[sportschick]

Well, I am now dealing with the NEXT thing with Beanie. She sits on my lap in the car. And yes, I had bought a booster seat with a restraint, she was fine in it for a week and then decided to try and jump on my lap and almost hung herself while I was driving in the middle of traffic. I have tried other restraints and none of them work, she is determined to sit on my lap. SO, I let her do that, which I know isn't the safest thing, but neither is her hanging from the booster seat or tangled up in a restraint.

Anyway, she stands up and looks out the window at everything and she smushes herself against me safely, and then if we are driving a longer distance, she lays down and conks out.

This Sat., I went to visit a relative, parked the car and let go of her for like 5 seconds. She proceeded to fall into the area between the seat and the door and got her paw stuck in the plastic pocket part of the door, because she just HAD to try and get out of the car before I was ready.

I did not think anything of it because no yelps, no nothing. The relative wasn't home so I got back in the car with her on my lap and drive off. I look down and see blood all over my shorts. I fly home with her against me and have my landlord (who is like Dr. Dolittle) help me check her out, she seems o.k. so I take her upstairs, clean off her paw and go to bed. She gets up on Sunday and seems fine, running around EXCEPT she sits on the arm of the couch (like she does all the time), hears something outside and jumps/falls off the arm and then can't put her paw down and it starts bleeding again.

I called the breeder who said she probably split her nail on Sat. and it was going to have to be removed) and to call the vet today, which I did. I brought her in and he had to remove her nail which was basically split across - thank God he didn't have to sedate her. He put a cone on her head to stop her from licking it and said to keep her quiet for a few days. He knows her and knows me and he KNOWS that is not something possible, but said to do the best I could, don't panic if I see blood on her poor mangled paw and she would be healed in a couple of weeks.

OH MY GOD, she has already tried to lick her paw with the cone on and was stabbing it with the cone. I did end up giving her a tiny bit of Rimadyl tonight so she can sleep because she is in obvious pain. I also have to give her antibiotics for 2 weeks. I hate to give her any of this, but I don't want to take the chance of an infection and if she can't sleep from being in pain, she isn't going to heal, so I made the decision to give her the Rimadyl.

Anyway, after this long post, my question is, has anyone else dealt with this type of paw issue, and for how long does it take to heal and any suggestions on keeping her in the cone and quiet would be much appreciated. And yes, I also feel really guilty because I feel like I should have prevented this, just like I feel like I should have prevented her from getting attacked by the Husky last week - trying not to beat myself up too much.

She looks like she has a champagne glass without the stem on her head. ahahahahahahah, hey I have to laugh - I always try to - my poor baby stuck in a champagne glass!!!