Zoe's Leg - Pulled Muscle, Strained Ligament, Now What?

[Guest 4baddogs]

We went to Home Depot tonight and were gone for only 30-45 minutes. When we got home and put them outside, Zoe was hobbling on 3 legs. I immediately thought something was wrong with her bionic leg (right elbow) because she'd been licking it the past couple of days. My husband noticed it was her left rear leg and quite badly, at that. We got her into the house and she was panting like mad. I did range of motion on her and she didn't flinch until I got to her upper thigh area and then she screamed. We tried to get her to lay down for nearly 2 hours, but Zoe lives life on her terms and wouldn't have any part of it.

 

She acted like her bed was too high so I stood on it, laid on it, jumped on it and rolled on it to get it smashed down. Nothing. I put 3 blankets down to see if she preferred that. Still nothing. She kept staring at the leather chair that she likes to sleep on and I thought "if you think you're getting on that, you're out of your mind" and I put my laptop bag on top of it. Finally after 2 hours of reindeer games and our exhaustion, I picked her up and laid her down. She screamed, but she's now sound asleep - compliments of being worn out with a chaser of Tramadol.

 

I panic every time one of them gets hurt, especially Zoe since she's *this close* to her 15th birthday. My husband is Mr. Optimism and always says "she'll be ok" which is exactly what he did tonight saying she just needs to rest and will be ok in the morning. I truly think she probably got her leg stuck in the leather chair while we were gone and either pulled a muscle or strained a ligament, but I wanted to rush her to the E-vet anyway! If she's not better tomorrow, she's going to the vet. It's just a question of how to get her into my Tahoe and who's going to hold her down because she certainly can't stand up for the ride.

 

It NEVER ends with this one! But she's my heart and soul and worth every sleepless night, which I'm sure I'll have tonight - on the couch right next to her.....

Edited June 24, 2009 by 4baddogs

[CaliforniaGreys]

Poor little girl, when they hurt, we hurt. If you do take her to the vet tomorrow, please post what the vet has to say.

I hope she feels much better in the morning and you both get a good nights sleep

[Batmom]

Can someone lift her into the car and sit in back with her?

 

Sending best thoughts that she'll be better in the a.m.

[Guest 4baddogs]

Can someone lift her into the car and sit in back with her?

 

I can definitely lift her into my Tahoe. Heck, I used to lift Nate's 90 lb. butt into it because he wouldn't jump! LOL I'm concerned about her not lying down because she'll be nervous. My husband will be in Pittbsburgh all day so I'll be alone. I'll call one of my nieces to see if they can go with me.

 

And I'll definitely post when I get back from the vet.

[CaliforniaGreys]

Checking in on Zoe this am

[Guest Energy11]

Hope Zoe is doing better today! Let us know how she did at the vets! Hugs! D

[Guest VirginiaGreys]

If she's in a LOT of pain...please use a muzzle...just in case. I hope it's something very minor.

 

And I hope she'll be fine!

[Guest 4baddogs]

She goes to the vet at 1:00 today. She slept most of the night and got up at 3:30 when Kirby did to go outside. She couldn't get up so I helped her and she screamed. She stopped at the step of the sliding doors, looked at me and then jumped down. She stayed far away from her favorite poop spot on the hill in the yard and went close to the patio.

 

She paced around the living room for about 10 minutes, panting all the while, because she couldn't figure out how to lay down comfortably. I woke my husband and the two of us gathered her up and laid her down. I felt so bad because she screamed and kicked, but once down she was fine. She's VERY dramatic and has always been one to cry if you pet her too hard, so I resigned myself to the fact that she'd cry when we had to do this. She was ready to jump onto the couch, so.....

 

She's laying on her bed right now and has been since we put her there at 6:30 this morning. I took a vacation day and ran to my office to get my laptop at 6:00. She was walking a lot better this morning, but still not great so that's why I'd rather get her to the vet.

 

Thanks for the good thoughts for Zoe! She's my heart and soul. Even though she's 60 days from her 15th birthday (August 21), I'd really love for her to stick around 20 or 30 more years.

[Guest 4baddogs]

We just got home from the orthopedic specialist in Pittsburgh. Zoe is resting comfortably on her bed in the living room and I’m in tears because on the drive to the hospital both my husband and I were convinced she was going to not be coming home with us.

 

She had a 1:00 appointment with her regular doctor in Beaver (not her “regular” regular doctor, because he’s on vacation – but one of the vets at the practice). He did an exam and x-rays. He showed me the x-rays and said he felt it was bone cancer. My heart sank because this would be the 4th dog in 4 years. Sure, she’s just 2 months shy of 15 years old, but I’m really not ready for this. Now, I’ve seen bone cancer in x-rays a million times and saw it first hand 3 years ago when Flash died. This did NOT look like bone cancer. I asked the doctor over and over if he was sure and he said he felt it was. He wanted us to see an orthopedist to have more x-rays while Zoe was sedated and also to have a biopsy done immediately. I called my husband as he was at a meeting in Pittsburgh today. We arranged to meet and drive to Pittsburgh together.

 

I called Northview to see Dr. Beebe, Zoe’s specialist who did her bionic elbow surgery, but he’s on vacation until next week. Another orthopedic doctor stayed over to see us even though she was to leave at 3:00 (it was now 2:30). We raced to Northview and got there around 3:30. Dr. Collins looked at the x-rays we brought with us from Beaver and said “I don’t see cancer at all.” YAY! She took more information from us than any of my doctors ever asked of me (this place is INCREDIBLE if you ever need a specialist!). They took Zoe away and did x-rays, blood work and a complete exam. They brought her back to us and we waited. Dr. Collins came out and said “Well, nothing jumps out at me in the x-rays. Now we wait for the blood work in the lab.” So we waited some more. She came back about 20 minutes later and said “Her blood work is perfect. Heck, even her blood pressure is perfect! She’s in incredible shape for an old girl with kidney disease!”. Just to be sure she wasn’t missing anything, she had another vet do a complete exam on Zoe. Same thing, nothing! The only thing they found was that her muscles are beginning to atrophy– no kidding, mine would be too if I was 105 years old!

 

So after 3 hours, the vet said “I’m sorry I can’t tell you what’s wrong with your dog. I really agree with you that she probably pulled a muscle or strained a tendon or ligament and in a few days she’ll be just fine.” She’s sending her x-rays out to a radiologist just to be sure that there’s nothing she missed, although she said she’s 99.9% sure there’s nothing there. She said to keep her on Tramadol and also put her on Methocarbamol (muscle relaxant), and Gabapentin (Neurontin, which I can fortunately get filled at my own pharmacy), plus Pepcid to keep her tummy calm because of the meds. She’s to start Rimadyl on Sunday if she’s not doing any better (because she had a baby aspirin yesterday).

 

After an incredibly, long, stressful, expensive day – I’m ready to collapse. Now for the prayers that she gets well and this really is nothing.

 

[tbhounds]

Oh--I know that emotional rollercoaster--it really is draining. Hope you both are resting comfortably now

[Guest Energy11]

Man! WHAT a day! Hope this all settles down, soon! Love and hugs from here!

[Guest BellesDad]

It sounds like good news Good thoughts that it is just a ligament

[CaliforniaGreys]

You are probably passed out by now, and I would imagine Zoe is as exhausted as well. Sounds like all good news, thank God.

Feel better little girl

[Guest 4baddogs]

I'm sick to my stomach now.

 

Zoe was doing really well, aside from panting once in a while. She's walking just fine, eating normally, etc. About 20 minutes ago I laid down on the floor next to her and noticed her leg looked swollen. And then I noticed the dreaded purple skin and my heart sank. At first I thought it was only where they shaved her for the blood draw, but it's all the way to the top of her thigh on both the inside and outside.

 

This is exactly what happened with Flash when he died. That damn purple skin. I took a few pictures and emailed them to her doctor. I really don't want to hear what she has to say if it's bad news because I have to wait for her appointment on Tuesday, but in my heart I already know. This sucks.

 

 

Here are the pics I took. They're not great, but she's sleeping and I didn't want to bother her. God, I hate this so much.

 

 

 

[Guest Energy11]

I know it is hard, but for now, try to relax, until you know things for sure. In the meantime, we, and many many others, are praying for you! Love and hugs from here!

[Guest koolaidnconner]

Prayers coming your way! Get better Zoe!

[macoduck]

If the initial injury was higher up, perhaps it's the blood settling lower from gravity.

[crazygang]

If the initial injury was higher up, perhaps it's the blood settling lower from gravity.

 

Sounds plausable.....

 

Sending positive healing thoughts. Waiting to hear how she is......

[tbhounds]

I know it's scary but bruising can and most likely will happen after a soft tissue injury like a muscle tear. Is she just brusied on the leg or is it all over? Did they perform a blood draw from that leg?

[kronckew]

i know i'm not a greyhound, but somewhat greyhound injury related, a few years back, blue ran into me at full speed and whalloped me with HIS legs just below my knee (he was fine). i had some major soft tissue damage, a large goose-egg sized lump full of blood and a very sore and non-functional leg for a number of weeks.

 

the photo shows it a few days after, when i had gone to the ER for xrays. from what i gathered, the purple is where my system was trying to get rid of the dead blood and stuff from the swollen impact area, it got into my lymphatic system, the purple slowly traveled down the leg into my foot and ankle, and slowly cleared. the leg was a fair bit bigger due to swelling as well. the purple bit didn't hurt, but the black bit certainly did. it took quite a while for the purple that went down to my toes to go away as the lymphatic system is not very strong. massage helped. as someone noted, it moves mostly by gravity.

 

 

anyway, just thought it'd be another example of how the purple bit may have been from damage caused by a tear, strain or impact.

Edited June 21, 2009 by kronckew

[Batmom]

Likely bruising from the initial soft tissue injury -- hope so, anyways!

[Guest TurnerMiller01]

Sending prayers to you and Zoe today... wondering how she is doing today...

[Guest 4baddogs]

Thanks for the comforting words.

 

I'm hoping and praying it's just swelling and bruising from soft tissue damage like a muscle/tendon. Her doctor hasn't replied to my email yet, but she did tell us that she only checks her email once on the weekends, so I may have missed that window last night.

 

Zoe's still doing pretty well. She's waling fine, eating pretty good (she's never been a big eater) and being her nosey, bossy old self. We were working on our house ouside yesterday and she was standing around watching us like a foreman. In fact, she heard me on my laptop just now and got off her bed and came into the kitchen to see what I was doing.

 

She was pretty hard to medicate this morning because she figured out after pill #3 that the turkey I was giving her wasn't just turkey. I had to shove pills 4, 5 and 6 down her throat and I hate doing that. She was less than thrilled with it, as well.

 

So, that's where we are right now. Her leg is still swollen and really purple from her toes to her mid-thigh completely on the inside and on the outside I can see it up to her knee. I'm hoping it's gravity pulling the blood downwards. I had the same thing with my cranial surgery and my face looked like I'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson! This is immediately following surgery and it hadn't even really begun to drop into my face yet.

 

http://www.greytalk.com/~photopost/data/500/Picture054.jpg

 

I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers for Zoe.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

To help disperse the blood a bit you can take her outside and hose down the leg a bit with cool water.

 

Hoping it's just a pulled muscle, with all the things you have written, about having a hard time laying down/getting back up and the swelling and blood pooling, it really does sound like it's a muscle

[Guest Energy11]

Thanks for the comforting words.

 

I'm hoping and praying it's just swelling and bruising from soft tissue damage like a muscle/tendon. Her doctor hasn't replied to my email yet, but she did tell us that she only checks her email once on the weekends, so I may have missed that window last night.

 

Zoe's still doing pretty well. She's waling fine, eating pretty good (she's never been a big eater) and being her nosey, bossy old self. We were working on our house ouside yesterday and she was standing around watching us like a foreman. In fact, she heard me on my laptop just now and got off her bed and came into the kitchen to see what I was doing.

 

She was pretty hard to medicate this morning because she figured out after pill #3 that the turkey I was giving her wasn't just turkey. I had to shove pills 4, 5 and 6 down her throat and I hate doing that. She was less than thrilled with it, as well.

 

So, that's where we are right now. Her leg is still swollen and really purple from her toes to her mid-thigh completely on the inside and on the outside I can see it up to her knee. I'm hoping it's gravity pulling the blood downwards. I had the same thing with my cranial surgery and my face looked like I'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson! This is immediately following surgery and it hadn't even really begun to drop into my face yet.

 

http://www.greytalk.com/~photopost/data/500/Picture054.jpg

 

I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers for Zoe.

The bruising you had after the cranial surgery is normal. Just TRY not to worry about Zoe, until you have to ... might all be normal swelling, as you know. Hugs and keep us posted! D