Sick as a Dog

Last weekend a dog attacked my dog. However, being that she is bigger, and a little more stubborn, she grabbed the dog by the neck and rattled her a little, then they stopped fighting. That dog wasn't hurt, and the fighting stopped. But the next day I noticed a small puncture wound in Sally's chest. At first I thought the other dog had bit her, but I couldn't see how it could have bit her chest, and left only one puncture. And how does a dog get it's teeth around a chest? I then thought maybe she had poked herself going through the bushes. I wasn't too concerned.

Saturday night I noticed the wound again and saw that it was a little red around the puncture area and seemed to be weeping a little. I put some neosporin on it and determined to keep it clean and keep medicine on it until it healed. The next morning I was planning to leave on vacation, and told my neighbor about the wound. I asked her if she could keep an eye on it for me. Then I said, "Hmm, why don't you come over and we both look so that we both have a sort of "start point" so you can let me know if it gets worse." When she came over, I took a look and found that Sally's chest had a huge hard, red swelling on it. I would say it was about 5" long. I told my neighbor that I knew something wasn't right. I called the vet and asked if I could get in that morning as soon as possible because I was planning to leave town. I got an appointment for 9:15 am.

I was very surprised by the Doctor's diagnosis. He told me that a barbed weed had worked it's way in to her skin! He got out some long nosed tweezers and went in through the weed track as far as he could, but couldn't find it. He asked to keep her for the day so he could explore it more. I arranged for my son to pick her up later that day. The Doctor had to cut it open, but still couldn't find the barbed seed. He cleaned out the area, stitched it up, and gave her some antibiotics. I think it was absorbed in her body.

I have definitely learned my lesson from this. Because of her curly hair, I need to really brush her good after letting her run in tall grasses. These nasty weeds can even get in animals' noses, ears, etc. I'm really grateful that I have a good neighbor who could help with the aftercare, and that my son was here to keep an eye on her too.