...and it sure is difficult trying to sleep while bandaged up like a purple mummy in the making.
Just a few pics of Mimi showing the aftermath of her trip to the emergency vet after she was attacked by our larger mutt Roxie. Mimi weighed in at 13.5 kilos at the vet last night or 29.7 pounds. Roxie is easily between 60 to 65 pounds and may be heavier as she has gained weight recently. Roxie was relatively uninjured with a couple of what seem to be superficial wounds on her forelegs. Mimi has at least 7 stitches in wounds to the skin's surface layer and also has more subcutaneous stitches, in at least two spots that for some reason the vet did not number in his report. So at the very least 9 stitches. One of those was not bandaged on her left hind leg. The rest are covered by the purple bandages. The red bandage, on her right foreleg, covered where she had an IV (I removed that today). She also had some other puncture wounds they did not stitch, and she has two drains, one in the inguinal area and another in her neck. I am guessing that a lot of her flesh, under the skin, was crushed and possibly torn by Roxie's gripping bite.
We are hopeful she will heal up okay and get back to her normal sprightly self again but she sure looks and acts like a very 'sore' loser right now. She has not moved much since I brought her home last night. She can walk but only with difficulty. I picked her up to let her out to do her thing and just about anyway I hold her it hurts her. Hopefully the pain pills the vet gave me to give to her are working. She is pretty young at about 4 or 5 years old, well maybe older but not by much. We got her when she was a very young adult from the NY City animal shelter. So, my guess is that within a week or two she will be pretty much all better; I wish I healed as fast as I expect she will heal. She took one heck of a beating and has been laying around with that far away look in her eyes since I brought her home. I don't think she has gotten up once except to turn around to try and lay back down in another position. The only time she has walked is when I carried her outside and put her down to answer the call of nature. I guess for now, the best we can do is pamper her a bit and let her rest and keep giving her those happy pills to kill the pain. As for my daughter and wife who were both bitten while trying to break up the dogfight: My daughter's finger is okay or as okay as it can be right now. My wife's hand may be another story. It was pretty swollen and very painful this morning and I recommended she go to a doctor to have it checked again because of the swelling and to ask for some pain meds because there is no way that Motrin is going to be enough at least over the next few days. Of course, she hasn't done that because she knows better.
As for Roxie's, she is back home but is locked up in the biggest bedroom for now. She will not be allowed free reign in the house for an indeterminate period and we are considering getting rid of her - maybe adopt her out to someone who would have her as their only dog or maybe something else. Who know, we may keep her but will have to figure out what led up to this fight and how to tame it. I am thinking if we do keep her, my wife will have to start carrying pepper spray in case this ever erupts again. It has happened twice, with only minor injuries the first time a year or two ago. Both times it happened it was when my wife had them just outside in the yard as she was putting on their leases to go for a walk. They get pretty excited before their daily walks but I am pretty sure that even if in another tear em up kind of a brawl, the pepper spray in their faces would end it quickly.
All the best,
Glenn B
