The Amazing Bipedal Willow


 
     We love our vet, but she was a bit over her head with our little Willow.  We took Willow to UC Davis' Small Animal Clinic, where orthopedic surgeons accustomed to working on really small bones worked some magic on her broken legs, which have just refused to knit together until now.  Hopefully with a little help from a bone marrow transplant she'll have a little luck and this will be her last surgery!  Send good healing vibes our way, please?
 
     We should know in another month or so if her legs are finally knitting together.  They're doing everything else right -- forming bone calluses and the like, they're just not fusing.  But that was before this latest surgery.  If all goes well, she'll be out of splints in another three months.
 
     Anyway, Willow is now on really little, light splints.  The surgeon told us to let her decide when to put weight on the front legs (and she does need to put a little weight on them at some point, or they'll never get strong).  None of us anticipated that Willow would adapt to her condition quite so well, unfortunately -- she has taken to that bipedal walk again, but is now quite graceful and stable about it.  She can walk from the front door out onto the lawn, wander around a bit, do her "business", and then walk back to the front door -- all without her front legs touching the ground at all!  She's amazing to watch.
 
     We took some pix of her this 4th of July weekend while we were in the yard.  Normally we keep her inside, but she's so good about taking it easy on her legs we felt safe having her out for a bit.  She was quite good, and didn't even try chasing the chickens (though our big meany rooster might have something to do with that .. but that's another story).
 

 
Please click on a thumbnail to view larger image.

 

Ta-da! Bipedal puppy! (That white thing you see sticking out of her right foreleg is some cotton from her splint that got loose.)

We think maybe since her toepads are no longer covered, she's loathe to touch them to the ground. The new light splints certainly make that easy -- she easily remains standing upright for two or three minutes.

Her balance is really good -- she can even run and hop a little on her hind legs (though we'd rather she doesn't!)
    

Hmm .. is this a good place to "do our business"?

She moves so fast sometimes that taking a picture is hard .. you can see that this image is a little out of focus.

What a goofball. All she needs is a cane and derby hat.
    

Walking is fun, but she spends most of her time hunkered down next to her humans. Especially when her humans cast shadows for her to sit in, to get the sun off her hot little head.


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