While visiting family in Kansas after Christmas, Misty the Wonder-dog somehow dislocated her right leg at the hip! She was upstairs running around when she was heard to yelp very loudly for half a minute or so. She then carried the right rear leg up under her and laid down shivering and panting. This was late on a Saturday afternoon. She didn't complain or whine but she didn't move much either. We didn't know what she had done and the vet's office wouldn't be open until Monday. Luckily, Wichita has a 24 hour vet emergency center, so it was a no-brainer to take her there.
Just like the human ER, we sat in the waiting room with several other pet owners and waited our turn. A little over two hours went by before we were finally shuttled into a room. They gave Misty something for the pain and she settled down while they examined her. They determined that X-rays were needed but that she would need to be knocked out in order to do it. It was now around midnight so we zipped off to an IHOP for something to eat (we hadn't had dinner so we were a little hungry) while the procedure was performed. We came back an hour later and waited for the results. The vet came in and said that it was about as bad as it could be! We had visions of Dusty, Misty's predecessor. Dusty was just two years old when he jumped off of the couch and yelped. He was lame on his rear leg and a visit to the vet found bone cancer. Prognosis was bad and we had to put him to sleep! Now here was Misty following a similar path at a relatively young 6 years old. The vet showed us the x-ray and it was obvious that the femur was out of it's socket in the hip. They took two attempts to reset it and were successful. Her leg was taped up to prevent movement and she was given pain meds and anti-inflammatories. We were cautioned however that this procedure had a 50/50 chance of success. If the leg would not stay in the socket, then the next step was surgery.
We took her home and made a nice bed area for her in the closet of our bedroom in our daughter's home where we were staying. She could rest and recuperate away from distractions yet have some room to stretch out. Several times daily we took her out for bathroom breaks and in the evening let her sit next to us on the couch and watch TV with the family. She rapidly adapted to three legs and was very adept at moving around. Ten days later we went to the vet to have the tape wrapping removed and crossed our fingers. The vet said to take her on short walks daily and to let her know if Misty was not using the leg after 10-14 days.
We traveled back to Texas and followed the vet's advice. Gradually Misty began to use the right rear leg. She will use it if you force her to slow down on a walk or if her nose overrides her brain and she forgets to think about it. Every day we see a little improvement, but like human traumas, it takes a split second to cause the damage and can take a long time to heal. We'll just be patient and revel in our little successes!
