Poor Rosa

 

 

So it was a trip to the ER last night, not for any humans in my family, but for poor Rosa.

Anyone who knows my dog knows she's a bit neurotic. She loves her family, and is fiercely loyal, but has only let a few select others in her circle of "safe humans." She believes the Schwan man has a secret agenda, and might kill us all at any moment. She won't take a treat from a stranger, whether it's the vet or the Petco cashier because of the possibility that it's poisoned. The poor rejected Petco cashier has even given the treat to me to give to her. She takes it and spits in on the ground.

She also has a bad fence-jumping habit. We have an 8 -foot fence in the backyard. At the gate where she jumps we put a trellis to make it about 13 feet. The dog has hip dysplasia, but she still climbs up the stairs and leaps about 6 feet into the air over the trellis, crashing on the other side. This happens if she's left outside too long (more than 12 minutes). Then, of course, the neurotic dog gets scared because she's now alone in the big world, and hides under the car.

Last night, she made the great attempt, but her foot got stuck and she was hanging from the fence. I didn't hear her howls over the fans in our house, but three neighbors came running and pulled her off. Then she looked terrified at them and went under the car. I went outside to find out why there were three men in my carport, and they told me the news. I called Rosa in, and quickly noticed her leg was hanging really funny. She was a brave dog - I squeezed her leg to see if I could feel bone or deformity, and I felt definite crunching, but she didn't whine or even wince.

I called the Pocatello number for on-call vet emergencies and no one called me back (that is a whole other story- we have a billion vets in town, and very few you can count on for more than vaccines). So I called my mom's vet in Idaho Falls, got Anne Marie and Rosa in the car and headed out. Poor Rosa had x-rays, and it turns out she broke her foot. She got a cast, which I'm hoping the cats will sign later, and is now home and on pain meds.

For me, the humor came when Matt came home on his work break while we were getting ready to head to IF, and, in a very fatherly stern voice told Rosa, "That was a bad choice. Now you won't get to play with Reggie this weekend (Reggie is my mom's dog and Rosa's very best friend). You were going to have a fun weekend with Reggie visiting, but I don't even know if she can come any more. Maybe next time you'll think about that before you jump."

On a side note, the Pocatello vet did finally return my call - 30 minutes after I had waited 45 minutes for the return call, called the IF vet, drove to Idaho Falls and got Rosa x-rayed and cast. The emergency doctor visit cost is $30 less in IF, so I saved more than the cost of gas by driving, plus she got medical attention faster.