Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Sedona Goes Back to the Vet

Warning: this post contains bloody pictures.

This morning when I opened the back door to let the dogs out, it took a few minutes for Sedona to come out of her doghouse.  When she emerged, she was a bloody mess.  After my initial reaction of "holy crap!" I realized she most likely had an abscess that burst.

I raced down to the barn to feed the horses and muck the pasture.  Then I raced back to the house and got the goats their bottles of milk.  Bear and Bella are speed demon drinkers - one bottle, empty, 60 seconds.  Then I loaded Sedona into the car and drove an hour (well, I got there in less than an hour...) to the vet's barn.  I was at his gate at 7:30.  He confirmed that it was an abscess and after cleaning and shaving the area, he saw puppy bites.  I'm guessing they were eating manure, then playing, and Kersey gave Sedona a love bite loaded with bacteria.

I picked up Sedona after work (she had to be sedated, local lidicaine wasn't cutting it for her) and brought her home.  She is recuperating in the mud room and seems pleased with her digs.  We have to keep the area very clean and wait for it to stop draining.  In the meantime, she is on antibiotics and I have to hold a warm compress on the area twice a day.  Fortunately, she loves the warm compresses.  She leans into the wash cloth and closes her eyes.  The drains and stitches will come out on Friday or Saturday.


Poor puppy dog!

9 comments:

  1. Sedona will be ok! Good news. I have that same dog bed...we must have similar taste buds. When are you are your daughter leaving for Paris? And when are the other goaties arriving?

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  2. poor girl :(
    hope she feels better soon. Your heart must have sank when you seen her.
    Sending healing thoughts her way!

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  3. Poor Sedona :( Luckily not serious though. Glad you found it quickly. Absesses always look really bad, but heal up quickly. What a sweet boy to lean into his compresses and close his eyes. It must feel really good to him. I find our Labs to be unbelievably tolerant of puppies and other dogs invading their space and being annoying to them - obviously it can be to their own detriment at times. I sometimes wish they'd give a little warning growl instead of putting up with what they do from our little dog Pepper, and teach him some manners, but Labs won't do that. Gotta love them for it though.

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  4. Oh I am so glad to hear that it was just an abscess for Sedona, bless her little heart. I tell my girls all the time that nothing good comes from eating poop!

    You must be incredibly relieved.

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  5. Oh my gosh! So glad it wasn't as bad as it looked at first! She will be fine with the great care she is getting. Sending her well wishes.

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  6. Aw, poor thing. Glad it wasn't serious.

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  7. Your dogs eat horse poop? Ewwww!

    (Just kidding)

    I wish someone would invent a way to keep them from eating it. My Irish Wolfhound loves the stuff. :/

    That first picture looks pretty bad!

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  8. Oh my goodness, that was scary looking! Glad the old gal is ok!! A friend's little terrier got bit and had an abscess burst on his neck and you can see his WINDPIPE! He carries on like it's nothing at all, but he looks like a living anatomy lesson right now--it's so gross LOL. Thankfully he's healing right up. Those abscesses can sure get out of hand so fast, though!

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Thanks so much for commenting!