The last place I expected to end up late Christmas Eve was a 24-hour emergency vet, but sometimes the unexpected happens.

The good news is that Maddie is okay. She had a rough day that started with a pronounced limp, which we attributed to her usual arthritis, and included a minor tumble down Jill’s carpeted stairs, which we thought was the result of her taking the steps too fast. But It was only late in the evening, as Jennifer, Maddie, and I were concluding a
Christmas visit to my parents’ house in Paradise Hills, that I discovered a large, swollen growth on the pad of Maddie’s right foot.

So, as Jennifer and I drove back to Jill’s house from Paradise Hills, we weighed our options, wondering if we should have the foot looked at immediately, or if we dared wait until we got home to Petaluma.

We decided to stop at ER4Pets in Rancho Bernardo (who rated well on Yelp), where DVM Diana Jones examined Maddie’s foot, advised us that the swelling appeared to be an inflamed cyst, and said that we should have Maddie’s regular vet, Dr. Cat, aspirate the inflammation and run tests once we got back home, but that she would probably be okay unless the cyst decided to burst.

We loaded Maddie back in the car and continued back to Jill’s house. But, shortly after we arrived, Maddie began licking her foot, and, wouldn’t you know it, broke the cyst wide open.

So Jill drove us back down to ER4Pets, Maddie riding in my lap (and bleeding on the leg of my jeans). Once there, Dr. Jones patched Maddie up in fairly short order with a bandage topped off with a cute little heart.

So Maddie gets to spend Christmas with a bandaged foot and an E-collar. Just what she wanted!

And me? I’m thankful that it wasn’t worse. Maddie’s napping at my feet as I write this, visions of sugarplums no doubt dancing through her head.

(Originally posted early Xmas morning.)

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