Janis, we had a kitten to whom something similar happened years ago. Same result, but scary until you "know" the little critter is okay.

Bless her heart.

And, bless Neil's heart.
I'm sure he's hurting as much, if not more, than Sassi.

Knowing Mama Jan, she'll have them both feeling better in no time.

I'm glad to know that Sassi is OK, but I'm sorry you had to make such a long drive. I know what it's like to be rushing an animal to the emergency vet clinic. And another question to ponder is why do all the emergencies seem to happen on Sundays or after hours?

They do like to climb on beds and couches to cuddle, and most of the little ones take a fall or two like that. I have found a vet partnership who does have an answering service who will call them at home in an emergency. There is a small additional fee for emergency service, but isn't it worth it?

The vets I had before that just have a message on their answering machine to take them to the State University in an emergency.......like sixty or seventy miles away? In a true life threatening emergency, I wonder how many animals don't make it that long, or how a person who lives alone would handle an animal in trauma and drive at the same time.

I always wondered why some enterprising young vet doesn't open an after hours clinic in the area. It's the rare household anymore who have people actually home during the standard daylight hours. That means SOMEBODY has to come in when it's inconvenient, either the vet or the animal owner.

I'm glad Sassi wasn't injured too badly, but boy with a little poodle, how do you keep them calm and quiet to let it heal?

Great to know the damage is minor.

Suzy, Sassi is a high energy little thing but like Chelsea
she isn't really one of those hyper, yappers either.
She is trying to pull on the bandage and I'm just afraid she'll end up with a lampshade in addition to the leg
bandage. She was really a trooper once the pain subsided.

The worst thing about it she hasn't figured out how to pee
and poop with it on. Lord, when it rains it pours.

I've decided what I'll do with my lottery money, if I ever win. I'll build an emergency vet clinic and staff it with
the best vets and equipment money can buy.
I was thinking last night when I was driving the forty miles with a blind, sick husband and an injured, crying little dog about what elderly folks have to contend with.

We are encouraged to have pets because they help us with depression, gives us something to look forward to but
what do we do when we need help and why in the world have all the vets decided not to take emergency call.

I'm reminded of my sweetheart Neil making house calls on some of his patients because they needed him
and it was the right thing to do. He had a soft spot for children and the elderly and would make house calls if
it was a hardship for them to come to the office.
I also remember one family with a child that had cancer
and was taking chemo, he always made house calls for them
when they called. He said it was bad enough to be going through something like that with a child then have to
take the little fellow out to get a check up when he could
just get in his car and drive to them.

Every time I see those parents now, they are still so grateful for that kindness.

Sorry, for rambling on, it's that kind of a day.

Sending sunflowers and hugs to all of you.

I figured as much, Janis. Our family had a little poodle and she wasn't a yapper, nutty pup either. She just had two gears however........overdrive and park.

Oh Janis.... what a day you had!

But now you know, those little ones are just full of energy and love and activity, and they play with wild abandon.

They are much stronger and more capable than they look at first blush.

It will get easier.

As for emergency visits to the vet... I made only one in our entire lifetime of pets.

It was hot, so hot it hurt to breathe, grass brown, no relief for weeks....My husband, who knows far more about auditing than he knew about pets, decided the huge Irish Setter would be more comfortable if his hair was just shorter.

Knowing nothing about clippers, and less about dog grooming, his first attempt was to cut a 2" wide strip against the growth from tail to head. The hair was not just short, it was gone. It must have been about then that he decided perhaps he did not have best idea.
Too late, this beautiful dog, the most dignified of all the breeds, would have this bare stripe down the middle of its back until the hair grew back. Not so bad, keep him in the back yard, no one asks questions if they don't see him.

Not to be...

Neighbor kid playing with his new fishing rod...somehow got
a hook in the side of the dog... not deep, could see it just under the first layer of skin...but deep enough that
no one wanted to try to remove it because they didn't want to surprise a dog that size even to make it better.

Well, hubby was off to a new auditee... the dog had to go to the vet, and I was the only driver there.

How do you recover from sitting in a crowded vet's office
with a huge Irish setter that has a bald stripe down his back and a fish hook in its side.

You just don't go back.

Oh brother,do you all have my sympathy. Just getting them outside every couple of hours is a real chore sometimes but when it also involves bandages, that's really difficult. She'll figure it out though. One of our poodles had to have knee surgery and had a cast on his leg for over a month. It took him awhile but he found a way to do his business. Hope you both aren't beating yourselves up over this. Jumping and squirming around is what poodles do...even when they are all grown up. Digby took a flying leap off our bed the other evening and he is still too small to do that safely. He easily could have broken something considering he landed on a hardwood floor We were lucky.

Irish Setters are beautiful dogs.
I would have sworn he was a rescue.

Never mind, I just remembered the last time Neil
had by-pass surgery and a stray dog had puppies under
our porch. She had dragged in a deer carcass and I had to
take her and her puppies to the vet.
Gail stayed in the car with all the dogs, I went in and sat
to wait our turn, stinking like a dead deer, no one wanted
to sit near me. There I sat crying and stinking trying to
get help while every minute calling Neil to check on him
because I had just taken him home from the hospital and he
was alone.
Like I said, when it rains it pours.

I took Sassi and her x rays to her vet today. He went over
all the records which the clinic had faxed to him this
morning. He said they did everything right including
double checking for torn ligaments. He says she'll be fine.
She just ate, drank, pooped and peed, I gave her some pain
med and now she is asleep in my lap. She weighed a
whopping 2 lb 12 oz. today.

Marda, if Digby is like Sassi he can con you into a lot of
things, like taking a nap on the bed, having just a taste
of that ice cream or a bit of broth from your veggie soup.

I KNEW IT!!!
I KNEW IT!!!

"...just a taste of that ice cream..."

I knew it wouldn't take long.
LOL

I felt as if everyone there wanted to rescue the dog from ME! Rescue, yes, every dog we've ever had were rescues...loved them, cared for them, whatever they needed, and kept them until their last comfortable moment. Thankfully, our son was soon old enough to do the vet runs...and much more suited for it as far as the pets were concerned. But hubby and I have not gotten over the last one yet, and may not ever. She was a Poodle/Pinkenese mix with the poodle nose, longer haired but not wiry or kinky...pure white, small, beautiful, and a beautiful personality.

She loved to play, and thought any attention from either of us was the height of her day. A walk with either of us on the other end of the leash was cause for a prancy dance around the whole block. The first day or two after a trip to the groomer she strutted around like a kid with a new dress. She had to have a bite of whatever either of us had, even grapes and banana, and spent her nights napping first on his bed and then mine.

She saw hubby through the first 3 of 4 heart attacks, the
tripple bypass, and the first 3 stints. You cannot know the healing power of such small creatures until you see it.

Not a picky eater, did pretty well with those little tins with the pop off lid, but she preferred chicken, baked from Kroger, dark meat only, please.

She became blind and deaf at age 14, a ripe old age for a small dog, and could not cope with going outdoors for her walk, finding her bed, her water and food, every day was more and more stressful.

I am loving every note you post about Sassi...Kudos for the Dr., but I think there will be a special place for you in heaven... nothing in the world would make me crawl under a porch for a strange dog with new pups and a prized dead deer.

Sassi has had her bad times the last couple of days.
She has been in pain and believe me, if I could have traded places with her I would.

Last night when I was in the computer room she got up on
her throne under the desk and lay there looking pitiful.

{{gwi:140736}}

To quote someone we all know and love....Lord Luv A Duck! She is so cute Jan,how can you keep your hands off her??? I can just feel that soft fur and those teeny little bones underneath. Poor baby...hope the pain disappears soon and she's running around all over the place.

Bless her heart.

How adorable.

Marda, I just pick her up and hug her and love her all the time.
She is just as comfortable lying in my arms like a baby as
she is racing around the house, having grabbed something
she isn't supposed to have.

She gets the bandage off tomorrow.
I can't wait to see how she does.

Reminds me of a wonderful cat I had once, named Chipper. As a tiny kitten he dislocated his let - had a cast on. Within a day he'd adjusted enough to shinny up the back of a wingchair to the top. And it seems Sassi has:)

Jan - you love this pup, please don't give her icecream or any other human junk. Love her and feed her that way, for being her wonderful dog self.

Reminds me of my old dog Freddy who had his leg broken & put into a cast back in the early 80's. For him it became a blessing in disguise when he learned it could be used as a club against the annoying cats!

She is now sporting yet another bandage.
This one is red. She had the other bandage off
about 2 hours when she slipped on the tile and was crying out in pain.
I took her back to the vet and she is wearing this til she goes back Saturday morning.

Lord Luv a Duck, is right.

Sheila, don't worry about the ice cream, although our
Chelsea had ice cream frequently it was just a tiny little
bit in a tiny little bowl, except of course when she
went to the Cremo drive in window. They couldn't resist
when she would hang her head out the window and talk to
the speaker, ordering her usual.

Sassi has had a taste of ice cream, Neil is a sucker for
cute little fur babies that sit at his feet and cry.
It doesn't happen often.

Janis

If she still seems to have pain after this brace is removed, have the vet check again for a stress fracture.

These are very difficult, sometimes, to find, but just as
painful.

She's a doll, for sure. But you need another one for them to play with each other. You will each have one to spoil.

s

glad things turned out to be not too serious for Sassi. I don't know if you are anywhere near Marietta, but I think there is an emergency Vet Clinic there. I'm sure my daughters have used it for their pets . Ellie

Shilty, I will do whatever is necessary for the little
one. I just hope we don't have the predicted ice in the
morning so I can get her back to the vet.

Ellie, I'm north of Dalton so I'm closer to Chattanooga than Marietta.

Jan, I feel sure she'll be okay with this bandage on over the weekend if you don't make it to the vet - have a phone chat with him and get his assurance if you get iced in.

Probably best to keep her a little more confined until she's fully up to snuff - you know, in areas where she's got a good footing. I worry about my dogs who sometimes run and slip on the bamboo flooring when they get excited.

Sheila, I never gave it much thought until Sassi slipped
and re-hurt her leg. I have tile everywhere except the bedrooms.
The new house has all hardwood and tile. I will probably use runners and rugs there.
Sassi, by the way is wearing her bandage til Monday.

I cried this morning at the vet's and I'm crying now. I thought of all of you
that have cats and especially our precious KJ. A lady brought in a beautiful little black
kitten that had fishing line wrapped so tightly around
one little leg I couldn't bear to look at it. No telling what damage had been done.
The lady had rescued it and indicated that the fishing line was a deliberate act.
Why on earth would someone hurt a darling little animal
like that. It just makes me sick to my stomach.

Jan, I might have found just the thing for you and Sassi - check this out and be sure to find out if the product is non-slip.

Here is a link that might be useful: Booties for Sassi

Our collie, Sunny, had a stroke about two years ago.
She couldn't use her left side at all.
For weeks had to take her out to potty with a person on each side of her holding onto a towel we used as a sling to hold her up.
Slowly, slowly over time she improved where she started walking a little on her own but she would still drag her feet on that side to the point she kept them scabbed up and they would bleed.
We found those booties and they worked wonderful!!
They kept her from slipping because she was so unsure and unsteady.
They also protected the feet on the side where she dragged her feet and this allowed the sores to heal.
She never tried to bite them off...they were kept on with Velcro.