Disaster Dog Does It Again

Jess is a harbinger of bad luck. First, her existence as a puppy was under threat, she was to be shot if the farmer couldn't give her away.

Next came the grass seed in the neck on Christmas Eve.

Her latest catastrophe; as Caitlin was walking (running) her on Monday night, Jess stepped in a hole and hurt her leg. The paw was hanging at 45 degree angle to her leg. The after hour vet we called said that if it wasn't a hip dislocation, she could wait until morning to be seen. So poor Jess spent Monday night in the laundry, hobbling around on three legs.

On Tuesday morning, I took her over to the vet in Casterton. We were lucky (?) that Kindy had been cancelled for the day, due to potential fire risks. It was very VERY gusty and still quite dry. The drive along the ridge to Casterton was fun, hanging onto the wheel for dear life as the car was pushed sideways on the road by the winds. At two points, visibility was very limited because of the dust flying across the road.

goodbye topsoil from the bushfire affected area

Anyway, the vet had a prod and guessed that her metacarpals were broken (the bones between your wrist and your knuckles. We arranged to leave Jess there so she could have some Xrays later in the morning. Mim was in tears as we left - would the vet look after Jess, would she be okay, would she have something nice for dinner???

The vet called just after lunch, the Xrays confirmed her diagnosis - all four metacarpals were fractured (if it'd just been two, she could have been splinted). She would require surgery and either pins or minibone plates to fix her. It would be expensive. Very expensive. Did we want her fixed?

Of course we wanted her fixed (well, Jemima and I did, didn't ask Michael for fear of what his opinion might be :) So surgery was arranged for Wednesday morning. It was successful. The two middle metacarpals were held together with minibone plates and the outside two were aligned and a splint put on her leg. She will require extensive TLC and be out of action for about 8 weeks. But she has youth on her side, the bones should heal quickly.


Of course, her splint and bandage MUST remain dry. So guess what - after months and months of no rain, it started raining yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bugger tempting fate by leaving the washing on the line, or leaving windows open - No, if you want to get it to rain, just arrange for your dog to break its leg and then spend over a thousand dollars having it fixed. Works every time!!!