This is an embarrassing story. Not because we love our dogs and will do anything to keep them happy healthy and secure, but because we’ve learned that we likely over-react to situations. Keeping your dogs healthy is a good thing. It’s not only good for the dog, of course, but it makes your life better in so many ways. And the adage about an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure is just as true for dogs as it is for people. We keep our dogs active to keep them healthy and to avoid illnesses and injuries, not to mention the mental and behavior benefits.
If in doubt, take your dog to the vet. I’ll say that right off the bat. And there are certainly situations with which you should never delay seeking medical attention. Excessive and constant sickness (vomiting and diarrhea), extreme lethargy, bleeding, very odd behavior or loss of balance, consciousness, etc – all of these should be immediately addressed. All that said, it is also true that active dogs will hurt themselves. Most of the non-serious situations involve sprained muscles and joints, or cuts on the pads of their paws when they run over a barb, or sharp edge, cactus spike, etc. Cuts which don’t stop bleeding almost immediately should be addressed as well, but many from little splinters or minor cuts will quickly heal on their own.
So here was our lesson about taking the wait-and-see approach. The dogs were rough-housing in the back yard and having a great time chasing each other, biting at legs, wrestling, etc. They were jumping and twisting into all kinds of configurations and directions as the game of grab-ass continued. We weren’t paying much attention and the next thing we know our female shepherd has one of her front paws up and won’t put ANY weight on it at all. This causes an alarm. We go over to look for a cut, bleeding, etc… but there was nothing. She allowed us to look at the paw to a degree, but touching it too firmly caused her discomfort and she let us know without a doubt that this should not continue.
So off to the vet we go. We didn’t get to see our regular veterinarian due to the lack of scheduling but one of his colleagues at the same office attended to Maya. We told her about the dogs playing and as this was less than an hour after the ‘incident’, Maya was still not putting any weight down on the paw. The vet looked for cuts and saw none, so an x-ray was recommended. We agreed and they took a look. The good news was there were no broken bones, but given the absence of any other cause, we concluded she had rolled her paw and was likely suffering from a serious sprain. This can actually be worse than a break and take longer to heal, just like in humans, etc. So… crap. Nothing to do but ‘keep her off the leg’ for 7-10 days and see how it goes. <<Sigh>>
So off to home we go. Now… about an hour later she started putting the leg down, but we were so worried about her making the sprain worse we’re running around behind her and keeping her little brother away so as to keep her activity level low. We do this for the next three days even though she was no longer showing any concern or favoritism to the leg.
It was on about day four that we think we figured out what really happened. We were walking Maya, on leash, out in the yard to use the restroom. A bee came by. Maya kind of freaked. She did not want anything to do with that bee. Ah-ha! It was a bee sting. That was all. She was stung, it hurt, and she kept the paw up while the soreness processed.
So yes, due to our misinterpretation of what occurred and immediate over-reaction, only our dog would get an X-Ray for a bee sting. Silly.
For the record, if your dog is stung by a bee, a dose of Benadryl will typically take care of any swelling and associated pain within an hour. A single Benadryl costs pennies. An X-Ray cost over $80, plus another $65 for the office visit.
(Creative Commons photo courtesy Dan Harrelson, Flickr)
