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Hi all,
My baby is 5 months old, a Norwich Terrier, weighs 10 lbs. She fell off a step and landed just the wrong way to wrench her knee two days ago at someone else's house. We spent all yesterday at the emergency vet, our regular vet, and an orthopedic specialist. Besides inflammation, there's a remote chance that she chipped a bone (2 sets of x-rays and the docs still aren't sure, it's that small).
The good news is an orthopedic surgeon doesn't think my puppy's situation is "that bad" and wants her to be on full crate rest till Monday (today is Thu), then take more x-rays. He said if the new x-rays show nothing has moved around in the knee area between now and Monday morning, she may mend okay on her own. If things have moved by Monday then she may need surgery.
In the meantime, it's the full crate rest stuff I'm not dealing with very well. She's a wonderful happy puppy but she's also a puppy that wants to run and play and jump and wrestle, and this mandatory 24/7 crate stuff is HARD on both of us.
I mean this nicely, but please don't suggest I read the sticky about crate games. I have memorized it, and we do that. But she has the attention span of a gnat, so all together we may spend about 45 minutes in a full day on crate games, training, eating, walking on a leash just for her to pee. It's the other 23.25 hours I'm not dealing with very well.
Has anyone out there survived this sort of situation with a 5-mo-old puppy)? Do you have any suggestions (beyond crate games, training, and puzzles, which I'm already doing as much as possible) on how to get through it with most of my sanity still intact?
Even just stories about how you survived would help me feel better -- right now I'm looking at 2 weeks of this unless she needs surgery then more than 2 weeks of this. I'd just like some support (I feel like a horrible human not letting my sweet puppy play and be a puppy -- I hate not being able to explain this to her).
Thanks!
My baby is 5 months old, a Norwich Terrier, weighs 10 lbs. She fell off a step and landed just the wrong way to wrench her knee two days ago at someone else's house. We spent all yesterday at the emergency vet, our regular vet, and an orthopedic specialist. Besides inflammation, there's a remote chance that she chipped a bone (2 sets of x-rays and the docs still aren't sure, it's that small).
The good news is an orthopedic surgeon doesn't think my puppy's situation is "that bad" and wants her to be on full crate rest till Monday (today is Thu), then take more x-rays. He said if the new x-rays show nothing has moved around in the knee area between now and Monday morning, she may mend okay on her own. If things have moved by Monday then she may need surgery.
In the meantime, it's the full crate rest stuff I'm not dealing with very well. She's a wonderful happy puppy but she's also a puppy that wants to run and play and jump and wrestle, and this mandatory 24/7 crate stuff is HARD on both of us.
I mean this nicely, but please don't suggest I read the sticky about crate games. I have memorized it, and we do that. But she has the attention span of a gnat, so all together we may spend about 45 minutes in a full day on crate games, training, eating, walking on a leash just for her to pee. It's the other 23.25 hours I'm not dealing with very well.
Has anyone out there survived this sort of situation with a 5-mo-old puppy)? Do you have any suggestions (beyond crate games, training, and puzzles, which I'm already doing as much as possible) on how to get through it with most of my sanity still intact?
Even just stories about how you survived would help me feel better -- right now I'm looking at 2 weeks of this unless she needs surgery then more than 2 weeks of this. I'd just like some support (I feel like a horrible human not letting my sweet puppy play and be a puppy -- I hate not being able to explain this to her).
Thanks!