Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Oh Spare Parts Dog....

Flea fell down the stairs on Saturday.

My WORST nightmare!

Cuz see - here's the thing. Flea is the clutziest dog you've ever seen. Chachi
- he's all purebred and solid and strong. Nothing is ever wrong with him. Flea, on the other hand - all spare parts. She falls every day. Many times a day. She's got a condition called 'luxating patella' and her knees are really not good (debating surgery for this one - anyone have experience?)

But not only that - she'll bonk her head on the coffee table leg, jump for the couch and juuuuuuust miss it - banging into it with her chest instead and falling like Wile E Coyote off a cliff. (thing is, there are DOGGY STEPS to help her get on the couch, but instead of using them properly, she'll launch herself off the lowest step to the couch). She'll wobble on the arm of the couch just so I have a heart attack.

She falls when she hears a loud noise. When she's excited to eat. When it's Tuesday. Falling is as natural to her as breathing and eating shit. And she's never phased by it. she picks herself right up and keeps ontruckin'. Dumb, loveable dork of a dog.

Still, I should have known better.

We have 2 levels in our condo and Flea was following me downstairs.
Suddenly, I heard scrambling and turned around in time to see this tiny
white ball rolling down the last 5 or 6 steps. Hardwood steps. Tile
landing. Nothing forgiving about that. She is epileptic, so - I guess
there's a chance she had a seizure en route - but knowing her history
of falling all the time - I think she just lost her grip.

She landed lying stomach down on the floor and stayed there, dazed for a
few moments. Then, slowly, she picked herself up. Moving awkwardly
towards me. I'm sure she was in a lot of pain. I was absolutely beside
myself. But kept it on the inside. Because she picks up on all my
emotions like a mirror. Thankfully - she could walk. That was good!

So, I kept her still the rest of the night. Heating pad, the works. The next morning, I noticed she was lookin' at me funny. Really funny. With only ONE EYE. The other was puffy and closed.

My first reaction was - EMERGENCY VET! All the freaky-outyness
I kept on the inside the night before came out - Her brain is bleeding!
Her skull is cracked! We need x-rays! Her eye is gonna fall out! What
if she's blind? But Corn kept me level-headed and said - "she's
walking, eating, wagging her tail. Let's just wait".

So we did. I gave her painkillers (from another incident where her knee
popped out recently. Yeah, good times) And by Sunday , she had her
peepers back.

This little dog - I swear. Is gonna give me an ulcer if she doesn't give herself one first.






"I tripped on my matching baggy rap-guy pants"



However - almost hesitant to say it, but she's doing great w/ the seizures. The last one was Feb 4th. And we had been up to 3/month beforehand. She's on meds and a new diet to control them. So - so far, so good.

But - the stairs are now blocked off to dogs, permanently.

5 comments:

4D said...

OMGoodness! Poor puppy! Poor N@! Hope everyone is feeling better. We have a ramp also and Daisy jumps off halfway down.

Miss Daisy had surgery for a herniated cervical disc. Spend a crapload of $ but worth every penny. DMV is where we did it.

Keep smilin!

N@ Lauzon said...

AW - which surgeon was it and how was her recovery time? How old was she when she had the surgery? I am REALLY considering it now. Poor little thing.

Daphne said...

Hey Nat,

I worked at the Faculte de Medecine Veterinaire in St-Hyacinthe. They are excellent with these types of cases.

It can be pretty costly, but at the time there was no tax on operations, only material.

By the way, I just started a blog (you got me motivated), and I added you as one of my favorite bloggers, hope that's alright.

Good luck with your puppy, she's absolutely adorable.

Maria said...

Poor little Flea...hope she continues to feel well.

JB said...

My friend, Mike, who had his Lab go through TWO knee operations, says, "Well, as far as we can tell, the results were supberb - but the doctor said originally that if one of his knees went,
the chance are that he's got it in both (which he ultimately did) so your friend should anticipate two operations. In total it was about $3000 in vet bills for both surgeries + meds."
Mike's dog is great now, but yeah - That's really expensive.

Good luck, Flea!
Head-noogies from all of us here in Brantford!