(no subject)
Okay. So first of all, Phoebe had to go to the vet for an ear infection and they gave her some medicine, cleaned her ears out and injected a thick infection-destroying gunk down into them. The also said that she was overweight, and wanted us to switch to this gross dog food with corn and wheat as the first two ingredients. I switched her food, but I switched her to Blue Wilderness brand, it's a Healthy Weight formula, instead of the Purina junk the vet was offering.
So, we scheduled a follow-up exam, went to that on the 9th. Her ears are doing a lot better, she lost 2lbs in 2 weeks, everything is going well. Then about 2 or 3 days after the vet appointment she wakes up limping. A similar incident happened about 3 weeks prior. She was limping one day when she came in from going outside. We looked for wounds and put ice on her ankle for the swelling. And that's the only place on her leg that was affected, her ankle. The next day she was totally fine. Fast forward to the more recent incident. We put ice on it and I scheduled a vet appointment for the next day, because I had to work that night and last time it happened, the problem was solved by ice. Nope. The next day we noticed about 2 hours before her appointment that her WHOLE LEG was swollen about 3x the size of her other leg. It looked ridiculous, and scared the crap out of me. We had to carry her up and down the stairs so she could pee, and lift her up to get on and off the bed (she sleeps in our bed, yes). I could tell she didn't feel good. She was moping around and wouldn't eat anything. I was so glad that I already knew she was going to the vet that day. Here's a couple of pictures I got trying to capture the swelling:
So we go to the vet and they have to take X-Rays. They had to put a muzzle on her for their safety, which I don't blame them, but it was so funny because she is the chillest lady in the whole world. Her response to pain when he moved her foot to see where it hurt? She licked him. Well, she jerked her head back and licked him in a, "Yep, that hurts. I love you Human, now please stop," kind of way. He even admitted after the X-Ray that they didn't need the muzzle, but safety first. Well, the vet tech said something about a torn ligament and then decided it wasn't, because the swelling was worse around her ankle than at her knee. Then the vet destroyed my calm by throwing the words, "bone cancer," out into the room. Do not say cancer unless you have decided it is cancer. I definitely felt myself start tearing up, but tried to reel it in. They got the results back and said it was the soft tissue that was affected, they couldn't find any evidence of bone cancer and their guess would be some kind of animal bite or snake bite that resulted in an infection. They said they can't see any puncture wounds or signs of animal bite, but that was their best guess. I am just so happy and relieved that Phoebe Brown, my best friend, doesn't have cancer. She is taking 7 pills a day, and starts her ear was regimen this weekend, but she doesn't have cancer! All of that back story to say that today, when I came from work I could tell the swelling has gone down SO much, and she's trying to put weight on her foot when we go outside.
I really just hope that this is just some weird experience for her and that it doesn't ever come back or get worse, because this has been a pretty scary experience for me and Pheebs.
On another note, we found a house in Texas! It's huge. The backyard is huge and fenced in! I may post pictures of it soon, and I'll definitely write more about it soon, but I didn't realize this entry would get so long, so fast, so I'll save it for another time. Plus, it's 2am and I am getting sleepy.