Injury Report

My four year old lab-sharpei-pitbull-??? mix, Emmylou, was in a bad spot yesterday. Katherine called me at work: Emmy was shaking, having a hard time standing and was protecting her gut/back left quadrant. I could hear the yelping in the background. It was just awful sounding.

I quickly went home and managed to get Emmy into the car for a trip to the vet. On the way, she perked up a bit when we passed Memorial Park. It's funny that way. Only moments before, she was in terrible agony, but then she saw her favorite park, her disposition shifted. It was bearable again. That was a bit of relief.

Emmy was no longer yelping when we got to the vet. She was nervous, but that's typical beahvior upon visiting the vet.

30 minutes and an x-ray later, the vet returned with Emmy who was now wagging her tail and flashing her trademark goofy grin. Apparently, there was no bone damage, dislocations or tendon tears, nor were there any foreign objects like chewed up pop cans or chain rings in her gut. Whew! The vet said that she likely had a muscle tear in her leg and would need some anti-inflammatory drugs and rest.

Who knows how she did it. I have a sliding glass door -- the equivalent of a 72x84" HD TV for dogs -- that provides a perfect view of the backyard. I've witnessed Emmy leap a 60" vertical when a squirrel comes into her viewing pleasure and have had to regularly clean her nose-streaks off the top of the door...perhaps she tore the muscle that way?

If Emmy could have just told me what was wrong, a little ice and some Tylenol would have saved big bucks. I just don't know how you parents do it, especially during the non-verbal days.

Anyway, for $217 I got a couple x-ray snaps of Emmy's hips and a potent 7-day dosage of doggy-specific Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs). The hip x-rays also showed no dysplasia, which is some relief as well for my bow-legged pup. In the end, I suppose that the $217 also bought us a little peace of mind.

Good grief, what a day.