Munch Goes Crunch

Well...more like "CRACK"! Adding to our recent wonderful luck (NOT!)....

Last night I heard screaming in the yard - went outside and found Munch laying in the corner of the side yard along the driveway hollering his head off. Superscared at first seeing his hind legs twisted around each other - I thought he had broken his back.

No....but he darned sure broke his rear leg. Muzzled him (he was snapping everywhere anytime I even thought about touching his leg, the poor soul - although he never tried to mouth me when I put the racing muzzle on him) and managed to carry him into the house.

I laid him on one of the dog beds in the living room and removed the muzzle (he had calmed down greatly) and manipulated the leg a bit - I could feel it moving above the joint, but it hadn't broken the skin.

What did Munch do? Began eating the food in the bowl by the bed....heartily. He certainly lives up to his name. Since he wasn't in shock and the fracture wasn't open, we opted to keep him calm (easy) and wait until morning to take him to our regular vet (avoiding the shysters at the local ER clinic) as long as he maintained his condition.

This morning I carried him to the yard and stood him...and he peed and peed and peed some more and I set him up in the back of the Astro-van (Victor had removed the back crates last night and laid down several pads) and took him to our vet for x-rays and evaluation....then got sent to the surgery center as it was too messy for them to set.

The diagnosis - Munch has a fractured left distal femur - just above the "condyl" (aka "joint"). He also broke (cracked) one of the vertebra in his tail.

So...he's having surgery to repair the leg today. He only broke it because we put him up on our "Available" page this week - I am sure of it. If he comes through surgery okay, he'll make it.

OTOH - my wallet is terminal :(

Here's a picture of his x-ray...


UPDATE: Munch has come through the surgery to repair his leg just fine. He's staying overnight at the clinic. There's still no hope for my wallet though :(