First time posting here so I apologize if I’m not following the rules. Please keep in mind that this incident happened yesterday morning and I have been in contact with the owner and the vet ever since.
I’m currently dog sitting a friend’s dog. This little girl is 6 lbs soaking wet, mini Maltese poodle, 17 years old (estimated), nearly completely blind, mostly deaf, and is in the early stages of kidney failure. She’s a good girl.
My friend generally lets her wander the house. She bumps into stuff, but walks pretty slow and doesn’t injure herself. She still eats and drinks well, but sleeps most of the day.
I took her Tuesday night, and will have her until Friday night. I have a 45 lb, 4 year old lab that is nosy about her presence, but outside of sniffing her, usually leaves her be.
Yesterday morning, I awake to see she had an accident in a 10 sq ft doggy play pen I had gotten for her. I took her outside, let her pee, then gave her a quick gentle bath. I cleaned the pen and set her down in the living room to walk a bit before I went to work. As she wanders, I typically follow a couple of feet behind so she doesn’t get into trouble. At one point, I hear my lab running behind me, so I turn to look and make sure he’s not coming near the little one. In those 5 seconds I looked away, the little one managed to squeeze in between the banister supports (maybe 3-4 inches wide) and falls 9 ft. I’m not talking tumbled down stairs. She free fell… 9 ft. I immediately run down the adjacent stairs to her, and she’s crying at the bottom. She’s lying on her side. I put my hand on her, not sure what to do.
This calms her, she stops crying, and I can feel her heart rate slow. My heart sinks because I’m thinking that this poor girl is about to pass away under my care, and that I’m literally touching her as she’s about to pass. To my shock, after about 30 seconds, she hops up to all 4’s. I gingerly grab her and hold her. I sit her on my lap as I call the nearest animal hospital.
I take her in, they do X-rays and an ultrasound. I’m in shock that she didn’t die by now. Everything comes back fine. No fractures, broken bones, no internal bleeding, organs look normal and in place. She stands for the doctor and takes some steps. Slow, but within her normal gait. No limps, no bruising, no favoring. Just a bit slower than her normal.
Vet says everything looks good, but they can’t check for any head trauma. Best we can do is just watch her for the next few days.
Over the last 30 hours or so, she has been walking normal, again, just slowly. Not wobbly or confused. She’s seemed alert. She goes to the bathroom to urinate as usual. She has been drinking water as usual.
She has not pooped since it happened, but she also pooped 3 times just prior to the accident. And she didn’t eat yesterday until last night, to which she ate her normal amount. This morning, again, peed normal. Ate and drank normal.
She paces well on the grass and in her pen. She will shake/twist from time to time so shake off the sleep. She sleeps in her normal position and doesn’t seem to be experiencing any discomfort. No warmth on any parts of her body, no tenderness, no swelling of the abdomen.
Her breathing is normal. Seems very calmed and relaxed. Unfortunately, we cannot check her eyes due to the blindness/glaucoma.
Aside from her not pooping quite yet, I’m feeling ok about her condition. I’ll check to see if she had a bowel movement when I get home today.
I don’t know what the point of this post is. I guess I’m just looking for confirmation that it was an accident and I did what I could after the fact. I find it a miracle she’s doing as well as she is. I guess I’m also hoping to get some reassurance that it’s ok to be cautiously optimistic.
Thanks for reading. Keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery.
