We’re learning more about Riley every day. He’s quite a character. Riley loves car rides. And I mean L-O-V-E-S them. Of all our fosters, he’s definitely the most comfortable in the car – he hops right in and makes himself at home. It’s probably quite a sight for other drivers – this little dog trying to press his face up against the window with a massive Elizabethan collar holding him back. It looks a bit like a dog in a funnel from the outside. If he’s not busy looking out a window, he’s got his head looking over my shoulder trying to back-seat drive. And if he’s really tired, he falls asleep. There have been a few nights I’ve thought about driving him around the block a few times to see if he’d go to sleep.
Our two dogs love Riley, but only when he doesn’t have his Elizabethan collar (a.k.a. the lampshade) on. When he does, they’re terrified of him. He’s half their size, and they clearly own the house, but he’s still very scary. We figure they think he’s a bit like one of those frilled lizards that we thought were insanely funny when we were younger.
Well, maybe he doesn’t look quite as scary as that. Imagine it with a fluffy coat and an odd bandage on the leg. I guess that’s what the dogs see. Anyways, Riley is our little frilled lizard with an endless supply of cuddles.
He’s our frilled lizard who has figured out how to completely bend his lampshade so that he can chew his bandage off. Last night, he managed to chew a large part of it off. A quick trip to the drug store for first aid supplies was required to rebandage him. He didn’t do any damage to his foot, and we had a vet appointment scheduled for today. Riley spent the day at the vet and managed to chew the bandages off twice while there. He came home sporting an extra-large lampshade instead of the large one he went in with. We even tried putting bitters on the bandage – he just licks it off. Here’s hoping the extra-large lampshade proves to be Riley-resistant!
The good news is that Riley’s injuries continue to heal. The vet says his foot is drying out now. His abscess on his side is also healing. We’ve still got a few weeks of vet visits every few days, but once we’re through the worst with his paw, we can focus again on healing his fracture. Staying off his leg is important to get him well. He’s a tough guy to keep still and we’re always looking for ways to occupy him.
Squeamish alert: there’s a bit of a description of our vet visit here.
Riley’s first follow up visit with the vet was this morning. He’s such a brave little guy. When we woke up this morning, we found that his wound was seeping quite badly through the bandage (it smelled even worse than yesterday. Ick.) I sacrificed a gym sock that we put over top of the bandage. We’ve never dealt with an injury this bad, so we were a bit worried about what the vet would say. (ok, I was super-worried!)
Fortunately, the vet’s news was positive. She changed the dressing and added quite a bit more padding this time to help with the seepage. She said we can expect this to continue for a few weeks. Most of the skin and tissue is gone on the top of his foot, and the injury continues onto the pad of his foot. It is healing up slowly, and the antibiotics seem to be working. The vet has also been using sugar on the wound to help heal it. This is an alternative treatment, and it seems to be working for Riley.
The vet was able to remove the drain from his side, which should help with his comfort. We were finding that when we took off his cone, he would immediately try to take out the drain or chew on his bandage. Now, at least we only have to stop him from going after one of his injuries!
Riley doesn’t have his splint on right now, either. He was starting to get a few sores under it, and the surgeon who looked at Riley said that it was more important to heal the leg wound. For now, we’ll focus on that. Then, we’ll fix the break.
Riley’s looking at a couple months of continued treatment of his leg, just to get the tissue to heal. He’ll always have quite a scar to tell his story. We continue to be amazed with this dog’s spirit and warmth. He pranced (well, if you can prance with a limp) right into the vet’s office without fear. All he was really interested in doing was visiting with the little boy in the waiting room. Although he definitely favours the paw, he doesn’t want it to stop him – he’d play with the other dogs and run through the house if we’d let him. For now, it’s lots of quiet time in his crate and pen to help him heal.
Riley made it through the first night in our care without incident! This little dog continues to be the best-natured dog, even with his painful injuries.
The poor guy with his “lampshade” – he’s continually banging into walls and doorways. He doesn’t let it get the way of his enthusiasm for cuddles or treats, but it’s got to be aggravating. We bought him a new padded nylon one which is meant to be more comfortable, but our little smartie figured out that if he walks into enough walls with it on he can push it far enough down his neck to be able to chew his bandage. We’ve been letting him wear it, but only supervised. [Edit: we should point out that he subsequently defeated the plastic one too, so it's not necessarily a design fault in the padded one]
When we’re out of the house, Riley stays in a large crate as all our ARF dogs do. Being that it was Riley’s first day at our house and he’s got such a bad injury, I couldn’t bear to leave him alone all day. Riley spent the afternoon at the office with me, winning over my co-workers. He’s so full of love and happiness, even though he’s got to be in pain. There’s still a lot of puppy left in Riley, and his attention span isn’t that long. A fair amount of the afternoon was spent trying to get him settled down in a comfortable spot, and when that wasn’t happening he was rooting through bins, begging for snacks, and looking for toys.
We’re very surprised with how mobile Riley is. Caring for a dog in a cast is a new experience for us, and we were expecting that we’d be carrying him everywhere. Riley’s able to manage pretty well on his own. He can even do stairs, and I’ve caught him paws-up on the kitchen counter. He either limps along or keeps the cast in the air and hops. The wobbly “lampshade” on his head tends to exaggerate the movement, making the effort look worse than it probably is.
Tomorrow’s our first visit to the vet with Riley. His bandage is starting to get a bit smelly, so it’s probably a good thing. We’ve also got lots of questions for the vet about Riley’s care and his progress.
Julie called from ARF on Tuesday saying she had a dog with a badly mangled paw. He was going to need a lot more attention than the regular fosters, with frequent trips to the vet while he healed. Luckily, our last foster had just been adopted, so we had room to take him in.
Riley arrived at our home today after spending a few days at the vet. Despite his injuries, he’s the happiest little guy. And you can’t help but fall in love with those sweet brown eyes.
We’ve decided to call him Riley since it’s Gaelic for ‘courage’. The ‘life of Riley’ means an easy and pleasant life, which will be his from now on.
When he arrived, we took him for a walk with Symba, his new foster sister. He’s already won over the hearts of our neighbours and our dogs. He then met Murphy, his foster brother, back at our house. He definitely doesn’t let the cast get in the way of playing with his new friends, and seems to have settled into the house quite well.
Squeamish warning – skip this paragraph if needed! A bit about his condition – Riley’s front right paw is badly damaged. We think it may have been caught in a trap. The wound is open all the way up his foreleg and the bones and tendons exposed. His leg is also fractured. Riley currently has a drain in his side to heal an abscess. We’re hoping all heals well. The “lampshade” is on his head to stop him from pulling out the drain and chewing at his bandages.
Riley has to go to the vet every three days to get his leg checked and bandages changed. He’s on antibiotics and painkillers right now as well. Our first visit to the vet is Saturday – stay tuned!
