Finally Back!

Well, I was away a little longer than I expected. I had this post ready yesterday, but Blogger was down every time I tried to publish....

I hadn't meant to be away Thursday, but it just turned out that way. When I got home on Wednesday afternoon, I noticed that Slate was holding his cast up and refusing to walk on it. For the past month, he'd been running around as fast as he could go on it. I knew that something wasn't quite right. I noticed that he had pulled all of the padding away from the top of his cast, so I figured that it may be rubbing his leg. I looked and sure enough there was a little bald spot there with a little swelling. I gave him a pain pill at bedtime to help alleviate some of the discomfort, and I hoped that he would be better by morning. At 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, he woke me up whining. Now, Slate is NOT a complainer in any way. He is one tough little dog, so when he started whining, I KNEW something was wrong. Casey and I were due to leave first thing Friday morning for Ohio, so I decided right then and there to take off Thursday and take him to the vet. Casey took the day off to help.

We got him into the vet's early Thursday morning. The tech got him in there and began to cut the cast off. If a dog's face could ever have a human expression, Slate had one as the cast came off. He looked like, "oh, thank you so much!!" As soon as the cast came off, we knew the problem. The cast had doubled over underneath and had cut a large gash into his leg nearly to the bone. I just cried, when I saw it. It looked horrible, and I can't imagine how much it must have hurt him. The vet decided to keep him overnight and surgically repair the gash. They cleaned it up and stiched it. They also gave him IV antibiotics to help. Luckily, his broken bones had healed enough that they didn't have to re-cast his foot. So after another surgery, night away from home, and another $160, we were able to pick him up early on Friday morning.

The vet said that he should be fine, and that we should go ahead on our trip. I called in the best possible caregiver that I know...my mom. She took fantastic care of him, while we were gone. She gave him his meds and many, many treats. He is soooo spoiled. Luckily, the stitches are still holding (the vet was afraid that he was too inflamed and they might not). The swelling has gone, and he seems to feel much better. I just want to hurt whoever put that BB into his foot. NONE of this would have happened, if they hadn't shot him. I swear if I EVER catch who did it, they WILL pay.

The Ohio updates will begin soon!! Stay tuned!