Poor little Elway

Turns out it doesn't take much to break a 6 lb dog's leg! 3 weeks ago Elway (our 6 lb maltipoo) was sitting on the back of our couch, when he was knocked off and fell off the back onto the wood floor. He yelped for a couple seconds until Trent picked him up. Trent immediately knew the dangling leg wasn't a good sign! It was obviously broken. We called the vet and he said they could see him in about a half hour. Luckily, Heather was at our house at the time and was nice enough to keep the kids, making the trip to the vet much more bearable. All the staff at the vet's office were amazed at how tough he was. He didn't make a peep! Even laying there with his leg like twisted 180 degrees in the wrong direction (not something for the weak stomached!) Anyway, the Dr x-rayed it and confirmed it was definitely broken. Both bones were snapped in half! He said our best option was surgery. You gotta love your dog a lot to be willing to pay for anesthesia and a whole surgical procedure to have pins put in! Guess we love him afterall. They did surgery that afternoon. They put 4 little pins in through the inside of the leg going all the way through the bone to hold it in place. Then a bar thing was attached to the outside of the pins. We were able to bring him home that night. He was still pretty out of it from the drugs, and just laid there with his tongue hanging out. The vet said he basically can't do any kind of activity more than just walking slowly for 6-8 weeks! It really is sad to have to lock him in a kennel all day and hear him cry and want out, but it's just not worth having to pay another $1200!

Here he is just a few days after the surgery. Sad little face right? They kept it wrapped like this for the first 2 weeks so the wounds around where the pins went in could heal and close up.

Here's what it looks like now.

Last Sunday Trent noticed on the outside of the leg it looked like the pins were coming all the way through and trying to poke out the other side. Great, that meant another trip to the vet to have it checked out (with checkups and everything, this was the 5th trip there in 2 weeks, not my idea of fun!). Sure enough, his scrawny little leg is nothing but skin and bones and the pins were starting to go all the way through and poke out the other side. Which meant another minor surgery for the little guy. Luckily it wasn't quite as intense as the first. He was sedated, then they cut into it and filed down the pins. Hopefully, it's healing properly now and in another 3-5 weeks he'll be able to run and play!