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Out of context: Reply #71533
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- kingsteven16
Yesterday: I'm in the park walking my dog Lemmy as usual, today was set to be a good day as I'd checked the tides and everything was perfectly timed for a walk through the park and back along the coast for a swim. I really did not expect the absolute nightmare that was about to unfold...
2pm i took this photo, failing to frame dog being a looper beside a couple of impressive fly agaric mushrooms:
About 5 minutes after this photo was taken the shit hit the fan. I don't often throw sticks having heard horror stories of dogs getting bits stuck in their stomachs, but I had forgot to bring tennis balls with me and when the dog picked up a big stick and dropped it right in my path, without even thinking I threw it for her... i was looking away when it happened but I think when it landed it must have stuck in the ground at an angle and she flew at the other end with her full weight... When I heard a yelp and saw the blood I knew it was bad.
She was bleeding from below her tongue, it looked really nasty and I knew I had to get her to the nearest vets, but we were deep in the park at the time and we had walked there from home so the quickest way (rather than walking to the main park entrance and relying on hailing a lift with a good samaritan) was a 20 minute walk by a back path. So, I phoned ahead to the the vet and they said they would clear a spot and bring her right in.
While on the phone to the vet I thought Lemmy could walk it, but she was losing so much blood by exerting herself it was horrifying (i think easily a pint at this point) I had to pick her up... terrifyingly she was colder and noticeably lighter than her normal 40 pounds.
So, I ran both of us covered in blood, cradling pup for about 10 minutes through the park. We passed about 6 people with varying levels of concern but they were mostly old folks or women with kids or walking multiple dogs so there was nothing they could do to help (my girlfriend can barely lift the dog for more than a few seconds)... From the park I crossed a railway bridge and up a hill towards the vet... I'm reasonably fit but was about to collapse from exhaustion, occasionally reassuring the dog and a couple of times out of desperation shouting for help at passing cars. A right fucking mess :-| Just as I was weighing up wether I could physically make it up the rest of the hill I was able to shout over to some workmen and one of them ran over and gave us a lift the final 500 meters to the vets in his van.
I only realised while passing a socially distanced queue outside the vets I had no mask with me but they were waiting and beckoned us in. A woman with her spaniel (who I'd probably bumped out of her appointment) opened the door and i ran straight in and plonked an incredibly frail doggo on the vets table. The vets just opened a couple months ago and bizarrely I'd only just registered the dog there last Tuesday to get her prescription for flea and worm meds... On inspection the wound had clotted over and stopped bleeding so the vet decided that given how weak she was to put her out the back room for an hour for observation as she may be in shock and wouldn't be safely check her cell counts or potentially give her a blood transfusion or IV. To my surprise they brought a chair and a mask so I could sit out there with the dog. I pretty much spend 24 hours a day with this pup so I didn't want to leave her there alone. I didn't even use the chair, just climbed in and sat on the floor of the cage with her...
I'd phoned my girlfriend 3 times and I'm glad she hadn't answered - because at the point she phoned back dog had just stood up and was wagging her tail at the sounds and smells of other dogs in the vets and I was feeling slightly more positive about the situation. By the time she arrived in a taxi 15 minutes later, we were back in the vets office where doggo had perked up so much the vet just gave us some painkillers, told us we should take her home and keep an eye on her and to get her some red meat to build up her iron. Remarkably with no treatment we did the 10 min walk home with bloody pup pulling on the lead scaring the school kids.
This was taken just before we went back in to the vets office around 3pm:
But the worst for us was yet to come... Several hours later with the vets now long closed we cant get the dog to eat or drink at all, her heart rate has raised to 160, she's struggling to breathe and we're considering bringing her to the notoriously shitty and expensive night vets to get her an IV. In a last ditch attempt at 3am I use the syringe that came with the painkillers to shoot some water in her mouth. I dunno how, but I hacked the dog! she opened her mouth for the first time in hours, swallowed and licked her nose then we were able to use a sports bottle to get her to drink some more... by 5am she's up and drinking from her bowl. My girlfriend stays on the sofa beside her but I decide to go upstairs to lie down... to my surprise the dog follows me up and jumps in the bed at my feet.
I'd set an alarm for 8:30, the vets open at 9 so this was going to be the last attempt at getting the dog to eat before bringing her back over to get an IV or transfusion. I put one of her wet pouches in her bowl and she wolfs it down and drinks about a pint of water, I cooked a steak rare and blended it with rice and gravy and she had that too... by 11 she was running around with a ball in her mouth... by 2pm as we were getting ready to bring her back to the vets for a checkup she was barking at the post man and running around the garden like a mad thing...
This photo from our garden at 2pm today (24 hours after the first one):
She's not out of the woods yet, she has a soft lump in her throat that could be internal bleeding, but could also be her saliva glands or a cyst caused by infection so keeping a close eye on her and could well be in for surgery tomorrow if it gets worse. But the immediate threat of death is gone, she's snoozing at my feet right now and I am totally emotionally and physically drained and need some fucking sleep.
[TLDR] never throw sticks for dogs.
- Damn!!Gnash
- yikesFax_Benson
- Holy shit, what a rollercoaster. Sending good vibes to you and Lemmy's continued cuteness.garbage
- Holy shit! I thought you were gonna say he ate the agaricsscarabin
- All the best to her.
(Your dogshit-story was way funnier.)Longcopylover - OMG! Best of luck, hope your pooch heals up.davey_g
- Ah man, hope Lemmy makes a full recovery. Glad some members of the public helped you out. Must have been really scary.PhanLo
- Rest up Lemmythumb_screws
- Good god. Get better Lemmy.ben_
- eeeeeekpango
- Omgahd glad to hear she's doing better. I know the feeling it's so scary :(sea_sea
- Speedy recovery! I had no idea it was that dangerous.formed
- I never knew either about sticks!inteliboy
- Good luck! I had a scare a month ago w mine. Turned out okcannonball1978
- damn what a story. ive always thrown sticks never had any problems with it. I guess its just bad luck..milfhunter
- ^ a good friend of mine whos a top veterinary surgeon warned us about it. seems to have a constant stream of dogs with stick related injuries.kingsteven
- swelling is down in lemmy's neck this morning. just made her steak with peanut butter for breakfast, whole new levels of spoilt!kingsteven
- Great news! I also thought that he ate the mushrooms by mistake. Hallucinating dog would be another story.Beeswax
- poor wee dugPhrenological
- Glad to hear that Lemmy’s on the mend. Those temp drops are the scariest.ben_
- Great news! Steak and peanut butter is indeed some next level spoilage.garbage
- That dog is so cutei_was
- <3 pup hugs. glad shes doing better.mantrakid
- That was some painful shit to read. Worst than the worst horror movies I've ever seen. Thank God he's over the worst.CyBrainX