Chewy Fractured a Toe...Chasing a CAT!

A couple of weeks ago, I let Chewy out for his before-bedtime potty, and he spotted a cat in our yard. I am pretty sure Chewy thinks cats are his mortal enemies, so of course he ran after it at top speed! The cat ran off, so Chewy stopped to pee on the grass. He had his hind leg lifted, which he sometimes does even though there's no shrub/object there to mark. But then on the walk back to the house, he kept stopping and licking his foot. I thought maybe he was upset about stepping in mud or something, but while cleaning his feet I noticed his toe was looking and felt funky. So...to the emergency vet we went! Chewy has been going to the 24 hour emergency vet every other year (4 years ago for eating a gross tube sock on a neighbor's lawn, 2 years ago for eating some synthetic suede-looking thing on our street, and both times after hours), so I guess it was keeping up with his pattern.

The vet took some x-rays and found that Chewy had fractured his toe. Dog feet look so funky on x-ray!

After 3 hours at the emergency vet, Chewy got a splint bandaged to his foot and some pain meds.

Ready to go home!

The vet said to keep Chewy from running around, so Chewy was a sulky pup.

Woe is Chewy

One day I came home to find that he had chewed his bandages and presumably ate a piece of the elastic adhesive bandage...all with his cone on! He had managed to force his cone further down his neck so the front of his mouth was out of the cone, free for chewing. So, I put a baby sock to cover up the partially shredded bandages until his vet check-up the next day. The adhesive bandage had been bothering him all week, I think because it was tugging on his leg hair.

I bought him an XL Comfy Cone to make sure those chompers couldn't reach the new bandages. The Comfy Cone is not see-through like the normal ones, so the first time I put it on Chewy, he FROZE. Now that he is more used to it, I think he enjoys the padded aspect. It's like having a pillow all the time! But it makes it harder for him to drink water because instead of being a perfect round cone, it has panels that make it more angular.

Lampshade!

With exercise restrictions, what's a pup to do but lounge around with his toys? Not that Chewy really understands that he needs to rest his toe/foot. He has mastered running on 3 legs to get where he wants to go.

Of course, Chewy has not learned his lesson. Another cat walked by our glass doors the other day, and Chewy leaped off the couch to growl at it and keep watch.

ALERT!! Trespassing kitty!!!

The adventures of being a dog parent!