Monday, August 20

Akiko's fracture




Monday started out like every other Monday, I got up, I fed everyone I let them out and I went to work. Well Bar Akiko as she does not get up as early as the others, she also goes to bed later.

Anyhow I was at work and a message was left for me which just said 'Your Daughter has fractured her leg, call me.' I was thinking at the time it was Audrey and that she had been really naughty hence she was 'my' daughter and not 'our' daughter.

I called my partner that instant and he told me Akiko had jumped out of the bottom level of her ferret nation and seems to have landed funny. He was pretty sure it was a fracture but it is hard to tell on something so tiny when you don't properly know their bone structure and they are trying to get away from you. Anyway he was on his way to our vets in Birmingham which is about 1h 30m away. . . 1h 30 mins if you don't get pulled over for speeding and retained there for 1h despite explaining to the officer that you have an injured animal in the car in a huge amount of pain.

So eventually my partner got to the vets, they sedated Akiko, gave her an xray and said that she had fractured a bone in her elbow. . . They dosed her up on morphine and said they would keep her with them over night so they could continue to keep her on the morphine and keep an eye on her that way they could x-ray her again in the morning. They would not do the operation and would have to send her to a specialist.

Upon my return home I vented about it all, about how I feared there would not be a specialist that would see her, how the vets did not know of one and then a good friend said that she thought her vet would see her! She said she would e-mail to check and the vet agreed! I was over joyed! An added bonus was that this vet was a mere 23 mins from the one Akiko had slept at.

So Akiko slept at the vets.

The next morning came and they called me asking if she was a male or female which I found odd as she was still registered there as 'Princess'. . . Anyhow I told them that she was a girl and asked what time I could collect her.  They said she would be ready at 12 noon so I waited to call back then. I called the vet my friend had told me would do the op and made an appointment for 4:20. . . I mean if I am picking Akiko up at 12 I should be 23 mins away by 4:20. . . right?

So I called vet number 1 back at 12, no answer and I just kept calling until I got an answer. I got through at 1:50! They said they had still not done the x-ray. . . I decided to start driving up there.

When we got there they were done, they gave us a new x-ray to take with us for vet number 2. They swore that they had sent her notes over but alas upon arrival at the second vets there were no notes and the X-ray was near enough totally black! All the vet could see was that the fracture was no in the elbow which obviously was a great relief.

So again Akiko was to spend the night at the vets. She would be moved to their other branch for surgery the next morning.

Vet number 2 was very sweet and told us that Akiko had eaten which was a relief and it really was nice to know. They were pampering her and hand feeding her live moreo worms and the duck we took for her to have. Akiko does not normally have duck but she steels it from the cat and she had not eaten at the last vets so we just wanted to be sure she had something.

The next morning our dear friend who said to go to vet number 2 was there with two of her squirrels, one was due for surgery. We had seen her the day before also when we took Akiko to the vet as her squirrels also had an appointment. She checked on Akiko and let us know she was doing fine.

We headed up when the vet called to say she would soon be in surgery, we wanted to be there for when Akiko woke up.

So myself, Mr Elina and our friend Laura (with the squirrels) were all sat in a pub across from the vets talking about any and everything but NOT the furkids. We were all clearly so worried but we were all doing well at keeping our minds off it all.

We got called at the same time near enough to say that Laura's babies were ready but Akiko still out. She had been in surgery for 3 hours They had found on the new x-ray that Akiko in fact had 2 fractures, neither in her elbow but neither was far from it. They pinned one and plated the other.
akiko R caudocranial
akiko R lateral

We got to see her when we went with Laura to collect her babies. Akiko was sound asleep wrapped in bubble wrap and a pink fleece blanket Laura had brought for her. The bubble wrap was to keep her warm and we were told that during surgery she even had her ears wrapped to keep the heat in.

We left her with the vet as it was important to keep her warm and for her to monitor her.

We went back to Laura's and saw where her Richardson's ground squirrel just had a tumour removed. Once she was tucked in with her friends we all went for coffee to await the call to collect Akiko.

We collected Akiko around 7pm. She was all awake and looking well considering. She had 3 medications to take and we booked for her to go back the next Friday. Sounds odd but I am sort of proud as the vet said that her bones are great bar obviously the fracture so as we are her breeders we know that all along she has had a great diet her whole life, even before she was born.

When we got home we walked in the door and there was Sprite papillon. Akiko saw her and screamed 'MEEP!' but soon got upset as she was not allowed to play. We proofed her cage so she could not fall off anything or get anything caught and put her in there, she could not work out how to curl up so I helped her however soon after she got back up and refused to be helped so slept that night with her bottom in the air.
Akiko's fracture 1st day home

The next morning she took her meds like a good girl and when I put her back to bed she leapt into bed and curled up right away! I was amazed at how fast she adapted.

On Saturday I took off her bandage and I am so glad she has a cone or I think she would totally freak out.
The day the bandage came off

She is doing really well though. I am so grateful to Laura for getting the vet to see Akiko and being there for us (and for the coffee:-))  and our friend George who's pet chihuahua recently fractured both of her legs so he was able to talk us through what he went through and to all of our other friends for their support.

You should all go and visit Laura's squirrels here: http://www.gophers.org.uk/ the are the most charming little critters!

I know I am very, very behind on the blog, shall try to update it all when I have a chance.

1 comment:

  1. Aww, I'm just picturing her all rolled up in bubble wrap! Glad to hear she's feeling better -- little critters can break so easily.

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