Seeing your pet feeling uncomfortably really stinks.
We were playing fetch with Binsey in the back yard, and while she was racing for the ball, like she's done thousands of times, she squeeked loudly (which she's only ever done a handful of times) and laid down. We ran up to her and found a sharp rock wedged between her paw pads. She wasn't bleeding but she also didn't want to walk on it, so we took her to the vet. He didn't find any broken bones, but gave her some arthritis drugs just in case and said she should stay off it for 5 days. Fast forward to now and she's still limping. So back to the vet. This time, he thinks it might actually be her knee, and she might have the doggy equivalent of a torn ACL. There's a surgery they can do for that, but she's back on the arthritis drugs for a bit longer to see if that might help make it better. Surgery is always a last resort, and there's no guarantee it'll completely fix the problem.
And did you know that dogs can get seasonal allergies? This year, and the same time last year, Binsey started scratching and nibbling at herself a ton. Last year she got an allergy shot and that fixed it, but this year she can't get it until she's done with the arthritis drugs and some stomach drugs she's on too (yeah, that started the same time - and just know that a limpy dog with digestive problems is not something you want to deal with). Poor thing is falling apart and she's only 3!
On the fun side, I just entered Binsey in a "Laziest Dog" photo contest on Dogbook (it's on Facebook). You can see her entry and
vote for it here. If we win, we get a $250 gift certificate to LeLePets that I can use to buy a fancy new dog bed to replace the one she chewed up in the picture!
