Sunday, December 28, 2008

possible HBC



hbc, in veterinary shorthand, means hit by car. i learned this last night when i took kingsley to the emergency clinic because of a possible hbc.

i let him out into the back yard to pee, which he did and then he wandered back to the alley in a routine search for discarded fast food treats. i was inside washing dishes. he'd been outside maybe 5 minutes before he wandered back in and headed for the living room. i didn't notice that anything was wrong until he limped back into the kitchen about 20 minutes later holding his front paw off the ground. then i saw the road rash on his hind leg. he could barely walk.

i freaked out gradually over the next couple of hours. and even though i'd checked for obvious breaks or tenderness and didn't find anything, i was full of worst case scenarios. i finally picked him up and carried his enormous 70 pounds out to the car. the vet seemed fairly confident that he is just sprained and very confident that there are no internal injuries. so, for $100 i got relative peace of mind and kingsley got one (yes, ONE) painkiller.

it's now been nearly 24 hours since the accident and he's walking with just a slight limp and putting weight on his fore leg again. he even ran around a bit in the back yard.

i am soooooo lucky. and i guess its time to get a fence.

2 comments:

Tina said...

yes, so lucky. glad you get another chance.
we will help you put a fence up this spring when the ground thaws enough to dig it. we can have a good old fashioned fence raising. offer enough good food and adult beverages, and we could have plenty of help, i betcha.

elisabeth said...

so glad he's ok!!