Abby's birthday and Petunia's accident

Hello everybody,

long time no post from me! The month of September was just basically focused on Abby's school and my work with the strange hours.

On the last week of Sept, we had a birthday party for Abby. She is now 9 years old! This was her first birthday party here in WV since we moved here. It was great to see Abby with her friends that she made over the year. My sister's family, some kids from her class, some from homeschooling group, and a couple of neighbors' kids came. No pictures because my computer still won't recognize the camera to upload!

Something awful happened the following week, on Thursday - October 3rd. Petunia's collar and the leash somehow got disconnected and she got away. I called her name, she looked at me but then went on sniffing other people's yard. I kept on calling her to come back to me but she was stubborn and wouldn't come on command. She started to walk further away from home, I followed her but she kept on going on. I was getting worried because she was getting closer to the busy road which is 2 blocks away from our house. By the time she was just one house away from the busy road, I started calling her name like crazy because I was afraid for her.

The next thing I knew, she was down on the road. I did not see the car hit her but I knew she was hit because she was down and she tried to get up but couldn't. That was an awful thing to see, and she cried and cried but as soon as she saw me, she stopped crying out and just gave me her saddest puppy eyes. I ran to her and saw that she couldn't move her back legs. There were some blood on her face, and on 3 of her legs. It just broke my heart. A lady from across the street came down and asked me if this dog was mine. I said "Yes, she's mine." I did not want to waste a minute, I wanted to take her to the vet right away. I asked the lady if she could hold Petunia while I go to get the car. She was a very nice lady, she sat down on the grass with her and waited for me. That was the hardest thing I had to do,...leaving her there. She looked at me and I said "I will be right back".

I ran all the way home and found Abby crying because she did not know where I was. I went to grab my keys but couldn't find my money for the vet. I was frantically searching for my credit card or bank card but couldn't find it. Abby was still upset about me "disappearing" and asked me a lot of questions. I told her to get in the car, but she kept on asking me why did I leave, why did I not tell her that I was going outside, etc. I was still trying to find my money finally I stopped and looked at her and said "Petunia was hit by a car." Abby got very upset and cried again because she thought Petunia was dead. I told her that she is alive but very hurt. I just gave up looking for my money and left because I wanted to get Petunia to the vet ASAP.

The drive to the vet was the longest drive I have had to do because it was just so hard to see Petunia being in pain while I'm trying my best to hurry to the vet. Abby said that she was growling, and whining at the same time or back and forth. Two nurses at the vet carried her in right away and we stayed for 3 hours to wait for the pain medicine to kick in before they could do an X-ray. They said that they have to pull the legs to do the X-ray but Petunia was obviously in too much pain for them to do that so that's why they waited which is a good thing. That shows that this Vet's team of staff really cared for Petunia.

They finally got the X-ray and showed it to me, her pelvis was broken in 2 places. Her whole left side of the pelvis was shifted down. They said that she can't have puppies because they could get stuck in the left side if she were to get pregnant. We will have to schedule for her to get spayed next year because right now, all we can focus on is her recovery. They said that they don't put a cast on broken pelvis, it have to be healed on its own! The vet said that it takes about 6 to 8 weeks for it to heal.

We brought her back home that night and she growled and whined the whole night. The next morning, my brother-in-law came over to help me take her outside to relieve herself. We used a towel and put it underneath her stomach and held both ends up like a "pulley" to lift up her back end so that she could walk on her front legs. (The nurses at the vet taught me that) She wagged her tail when we took her outside. The 2nd time around, I asked a neighbor to help me do that for the evening bathroom time. By the 3rd time, I was able to do it myself with Abby's help. After one week, she started walking on her own without the towel's support but very limited because her back legs were weak. She can walk on the grass but not on my hardwood floors, she slipped and fell down. She couldn't get up and I did not want to see that happen ever again! So, I went to the basement and took two floor rugs, and all of the colorful "puzzle" mats to put it on the floors from the living room to the front door.

The car hit her left side of the body but I didn't understand how her face got hurt. The vet said that she fell flat on her face after being hit and that made sense. Now, because of that, she can't chew food and still can't today - 2 weeks later. I try dog food kibbles everyday but she just can't so I am feeding her the canned moist food so that she could lick it. She won't eat it unless I am sitting by her and holding the bowl near her face. I've been feeding her like this for 2 weeks, just right besides her.

For the first 2 weeks, she have not been able to lay down comfortably. She just finds a corner where she leans her body against the wall and keep her head up with her front legs straight. I try to help her lay down but she refuse to move her legs down. I called the vet a couple of times and she said to just wait, she will eventually lay down when she can. I just feel bad for her because she can't really sleep "deep" because of that. She starts to fall asleep and then her front legs starts to collapse but then she wakes up and straighten up again. I have been trying many, many different ways to help her lay down by putting pillows around her, blankets, couch cushions, and all that. I tried different set ups, and etc. finally 2 days ago I found an arrangement that made her lay down for the first time.

I hope now that she is finally sleeping laying down that she will be recovering faster than the first 2 weeks with the much needed rest. I took her to the vet on Wednesday for the 2 weeks follow-up. She said that Petunia is recovering well for her type of injury at 2 weeks. They want to see her again in a month.

Oh by the way, the nurse asked if I was willing to pay for the X-ray and I told her that I couldn't find my money in time but that I would come back and pay the next day. She said no, but then she went to ask the vet and I am soooo glad that I have a nice vet because she said yes! She knows me from my 3 cats and Petunia, and that I always bring them in for their vaccinations, check-ups so she knows that I will pay. It cost me $450! Oh well, it had to be done. I think Petunia will be okay eventually, it will just take time.