Since Reign is back in the hospital I guess there’s no reason for me to not finally write this all out.
Reign aka Princess aka Barky Pants aka Stinky is a 7 year old mini dachshund that lives in Northeast Ohio. She is the queen b of our 4 little pack of wieners. It doesn’t matter that she is the smallest at 14lbs, she’s the boss.
We took Reign in to have her teeth cleaned and possibly remove a couple loose teeth. When we went to pick her up Vet #1 said there had been some issues. When they went to remove the tape from her IV the hair and skin peeled off with it. She also had bruising around the leg and across her lower stomach. Vet #1 says she had never seen anything like this before. She did say Reign fought to go to sleep and fought to stay under. Her blood pressure was all over the place but within normal ranges. She said we should watch it and if anything changed to bring her back or take her to an after hours clinic. So we brought her home to find out our basement had a foot of water in it from a insane downpour that happened while we were her up. I had her wrapped in a blanket and thought she had peed. When I went to place her in a new blanket I noticed that her leg was so swollen it had started to seep a lot. Called vet #1 and they said bring her back. They took 1 look at her and said there’s nothing they can do, we need to take her somewhere else. The best place to take her was in Pittsburgh ( hour and a half away) but we really couldn’t take her there since since we were dealing with the water in the basement. So we decided my husband and daughter would take her to the local after hours clinic vet #2, while I stayed with my in laws to start cleaning the basement.
Vet #2 had also never seen or heard of anything like this but said they would keep her overnight and try hydro therapy to see if that would help with the swelling. The next morning they called and said it was only getting worse that they recommended her go to Pittsburgh. They wrapped her leg and I’m happy they did because I don’t know if me or my husband could’ve handled seeing it.So we pick her up and make our way to vet #3 the er part of PVSEC. Vet #3 of course has never seen anything like this and believes the main artery has been blocked and the blood isn’t moving. At this point she has lost 1 toe and all of the pads on that leg. She had no feeling or use and vet 3 said she could have to have surgery to remove part of her foot if not all of her leg. She wanted surgery to take over her care. So yet again we had to leave our poor princes. All of this happened in less than 24 hours of vet #1 having her.
So the surgeon (vet 4) observed her for 24 hours and said she had zero use of her leg. She was walking around dragging it behind her. So surgery was scheduled. That’s where this site comes in
They went into surgery with extreme caution since they didn’t know what started it. She went under easily and her blood pressure was spot on the entire time. Vet 4 did take a little extra skin to make sure she was getting all of the damaged tissue. She woke up perfect and they had her resting comfortable. They were watching for abnormal swelling and bruising. They were keeping her extra days so they could make sure everything was going well and since we were so far away we won’t be able to rush her back if anything went wrong.
Finally Monday 3 day post op they released her. She was amazing! Her tail wagging away and she was getting around pretty good! I felt like we were bringing home a new baby! I was so scared and happy at the same time. Vet 4 had us make an appointment for Wednesday just to make sure reign was still on the right track. We noticed some seeping which they had warned us about so we weren’t freaking out. She hated her cone and wanted to attack her stitches every chance she could get. She didn’t sleep very much but I was just thrilled to have her on my lap. Our other 3dogs were so excited to she her but they seemed to know to give her space.
Right before we left to take her for the check up my husband said the stuff was pouring out of her. First thought was she popped a stitch but we were taking her back anyways so no reason to panic. The tech that saw us immediately knew something was wrong. Vet 4 took 1 look and knew it was abscess. She explained the different ways to treat it but since the report from her leg was not back yet she is still nervous and didn’t want to put a drain in. So we were left with them opening up part of of it draining and packing it. If we wanted to take her home we would have to bring her back everyday to have it changed. Remember we live a hour and a half away so our only real choice was to leave her there. Vet 4 called after she was done packing it the first time and said it was deeper than she first thought and there was some tissue damage but she cleaned it out and everything was looking good. A swab was sent out to see what kind of bacteria is causing this to make sure Reign is getting the right antibiotics.
That brings us to today. No tests results are back yet. They just did the first bandage change and everything is looking good so far. We are going to see her later today. The earliest she will be home is Saturday.
All of this has happened in 10 days. This is a huge roller coaster of emotions. I have a lot of anger towards vet 1 and am trying to deal with it. Thank you reading our long and confusing story. I plan on updating as we continue to get our Princess home and healed