Aaron Coutu

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trekbrarian
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Aaron Coutu
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Stories From My Real Life

Parenting & Family > Pets > Belle is Doing Much Better
 

Belle is Doing Much Better

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One of the most stressful parts of this holiday season was the fact that one of our furrykids ended up getting quite ill. Early in December, poor Belle ended up having some pretty hefty trouble with her rear left leg. It all started on Saturday night. We thought she had fallen off the bed, and we found her lying on the floor unwilling to stand because her leg hurt so much.

The leg swelled up pretty bad over the next few hours, and I was particularly concerned about the fact that the joint that is sort of the equivalent to our ankle was swellng badly. Our bed used to be a waterbed until we switched over to placing a regular box spring and mattress in it due to back issues. I was very concerned that she had caught her leg when she fell, breaking or badly damaging the leg and the joint. That would be really bad ... possibly requiring us to put her down.

Unfortunately, I had two appointments first thing in the morning at work to sit in on applicant interviews so I wasn't going to be able to join Ray on the trip to the vet. Thankfully, his mother was willing to not only join him, but she offered to drive so he could sit in the backseat of their car and keep Belle as comfortable as possible.

The good news is that it wasn't a broken leg. The bad news is that Belle had actually a pretty intensive abscess within her thigh. It was just spreading down the leg, which explained the swelling in the joint. Belle ended up going into emergency surgery. The goal was to go in and clean out as much infection as possible and place in drains to help with relieving the pressure in the area and making sure the infection would not redevelop with the surgical site closing. The infection was actually strep. The weird irony is that this was sort of the same process that Ray went through when he had the massive infection in his foot about 18 months ago. It was even strep for him, too!

She came home that evening quite mellowed out from the drugs they used to put her under for the surgery as well as painkillers. Ray and I pulled together a number of our spare comforters to create a bed for Belle and me on the living room floor so she would have company, and I could keep an eye on her. It also meant that things would be a lot calmer for her since she would have someone with her, and it would likely prevent her from trying to climb the doggy stairs to get onto the bed. That proved to not be a problem because she slept most of the night away.

She was allowed to walk around as long as she took it easy. The next morning, we brought her down to the first floor and created a blanket nest for her in Ray's office. When Ray went to work, I thought it would be safe to take my shower and get ready for work myself. I was going to go in late by waiting until he got home to head in. I had a bit of a scare when I came downstairs. Belle, who not really done any walking around yet, decided to dive into mobility with all speed. She had left her blanket nest and made her way over to the puppy pads we had put out for her to use since she couldn't go to the bathroom outside. She did a great job with using it, but I quickly became nervous because there were a few drops of blood there. I ended up finding her in the pantry, which is where she usually ends up waiting for Ray when he is not home. I quickly picked her up and brought her back to the blanket nest, but she stubbornly got back up to walk back to the pantry. I quickly noticed that both drains were leaking quite profusely, and I was not too keen on the reddish color!

I made a quick call to the vet only to learn that all was OK with that. Apparently, the fact that she was finally standing and walking meant that the combination of gravity and her walking around was pushing a lot of the contents of the abscess out. That meant not only infection, but also blood that had developed in it. The vet tech quickly had me feeling comfortable about the fact that this was normal, if messy.

One of the worst parts of the first couple of days was the smell. With her two drainage tubes (one on the inside of her thigh and the other on the outside) working quite well, she was cleaning out the infection quite well, and that smelled horrible! We had to make great use of scented candles to try and fight it back.

The other big challenge was all the wash. We had to keep washing all of the blankets we used for our bed and her blanket nests constantly because she kept draining all over them.

The good news is that after about 2 weeks, she went back into have the final sutures taken out. She had the two drainage tubes taken out after just five days. It was eerie to see how long the tubes were when the vet was taking them out.

One great benefit for Belle is that this all helped her with weight loss. She had put quite a bit on, which is a problem because her rear knees are arthritic. I would never recommend this for a diet program, but she does seem to be looking so much better/younger because she is thinner and just looks perkier! I suspect that even though her abscess expanded to a large size for only a shirt period, she really had been fighting it off for sometime, probably with some pain. She is not really one to complain about pain.

Her being healthy was the greatest Christmas gift Ray and I could have, which is probably good because it pretty much tied up more than our Christmas funds! Jolie also seems thrilled to see the new and improved Belle after being very befuddled by the sick and immobile Belle.

posted on Jan 4, 2013 8:38 PM ()

Comments:

So sorry to hear about your dog scare. We've had a couple here and they are not fun. Glad she's doing better now!
comment by jaydensblog on Jan 6, 2013 8:43 AM ()
Thanks!
reply by trekbrarian on Jan 6, 2013 10:28 AM ()
"The vet tech quickly had me feeling comfortable about the fact that this was normal, if messy." Just like human doctors--why don't they tell you in advance what 'could' happen ???
Glad she is okay and thinner!!!
comment by greatmartin on Jan 5, 2013 8:19 AM ()
To be fair, they did tell us about the drainage. I just underestimated the volume. Not to be too gross, but at the time I was describing, it was literally flowing down her leg! I thought it was excessive. By the next morning it has slowed down to nothing more than a periodic dribble.
reply by trekbrarian on Jan 5, 2013 10:49 AM ()

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