On the PUP List

For a month now Teach has been on the PUP (physically unable to perform) List.  There about two weeks ago we thought that the rest and one week of rimadyl was going to be good.  But as luck would have it it was just a fluke.  What I had originally thought was his leg/knee area was actually his foot.  

I had been so focused on his knee and leg I hadn't paid attention to his foot.  But two weeks ago I looked down at his foot and was shocked at how much bigger it looked than his other.  The inside part of his left hind foot (the toe area) had a huge knot on it and if I touched it he did flinch.  So back to strict crate rest he went with 15 minutes of ice several times a day (when he would allow it).  This was two weeks ago.

Last week Teach looked like he was walking better after our rest so I decided it would be okay to go to Rally training Wednesday night (we have a trial this Friday).  Well after training (in which I made him down most of the time except for our one run-through of the course) he could barely walk on it.  That was when I decided we were dealing with something more and made him a vet appointment for Saturday.

When the vet first looked at it he really thought it was broken so decided x-rays would be good to see what we were dealing with.  Even if it was broken the location would make it really difficult to splint.  So it would just be crate rest and low level of activities.  The vet tech came and got Teach took him back to get the x-ray.  We were lucky that the location of the x-ray didn't require them to sedate him for it.  They took pictures of his foot and his lower leg.  I just knew we would see a hairline fracture of his toe bone.  But I was wrong (and so was the vet).  His bones look fantastic.  The only thing the vet came up with was he has dislocated it or pulled/strained a tendon/ligament in that area and its stayed inflamed.  We now have a 10 day cycle of rimadyl with instructions to go back if after the 10 days he isn't healed.  

The Friday show doesn't look promising, but there will be more shows.  Not the end of the world.  Last night after having the medicine since Saturday evening the swelling does look a lot less.  Keeping him quiet now on this medicine is a challenge.  He feels good so wants to be his hyper, silly self!!

Monday Mischief: Too Much Fun In the Snow

Yesterday we had a break in the brutal winter temperatures and were able to take a fun hike with our friends April and Gabe.  The woods were beautiful with the freshly fallen snow. It clung to the leaves and even the sides of the trees.

The snow was fairly deep too and with the melting was kinda slick.  These trails are pretty rocky so you weren't sure where you were walking.  

Of course Teach and Gabe excited to see each other and played a game of chase and tag.

We hiked up the trail to a big field so they could run and play to their hearts content (and also took a pause for a photo shoot on the picnic table).

 

And of course with all the fun we had someone had to end up hurt.  That would be Teach.  It was this time last year, in the almost same conditions that Teach came up lame on his back left leg.  I never saw him take a false step through all the playing and trotting/running ahead.  He came home and crashed on the couch, woke up for dinner and was 3-legged. Poor guy!!  So its crate rest and leash walks for us for a while.  I'm going to give it to the weekend and see how he is before we head to the vet.  

The same thing happened last year (Tails of Limping) and they never did determine what went wrong.  Even x-rays didn't show anything (other than his knee caps riding too high on both hind legs).  So he may have dislocated that knee cap and it popped right back into place and strained that ligament/tendon.  But that strain won't show up on a x-ray.  

There is a dog show I was entering him in at the end of February (same one as last year) so I hope we're sound for it.  We would be going for his last leg on his Rally Excellent Title.

So that is our mischief for the weekend.  Poor Teach!!