There I was this morning thinking that Snowie had rings under his eyes, and shame what a thing to be tired on waking. Little did I know this is nothing compared to being attacked.
He has a chronic back problem - severely arthritic spine. Currently undergoing treatment (underwater treadmill, various other exercises at the dog physio) and we are under strict instructions not to take him to the beach or the forest, where he goes wild with excitement, not until he has his final assessment. He's been doing really well and got very strong.
We are now restricted to two areas where he can have off-leash walks where we know all the dogs and it's not hugely busy (no mad excitement) and the terrain is fairly even (no steep river banks to leap down, no soft sand). This morning we went on one of those walks. All was good until we were almost at the car. It was just a short path back, when he disappeared. I had just managed to get through on my phone to one my best friends in Australia who I've been trying to connect with, so I wasn't paying attention. I heard a lot of barking, but nothing worrying. I got to a point in the path where I saw Snowie was down a steep slope at the path below and there were about five dogs. Then I saw a man yank a white dog by its tail away from the others and shout at the dogs. I thought it was Snowie, but then saw another similar dog and thought I must've been mistaken cos he was shouting at his dogs. I called Snowie and he walked slowly up the slope, tail limp. I immediately put on his leash and all seemed okay. I thought he might've been trying to mount one of the dogs (from time to time he'll fixate on a bitch and try to mount her, although not that often anymore). The man was fairly far away, and I didn't want to walk Snowie down that steep path to go chat to him to say sorry about my dog mounting his dog. He seemed to linger and watch me walk away. Snowie hopped in the car and we drove home. He even went into the pool. But when I began to dry him, I noticed some blood on his back, on his spine around L7 (his bad vertebra) and saw a big puncture wound. He also had mud on his back and neck, indicative of dogs jumping on him. I cleaned up the wound and put on an antibiotic gel. Then, when he came inside and lay down, I saw more blood seeping out of another puncture wound, closer to his right hip. Cleaned that up. When he tried to lie down, he yelped, so I gave him Tramadol. My mother came over to watch the rugby and he was all excited to see her, went to meet her at the gate. But then, after he'd slept through the match and then tried to get up when my mom was leaving, he cried in pain and had to lie down. He was shivering and crying every time he tried to shift his weight. Then my husband noticed more blood, under his tail. There was another puncture wound just above his anus, under the tail. I tried to search him all over for more wounds, but thankfully no more. But he wouldn't budge from his frozen Sphinx position, so I didn't know if there were others underneath. So we put white kitchen towel under him to see if it came out bloody. Thankfully it didn't! I gave him an anti-inflammatory (Rimadyl) at this stage. We had pain meds left over from when he had x-rays (he actually didn't need them then). I followed those instructions - 1 Rimadyl twice a day, 2-3 Tramadol 3x per day. But he just wasn't improving, and would cry just by shifting his weight.
We called a family friend, a woman who worked in dog rescue for years and who is Snowie's favourite person in the whole wide world. I was in a state of shock and felt nauseas with worry and I needed someone else to take care of the situation. She was so lovely and came over and of course Snowie tried to stand when he heard the doorbell and cried out in pain and started shivering again. I got him to lie down, but when she came in, he transformed! Wagged his tail madly, and even pulled out a toy from her handbag (she always brings him a toy, which he must snuffle for in her handbag). She had given us instructions via the phone to apply rescue remedy to the insides of his ears (for quick absorption), which we did. I also glugged down a whole lot for my own shock. But just having her over got Snowie to move out of his frozen Sphinx posture and move a little, loosen up his muscles. She reassured us that he would be fine and that she's seen the worst (dog attacks in rescue, broken dogs brought in, etc), and he certainly was nothing like that. He was obviously in shock and he was sore, but he'd recover. That's all I needed to hear. I called her HAT: Humans as Therapy. She's what every sore dog needs! (While she was inspecting the wound above his anus, she received a nice squirt of anal juice!)
Tomorrow we'll take him to our vet. Of course it had to happen on a Sunday, but I guess that's when people bring out their "weekend" dogs that probably never get out -- I didn't recognise the dogs. I don't know why Snowie ran over to them. He's normally very good at knowing if a dog should be avoided. The only thing I can think of is that he tried to mount a dog and it attacked him in response. Or maybe all those dogs just ganged up on him. He's certainly not an aggressor. I'm guessing that is why that man watched us, probably expected me to say he was bleeding. I guess he felt relieved when he saw us walk away.
I'm sleeping downstairs tonight, with Snowie - he can hardly walk let alone climb steps. He's drugged up enough now that he can sleep on his side, and he did manage to hobble from his bed outside, but didn't wee, and then hobble back inside to his bed.
He has a chronic back problem - severely arthritic spine. Currently undergoing treatment (underwater treadmill, various other exercises at the dog physio) and we are under strict instructions not to take him to the beach or the forest, where he goes wild with excitement, not until he has his final assessment. He's been doing really well and got very strong.
We are now restricted to two areas where he can have off-leash walks where we know all the dogs and it's not hugely busy (no mad excitement) and the terrain is fairly even (no steep river banks to leap down, no soft sand). This morning we went on one of those walks. All was good until we were almost at the car. It was just a short path back, when he disappeared. I had just managed to get through on my phone to one my best friends in Australia who I've been trying to connect with, so I wasn't paying attention. I heard a lot of barking, but nothing worrying. I got to a point in the path where I saw Snowie was down a steep slope at the path below and there were about five dogs. Then I saw a man yank a white dog by its tail away from the others and shout at the dogs. I thought it was Snowie, but then saw another similar dog and thought I must've been mistaken cos he was shouting at his dogs. I called Snowie and he walked slowly up the slope, tail limp. I immediately put on his leash and all seemed okay. I thought he might've been trying to mount one of the dogs (from time to time he'll fixate on a bitch and try to mount her, although not that often anymore). The man was fairly far away, and I didn't want to walk Snowie down that steep path to go chat to him to say sorry about my dog mounting his dog. He seemed to linger and watch me walk away. Snowie hopped in the car and we drove home. He even went into the pool. But when I began to dry him, I noticed some blood on his back, on his spine around L7 (his bad vertebra) and saw a big puncture wound. He also had mud on his back and neck, indicative of dogs jumping on him. I cleaned up the wound and put on an antibiotic gel. Then, when he came inside and lay down, I saw more blood seeping out of another puncture wound, closer to his right hip. Cleaned that up. When he tried to lie down, he yelped, so I gave him Tramadol. My mother came over to watch the rugby and he was all excited to see her, went to meet her at the gate. But then, after he'd slept through the match and then tried to get up when my mom was leaving, he cried in pain and had to lie down. He was shivering and crying every time he tried to shift his weight. Then my husband noticed more blood, under his tail. There was another puncture wound just above his anus, under the tail. I tried to search him all over for more wounds, but thankfully no more. But he wouldn't budge from his frozen Sphinx position, so I didn't know if there were others underneath. So we put white kitchen towel under him to see if it came out bloody. Thankfully it didn't! I gave him an anti-inflammatory (Rimadyl) at this stage. We had pain meds left over from when he had x-rays (he actually didn't need them then). I followed those instructions - 1 Rimadyl twice a day, 2-3 Tramadol 3x per day. But he just wasn't improving, and would cry just by shifting his weight.
We called a family friend, a woman who worked in dog rescue for years and who is Snowie's favourite person in the whole wide world. I was in a state of shock and felt nauseas with worry and I needed someone else to take care of the situation. She was so lovely and came over and of course Snowie tried to stand when he heard the doorbell and cried out in pain and started shivering again. I got him to lie down, but when she came in, he transformed! Wagged his tail madly, and even pulled out a toy from her handbag (she always brings him a toy, which he must snuffle for in her handbag). She had given us instructions via the phone to apply rescue remedy to the insides of his ears (for quick absorption), which we did. I also glugged down a whole lot for my own shock. But just having her over got Snowie to move out of his frozen Sphinx posture and move a little, loosen up his muscles. She reassured us that he would be fine and that she's seen the worst (dog attacks in rescue, broken dogs brought in, etc), and he certainly was nothing like that. He was obviously in shock and he was sore, but he'd recover. That's all I needed to hear. I called her HAT: Humans as Therapy. She's what every sore dog needs! (While she was inspecting the wound above his anus, she received a nice squirt of anal juice!)
Tomorrow we'll take him to our vet. Of course it had to happen on a Sunday, but I guess that's when people bring out their "weekend" dogs that probably never get out -- I didn't recognise the dogs. I don't know why Snowie ran over to them. He's normally very good at knowing if a dog should be avoided. The only thing I can think of is that he tried to mount a dog and it attacked him in response. Or maybe all those dogs just ganged up on him. He's certainly not an aggressor. I'm guessing that is why that man watched us, probably expected me to say he was bleeding. I guess he felt relieved when he saw us walk away.
I'm sleeping downstairs tonight, with Snowie - he can hardly walk let alone climb steps. He's drugged up enough now that he can sleep on his side, and he did manage to hobble from his bed outside, but didn't wee, and then hobble back inside to his bed.
. I hope he is better as the day goes on. Sounds like he is probably in a bit of shock too. Big hugs to you both x
