My Friend, Time

I have finally resolved to rest Riley.  We obtained a second opinion from Dr. Dee in Hollywood, Florida.  He is the orthopedic specialist that has seen every possible racing greyhound injury and was also the vet we consulted for a final opinion on her hock fracture.  We sent him the history, photos, and x-rays.  He was super nice to respond quickly, but had no magic answers..... time may be your friend he said.  It will be my very best friend if it heals this.

One of the photos we sent is above.  The right rear has a toe that now angles out (toe farthest to the left of photo).  You can see that her left rear does not have the same structure.  The toe itself is fine... it just angles out.  I am not sure if this was caused by the puncture that happened in mid-December or the fetching injury in January.  Are they related?  Did the puncture lead to the second one?  Or is it just a coincidence that the exact same area would be affected by two different injuries?

There is really nothing else to do, but rest it.  How long?  I am not sure.  I just hope it heals.  In the meanwhile, we have started tracking.  Tracking is one of those things I have attempted a few times, but have never gotten far.  Maybe I will finish what I start this time.  I have also started scheduling her for swimming once a week.  The goal is to safely exhaust her.  I also do not limit her leash walking as it does not worsen the injury.  Right now, she is sound, but I know that any amount of craziness would likely make her sore again.  For now, we will be tame.

I hate to always be wishing for time to fly.  It flies without any help already.  There are so many great things coming up that I do not want to rush through.... but I also want to hurry up and have Riley back into agility.