the broken toe...

So first thing Tuesday morning, Gracie and I were at the vet's office for her bandaging. The vet showed me the x-ray, which clearly showed a fracture in her toe. It started as a hairline on the outside and then curved straight up to the joint and on that end was a complete split in the bone through to the joint. Granted, this was all magnified like 75 times, so it looked much bigger than it was. But still, it was definitely broken.
Short term reality... 4-6 weeks to heal with a pressure bandage on it to keep it stabilized. No splint because it is so low in the leg that we would risk another break from her trying to walk with the splint. Tramadol pain killers for 4 days (yay!) and then anti-inflammatory meds. Stopped the Prednisone and added a calcium-rich supplement to help with the bone healing. Still on the antibiotic. Bandage on most of that leg with instructions to keep it dry and Gracie calm (really?! that should be interesting). Oh, and we have to keep her from messing with the bandages. That should be REALLY interesting. When they brought her back to me after bandaging her leg, she wouldn't put it down and kept pawing the air, occasionally hitting herself in the chin while doing this. She was biting at the bandage, too. Poor thing has no idea what is on her leg and was trying to shake it off.
Long term reality... She could develop arthritis in the joint that the break affected later in life. One more thing to add to her list.

We got home and I was quick to get the pain pill in her so that she would settle down a little bit and sleep, especially since I had worked the night before and was on again that night. The quicker she sleeps, the quicker I sleep.
She was biting and tearing at the bandage later in the afternoon. She does not like it and was determined to get it off. She has torn pieces of the purple bandage off already. We've tried spraying some bitter apple on it with no success...doesn't seem to phase her. We are trying desperately to keep her out of the 'cone of shame', aka the E-collar. If we do have to use something to keep her away from it, I'm thinking we will try the donut (a version of the E-collar but it is only an inflatable ring around the neck).

So that's where we are. Poor Gracie has only one good leg right now but she is a trooper. She's not letting it slow her down too much. Please pray for her to heal safely and quickly.

the beginning of a long relationship...

I knew with 3 Weims that David and I would have a larger than average vet bill. This week was the start of that.
David was walking Gracie last week and accidently stepped on her right front foot. This is nearly impossible to keep from doing as she is ALWAYS underfoot! Anyway, when he got back home, he noticed that her toe was bleeding. On further inspection, we noticed it was inflamed around one of the toenails. I remembered that this was the foot that had been bitten by fire ants so we decided to have it looked at. That was Wednesday. I made an appointment for Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, she began limping on her front left leg. David and I couldn't remember her doing anything to that leg but decided to have the vet check it out while she was there on Friday. I couldn't go to the vet appointment due to a prior committment. I'm sure David was not looking forward to this because no matter how many questions he asks, I've always got a couple more that didn't get asked. $230 later, he comes home with Prednisone, an antibiotic and a receipt for the x-ray of her left leg they did and kept in her file. Her toe was infected but easily fixed with the meds they put her on. The poor little girl had a fever, though! While drilling him with questions, he said we didn't see our vet and that another vet in the practice had worked on Gracie. Automatic suspician on my part. I want anyone dealing with her to have all the info on her background. David gave her the short version and we are thinking she just zoned in on the 'neuro damage' he mentioned. She was all too willing to contribute the limping the neurological issues Gracie has. We were skeptical, since this had come up suddenly, but were willing to give the steroid a try. The vet read the x-ray and said nothing was broken. The film included the entire leg.
On Saturday, I decided to leave the princess at home with her medical issues and took Miley instead to a rescue event. I got home after 1pm and David said the limping was worse and she was spending alot of time sleeping or laying down. Mommy instinct kicks in and the worry level goes up. We agree to wait til Monday and see how she does. By Sunday morning, she is non weight-bearing on that leg. Poor Gracie has enough trouble with weak back legs due to neuro issues, but now she only has one good leg since the left front is hurt. It was pitiful to watch. David noticed that her outside toe was swollen and VERY tender to touch. She did not like us touching it. We left her alone and decided to call the vet back in the morning and let them figure out what to do.
David called yesterday morning and told them all that we had noticed. The vet FINALLY called him back late in the afternoon and said we could bring her back in. David told her about the swollen toe and asked if she would just review the x-ray one more time to be sure nothing showed up. She said, AGAIN, that she hadn't seen anything but that she would look again and call us back. She all but said we would be paying for another office visit, which we felt was wrong. She did seem to bear a little more weight on it Monday so we decided to wait until Tuesday morning. We just kept thinking that if it wasn't broken, there must be a pulled muscle and that only time would heal that. Well, the vet called back and stated that on further review, that Gracie DID, in fact, have a broken toe! She said for us to bring her back in this morning and that they would look at it again and splint it and make sure she was comfortable.
As for how she did this? Not completely sure, but David said he did hear a loud thump and her yelp in the hall earlier in the week. There is a 'doorway' in the hallway that has juts out into the hallway. We are thinking she brushed it with her foot, not seeing it, and bent the toe back. That's our best guess. I'm sure we are in for more of this as she grows. I've always thought about getting pet insurance but hadn't done it yet. Guess what I'm researching this week?

And so our long relationship with Gracie's vet begins...

more gracie antics...

Sorry it has been so long since my last post! Time gets away from me and now the holidays are upon us. Gracie's first fall, winter and holiday season. I can't tell you how many leaves she's eaten. I'm just thankful she hasn't discovered acorns, because they are all over our front yard.
I took her with me to a WRNT event a couple of weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised at how big and spacious the park was where the event was located. There was a large open area amongst the trees that was perfect for Gracie to run around in. She was definitely in need of burning off some energy due to all the rain. Our yard has been a swamp and every time we let her out, she comes back in just caked with mud. Not a fun thing to bathe her either...she does NOT like baths! She had mud splattered all over the bathroom and me. Anyway, Gracie and Frick had lots of fun playing at the event. If you haven't heard of Frick you're missing out! He is an 18-month old Weim in rescue right now. He is smaller than Gracie and so cute! We dubbed him a 'sample' Weim. He came in with his brother...can you guess his name? Frack! I just love that! Well, Gracie was LOVING playing with him. She just pranced around him and would get in her play stance with her butt in the air and then attack him, or where she thought he was. Then she would just run in big circles in the grass. All was well until Jennifer (another rescue fanatic) and I turned our heads for 10 seconds. Next thing I heard was a loud yelp and turned to see that she had run, head on, into a tree! I'm pretty sure I lost the nomination for 'Rescue Mom of the Year' in that 10 seconds. Poor thing walked away from it with a limp and squinting one eye for a couple of minutes. But she does not want to be coddled! I was trying to inspect her for permanent or vet-required damage and she would not sit still and eventually wiggled out of my hold. I figured if she was good with it, so was I.
On to her next performance. She has had an on-going battle with the large kitchen appliances, specifically the dishwasher. The refrigerator is a lesser focus. She does not like it when we have anything hung on it. I usually put some of the girls' artwork or projects on the fridge with magnets. Well, this is another time when I would swear Gracie can see more than we think. If there is stuff hanging, she will pull it off with her teeth if she can reach it, or jump up so that she can reach it and pull it off. The girl likes a clean fridge...what can I say? So on to the dishwasher... She attempted to chew on it at first and when she realized it was a flat surface on the front, she found the edge at the bottom. She managed to get off the piece that holds the front panel on and from there it was game on! We hadn't put that piece back on so she was finally able to get the front panel off. There is an insulating piece on underneath that and she got that off the other day. After chasing her down to retrieve this before she ruined it, I put both pieces up so that David could put it all back together that night. Never short on determination, Gracie comes right back looking for something else to take off of the dishwasher. She tries to bite at it and realizes there is only the hard plastic part left and that seemed to really make her mad! She jumped back at first and then just started to bark at the dishwasher like crazy!!! It was hysterical. I have posted a picture of this in the latest album.
Act 3... This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table and she was attempting to bite/chew on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. I kept telling her 'No' and finally it got quiet. Okay, I need to describe the chairs. They are the kind with an 'X' shape in the backrest portion. At the bottom of the 'X' is a piece of wood. The end of the table that she was at is close to the wall and there is a dog bed there. Well, I look over to see why she is all of a sudden quiet and there she is with her head stuck in the chair!!! She had pulled on it enough that it tipped over backwards but stopped by leaning against the wall. She was sitting on the dog bed and her head was between the bottome part of the 'X' and the piece of wood underneath it. She wasn't at all upset, either. She was just looking at me. It took a bit of manuvering to get her out, though. She did not want to stretch her neck out so that I could remove her head. With some coaxing, we both came out of that unscathed. (Note to self...in the future, buy only 'solid' furniture without Gracie traps.:o)