A month after picking Rocky up from his foster family, he was settling in nicely to a new family dynamic. While I was at work, I received a call that while walking through a large suburban park Rocky had an altercation with a horse. Apparently, the new pup had been so excited by this horse that he pulled and Broke his leash swivel. I was hard to even conceive of this, as it was a brand new training leash for large dogs and seemed built well. Anyways, the dog apparently chased this horse all around the park nipping at its ankles until finally Rocky got too close and was kicked in the Jaw.
My wife exchanged contacts and took Rocky strait to the emergency vet and after diagnosing a multiple fractures to his bottom jaw she transferred him to the specialty veterinary dentist an hour away. Within a few hours rocky was in surgery to place a prosthetic splint to hold the mandible together. The next few weeks were a blur nursing rocky back to health with pain medications, sedatives, antibiotics and soaking all of his meals. The plan was to maintain a Elizabethan Collar (E-collar, cone of shame) for 8 weeks and have the prosthetic removed in the operating room. Rocky had other plans, after 5 weeks Rocky was struggling to eat and in obvious pain, we took him back to the veterinary dentist and were told that rocky had broken the prosthetic and it came off easily in the clinic but that his jaw was healing well. We were given the option of having another placed or careful observation for a few weeks. Thankfully, Rocky Healed and has been doing well since.
Of note, I would never have pictured myself as the type to get pet insurance but after debate with my wife I acquiesced. This ended up saving us thousands of dollars and immeasurable stress in handling this situation. Shout-out to Yorktown Animal Emergency Center, The COVE, and PETS BEST Insurance for making this horrific situation manageable and saving my kids’ first (only) dog.