Yadi's Paw Injury

This past Friday, Yadi's first ever snow experience did not end very well.  (BUT prior to injuring her foot, and even a little afterwards, she had an absolute BLAST in the snow!  I mean, look at this!

That evening, around 8pm, there was a good 3ish inches on the ground.  That was going to be all we got so it would have to do.  Luckily it was enough to get a good first snow experience.
We let the girls run all over my parents front yard playing.  At one point, Yadi was running and we heard a giant yelp from her.  She sat down, only for one second, licked her paw, then got up and continued to run around and play.  Therefore we thought nothing of it.

Fifteen to thirty minutes later, we decided to bring all the dogs inside (my sister's two dogs were out there too).  When we brought Yadi inside, we noticed there was blood allllll over the rug she was standing on.  [We now realize she caught her foot on a metal stake (much like that for tents) that holds down those giant inflatable Christmas blow up lawn things.  We probably shouldn't have been letting them run around the front yard with all the decorations, but it was dark outside and the only place there was sufficient light to watch them.]

Nick then picked Yadi up and took her to the bathtub so we wouldn't ruin my parents carpet and so we could clean her off a little.

Once in the bathtub, we washed the blood away as best we could to get a look at her left hind paw.  There was a GIANT gash in it.  It was about an inch and a half long and about an inch deep, right in between the webbing of her toes.  Because the wound opened up really wide, and wasn't a simple little cut, we knew it wouldn't heal on its own, especially on the bottom/between her toes of her paw.  There'd be no way for us to keep it clean.  We decided she'd need to go to the emergency vet and have them either bandage it or stitch it, whichever they felt necessary.
{Sorry for the gruesome pictures.  I find this stuff interesting.  But if you have a weak stomach, you might want to skip past these 4 photos and down to the next text.}

We cleared off the table, laid a tarp down, put Yadi on her side, and bandaged it up (please take note of Nick's superb bandage job.  Good thing I'm the one going into nursing.  And Lord help our children if something happens to them and I'm not home.) Granted, it didn't need to be perfect.  Just good enough that we could get her in the car without her bleeding all over.  Thank goodness we have a well-behaved dog because she just laid there on the table, not moving or flinching at all...not even when we were inspecting her incision.

What a stellar job 

Off to the emergency vet we went,  driving 40 mph hour down the highway since it was snowing and freezing rain out!  (Awesome timing Yadi!)
(Nick asked Kyle (my "brother-in-law") to come along in case we needed some help since I can calm her but she can be pretty heavy).
[Side Note:  When we walked in and told the tech Yadi's name she said "We get a Yadi about once a week."  Yeah, that's right!  Cardinal Nation baby!  Whereas back home in Florida, no one would ever makes the connection of Yadi with the Cardinals.  Most people just think it's some weird German name.  ...because apparently since she's a Weimaraner, we need to give her a German name???]

While waiting in the room, Yadi didn't seem bothered at all by her foot.  We walked in and she immediately hopped up on the bench and sat down (which is weird she does this because she's not typically allowed on furniture!)

 She was walking on it just fine, even though it was continuing to bleed, almost bleeding through our gauze.  It was hard to get her to sit or lay down in the room because she apparently felt no pain and was curious with all the smells.  The only way we were really able to get her to lay down was if I sat down on the ground with her  (for those that don't know, she's beyond obsessed with me...as in never more than a few feet away from me at all times.)

We left the house in such a hurry we didn't even think to grab her harness or leash (because we carried her out of the house and into the vet since it was snowing and sooo wet!

The vet came in and we put Yadi on the table to let her take a look.  Once again, Yadi laid there completely still and calm while the vet cut off her bandage, opened up her wound and took a look.

She said that it was pretty nice gash and it would most definitely require stitching.  But she did say Yadi was pretty lucky because she only cut through skin and superficial tissue, just barely missing major veins and tendons.  She then wrapped it back up, giving her Cardinal red ;)

She then informed us they were very busy and it might take 3-4 hours before she'd be ready to go home.  She said we could wait or if we wanted, we could come back in the morning and they wouldn't charge us a hospital stay.  The hospital is just 20 minutes from our house so we decided to go home and just have them call us in a few hours when she was ready to be picked up.

The vet also printed out an estimate, low and high.  If Yadi could remain calm with just a slight sedative  then it would be on the cheaper end (around $400) but if she fought and flinched a lot, they would need to completely knock her out running the bill around $600.  We were hoping and praying Yadi would be as calm as she was with us there but we weren't holding our breath since she FREAKS out when we aren't around.

The vet left to get some paperwork ready for us to sign and Yadi was back to walking around and not resting.  The vet didn't wrap her paw well and Yadi managed to get it off.  And in Yadi-fashion, she was wanting to eat it...and then being sad we wouldn't let her.

She refused to "drop it" so Nick had to do it for her lol

"My mean parents won't let me eat my bandage so I'm just going to stare at it and pout and look pathetic"

So we left and I felt so awful.  She was very hesitant to walk in the back with them.  We knew she was in good care, but I still felt awful leaving her.
Around midnight, they called saying she was finished and we could come get her.  AND they didn't need to knock her out!  WOOHOO!!!!  She's a boss and laid there perfectly still as they stitched her up.

When we arrived, in true Yadi fashion, she was in the back whining.  We paid (grand total of $428!) and they brought her out to us.  Poor girl had a cone on and was sooooo out of it.  She was disoriented and stumbling all over.  She heard us but couldn't "find" us even though we were right there in front of her.  It was so sad to see.

I climbed in the back seat and Nick carried her out and sat her next to me.  The poor thing was passed out before we even left the parking lot.
When we got home, Nick carried her inside, and Vino was TERRIFIED of her.  She had NO idea what the cone was and she was barking like crazy with all of her hackles raised.  And Yadi was so out of it, she just confused by the dogs in her face and Vino's barking.  Vino then followed us into the bedroom and was so unsure of her sister.  We took the cone off and Vino then inspected her sister's bandaged foot.  Yadi just slept and I went to bed with her.

Yadi was sent home with a pain medication to take every 12 hours for a week and antibiotics to take every 12 hours for 2 weeks.  They told us she needs to limit her activity for 14 days.  Um....have you met Yadi?  First of all, she doesn't really feel pain in her foot so she's not going to sit still.  Secondly, she can't be calm for one hour unless it's the middle of the night and she's sleeping.  This was going to be a HUGE task for us.
Her bandage needs to stay on for at least 48 hours and then it can come off.  Both the bandage and her foot need to stay clean and dry so when we take her outside, she needs a bag or cling-wrap over her paw.  She must always go outside on a leash so she doesn't run.  In about 14 days she needs to get her stitches removed.

The next day was awful.  She would NOT sit down.  She kept chasing the other dogs,  jumping on and off the couch and beds.  It's as if she had no feeling and didn't realize she had a hurt paw.  She just refused to sit or lay down.  The next two days consisted of nothing but us yelling "Yadi!  Down!"  Or "Yadi!  Sit!  Stay!"  I'm sure my family was highly annoyed with those phrases.

Pouting because we keep making her lay down.  Of course all the other dogs (Vino to the left and Zoey to the right) seem to love napping and relaxing...not Yadi!

Thankfully, Yadi didn't bother her bandage too much.  If we told her to leave it, she would.  Unfortunately for us, we paid for a cone of shame that does no good.  Her hind legs are so long and she's so flexible that she can easily few on her bandage with the cone on.

By the third day, we were desperate for a solution. We called the vet and they said we could drug her (not their words) with Bendryl to get her to calm down.  They recommended three 25mg pills.  Yeah, that did NOTHING.  Since technically they can have 1mg per pound, we gave her four 25mg pills (she's almost 95 pounds) and that seemed to work.  For an hour or two.  But I guess it's better than nothing.
Her bandage came off but it didn't look very healed to us so we wanted to keep it bandaged.  Especially because she was still being so rough on it.  (Can't blame her with 4 other dogs in the house plus lots of people coming and going).  We also noticed her outside toenail was rubbing against her stitches so we kept it wrapped.  We decided to do this until we got back to Florida, where hopefully, she'd be a little more calm with less people and dogs around.

Thankfully this was true.  But on Wednesday night, for the first time she seemed very bothered by her foot.  She wouldn't leave it alone, was limping, and was very, very antsy.  We decided to unwrap it, take a look at it for any infection, add some more ointment on it, and then rewrap it.  I know it's probably itching because it's healing, but we still wanted to take a look at it.  It appeared okay to us, but then again, we aren't vets or vet techs.  My main concern is the area on her pads.  It looks much different and not very closed.

We knew she probably needed air getting to the wound but we couldn't trust her overnight.  While we were looking at it and rebandaging it, for the first time, she was fighting us.  She was whining soooooo badly and kept trying to lick her paw.  We decided to wrap it overnight when we can't keep an eye on her (again, the cone does no good) and then unwrap it the next day and let air get to it while we could watch her.  Thankfully after rewrapping it and adding some triple antibiotic ointment, she seemed to get some relief and went to sleep for the night.

The next morning, I called the vet.  We just wanted to make sure it was healing well and it was safe to leave unwrapped.  So off to the vet we went.  Sadly, Yadi is now scared at the vet.  The moment the door opened and a tech came in, Yadi hid behind me =(

LOL Yadi peeking out behind me at the vet tech.  What a character.

The vet then came in and said it looked great.  She said the pad won't look good because of the type of tissue it is and it will always have a crack there now.  Oh well, that's her jacked up leg anyway (from her crate escapade back in her early puppy days in Annapolis.)  She said we could leave it unwrapped if we wanted and it was up to us but that air would be good.  So we decided to do just that.  It's been very difficult though because she wants to lick it sooo badly.  BUT the vet did say that it's healed enough that if Yadi were to get her stitches out, it wouldn't be a huge deal and we wouldn't need to bring her in unless it looked infected or tore up.  So that was good to hear.

We checked out (no charge! Thank you Wellness Plan) and are set to come back on the 12th to get her stitches removed (and they don't charge a thing for that so another "free" visit!!!)

So now we're home and she's been acting fine.   She doesn't seem bothered at all by her wound and doesn't mind at all if we mess with it...just watches it lol

The first two hours home without the bandage, she was constantly going at her wound but after that, she's been good.  We did pick up some GNC Relax tablets that the vet (and a few other doggie owners) have recommended.  I tried them today and it's hard to tell if they're working.  She is still normal Yadi but hasn't been crazy today.  She still walks around, plays with her toys, but she doesn't seem as Go!Go!Go!  She hasn't tried wrestling with Vino and seems a lot more mellow.  But it didn't drug her into sleepiness which is good!  (I feel badly doing that.)  She could just be having a lazy day, or the pills really did "relax" her.  So if anyone has a dog that needs calming, you can try THESE.  They're recommended for dogs with anxiety in crates, during travel, storms, etc.  We found them at PetSmart in the aisle with all the GNC supplements and vitamins.  They were $8.99 with our Pet Perks card so not badly priced at all.  There is also a Nutri-Vet brand of relaxing tablets and chews, but our vet recommended the GNC ones over those we that's why we bought them.  We gave her 4 tablets and they last all day!

So there you have it!  Yadi's full story.  Never a dull moment with this dog!  But she's healing well and we've found a way to calm her (hopefully), without drugging her so we're happy.  I just can't wait until those stitches are out and she can run and play in her yard with her sister.  Poor Vino doesn't understand.  She's always running up to Yadi, attacking her, or taunting her, and she doesn't understand why Yadi doesn't come after her like she normally does =(  Poor girls.
(It will also be nice to just open my door and let them out as opposed to bagging her foot, putting her harness and leash on, and walking her around.  I know, we're lazy and spoiled with a fenced yard.)