Hand hold please. Beloved Labrador hit by car and losing her leg

[SnowSnow]

Hand hold please. Our lovely girl was hit tonight when we were crossing a road and her leg is not salvageable.
It was obvious straight away that the leg would not survive.
The vets are going to operate tomorrow when she is hopefully fully stabilised.

I’ve just come to bed to try and sleep but am just lying here thinking her legs been ripped off over and over in my mind.

I know long term she will manage as long as she recovers well but my poor girl.

That sounds very positive.

I suspect most if not all the staff knows exactly who is ' out the back ' in kennels / crates and why they are there. I also suspect that many of them will give a pat/stroke most times upon passing on their way out the back door / to the toilet / for their lunch break etc.
I believe the majority, if not all, staff are animal lovers

How did Luna respond to being back ?

Glad it all looked good at the vet's. Onwards and upwards now.

How are you feeling? It was such a traumatic event - make sure you look after yourself and seek help if you're struggling with flashbacks or anything.

So sorry this has happened to your lovely dog. Horrible shock for you all.
My 10 year old GR had his leg amputated in September. He had a bone infection from a biopsy that developed into a life threatening infection.
Anyway … 4 months on he is doing wonderfully. He has regular physio and hydrotherapy. He is the same beautiful, crazy boy he has always been.
Sending love and best wishes to you and your boy for a quick recovery.

Sorry girl 🥰

It’s great that the vets are happy with her progress , it’s probably a good thing that she still wants to try and get on the sofa as she’s obviously not just thinking no way so I won’t bother .

They are definitely all animal lovers. I’ve always been happy with our vets but having gone through this I have just been blown away by them.

She’s been scared of the vets since about 1 year old. However today she actually walked in to one of the consulting rooms rather than having to be carried. And she took a bit of treat from the vet which she never would have done at the vets previously even if I offered one so I wonder if somehow she has become familiar with a few faces and had lots of cuddles and it maybe feels less scary.

Whenever I’m not occupied doing something else flashbacks and sad and horrible thoughts enter my head.

DH is struggling mentally too.

I’ve told myself this evening that we just need to get through the next 5 and a bit weeks and things should be better as she will then be able to start going on off lead walks again so it will feel a bit normal for all of us. Albeit she will no doubt need to build up her fitness. I think some of the upset at the moment will be because she is struggling and got to heal etc and feeling sad about that.

That sounds a really frightening time with the infection. I’m so pleased he is doing wonderfully. Also it’s nice to hear from someone who has had this recently and that the dog is already doing so well.

He looks a lovely boy 😍

Morning cuddles

She looks adorable. So pleased she is on the mend.

Ahh that is a lovely update - all the best for her ongoing recovery @SnowSnow

I believe it is one week yesterday.

how you and her are feeling now must be so different to this time last week.

Ah, beautiful girl!! 💕

@SnowSnow That is an awful freak accident- these wretched E bikes should not be on the pavement.

I can't be too outing, but a friend's dog also lost a leg and had other injuries.

It cost well over 12 k and insurance didn't cover it all due to the level of low cover they had.

Thankfully the dog {a year later} made an excellent recovery and runs around like dog did before.

You will need to keep her weight down, as ''tripods'' need to be slim, as the three remaining legs have to take the extra strain.

Friend's dog is kept slim for this reason.

It's supposedly 'easier' if they lose a hind limb than a forelimb - there are quite a few ''tripods'' around, both dogs and cats.

Flashbacks are unfortunately normal.

I was with my friend when her dog's accident happened, and I will never forget it.
{and not of course, will she}
They can literally come out of the blue- less now that her dog has made a very good recovery, but it was a long haul both physically and emotionally for their entire family.

It will probably take a good year or more before the flashbacks ease, and dreams {Nightmares} can happen as well.

@SnowSnow Having a Lab, Hydrotherapy will probably be useful.
It is extremely expensive though, as two people are needed {Friend stopped going as her dog is definitely not a water loving breed and hated it..Dog had other physio instead that friend also did herself under the guidance of a professional.

Her dog gallops about and bosses mine about again which is great to see!

When the ''bossiness'' with mine came back, we knew dog was on the mend.

@SnowSnow Friend's house is laminate and tiles downstairs, so they used lots of yoga mats for grip in the early days {Relatively cheap and non slip and grippy for their paws}
The mats are long gone now, and dog can get upstairs and leap up onto sofa as well.
It's an outrage that these bikes are allowed on the pavement.

Lights for her collar and lead might be a good idea for the future, and a reflective coat for evening walks - some dog walkers use a reflective jacket for themselves as well if they have to use roads/paths after dark.
Ruffwear do some really bright ones.

ruffwear.co.uk/products/the-beacon-safety-dog-light

Lovely dog , she will be so much happier once she’s rid of the cone . I hope you and your husband are recovering a bit from the shock .

Thanks @oakleaffy for the messages. Glad to hear the dog is doing well. Definitely a good sign when the bossiness came back 😁

I am thinking hydrotherapy would be a good idea. She loves going in water so hopefully she would enjoy it as well as getting the benefits from it.

We are finding mats on the laminate useful at the moment. Seems to help he confidence a bit as well.

She has a light up collar and her harness and lead she was wearing were fluorescent orange (now binned due to damage in the accident). It was still daylight when it happened so she didn’t have the light up collar on. We are currently using an old yellow harness for vet appointments but will be getting her a new harness and matching lead for when she can start going for walks again. We used to have a lovely purple one with reflective strips which we only replaced with the orange one a couple of months ago when it got a bit tatty. Will definitely look at the ruff wear brand as you mentioned as have heard they are good.

She's gorgeous!

It's good to see how far she's already come in such a short period of time. Labradors are such a resilient breed!

She’s booked in at the vets again in an hour, she’s shaking all over. I’m breastfeeding the little one so DH is sat with her for now.

Hoping it’s nothing major but best to get her checked. Wouldn’t forgive ourselves if we didn’t and the vets said they would prefer to check her due to how much trauma she suffered.

I really like the dog copenhagen harnesses for our labs, they reflect quite nicely

dogcopenhagen.co.uk/dog_harnesses/64-1000-comfort-walk-air-harness.html#/12-size-l/30-color-purple_passion

I hope she’s ok @SnowSnow , 🤞🏻

She’s been checked over and they don’t think it’s infection. They think it’s pain so have prescribed another 5 days of one of the pain killers she has just finished at a slightly higher dose and then some gabapentin as they think she is having nerve pain possibly.

If she is no better tomorrow or gets worse take her back to see one of the specialist orthopaedic vets there. She’s not eaten a meal since yesterday morning but is taking cooked chicken for meds so they are ok as long as she is taking something.

Hope she has a comfortable night .