I've had pretty good luck early this year, been hunting in Western Nebraska and shooting a few birds. I haven't been able to get to Kansas because of the new job. Had to take two weeks off from hunting for family and holiday party requirements and finally got to go out on Sunday.
There are no birds in Eastern Nebraska so I went south into Kansas to try my luck on WIHA.
I looked at the map, checked my GPS and found what I thought was a great area and when I walked the 1/2 mile down to the grass there was a "NO Hunting" sign posted at the beginning of the CRP. I didn't bring the book but was sure so I headed back to the truck. The dogs were just excited to go so they were really running hard to burn off some extra energy. Since I was walking across the winter wheat I let them run to enjoy themselves.
Went to the second spot, dropped the dogs and started into the short CRP. We got into the field about 1/2 mile when my youngest female shorthair started screaming. I have never heard her make any noise like this before. I started running to her and she came at me with her left from paw sticking out in front of her. She wouldn't put any weight on it and it was swollen to about three times normal size by the time I got to her. I checked her over as well as I could and couldn't really find anything wrong. Shoulder, knee, ankle and all bones seemed intact but painful and the swelling just kept getting worse. There were no open wounds, no punctures that I could find and everything seemed stable. I carried her out of the field so I know she was really hurting or she would have never allowed that.
Anyway, I loaded her up, drove the 100 miles back to Lincoln and took her to the emergency vet. The whole way my imagination was running wild, I kept thinking the worse.
We waited for two hours at the emergency vet and after an estimate of $600, a sedative, pain meds and x-ray, manipulation and more x-rays the only thing they could find was the small bone that had been part of her dew claw was shattered. (Dew claws had been removed when she was a young pup)
So she is still in pain, can’t really find anything dramatically wrong and it very swollen. We get a slightly reduced bill, ($450), some pain meds, anti-inflammatory meds and the advice to keep her still and put ice on it. (This is a dog, have you ever tried to put ice on a dogs leg?)
We took the x-ray DVD to our vet, he can’t find anything wrong and she’s done for the year. Today she still won’t put it down on the floor and hops everywhere on three legs.
I’m glad it wasn’t serious because I love my dog but I’m frustrated and I wonder what happened to her. I am speculating that she might have dropped that leg into a small hole just slightly bigger than her foot and her momentum carried her over causing a severe strain/sprain and that small FX.
I’ve hunted her since she was a pup and she is a trooper so this had to be some kind of freak thing. I just hope she fully recovers
There are no birds in Eastern Nebraska so I went south into Kansas to try my luck on WIHA.
I looked at the map, checked my GPS and found what I thought was a great area and when I walked the 1/2 mile down to the grass there was a "NO Hunting" sign posted at the beginning of the CRP. I didn't bring the book but was sure so I headed back to the truck. The dogs were just excited to go so they were really running hard to burn off some extra energy. Since I was walking across the winter wheat I let them run to enjoy themselves.
Went to the second spot, dropped the dogs and started into the short CRP. We got into the field about 1/2 mile when my youngest female shorthair started screaming. I have never heard her make any noise like this before. I started running to her and she came at me with her left from paw sticking out in front of her. She wouldn't put any weight on it and it was swollen to about three times normal size by the time I got to her. I checked her over as well as I could and couldn't really find anything wrong. Shoulder, knee, ankle and all bones seemed intact but painful and the swelling just kept getting worse. There were no open wounds, no punctures that I could find and everything seemed stable. I carried her out of the field so I know she was really hurting or she would have never allowed that.
Anyway, I loaded her up, drove the 100 miles back to Lincoln and took her to the emergency vet. The whole way my imagination was running wild, I kept thinking the worse.
We waited for two hours at the emergency vet and after an estimate of $600, a sedative, pain meds and x-ray, manipulation and more x-rays the only thing they could find was the small bone that had been part of her dew claw was shattered. (Dew claws had been removed when she was a young pup)
So she is still in pain, can’t really find anything dramatically wrong and it very swollen. We get a slightly reduced bill, ($450), some pain meds, anti-inflammatory meds and the advice to keep her still and put ice on it. (This is a dog, have you ever tried to put ice on a dogs leg?)
We took the x-ray DVD to our vet, he can’t find anything wrong and she’s done for the year. Today she still won’t put it down on the floor and hops everywhere on three legs.
I’m glad it wasn’t serious because I love my dog but I’m frustrated and I wonder what happened to her. I am speculating that she might have dropped that leg into a small hole just slightly bigger than her foot and her momentum carried her over causing a severe strain/sprain and that small FX.
I’ve hunted her since she was a pup and she is a trooper so this had to be some kind of freak thing. I just hope she fully recovers
