Some of you may recall that over the summer, our then-9-year-old mini-rex Aeryn broke her leg.  Surgery and amputation weren’t options given her age, that her blood work at the time turned out anemic.  However, she recovered fully somehow, and the anemia went away.

Unfortunately, she broke her leg again.  This time in two places.  We noticed Monday when she was clearly having issues hopping in a straight line, and sitting upright.  We took her to the same vet who saw her last time, at her new clinic as she was familiar with Aeryn. 

The break will never heal properly.  The center part of the right femur has lost a fair amount of bone density, which suggests that it’s diseased.  Possibly bone cancer. We couldn’t see how she broke her leg given that she’s been moved to new quarters where she doesn’t have to jump up and down floors, but if the bone was diseased and weakened then a break was inevitable.

Surgery and pinning is not an option this time either, as the bone won’t take it.  The vet is not recommending amputation either, as she has doubts that Aeryn will survive it at her age.

We talked a long time about whether it’s time to put Aeryn down.  The vet is NOT recommending euthanization at this time, because Aeryn is still acting utterly normal aside from the obvious.  She is eating, chewing up boxes and papers, grooming her cagemate Tegan, licking our fingers, and doesn’t seem in obvious pain (e.g., she’ll meatloaf or lambchop herself with her ears up and open). We have a large prescription of metacam, which she will be on for the rest of her life (however long that is) to supplement what was left over from last time.  The plan is to ease her pain and restrict her movement to her cage, at least for the next couple of weeks, to let her heal as best she can.  And keep her comfortable until and unless it becomes obvious that it’s best to let her go.

The vet is frankly amazed at Aeryn’s will to live, as she didn’t think Aeryn would survive the last time.  If she had bone cancer, and she probably did, then her health should have gone downhill fast instead of making what appeared to be a full recovery.  As long as Aeryn is willing and able to fight, we will not give up on her.