Long Post
It’s been a busy and tiring couple of days, on Thursday, we noticed that something was wrong with Louie, his tail didn’t look right, when I touched it the hairs fell out. Boston Terriers don’t all have the same size of tail, some are cork screw, some are stubby an inch or two long, some are what is called a button which is what Louie had, a little roundish tail about 1/2 inch long, There was never enough of a tail to wag.
Louie
When Sophie was about two years old her tail inverted, we didn't,’t know anything about tail inversion and neither did our vet, so it was a scary time for us when she had to have surgery to have her tail removed.
When we noticed Louie's tail on Thursday, we immediately thought his tail was starting to invert. We knew there wasn’t a vet in Borrego Springs, so we would probably have to take him into Indio or even Yuma, I emailed Al and Kelly to see if they knew of a vet, Kelly emailed back right away with the name of a vet she’d heard good things about in Brawley. I phoned and got an appointment for 8:30 Friday morning.
Neither one of us got much sleep that night,it’s hard to take your pet to a strange vet, when you know that surgery might be necessary, By morning I had come to the conclusion that if the vet couldn’t manipulate the tail to it’s right position, we would take him home to our own vet on Vancouver Island.
We left Borrego at 7 Friday morning, of course we were 1/2 hour early when we arrived at the vets office, so we waited in the parking lot.
When we met the vet I was surprised, he appeared to be quite old for a practicing vet, he walked slowly with a cane, and he was quite deaf.
As soon as he examined Louie, he knew what the problem was, he could feel the tail inside and said it was pressing on his colon. We knew then we wouldn’t be able to take him home, if his colon was perforated or damaged he would be in real trouble, so we signed to agree with the cost estimate and the surgical release to have his tail amputated. The vet had done the surgery before but only on bull dogs.
Now Louie has never spent any time away from us, if we leave him behind for any reason, he has Sophie and Jake for company, and he is still sits at a window and watches for us to come back. Every time. It was so hard to leave him, I promised him I would come back for him.I wanted to pick him up after the surgery, they wanted us to leave him, but I said if he was okay we would take him home.Which we did.
His poor butt was a mess, he was pretty sore Saturday night and couldn’t get comfortable, so no none got much sleep.
This morning ( Sunday ) it looks much, much better, and we are all feeling better.
I was going to put in a picture of his butt post surgery but it is a pretty graphic so I didn’t
Jean
Poor Louie!..hope he is now on the mend!
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ReplyDeleteOh poor little guy, and you guys too, I know how much you care about your dogs. hugs
Susan
Louie's a real little trooper. How fortunate you had the experience to recognize the problem right away & the double good fortune to have a Vet who knew what to do. Stressful times indeed & it's always made harder when one is miles & miles from home & familiar surroundings. All the best for you guys & Louie's speedy recovery, He will be out terrorizing the neighborhood in no time:))
ReplyDeleteAww, poor Louie! and you guys too, nothing as stressful as surprise trips to the doctor.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy a couple days staying close to home, and I'm sure he'll be better before you know it.
Happy New Year!!
Edd and Megan.
Never heard of that, poor thing. It is the hardest thing to leave our 'babies' when they don't know what is going on. Especially with someone you don't really know. At least you had a good referral... Glad things are looking up :)
ReplyDeletePoor little guy. I sure hope he heals up quickly. Glad you got the referral from Kelly and Al.
ReplyDeleteHope Louie is recovering well and healing nicely. Much love to you all.
ReplyDeleteI know your anxiety very well. We had to have our bulldog's tail amputated and the pictures are definitely graphic.
ReplyDeleteWe had Daisy's surgery at Oklahoma State veterinary school. They are awesome!!!!
One trick for applying heat compress to the incision is to put dry rice in a sock and heat in the microwave. Daisy was not found of any messing with her incision so she would sit down to avoid it. All I had to do was make sure she sat on the warm sock and bingo. She didn't have a clue she was doing exactly what I needed her to do.
I hope all goes well with the healing process.
I know your anxiety very well. We had to have our bulldog's tail amputated and the pictures are definitely graphic.
ReplyDeleteWe had Daisy's surgery at Oklahoma State veterinary school. They are awesome!!!!
One trick for applying heat compress to the incision is to put dry rice in a sock and heat in the microwave. Daisy was not found of any messing with her incision so she would sit down to avoid it. All I had to do was make sure she sat on the warm sock and bingo. She didn't have a clue she was doing exactly what I needed her to do.
I hope all goes well with the healing process.
Oh my, how awful for Louie and stressful for you. I am so glad it has all turned out well. Hugs to you all.
ReplyDeleteOh my, how awful for Louie and stressful for you. I am so glad it has all turned out well. Hugs to you all.
ReplyDeletePoor guy. But I'm sure he feels much better now and will continue to do so.
ReplyDeletePoor little Louie! And poor Jean and Skip! What a terrible thing for all of you. God speed a proper healing for the little guy. Sue
ReplyDeleteOh, poor little Louie. Glad he is on the mend.
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