Happy 6th Birthday Godiva!!!

Happy 6th birthday to our favorite puppy girl, Godiva. Or put another way, happy third anniversary of Godiva's supposedly becoming a good girl. Waiting........waiting........waiting........

The picture above has Godiva in her favorite place, standing (well sitting) guard at the back door waiting for lizards or birds or something. Yes, those are her nose and paw prints on the glass.

We have been very fortunate with her health in the last year. Every day we are reminded that she has had back surgery, just by the way she walks. Her back left leg never really came all the way back. In November, she showed signs of pain. A couple of screams from gentle touches. Sitting and not wanting to move. We were petrified that she somehow hurt her back again. So, off to the Emergency vet we went. The initial diagnosis was an injured back left knee. Maybe even an ACL tear. Now, I watch a lot of NFL. I see a lot of ACL tears. There was no way she had an ACL tear. (Godiva's Mommy, were she to have written this, would say that she has had an ACL tear; but she isn't writing this and she doesn't watch as much NFL as I do, so my NFL ACL proof is the proof of record). We got away with some pain medicine, an anti-inflammatory, and a "let's see how it goes".

It went pretty well, despite Godiva being militant about not taking pills. She was tough to give pills to after her back surgery, but we finally were able to crack her. Not this time. Cheese? Nope. Peanut butter? Nope. Liverwurst? Nope. Shoving it down her throat (the method that worked after back surgery)? Yup...then two steps later, out it came. So that's a Nope. Godiva's mommy read on the internet that quick popping four liverwurst balls in a dog's mouth with the third containing the pill would work. It did! For two days. Then, Nope! So, she wasn't exactly on the prescribed road to recovery when the pain popped up again.

Same emergency vet, same diagnosis, ACL. But this time, he wanted us to meet with the surgeon to see if he thought Godiva would need ACL surgery (only $2000, less than half her back surgery!). So we set up an appointment, two days after Christmas, with the surgeon who did her back surgery. Happy Holidays!

So, we met with the surgeon. He remembered her from the back surgery and recovery and saw that her back left leg was basically in the same condition it was the December before. His diagnosis: The other vet was insane (yes, they work at the same facility). Basically if she had a torn ACL, her leg would be up in the air and she wouldn't be able to put any weight on it (just like the NFL! - and perhaps Godiva's Mommy that time she tore her ACL). He could barely find any pain in the knee. His recommendation, more pills (that went about as well as the first round did), rest, and if anything flared up, come see him directly. Knock on wood, we haven't been back.

The only downside? I was looking forward to Godiva having an Adrian Peterson type comeback following ACL surgery. Alas, our puppy girl may never rush for 1,000 yards again.

 



So, happy and healthy sixth birthday Diver Doo! And despite my earlier crack, you are a good girl, most of the time.