Pupdate

 

As is evident from the above photo, Miss Maudie was not at all happy with her vet appointment on Monday. We really just went for vaccinations, but the doc had to check her out first, and someone in the room (I’m not naming names, but there were only three of us in there) snapped at the good doctor who had been so gentle and careful with her. Oops. Thus the muzzle for everyone’s safety.

We did get those vaccinations, finally, but before that, the doc and I had a long chat about Maudie’s left hind leg. When she had her first vet appointment a year ago, I had the vet who saw us at the time x-ray her leg because I noticed that every third bounce in her gait was a skip—as if she had a peg leg. That vet (who no longer works at this hospital) examined the x-ray and found nothing.

This vet found something. (Shout out to Banning Veterinary Hospital in Banning, California, for keeping that digital x-ray as part of her chart so we could quickly pull it up and look at it together. Dr. Sobotka (who worked patiently with my spicey dog, bless him forever) stared at that x-ray for many long moments before finally saying, “I think I see the problem.”

He pointed to a shadow on her left femur that I would never have been able to discern, comparing it to the opposite leg.

“She has an old injury here,” he said. “Unfortunately, since it healed on its own, there’s nothing we can do to fix it.”

It’s okay. I didn’t cry. Well, not then, anyhow. And anyway, I already suspected as much, watching her run, knowing that she had clearly been kicked in the past. (See my post of December 17, 2025.) But I had to ask, so I did, if the injury would be consistent with someone kicking her. Yes, it could have been that, he told me, his voice as sad as my face probably looked.

Whatever. We already know that someone threw this dog away after they were cruel to it. Karma is a bitch. Not my dog, though. She’s a little sweetheart. (Even if the vet tech did have to enlist help from the back to hold her down so they could immunize her. Sheesh!)

I gave Maudie an old older lady name because it is my intention that we will grow old together. So we’re starting on that journey together, both having leg issues. Dr. Sobotka suggested massage for Maudie’s leg, encouraged our hiking (yay!) while warning that one day (like me) she would begin to have some pain from arthritis in that spot, at which point we can start her on some meds to help with that. We take one day at a time, and after every hike I will be scrutinizing her gait to make sure we don’t attempt anything too rigorous for her. We’ll be fine.

Oh, and one last suggestion from the doc (after I inquired): Maudie needs to lose weight. Yep. This little chowhound has gained eight pounds in one year. So much for using treats to help socialize her. We will cut back on everything, and I promised the doc that when he sees us next year, we’ll both be five pounds lighter (insert grimace here).

Now if I can just get my neighbor next door to stop giving Maudie bacon….

After the vet visit. Poor baby!