Ouch!

Zephyr recovering from his forest accident and trip to the veterinarian.

On January 31 I took Zephyr and Astro out for a forest hike after work.  At that time the forest was mostly covered in snow, but had some areas that were clear of snow.  When we reached an open area I let them off leash to have a run.  It's area that the boys have run in many times.  They had a grand time zooming through the forest and playing in the snow.  After a few minutes Zephyr came up and I looked down to see a huge laceration on the front of his hock.  I immediately knew that we were headed to the vet's office and called them right then to tell them we were coming.  However we were about a mile into the forest and had to walk home.

I quickly looked at the gash and saw that it was down to the muscle and tendon with a flap of skin and pocket below the open part of the laceration.  I'm sure he hit the front of his hock on a log or rock when he was running.  Luckily it wasn't really hurting Zephyr and he could walk with no problems, so we booked it home.  At first the goofball still wanted to run and play on leash.  As we got closer to home he did start to limp.  We made it to the vet's in 45 minutes.

That's a really nice wrap job you've got there Zephyr.  His foot was bandaged for two weeks, with changes in between.  He didn't have any trouble with rubbing of toes or skin.

After the Dr. looked at it she really thought he needed to go under anesthesia so she could clean it out and check the muscle and tendons thoroughly.  This really freaked me out because Zephyr hasn't been under since his last MRI and spinal tap for the encephalitis.  I worry about everything with him.  After I expressed all my concerns I did agree to let her put him under.  She was nice enough to let him come home that night, which, believe me, was better for them because Zephyr needed his seizure pill at midnight and he has a tad of separation anxiety.

Zephyr had no problems with the anesthesia and ended up with eleven stitches and a drain.  Luckily there was no damage to the muscle or tendons.  When I picked him up he was still very drowsy and needed a little help walking and climbing into the car.  They had given him a bag of fluids so he really needed to potty when we got home.  Then he fell asleep for few hours.  When he woke up his foot was a bit tender, and the next morning too.  But, he wanted to eat before going back to sleep.

Ya, that's right, I messed the bed up and look how cute I am.  Don't you like my duct tape?

Thankfully, his foot was not painful after a day or so, and healed really well.  I did have to put a plastic bag or bootie on it to protect it from snow every time he went out, but that worked out okay.  The worst for Zephyr was that the antibiotic, clindamycin, gave the poor boy very loose stool. 

All healed up and ready to go.

After the stitches were removed he still had to wear a bootie to prevent him from licking it as the area continued to heal.  As usual Zephyr handled everything and healed really well.  I just wish we could avoid these episodes.  It could have been worse though, a friend's dog broke a toe doing the exact same thing just a week later.  Needless to say there are a few less dogs flying through the snowy forest in our area.

Oh, I just need to roll around and kick it out in this fresh new snow.

But, that does not include the snowy back yard.  This weekend we got over a foot of new snow and Zephyr had a great time romping.

Look Mom, I'm a Pharaoh Hound!

WEEE!!

I'm done Zephyr!

Geez, he can be a pest when he's feeling good.