I took the dogs to my Mom's yesterday, as they were getting stir-crazy and needed a good run. Day started out well. My Mom and I ran a few errands and put the three pups in the outside kennel...uneventful as usual. Old dogs stayed in the house - too cold for their old joints. We came home so I could give Hailey her Plavix and then left again to go to the new Wegman's grocery store. Back to the kennel for the pups. We were gone for almost 4 hours! What a grocery store... Anyway, when we got home it was dark, so we let the dogs out of the kennel and I instantly could tell something was up with Sadie. She was slinking about with her tail down, keeping her hindquarters down a bit. She kept trying to get in the car while I was transferring my groceries from Mom's car. Normal Sadie would be jumping all over us, upbeat and crazy.
As I was walking towards the house with more light to see her, I noticed a strange wet substance all along her side and hindquarters. Uh-oh. Immediately got her inside and straight to the bathroom. The stuff was strange, oily and brownish colored. Still not quite sure what it was. Then I noticed the blood and wounds along her back and neck. Fortunately, Sadie LOVES the bathtub - it is like a den to her. I frequently find her laying in the tub at home. She hopped right in the tub. Mom was able to rinse her off, and Sadie laid down while we tried to figure out what to do. Wounds were still bleeding. Though her fur is thin, it was hard to see the extent of the bites. She yelped and snapped when we were inspecting the wounds - in fact, she owes Dad $3 for the tear in his shirtsleeve (she snapped at him when he touched her back). Dad checked out the kennel and didn't see any wild animals, but he did find a freshly mangled shrew outside the doghouse in the kennel. Mom found nothing obvious on Bella or Luna. So strange. We thought maybe Sadie laid down on a nest of shrews inside the doghouse, and maybe that is what bit her.
Mom and I drove her to Metropolitan - an awesome (but expensive) emergency vet hospital in Trooper with whom we have waaay too much experience. Ian met my Mom at the train station in Norristown while I waited for Sadie. The vets sedated her, shaved her, and examined the wounds. They brought Ian and I back to see the extent. Unbelievable. No way a shrew could do this! One wound on her side (near her scars from her Penn surgery and missing kidney) was so deep they could insert the probe all around about 3 inches in a semicircle. All that dead space would need cleaning, as any trapped bacteria could lead to nasty infection. Another set had fat tissue coming out of the wounds...as if the attacker grabbed on and tore. She had at least 10 puncture marks all along that side, and that was before they were able to look at her right side. The wounds were too extensive to see a distinct bite pattern. The vet was concerned the deepest puncture may have penetrated her abdominal cavity...that would be bad bad bad. Major surgery and worst case. Fortunately, we avoided that one and the wounds on the right side were fairly superficial in comparison - a few near the neck and one on the face.
My favorite vet (he graduated VMD/PHD from Penn...haha a real doctor, too!) who worked on both Franz for his abscess and Hailey for her clotting issues decided to put her under general anaesthesia to deep clean each wound and further explore. Three drainage tubes were needed along her left side, not sure how many sutures. They've described her as looking like Frankenstein...fun, just in time for Halloween. She is recovering today and is doing well so far. We get to pick her up tonight after Ian's class is over, as I cannot lift her by myself or she might be home right now.
The general consensus is that Bella and Sadie got into a massive fight (over the dead or captured and about to die shrew?). We found a bite mark under Bella's jaw and a scrape on her snout. Nothing on Luna. Sadie has been kind of bitchy and more aggressive over the past few days, guarding food and toys more than normal. She attacked Hailey over food the other day, and at the time, I thought that was the worst dog fight my pack had ever had. Fortunately, old Hailey didn't fight back at all, and Ian and I were able to finally pull Sadie off of her. No injuries that time. Well, maybe Bella had enough this time and just snapped. Revenge for the Hailey attack - lab pack loyalty? Bella definitely won the fight. Poor bitchy Sadie.
In the future, Sadie will be kept separate from the other dogs while we are not home. She basically does this anyway by crawling through the cat gate and sleeping on our bed while the other two pups are stuck in the kitchen. We have Sadie's kennel and dog house from Nicole's and are going to install next to the big kennel at my parents asap. The vet mentioned we might want to meet with a dog behavioral specialist, particularly with the timing of the baby. I am confident that I can handle these new issues, though, and will not explore professional help. In reality, we couldn't afford to do so anyway. After all these years of dog pack observation, and all the reading that I do, I think Ian and I can tackle this. But everyone better follow my new rules (hint hint Ian and Mom!).
Now to deal with the vet bill (not even going there in this post) and Frankenstein dog...
Oh, so exhausted today because didn't get to bed until almost 3am!!! Quiet today without my crazy velcro dog.
-Marie
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