A couple of days ago my poor sweet girl injured her leg when out on a walk. She is a high energy, highly strung working line labrador and I had taken her out to work her/burn some energy.
As she was running she did something to her ankle/heel. Immediately after she tucked her tail and became very fearful, suddenly bolting like someone had stuck a red hot poker in her.
I managed to catch her but then ensued a very scary walk to the car with her spooking/bolting constantly on the lead. I tried to assess what she had done and keep her calm but she was absolutely freaking out.
I got her home and went straight to the emergency vets (of which she is terrified, long standing fear of the vets since she was sedated for a foot injury a couple of years ago).
We couldn’t get her in the consult room and they ended up checking her over in the waiting area. She was incredibly fearful and shaking the whole time. They think she may have a hairline fracture or a pulled tendon and have prescribed rest, metacam plus paracetamol.
Since returning home I have had to confine her to my sons room which is a cabin in the garden as I have my ex husbands dog staying while he is away on business and didn’t want to stress her further. We have taken it in turns being with her so she has had 24/7 care.
She is so beyond stressed it’s awful to see. She has become completely fearful, refusing to go outside, bolting at every noise outside, cowering when someone enters the room, shaking uncontrollably and panting heavily.
I have ended up getting the vet to do a home visit and they have prescribed more meds to keep her calm. She doesn’t seem to be in too much pain now she is just simply terrified to go outside.
Im so worried that this is her new normal. Has anyone experienced anything like this? She’s gone from being a happy go lucky lab to a quivering wreck.
How can I help her? It took me 40 minutes gentle coaxing to get her to go outside yesterday and she held her wee for over 24 hours.