So we finally decided to start a blog. This journey has really only just begun, as we look towards Zorion’s first birthday in only 6 more days. Time sure flies when you don’t pay attention. Zorion is a chocolate Kelpie, who was only 8 months old when this started.

Everything started back in April. An awkward jump out of the car resulted in a dislocated hip, and screaming as soon as he hit the ground, not to mention that it was on bitumen. My heart stopped. Immediately raced to where he was, only to find him limping to me, the look on his face, ‘I’m hurt Mum, help me.’ Whipped the phone out, called my friend Candice, who is a vet, bawled on the phone to her, trying to explain what happened. Raced him around to the vet, carried him inside, straight into the examination room and up on the table, blood covered my arms by the time I put him down. Zorion nearly bit Candice as she tried to look at his leg, he was in so much pain, and I couldn’t do anything for him. Grazes ran the length of his stifle from the impact on the bitumen, grazes across his nose, lower jaw, right ear and around his right eye. I left him there, in the care of my friend, and went home and cried.

Got a phone call from Candice a couple of hours later, telling me to ‘come in and have a look, it’s hard to describe.’ Zorion was still under anesthetic, and to feel his leg being popped back into place was disconcerting. I was shown, and I felt it as well, how the leg could be slipped back into the hip socket, but then once the pressure was released, it just slid back out. X-Rays showed that there was a bone fragment that had chipped off from somewhere, and that might be why it isn’t staying in the socket. Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO) the next day, in an attempt to save his leg and ‘fix’ him. Took him home the afternoon after the FHO, set him up in his crate in the living room, spent the night sleeping on my blanket beside the crate, slept maybe a total of about 3 or 4 hours, waking up every time he shifted, whimpered, breathed too loud or snored. He woke up, happy might not be the word for it, but when he woke up he seemed so excited to see me sleeping right beside him, and I guess after the last three days, waking up beside me would warrant that reaction.

Thus started the physiotherapy, the swimming and trying to get him to use his leg to walk, let alone run on it again. He seemed to recover really slowly from that operation, I was so worried about him, I was talking to Candice about every other day, wondering if it was ‘normal’ behaviour. The weeks slowly crawled by, Zorion showing more and more signs of ‘recovering’ – returning to destroying things, showing signs that he wanted to play again, starting to move a bit faster than a walk. The medications were finished, now it was just the long road to recovery. He didn’t seem very inclined to use that leg, no matter what I tried.

Despite the lack of use with the leg, we all thought he was going great, until one night, five weeks after that first operation. I fed him that night, out on the front verandah as usual, about 6.30pm, I was inside watching something on TV with my Dad. A thump, followed by a yelp, followed by crying. I rushed outside, he’s curled up on the floor, dinner bowl knocked over, half his dinner still there. Picked him up, carried him inside and sat with him in the middle of the living room, Zorion curled up in my lap, shaking and whimpering. Called Candice, told her that he did something, now he’s been shaking and crying for about 10 minutes, I’m worried, he nearly snapped at me when I tried to test his leg to see if he had hurt it, and obviously he had.

Took him in to the vet the next morning, and left to go to work. Finished work, and straight back to the vet to find out the diagnosis. Candice showed me the X-Rays, not good. Instead of the end of the femur being smooth from the Ostectomy, it was jagged, and could be pinching a nerve when it moves. He was put on painkillers while I made my decision. My options, another operation to take some more off the femur – which might not work anyway, because of his age it could grow back like that again – or amputation. I was devastated at having to choose. That was when I found the Tripawds website. The support they offered was astounding. Watching Zorion getting around on three legs, dragging a ‘dead’ leg that he refused to use, I made my choice to amputate, thinking he’s young enough to adapt, and he’s travelling on three legs anyway, he probably won’t miss it that much.

The day before the amputation, I took him down to the stables as usual, he’s running round trying to round up the horses. I’m standing watching him, thinking, ‘this is his last day with four legs.’ As I was watching him, Candice came round for a chat, and we both saw Zorion do it – he RAN on FOUR legs. Doped up on Rimadyl, he ran on all four legs. It was amazing. So Candice added another option for me to choose from – keep him on painkillers for the rest of his life, which would also shorten his lifespan. I was thinking about quality of life, instead of quantity, and still thought amputation to be the best option. So the amputation went ahead as planned, I brought him home two days later, and as I was walking him to the stairs, I stopped to put my bag down so I could carry him up the stairs – thinking he couldn’t or shouldn’t be running up stairs JUST yet – turn back to pick him up and he’s already half way up the stairs. Well. He was set up in his crate again, the door shut so he stayed put (when he had the FHO he was content to stay in there despite the door being open, but this time? Nope, I want out).

Recovery time was minimal. On painkillers for 4 days, antibiotics for 7. I really thought the recovery would be more than the last operation, but the day after I brought him home, I let him out in the morning to take him outside, he saw my cat and went ZOOM. A week later, I had a holiday to Brisbane planned, and he was of course, coming with me. After a two day drive, we hit the beach, and oh did we go swimming! Between my friend and I, we had 5 dogs down at the doggy beach, and they all love to swim. We both went in as well, and to see Zorion swimming freely was great. When I was taking him swimming after the first operation, he wouldn’t use either of his back legs, he opted to ‘pull’ himself along in the water with his front legs. Now, he was happily using his remaining back leg to kick, as well as his front legs. We met lots of new friends down at the beach that day, and so many people were amazed that he had only had that leg amputated barely a week before. He was running with the best of them on that beach that day.

Day 1: FHO

Day 1: Tripawd

Inspawrational.

That was 3 months ago. Now, he can beat me on the pushbike, he can jump into the back of a (low) ute, he can still work the cattle (and horses unfortunately) and he still loves being inside – and sleeping on my bed 🙂 We are coming up to his first birthday, only 6 more sleeps 🙂 so we’re going to go down to the river and go swimming.

I have never regretted my decision to amputate. My then-boss told me to shoot him. The other guy I worked with back then told me the same thing. They didn’t and still don’t understand the bond that I share with Zorion. I got him when he was 4 hours old, he was supposed to be killed, and I spoke up and saved him (but that’s another story). Handraising a pup creates a bond that can’t be broken. I will always do all that I can for my dogs, for they are my children, and I love them beyond anything on this earth. The scars that we both carried away from that fateful day back in April are hard to heal. Mine are emotional, it always brings a tear to my eye when I think about it, whereas Zorion has 3 chipped front teeth, hidden scars on his leg, and a leg completely missing.

And now my baby boy is whining at the door, saying it’s bed time, so until next time,

Paws and Hugs.

Amy, Zorion and Jenny.