Cadence

Cadence Pictures

November, 2015.  Next we fostered a stray that had been brought in with a broken leg, ear infections, scabs, possible food allergies and lots of fearfulness.  Her confidence grew while still at the shelter and once she got settled in our home she proved to be a very friendly and cuddly dog.

But keeping the cast on her proved to be a nightmare. The cast “Cadi” had the first week at the shelter somehow managed to turn around 180 degrees on her leg.  The next one put on when I took her home somehow pulled down within a day.  The next lasted a record 5 days, but the next only a few hours.

Despite all my efforts to keep her from putting any weight on them, something about her leg shape or the way she moved made it very hit or miss to keep the casts on. This caused me a huge amount of worry and frustration trying to figure out what I might have done wrong.

Sadly the x-rays showed that the leg bones just weren’t going to fuse right, so the decision was made to amputate her leg.  This was extremely disappointing and upsetting for me at the time.

After the amputation she had to wear a cone around her head for the next week.  Fortunately she was a very strong and robust dog and seemed to adapt to being a tripod dog fairly quickly.  We normally never allow dogs on the furniture, but made an exception for Cadi, who loved sitting on the chair and couch.

The first day she came back she had a long session staring at her “new look” in the mirror.  

Boomer was fine with Cadi while she had the cast on, but wasn’t at all a fan of her waltzing up to him with her plastic battering ram on, so he kept his distance for the most part.

Because of a suspected food allergy Cadi was on a special diet of dry and canned food.  She also needed multiple medicines each day delivered via the magic of peanut butter.

It snowed after she came back and Cadi quickly figured out she could fling snow high into the air using her cone as a shovel.  I got sprayed with snow up to my shoulders on one occasion.

The only odd issue with Cadi happened a few days after she had become increasingly active and energetic.  Out of the blue she started barking at me for no apparent reason.  It dawned on me that I hadn’t increased her food amount to match her increased activity and, after an extra meal, she was back to her normal cuddly self.  So, not the best way to say “I’m hungry” but admittedly very effective.

Once she had healed up from the operation she was released for adoption and quickly found her forever home.