Where Chester Lives - Dogs

Chili Update

nospam@example.com (Coy Thorp) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:17:43 -0700

So, Chili is healing nicely. ***WARNING -- Graphic Wound Description Ahead***

If you are satisfied knowing that he is doing okay, you can stop reading. If you cannot help but read on, do so at your own peril.

When he got the drain line out on October 12th (It's that latex thing in the picture of the previous pos t), there was a small hole at the top and bottom of the stitched areas. These holes were still weeping, but the wound site is an awkward place for a bandage. We took him back to the vet the following day because of the continual seeping and he had pulled the top stitch out overnight. The vet put four staples in the top of his incision and one at the bottom. We brought him home and were having a difficult time keeping him from trying to scratch the wound. I did NOT want him to tear those things out...more heartache, more damage to the little guy, and more vet bills. We called the vet and they recommended putting a sweater on him and putting a child's sock around his hind leg to keep him from scratching. While the sweater idea was pure genius, the sock thing didn't work out at all...the tape pulled at very sensitive skin areas and his mobility was very awkward. I wish I had gotten a picture, though. It was pretty funny watching him try to walk around. So, we took the sock off and the sweater did the trick. However, the wound continued to weep for several days, which meant frequent sweater changes and laundering (gross, I know). Also, we couldn't leave him home by himself because I was still catching him try to scratch and who KNOWS what he would have tried if we were all gone. He got his stitches out last Friday, the 19th, but the staples are still in. He truly looks like FrankenDog. Teresa even bought him a Frankenstein doggy costume for Hallowe'en. He still has the sweater on, mostly to keep Chester from trying to lick the wound. In every other aspect, he is behaving normally.

Which means that this incident has taught him nothing. I love him, but he is one dumb dog.

It Hurts

nospam@example.com (Coy Thorp) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:15:12 -0700

So, Monday afternoon Chili dug out of our yard and worked his way into a neighbor's yard, where he got attacked by their two Akitas. Of course, we do not blame our neighbors...Chili was the one dumb enough to do something like that, and the other dogs were defending their territory. Luckily for Chili, during the attack some stuff got knocked over and blocked the bigger dogs' access to him. Emma found him like that. Teresa brought him home and noticed he was limping. He had a few puncture wounds around his shoulders, one that looked deep and serious, so the vet was called. As it turns out, one of the Akitas had picked Chili up and shook him, with one tooth puncturing his shoulder all the way to the bone. During the shaking, this tore some muscles away from the bone and Chili had to have surgery. We were all very upset, even our checking account. He spent Monday and Tuesday at the vet and we picked him up this morning. Poor little guy...he has a little cone on his head and a three inch incision on his shoulder with a drain line that they will remove on Saturday. we have to keep him separate from Chester, so he is currently laying on his bed in a dog crate next to my desk. He is going to be fine and will certainly make a full recovery. I hope he learns that you don't do things like that...but who knows. No one would ever accuse him of being smart.

Needless to say, this event has consumed our family for the past couple of days, and has been very dramatic. We are really happy that he's home and resting. It's funny how attached we get to pets, and the spending of significant amounts of money to help them isn't even questioned. Chili is a member of our family, and when he hurts, we hurt.

Get well, little guy.

Chester is sick

nospam@example.com (Coy Thorp) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:25:51 -0700

Poor little guy.

He's been shivering all morning, and we have been cleaning up...er...spots on the carpet since we got up. I just hope it's an FB (foreign body - you'd think i was a vet or something). I am loathe to take him to the vet right now. He's curled up on the bed at the moment. AnneandEmma (a parent wil understand why that's one word) is cuddling with him right now. He has calmed down significantly. I hope it has passed.

In other news, Spotbots are wonderful things.

Stay tuned.

----UPDATE!!!----

Chester is feeling much better now. He's not dead yet.