in the leg was disrupted. My vet does his own orthopedic work, and hopefully we can get through this without surgery. I will write again after the appointment this evening.

Wish us LUCK, and please keep Wosie in your thoughts today!!

[yorkieusa]

OMG! That's all I could think after reading this. I'm so sorry. You have just been through a nightmarish experience. It sounds like Wosie is recovering nicely and I sure hope there won't be any need for surgery. I hope you are recovering as well. An injured puppy will certainly bite. I hope your poor finger will be OK, too. I know it had to really hurt. Let us know what the vet says this evening. Talk about a freak accident. She certainly had one.

[Jaspermom]

We are both feeling much better, thanks! I still have Wosie in her box with her bed, some water and a couple toys, and she's OK with that. I think the pain meds are making her more mellow than normal, though she is quite alert and if I stand up, she does too. Luckily I work in an office where I can bring her in with me, (and visit YT too!) so she's here by my side right now. I just don't want her walking around a whole lot until her regular vet sees her. And I know she did not mean to bite me, she was in loads of pain and it's a normal protection/reaction.

Thanks for your good wishes! You are very sweet!

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

OMG! That's all I could think after reading this. I'm so sorry. You have just been through a nightmarish experience. It sounds like Wosie is recovering nicely and I sure hope there won't be any need for surgery. I hope you are recovering as well. An injured puppy will certainly bite. I hope your poor finger will be OK, too. I know it had to really hurt. Let us know what the vet says this evening. Talk about a freak accident. She certainly had one.

[Latuya]

so sorry. I hope poor Wosie feels better soon. I will keep you in though and hope your vet visit goes good.

[Jaspermom]

Well, I was wrong about the diagnosis, it is not her patella, the growth plate near the patella is fractured.

There are two choices: the better chance of fewer problems is indeed surgery. OMG. I really don't want to have my baby have surgery!!! But if we go the splint route only, there is a good chance that there will be complications with the bone and leg with twisted growth and joint problems a possibility. OMG!!!

Surgery will involve pins to hold the growth plate back in the place it should be. It's really my husband's decision as I don't make a whole lot of money, and he would have to be the one to pay the bill. (I don't even want to say what this will cost, it's awful). I am so scared of surgery for all the complications there could be, but I am so afraid she will have more problems if we only splint and let her heal that way. I wish this had never happened, and no matter how she cries, she is NOT coming onto my bed again until she is old enough to be mellow up there.

Any advice is welcome. Try to be nice to me, though, I am pretty messed up right now. I'm shaking. Wosie, on the other hand, seems to not have a care in the world! She's eating well, drinking water, is on pain meds so she's pain free, and is sleeping peacefully in her box on the floor next to me. Sigh...

Here's a picture of her from earlier today showing you her pretty green leg wrap. My poor baby!!!!!!! That brown thing at the end of her wrap is a carrot flavored teething bone, NOT her leg! (I just noticed that!)

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by Jaspermom

Well, I was wrong about the diagnosis, it is not her patella, the growth plate near the patella is fractured.

There are two choices: the better chance of fewer problems is indeed surgery. OMG. I really don't want to have my baby have surgery!!! But if we go the splint route only, there is a good chance that there will be complications with the bone and leg with twisted growth and joint problems a possibility. OMG!!!

Surgery will involve pins to hold the growth plate back in the place it should be. It's really my husband's decision as I don't make a whole lot of money, and he would have to be the one to pay the bill. (I don't even want to say what this will cost, it's awful). I am so scared of surgery for all the complications there could be, but I am so afraid she will have more problems if we only splint and let her heal that way. I wish this had never happened, and no matter how she cries, she is NOT coming onto my bed again until she is old enough to be mellow up there.

Any advice is welcome. Try to be nice to me, though, I am pretty messed up right now. I'm shaking. Wosie, on the other hand, seems to not have a care in the world! She's eating well, drinking water, is on pain meds so she's pain free, and is sleeping peacefully in her box on the floor next to me. Sigh...

Here's a picture of her from earlier today showing you her pretty green leg wrap. My poor baby!!!!!!! That brown thing at the end of her wrap is a carrot flavored teething bone, NOT her leg! (I just noticed that!)

I understand how sick you feel right now. There's no sense in kicking yourself around, though. Accidents happen everyday. It's just that they don't always result in fractures. I'd go for the surgery if at all possible, because she is so young and I imagine that she would spring back fairly quickly, whereas an older doggie might not. Let me know what you decide and quit blaming yourself. Maybe you guys ought to get a platform bed! They are much safer for these little one's.

[Thorsmomma]

Gosh I am so sorry for what you are having to go through! Her little cast is so cute! POrr girl... I hope everything works out for the best!
Hannah

[rnnw62]

Poor Wosie....accidents suck! You guys have a hard decision
but if it were me I would really lean heavily towards the surgery.
I think it is more logical to try to take care of the problem in
the best way possible from the start rather than risk other
complications down the line that ultimately would add up
costing you financially also. Best of luck to you guys though
and we will be here for you so keep us posted.

[YorkieShadow]

Im so sorry Wosie got hurt I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers. I know a few people with very small Yorkies that has also had to have pins put in their legs. It took a long time to heal but they are both running and playing now.

[Jaspermom]

I appreciate everyone's input so much, you are all so nice! We are going to make an appointment this morning to see the surgeon for a consultation, and I will let you know how it goes. I am so sad and worried right now. Wosie is sleeping on my lap, and she's not worried at all!

[yorkieusa]

My thoughts and prayers go with you...I hope he has positive things to say...

[sneri13]

I hope all goes well at your appointment today. Our babies bounce back from surgery rather quickly. I think it is harder on us then them sometimes. Good Luck. Sending Yorkie hugs and kisses.

[Julz]

Ohhh nooooo! I am so sorry to hear this happened! I hope you find that you will be able to avoid surgery by some miracle. Your thread was so intense I felt as if I were there. So glad to hear Wosie is feeling much better today. She does look cute in her little cast. I hope all goes well and look forward to your updated post.

[Jaspermom]

The surgeon pointed out that there are actually two growth plates that have been fractured, which was more detail that our vet and the ER vet missed. Wosie has to be at the surgeon at 7:30 this morning.

The surgeon hedged quite a bit as to how helpful surgery will be. She said that even though they can pin the growth plates back in place, there is no telling until they get in there whether or not the plates are too damaged to continue to add to her growth. It is still possible her leg may not continue to develop properly. I am so worried...

The surgeon is a young woman, and she has been praticing for 10 years. I liked her and so did Wosie. She kept laughing about the fact that Wosie's tongue was sticking out, and could not look at her without giggling. She told me that another Yorkie was in a couple hours before us and it's tongue was out every minute he was there too. I told her it's a Yorkie thing.

Keep my Wosie in your thoughts today! Thank you all for your kind words. I love this board!

[Julz]

I will pray for Wosie. PLEASE post when you can and try and stay calm.