The boy and I were dog sitting for this adorable puppy this week. We were loving having him around: he's so sweet and we were really becoming attached.
On Wednesday night, I was baking an apple pie for Turkey Day dinner, and the smoke detector went off. On instinct, I opened the kitchen door to let out the smoke... and Max got out. The kitchen door opens into the carport and the front of the house, not the backyard. Before we knew it, he was running away. It was dark outside, he's a black dog, and the house is on a busy street. He jetted into the street... and a car hit him.
Honestly, we thought he was a goner. It was one of the most horrible things to witness. Immediately, we drove Max to the Emergency Animal Hospital.
The doctors told us the next 12 to 36 hours were the most important. They were concerned first about his brain and lungs and internal bleeding... they would worry about broken bones later. Those can be fixed easily. He was put on morphine, an iv of antibiotics for the cuts from the road rash, and they would monitor him throughout the night.
Good news the next morning! So far, his brain function seemed normal, he never had to be put on oxygen overnight, and although there was a small break in a pelvis bone, it shouldn't cause him problems with walking. He wouldn't need surgery later. We were so lucky! The vet said his soft tissues were probably very sore from the impact and he showed pain from trying to stand and go to the bathroom. They put in a catheter to alleviate his discomfort when trying to urinate.
Before the accident happened, we were so excited to bring Max over to the boy's sister's house on Thanksgiving day so he could play with the kids. On the way to our Turkey Day meal, we stopped at the hospital. It was a busy morning and after waiting 45 minutes, we never got to go in to see him. :( After dinner, we stopped again. Although we were still optimistic of his prognosis, he was very drugged up on opiates. He seemed happy to see us, but it was only 24 hours from the accident, and although he was aware of our visit, he still wasn't his usual self.
We went back to the hospital Friday morning to pick him up. The hospital is closed during normal weekday hours, so we had to bring him to his normal vet. The normal vet didn't have nighttime coverage, so we brought him to another 24 hour care center. During the car trip, his demeanor was so much better. He was aware of noises around him, he was checking things out, and while we waited for the boy to check him in, he watched the early morning birds. Still, he wasn't standing, the catheter hadn't been removed yet, and although they had cut down his morphine dosage, he wasn't completely off the opiates.
Our new doctor was awesome too. She had a goal of getting him home within 24 hours, getting him standing, and to remove the catheter soon. She was going to take some blood to check his organs and, if possible, switch him from morphine to an ibuprofen for his pain.
The blood work came back: he had a damaged liver. No ibuprofen for now. The vet wasn't too worried about his liver; it is fairly common for car accident patients. During our visit that night, I got him to eat chicken and canned dog food. His tail was wagging, he was very alert, but he still wouldn't stand!
You might be asking, what about Max's owners? Well, they were returning from their trip that evening. They had been in China and we had no way to communicate with them. Not that we wanted to ruin their trip. There wasn't anything they could do for Max on the other side of the world.
So when we picked up Max's owners at the airport last night, they asked us how our Thanksgiving was. And that's when we had to say, "Well, we have some bad news." It was so horrible to say and even worse to see their faces. After getting their luggage, we drove straight to the hospital. On the drive we let them know how well he was doing, but I knew the uncertainty they were feeling. We've had 48 hours to deal with the news; they've had less than an hour.
Max was so happy to see them! He almost stood up when he saw them too!
And great news this morning. Blood work showed that his liver was better and he was discharged! His owners stopped by with Max on the way home. They picked up his bed and we got to say hi! We're so grateful he survived.
