“Remoted” Workday 203 / Day 309 (Tuesday)

In the latest episode of the never ending saga of “What’s wrong with the Dog?,” Moose is limping again, and sometimes hobbling on three legs.

In the mystery of Moosie, who barks and yaps loudly for all sorts of random and potentially imaginary reasons, when I touch the joints, shoulder, or paw of his newly sometimes favored leg, he is silent. I poke and prod, alert for any sort of reaction that could be described to the vet, but he offers nothing. Sometimes it seems like he is overacting with the paw thing for extra cuddles and head pats, but it’s hard to tell. This is the same dog who started limping while I had a broken leg and I couldn't tell if it was sympathy or he was mocking me.

Whatever is or isn’t happening with his leg has not deterred him from climbing up and down stairs and jumping onto and off the couch. And he doesn’t ease himself off the couch, like I have seen him do before. Oh, no, he launches himself from the couch to the middle of the floor as if he is trying to hit a very specific landing zone that only he can see. Then he pauses, and either walks away, or limps. It's a crapshoot every time.

Moose and his
Ted Bundy fake cast.

Last night, I managed to examine his leg again and it seemed like there was a hard lump on the outside of the joint above the dew claw. Once more, Moose offered no reaction to my prodding, but it seemed it might be a good idea to wrap his leg. I can’t get him to rest, ice, or elevate it, but maybe I can create some compression, or at least manufacture a situation to force him to be more careful. 

The ace bandages on hand from my own past injuries are all too wide for a doggy leg, and I didn’t want to cut them up, so I wrapped his leg in gauze and secured it with painter’s tape. It seemed to annoy him, and he laid down in his bed in the living room with a dramatic huff. Dramatics aside, he wasn’t walking around on it, which felt like a win on both the rest and possible compression fronts.

This morning the gauze wrap was laying in his bed, having slipped off or been pried off during the night. Today, the leg was rewrapped, and the makeshift medical treatment stayed on all day. While we were outside this afternoon, one of the neighbors saw us and thought Moose had an actual cast on his leg. While explaining that I had wrapped his leg with gauze and tape, it occurred to me that I had basically given him a little Ted Bundy fake cast. At least he’s not out in the park trolling for murder victims. Sleeping on the couch is much more his speed, and if it means he's resting his mysterious ailment until I can remember to call the vet during office hours, I’m in favor. It wouldn’t be the first time I made an appointment for him and by the time we get in to the vet's office, even if it’s the next day, the problem is gone, along with the fee for the office visit.