Midway through the rabbit chasing, I heard what I thought was one of the roosting birds that shrieks when we walk near it. Turns out it was PB shrieking in pain but I didn't know that til later. I continued walking along the path and up ahead I saw his white form standing next to the path I was on, waiting for me to walk by and intercept him. This is not normal PB behavior and something was clearly wrong.
As I got closer, I saw he was holding his left front leg high up near his face. It was, I thought, my worst fear. He had been chasing rabbits and gotten his leg stuck in a hole and injured foot or leg. But as I reached him, standing pathetically, stoically resigned to his fate, I realized his left foot was caught in the loop of his martingale collar and he was slowly choking himself out. Dumb dog. I clucked at him, removed his foot, imagined the mockery I would face at work if they ever found out my dog had choked himself all on his own and off he ran, back to chasing his rabbits. I thought that was the end of it.
We got home and I left shortly after to go to crew. When I returned, it was light out and I saw his foot. It looked awful. The skin had been completely flayed off in one part and there was a line around his foot as though it had been caught in a trap. It was red and raw and of course he was licking it obsessively. His actual ankle joint also seemed swollen and he was ginger when moving on it. I was certain there was no way his collar could have caused that kind of injury. More likely, he got his foot caught in something in the field, wrenched it back because of the pain and got it stuck in his collar. Because it was pitch black, I have no idea what was out there and even though I brought a flashlight, the time delay between when he screamed and when I found him meant that I couldn't even pinpoint where he was when it happened. The park is 40 empty acres when we go at night. My fervent hope is that it wasn't a deliberate trap or device someone put there with the intent to harm dogs.
The end result was yet another trip to the vet. We couldn't get an appointment until that evening so in the meantime, I plied him with all sorts of bribes and ridiculous amounts of attention. He is a master of woe is me, I'm about to die, walking the plank hopelessness!
Oh I SUPPOSE a bully stick would help...
The raw bone pacifier in lieu of licking his foot...
Despite my distractions (bribes) he continued to lick his foot all day. It was nasty by the time we got to the vet. She examined him and also concurred that his collar couldn't have caused the injury but we aren't sure what could have. His soft tissue in the area of the injury is swollen and stretched out and he had already licked it into a hot spot. Thankfully, no evidence of a fracture or a vascular occlusion. We got some rimadyl for inflammation, orders to keep him quiet and a recommendation for an Elizabethan collar.
So today, I purchased the dreaded cone. I paid a ridiculous amount of money for a "Comfy Cone" which does indeed look comfy.
Why doesn't my dog look happy like the dog in the logo?
I had to giggle at the reflective stripe at the bottom. What? You can't see my conehead coming from far away?
Unfortunately, PB was utterly *terrified* of it, I think because of the noise the velcro makes. I felt like an ogre putting it on. He promptly stripped it off so I put it on a little tighter. He left it on and sat in the middle of the yard with a "Just shoot me now" look on his face. He began stress panting, drooling, his eyes were dilated with fear...it was a Prozac moment.
I'm good with amputation instead...
I left it on while I worked in the yard but by the end, even I couldn't stand watching him slowly descend into utter panic. So I took it off, brought him in and wrapped it with an ace bandage just tight enough to keep it on his leg and then used my handy ice hockey tape to secure it. He crawled onto the sofa with me in utter relief and promptly passed out. Poor PB.
How. Could. You?
Alas, he has licked it so much that it has become a scaly, oozing mess so I have to go get antibiotics tomorrow to add to his pharmacy. We declined the Tramadol for pain since he is so sensitive to meds so he'll have to suck it up.
And to add insult to injury, the cat went and stole his bed.
Don't even THINK about putting a cone on me...
So PB, (like most men), would like you to listen to him whine and also requests your never ending sympathy because his mother is already maxed out!
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