Ali Has a Terrible Accident
Unfortunately where we live there are few completely safe places to let our dogs loose. Most of our walks are in woods or in the fields and there is always the chance that the dogs hurt themselves - they could step into an unseen hole, trip over a ditch, crash into a tree or a rock, slide down a rocky hill slope, slip on ice or whatever. Danger is omnipresent and we've become used to fixing small cuts and bruises ourselves, and a couple of times a year it seems one of our dogs has to visit our vet due to more serious cuts, after which they remain on-leash for a week or two.
But in late July 2001 Ali had a terrible accident right in our back yard. Siru and Ali were chasing each other as usual. There is a brick enbankment in our back yard which curves towards the right when one comes from the front yard. The dogs love running one after the other alongside the curving enbankment, at the end of which they make a sharp 180-degree turn and race back to the front yard. They can literally do this for five or ten minutes with only short breaks in between.
After some jockeying for Hippu's tennis ball it was again catch-me-if-you-can tag game time and the two Silkens again took off for the back yard... this time Ali was ahead but had made a sharp turn so was slower while Siru was going at full tilt and was catching up fast... for the briefest moment the two sped hell bent, side by side towards the gap between the enbankment and the tree... Eero could see that there was no way both of them would fit in the gap at the same time...
The Silkens slammed together at high speed - they must have been going at over 40 km/h - and Ali careened towards the end of the enbankment... with a sickening crunch she hit the end of the enbankment, and somersaulted into the bushes beyond, howling in pain.
Hoisted back onto her feet, Ali looked miserable and refused to put any weight on her right rear leg. There was no visible damage at first, but three shallow cuts soon appeared. Eero carried the dog back inside and patched up the cuts.
The accident happened in the morning. A good rule of thumb is that your dog should not limp for more than a few hours after a mishap. When Salla returned home in the evening Ali was still not willing to put weight on her leg so it was time to cart her off to the vet.
Our local vet's diagnosis was that no bones were broken, but that Ali's anterior ligament had probably snapped. It was difficult to tell due to the leg being swollen. Ali got a load of pain killers and we set up a meeting with Ms. Anu Saikku-Bäckström of Espoo Veterinary Hospital (Espoon eläinsairaala), where we go for all complicated canine maintenance. Ms. Saikku-Bäckström is an excellent vet and an all-around nice person. She told us that a surgical operation would be needed to fix the problem but that the prognosis in these cases was generally good. The healing process would take between three and six months, but after that Ali should be able to lead a normal sighthound's life, i.e. run and play... but she would never be a track-running or coursing dog.
All of this brought up some difficult questions. Now how does one tell a Silken accustomed to running off-leash three times a day that she should take it easy for the next half a year ? And more importantly, how does one tell the nice people who have lent you their dog for safekeeping that she has just had a horrible accident from which she might never fully recover ?
Ali's operation was on August 6. It turned out that her anterior ligament was fine, it was her post-cruciate ligament which had snapped. Damage to the post-cruciate ligament is rarer, but the prognosis and operation are essentially the same. The morning after the operation Ali was groggy but still intended to take part in the morning walk, despite having her leg encased in this green protective support... we had to carry her back to the living room in order to go out with Siru and Hippu only. Ali also ate as ravenously as ever, so we were confident she was not in unbearable pain.
For the next five days Ali got very little exercise. Since her leg was in the support we figured she would not be moving too much so there was no need to keep her on a leash... we were wrong of course. On the third day Ali tried to persuade Salla to take her for a walk in the street, all the interesting smells being there. To make her point she limped surprisingly deftly halfway down the hill and turned around to make sure that Salla was indeed following. Salla called out to her to come back so Ali figured she needed to return in a hurry... so she then ran up the hill using only three legs, delighting in the feeling... At this point we realized that yes, Ali indeed needed to be on leash even with the support and that perhaps she was getting too much pain medication as well.
The Saviaros were extremely gracious about what had happened to Ali and this made us feel a bit better about the affair. At this point the digital camera we had bought in June proved a godsend. We were able to send weekly, even daily picture and video updates to Brazil via the Internet. The videos especially were appreciated by the Saviaros and Tytti and Ilona would watch them daily. Little Ilona was dismayed by Ali's accident and promptly prescribed a treatment of dog cookies, which we then carried out and sent pictures of cookie-eating Ali back to her.
The green support was removed five days after surgery, revealing a long scar.
As far as we understand it the surgical operation involves fastening the ends of the snapped ligament into place with thin wires. After the operation the wires can be clearly felt through the dog's skin. Over time, supporting tissue forms over the wires and the ligament again begins to work normally.
Having gotten rid of the cumbersome support, Ali felt that it was high time she played some tag with Siru. After all a Silken needs only two functional legs in order to play tag, and Ali still had three... However her walks mainly consisted of ten meters of limping around the back yard and Siru never seemed to participate in those so the opportunity to play tag never materialized during walks. So as soon as she got back inside, the two would play tag inside the house with predictably disasterous effects on our furnishings ! It was soon clear that Ali's leg would never heal if she continued to spend time with Siru... so we had to get rid of the older dog for a few months.
Eija came to the rescue, telling us that her parents would be happy to take care of Siru for two weeks and after that Siru would join Eija's pack of Borzoi and Silkens. Siru stayed with Eija's parents as their only dog and, we are told, became very finicky about what she was given to eat (this sounds so unlike the Siru whom we know that we have to wonder if they were in fact by mistake taking care of some stray dog instead...).
A week after the operation Ali was using her leg a bit with every step, right on the vet's schedule ! Psychologically this was a difficult time as she knew every inch of our back yard and longed for a good, long walk, preferably one involving lots of running. But that would have to wait a few months yet. Bored, Ali decided to see if she could jump up the enbankment on three legs... and could not... outch ! We learned that we really needed to pay close attention to what Ali was doing in the back yard, even if she was on leash.
The stiches had begun to itch so when we went to work Ali had to wear a cone on her head to prevent her from disturbing the scar. In the evening we would gently work the leg back and forth as instructed by the vet in order to enable it to regain its normal movement.
Shaven like a punk rocker's skull, Ali's leg looks terrible in these photographs. On August 15 Ali decided it was no longer necessary to use her injured leg at all. She had become quite proficient at hopping with three legs only... she could bow her front legs (come and play with me) and jump into the air (let's run up and down the field) with no problem, of course our terrified screaming may have been a minor distraction.
But if Ali did not use her leg it would not heal as quickly. A call to Ms. Saikku-Bäckström and we learned that Ali's leg was probably hurting and that she would need more pain medication. Ali is a dog who never complains of anything so there were no other signs of pain. We increased medication as instructed and the fourth leg soon rejoined action.
By August 17 Ali's shaven leg had grown a fuzzy stubble. The foot was still pointed inward a bit, but she was using the leg with every step. On August 18 Ali was allowed a walk in the woods next to our house. She was excited and enjoyed the experience enormously.
With Siru gone Ali was a bit lonely and looked around for a friend... and found Rose the cat ! The two became very close and would spend hours and hours in each other's company every day. Rose has always liked dogs and will often run up to greet them, rubbing her sides against their legs, thus marking them as her property. There was a lot of mutual affection between the dog and the cat - they would clean out each other's faces and ears and exchange kisses.
Ali also liked to play with the cat, poking her in the rear with her long nose... but she had to be careful as Rose was above her in the ranking within our pride/pack. Cats and dogs use different body language and it is all too easy to have a misunderstanding, for example a wagging tail means a friendly dog or an angry cat. It takes a genuinely interested animal to try to communicate with the other. When Ali was too playful Rose would hiss an angry warning, but would soon resume rubbing her face against the dog's.
Ali much appreciated the cat's company and friendship, while Rose enjoyed the dog's warmth and kind attention.
Here is an AVI video of Ali and Rose spending time together. You can see how Ali has to be a bit careful with the cat but also that she would not be there if she did not enjoy the cat's company. The video is rather large at 2 MB so it is probably not a good idea to try to download it if you have a modem connection to the Internet. Many new Macintosh and Windows machines should be able to view the video automatically, if not you can download Quicktime from Apple.
The stiches were removed on August 21. This was great because now a major source of irritation was gone. Ali got longer walks in the little woods and we even went to the clearing beyond, some 25 meters from our house, where Ali ate lots of grass. Ali's vet said that the leg was healing on schedule but slightly irritated, possibly due to the jump attempt a few days earlier. Ali was prescribed some more rest. Having rested, Ali's stride was again better by August 27 and she again got walks as far as the little clearing.
At the end of one walk Ali escaped and ran up and down the common yard, delirious with the feeling of being able to run again... she came back smiling, proud of her achievement and somewhat winded due to her lack of practice. We thought that she might well have hurt herself without realizing it but luckily there was no sign of trouble the next morning.
Then it was September. One morning we went off for a walk and Ali stopped, listening to a new sound. It was the sound of leaves falling... summer was gone. Ali's leg was getting better day by day and the foot was no longer pointed inward. In the first week of September morning walks were still 25 meters only, but evening walks stretched to 50 meters (to the street and back) and afternoon walks went around the block ! Oh the joy of smelling all those important smells ! Ali took up the habit of lagging behind us as we walked and then dashing past us - this way she got in about six meters of running if we weren't careful.
All dogs we met were greeted with an embarrassing, almost uncontrollable kangaroo-on-a-trampoline act followed by the usual invitations to play. Despite her sweet nature Ali was getting decidedly impatient with the situation - as far as she was concerned her leg was fine and we needed to get rid of all this on-leash nonsense, go out into the woods and chase some bunnies ! Now what was wrong with us that we did not see things her way ?
Inside, Ali started climbing stairs which she had not done in a while. Ali had a checkup with Ms. Saikku-Bäckström on September 4. Anu was again satisfied with the progress and said that four more weeks of on-leash exercise would be necessary and then we could let Ali loose on the world... We got the go-ahead to take the dog out on longer walks in order to build strength but were cautioned not to overdo it. If we saw any sign of limping we were to do a shorter walk the next day.
Ali was happy to take longer walks. Now our morning walk went around the block, just like before the accident but without the high-speed off-leash romp at the end of the walk. At first she would tire very quickly but soon her muscles regained strength and she could hold out longer. Her gait was improving though there was still a very visible flat spot in it. The Saviaros informed us that they would be moving back to Finland in the beginning of October. They were understandably eager to see Ali again.
By September 25 Ali had regained her graceful sighthound stride and walking just like our other dogs, though the flat spot was still there. She also did not tire during long walks. In the small clearing near our house, Salla attached an eight-meter long leash onto Ali's collar and let her jog in a circle... Ali was delighted.
Ali was set loose for the first time on Sunday, September 29, more than two months after the accident. Salla picked a gravel soccer field for the occasion, a level place to run. Contrary to expectations Ali spent most of her time sniffing at the smells and ran only briefly.
We returned Ali to the Saviaros on October 7. They were certainly excited to see her again, and though Ali was a bit bewildered at first she very quickly settled back to being their dog. At this point there was still a slight flat spot in her gait but we were hopeful that it would disappear in a few weeks. Ali could be let run by herself but we agreed that she should not be set free with Pontus the Boxer, who is a very athletic Boxer and loves running with Ali. Racing around the woods with Pontus could have put enormous strain on the injured leg and possibly led to complications. The Saviaros were very dilligent and kept Ali and Pontus walking together but exercising separately for a month and a half.
There is a happy ending to this story. When we paid a visit to the Saviaro family in mid-December we found a content, trim-looking Ali. The fur on her leg was only a bit shorter than everywhere else and when we went for a walk we saw no trace of the injury in her athletic stride. When the dogs were set loose Ali immediately proceeded to do what she does best - run rings around our dogs ! It was wonderful to see, the dogs sped up and down the hill, raced back and forth with abandon and despite the slippery snow and ice Ali was as sure-footed and fast as ever. Ali is back !
We would like to thank licentiate Anu Saikku-Bäckström and the rest of the people at Espoon eläinsairaala for healing Ali. A big hug goes to Eija and her parents for arranging a home for Siru while Ali was recovering. We would also like to thank the Saviaro family for lending us their fantastic hound, should they do it again we promise to take better care of her than we did this time.
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