Tuesday, February 4, 2014

$680 at the Vet Today, and We're Now a "One Dog" Family

WELL......it happened again this afternoon, and I almost couldn't get them apart.

It was the usual "Mailman Thing", and this time the big dog went at the little one with full force.

I threw water on them, threw blankets on them, swatted him with a magazine, and finally resorted to belting him with a 1x6 from the Ikea chest unit I was working on.

He broke loose, and as she started to run away, he went right back at her, TWICE.

I absolutely hate hitting dogs, but I was getting desperate, so I really walloped him with the pine board I had. He stopped long enough that I was able to get the little dog away from him and outside.

I brought back in the fold-up kennel, set it up, and opened the door to it, and yelled at him to get in there, which he promptly did.

The house looked like a crime scene, with blood on the walls from where he body-slammed her into the walls, blood on the floor from her torn ear, and blood on the sideboard cabinet in our bedroom where he chased her in and cornered her on my side of our bed. I butt-stroked him with my Remington 870 to break him off, and that's when he chased her back out into the living room where I finally walloped him with the board hard enough to get his attention, and hustled her outside.

I had to sit down for about ten minutes to catch my breath before I could call my wife and tell her "Swisher is OUT of here", so she called the guy we got them from, and he's on his way over now to take Swisher back.

Pebbles has a left ear with about 20 stitches in it, two drainage tubes stitched in her back where he chomped her, and two in her right foreleg where he also chomped her.

And she's got several other wounds that the Vet said were surface wounds, and he cleaned them, and probed them to make sure they weren't deep, and put in a couple of more stitches.

Pebbles is sleeping on the small dog bed, drifting in and out of the anesthesia, and whimpering, and Swisher is in his kennel, awaiting transport off the premises.

Been a REALLY bad day here, and I'm taking Wednesday off from work to tend to the dog......

12 comments:

  1. Good grief. I'm sorry to hear this, hope your little one mends quickly, and that tranquility returns soon.

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  2. This happened again last week when I was at work late, and my poor little wife had to break them apart. Pebbles got taken to the Vet then, but she only had some minor wounds, so he cleaned them, and gave us some antibiotics.

    This time, I'm just glad that I was home, because I think Swisher would have killed her.

    Probably a good thing I didn't have any loaded magazines, because it was getting to the point where I was actually considering the unthinkable.....

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  3. Aw, man. I'm really sorry that it didn't work out. And all that drama and trauma. But you gave it your best.
    Here's hoping that Pebbles recovers soon and that Swisher finds a good home where he fits in better.

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  4. Swisher is a good dog if he's the only dog.

    He walks great, sits, stays, lays down on command, and is very affectionate.

    He just can't seem to tolerate another dog in the house.

    The trainer we took them both to for obedience classes said a Pit/Boxer mix could really be trouble if you weren't very firm with them.

    We're both just getting too old to have to pry the dogs apart on a semi regular basis, and since he was the one that initiated the last two attacks, I made the decision he had to go, something my wife couldn't or wouldn't do.

    She's sleeping comfortably now, and has stopped shivering and whimpering.

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  5. Sorry drjim. Hope the little one gets well soon.

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  6. Sorry to hear that, DrJim. About as traumatic as it gets, especially if you get to the point of considering the "unthinkable".


    SiGraybear@work

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  7. Sorry all this happened, drjim. Get well soon, Pebbles.

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  8. Thanks, everybody.

    She was really out of it last night, and I had to get up several times to see what she was whimpering about. One time I moved her in her bed to get her off her injured leg. I was able to get some water in her by soaking a clean towel and wiping her nose. She licked her nose, and then smelled the water on the towel, and stated licking the towel. I squeezed the towel and she lapped up the water, so we did that a few times and I got about half a cup of water into her.

    A little bit after that she came into our bedroom and spent the night sleeping on the floor by my side of the bed.

    This morning she's still wandering around in a daze, but at least she drank a bunch of water from her bowl, and nibbled some food.

    The Vet said she'd be fine, but that she'd definitely be hurting for a few days. He's going to pull the drainage tubes Friday afternoon and we'll see how she's doing then.

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  9. Ouch - I feel bad for you and the little dog. I'm glad the little one is getting better.

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  10. She was pretty out of it until about noon today. I went in the living room to check on her, and when she saw me coming her tail started wagging, so I figure the drugs must have worn off.

    She still hasn't eaten much, but I was able to get some cheese and a slice of ham into her this afternoon.

    She wasn't eating her kibble, but the ham and cheese just disappeared with just a bit of chewing!

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  11. She's all frisky again. Just got back from the Vet's, and he pulled all the tubes out of her, and checked her ear. He did quite a good job putting her ear back together, and I thanked him.

    When I got home from work yesterday she went nuts as soon as I came in the house. I don't think she's ever licked me that much in the entire time we've had her.

    And she sticks to me like glue now.

    It's really nice being able to have some toys out for her to play with. We couldn't do that before, as a fight would erupt within 10 minutes.

    And the stress level around here seems to have dropped by several orders of magnitude!

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