Fritz Injured Again

[krissn333]

Fritz's tongue and cheek are looking much better from his battery incident, but, he and Ace had an odd accident yesterday...they jumped INTO the back door of the Jeep yesterday...I was taking them somewhere and they were SO excited that they just headed for the back of the Jeep and jumped before I had even TOUCHED the handle! It was basically like jumping into a brick wall! They both fell onto the ground, Ace has a skinned knee (but today is just fine), and, at the time, Fritz seemed just fine. This morning he seemed a little stiff, and I wasn't surprised. So I gave him some Deramaxx. He refused his breakfast, but I did con him into drinking some milk. He spent most of the day on the couch...he didn't even get up to greet my dad when he stopped by. This evening when I was getting ready to head off to work, I went to let them out to go potty and Fritz's hind end was very wobbly...the rest of him seemed fine, he was wagging his tail and his eyes looked fine (other than the fact I could tell he was hurting), but his hind end seemed to not be working correctly. So, I called in to work and took a vacation day, and carted Fritz off to the evet.

 

The vet did a neurological evaluation...his pupilary (sp?) response was normal, etc...but she took his right rear foot and knuckled it under...instantly he picked his foot up and put it in the right place. With the left rear foot, he left it knuckled under until it slid backward enough that he needed to right it in order to avoid falling over. His reflexes aren't right. She thinks he's just hurt some muscles. So, he's on tramadol, and predisone. Strict bed rest for two weeks...after that, I can take him to the chiro. Her exact words were, "he needs to take being a couch potato very seriously for the next few weeks" . So, he has to go outside by himself...no running, no playing. I am supposed to avoid allowing him to jump as much as possible. He doesn't ever really jump onto the couch anyway, he climbs...so I'm not too worried about that.

 

She mentioned kenneling him when I'm not home, but that's really not an option as 1) he freaks out in a crate, and 2) I don't have a spare crate, nor do I have a place to put another large crate. He and Ace are gated in the living room when I'm not home, and Skimmie and Pinky are crated. I know all he does is sleep on the couch while I'm gone anyway, so, I'm not worried.

 

He's already had a dose of tramadol and prednisone (with a pepcid given 20 minutes before) and he seems to be feeling a little bit better for the moment.

 

Hopefully he'll be able to rest well tonight. I just couldn't leave him here and go to work knowing he wasn't right. I was so worried it was something that was still progressively getting worse. Thank goodness my boss is the nicest guy ever!

 

They have NEVER done anything like that before (jumped into the door of the Jeep)...but I think from now on, when I'm ready to take them somewhere, I'll get the back hatch open before I even get them leashed up to leave the house...that way when they jump, they'll actually go INTO the car

Edited October 29, 2008 by krissn333

[Guest argolola]

Prayers for your little sweetie.

[Charlies_Dad]

We had something similar but luckily ours was not hurt in any way. Charlie jumped right into our RV screen door when we came back from a walk once. We were just walking up the ramp that we have and all of a sudden he was airborne and CRASH, he tumbled back. It was so quick I didn't get a glimpse of what he did. Like I said, we were lucky because he didn't hurt himself other than a small scuff on his front leg. Our screen door is nothing like your jeep's door which is much more solid. Now we keep a very short and tight grip on his lead whenever we get close to a door because we don't want it to happen again! I hope Fritz recovers quickly.

[patricia]

Ok sweetie...time to remove that dark cloud of boo boo's that is hanging over you ok honey? Feel better real soon.

[nyGreys]

Oh sweetie. Hope you feel better soon.

[Guest meakah]

Wow, poor Fritz and you are having some bad luck!

Hope he mends quickly. Silly puppers....

[krissn333]

Fritz seems to be doing better today. His gait is more normal (still a little "off" but nothing like it was last night). He ate his meals with gusto and even seemed like he wanted to join the others in the yard (I wouldn't let him though, of course).

 

He seems to enjoy his "mom and me" moments...when the dogs need to go out, they all go out onto the screen porch. I hang on to Fritz and open the door for the other three to head outside, then I take Fritz back into the house with me, where he either gets his meds, gets some scritches, or gets a small treat. He happily trots back into the house with me for his special time

 

He's seeming more like himself today...not totally 100%, but like I said, much better than yesterday. He is still sleeping quite a bit, but, that's to be expected (and that's a good thing too)...I bet the tramadol is knocking him out a little bit too.

[Guest SusanP]

Sending healing thoughts to Fritz.

[KingsMom]

Awww Fritz! I hope you feel better soon sweetie! *gentle scritches* Enjoy your special mom time!

[CaliforniaGreys]

I'm glad that he's doing a little better. I learned the hard way too and now have the back hatch open before I even bring them out. Feel better Fritz

[crazygang]

Fritz