Watson's Mom
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So, as many of you have read (thank you for all the kind words by the way!) my little guy Watson was mauled by a pit bull on Friday. I thought I would give a little update as we progress through the healing process- this seems like a better spot for the thread than the medications pages.
Like I said, Watson was attacked by a pitbull on Friday (his 3rd birthday is June 28- happy birthday, right?). It took four adults to get the dog off of him. Once I got him in my hand and did a cursory once over on him, I noted a couple of puncture wounds in his abdomen, bits of fat in his fur, but no intestines as I was afraid I would find. I rushed him to the nearest vet- of course we were out of town and ours is an hour from home and moving into a new clinic anyway.
We got to the vet and he shaved him as he found injuries. There were a total of 7 puncture wounds, for some reason in one of the bites, one of the top canines never penetrated his flesh. This vet stapled closed three of the punctures, gave us some rimadyl and clindamycin and sent us on our way... which happened to be to urgent care so I could get a tetanus shot since Watson bit me and where my boyfriend was getting his fingers stitched up courtesy of the pit bull.
We met with town police and the dog control officer for the town. By Saturday he had received a judge's order to seize the dog to be quarantined for 10 days. The owner had allowed the dog's rabies vaccine to lapse. We also now have a court hearing for this Friday.
I followed the initial vet's instructions through the weekend but noticed a spot of swelling that was clearly filling with fluid by Sunday afternoon. I watched the wounds themselves and kept an eye on that with a plan to contact our own vet on Monday.
When Monday rolled around, I noticed three of the four staples had either pulled completely out, or were now only attached to one side of the wound. The fluid filled area did not seem any bigger, but it was also not smaller. I called the vet as planned and the receptionist initially wanted to schedule us for Wednesday and when I told her I didn't think it was soon enough, she connected me with a technician who spoke directly with one of the doctors who said to bring him directly in.
When we arrived at the clinic, the technician met us in the parking lot and rushed us right in where the doctor and several other technicians met us. I love this clinic and the technicians especially
!
The took his temperature and weight- temp normal, weight up nearly a pound from 20.3 to 21 from Friday- the vet commented it could be do to retaining a large amount of fluid in the wounds. She listened to him and examined the wounds. Her initial determination was that the staples would come out, a stab incision below the wound with the fluid pocket, and possibly an xray taken to determine if he had broken ribs since there was a pretty substantial swelling over his rib cage.
They called me a couple of hours later to let me know he was done. When I picked him up the vet explained that when she actually got him sedated and started examining him, the stab incision would not suffice and he now has a drain installed from about two inches bellow his shoulder blade area extending passed his rib cage... perhaps 11 inches? When she inserted her hemostat it just kept going in further and further until she realized that the two bite locations were connected by this large fluid and infection filled area. The other wounds are now open to heal from the inside out though there is quite a bit of tissue around many of them that she says will likely turn necrotic and slough off. They also shaved more of his coat down around his belly reveal a tremendous amount of bruising and areas where the blood has settled thanks to gravity. The inside of his back legs, his belly and prepuce are all bruised. Poor guy has been holding in his poop we figure because he was in so much pain, he doesn't want to use his abdominal muscles.
Now he is home, and thanks to a much stronger pain killer, able to lay down and rest and at least appear comfortable albeit somewhat goofy. He is also on a stronger antibiotic since he has a large amount of infection. The believes that he will heal from this ordeal, but that we are likely looking at at least 2 months. We go back on Thursday to evaluate having the drain removed and discuss whether she thinks we should boost for rabies (he's still two years out from needing it) or if we wait for the other dog's 10 day quarantine to be up... technically speaking, Watson is also under quarantine until Monday since he bit me... but it's not like he's in any shape to go anywhere but the vet anyhow.
He is currently sleeping next to me and all I can smell is the infection draining from his body.
Hopefully he will stay asleep and relatively pain free so that I can clean what has drained off of his abdomen and legs.
I uploaded a picture of him when we got home yesterday afternoon with the way the wounds and drain look now. I know at least one person looked at them (the pics aren't all sad and depressing ones though). I won't add them right here though so folks who aren't curious or interested in that sort of thing don't have to see it.
Like I said, Watson was attacked by a pitbull on Friday (his 3rd birthday is June 28- happy birthday, right?). It took four adults to get the dog off of him. Once I got him in my hand and did a cursory once over on him, I noted a couple of puncture wounds in his abdomen, bits of fat in his fur, but no intestines as I was afraid I would find. I rushed him to the nearest vet- of course we were out of town and ours is an hour from home and moving into a new clinic anyway.
We got to the vet and he shaved him as he found injuries. There were a total of 7 puncture wounds, for some reason in one of the bites, one of the top canines never penetrated his flesh. This vet stapled closed three of the punctures, gave us some rimadyl and clindamycin and sent us on our way... which happened to be to urgent care so I could get a tetanus shot since Watson bit me and where my boyfriend was getting his fingers stitched up courtesy of the pit bull.
We met with town police and the dog control officer for the town. By Saturday he had received a judge's order to seize the dog to be quarantined for 10 days. The owner had allowed the dog's rabies vaccine to lapse. We also now have a court hearing for this Friday.
I followed the initial vet's instructions through the weekend but noticed a spot of swelling that was clearly filling with fluid by Sunday afternoon. I watched the wounds themselves and kept an eye on that with a plan to contact our own vet on Monday.
When Monday rolled around, I noticed three of the four staples had either pulled completely out, or were now only attached to one side of the wound. The fluid filled area did not seem any bigger, but it was also not smaller. I called the vet as planned and the receptionist initially wanted to schedule us for Wednesday and when I told her I didn't think it was soon enough, she connected me with a technician who spoke directly with one of the doctors who said to bring him directly in.
When we arrived at the clinic, the technician met us in the parking lot and rushed us right in where the doctor and several other technicians met us. I love this clinic and the technicians especially
!The took his temperature and weight- temp normal, weight up nearly a pound from 20.3 to 21 from Friday- the vet commented it could be do to retaining a large amount of fluid in the wounds. She listened to him and examined the wounds. Her initial determination was that the staples would come out, a stab incision below the wound with the fluid pocket, and possibly an xray taken to determine if he had broken ribs since there was a pretty substantial swelling over his rib cage.
They called me a couple of hours later to let me know he was done. When I picked him up the vet explained that when she actually got him sedated and started examining him, the stab incision would not suffice and he now has a drain installed from about two inches bellow his shoulder blade area extending passed his rib cage... perhaps 11 inches? When she inserted her hemostat it just kept going in further and further until she realized that the two bite locations were connected by this large fluid and infection filled area. The other wounds are now open to heal from the inside out though there is quite a bit of tissue around many of them that she says will likely turn necrotic and slough off. They also shaved more of his coat down around his belly reveal a tremendous amount of bruising and areas where the blood has settled thanks to gravity. The inside of his back legs, his belly and prepuce are all bruised. Poor guy has been holding in his poop we figure because he was in so much pain, he doesn't want to use his abdominal muscles.
Now he is home, and thanks to a much stronger pain killer, able to lay down and rest and at least appear comfortable albeit somewhat goofy. He is also on a stronger antibiotic since he has a large amount of infection. The believes that he will heal from this ordeal, but that we are likely looking at at least 2 months. We go back on Thursday to evaluate having the drain removed and discuss whether she thinks we should boost for rabies (he's still two years out from needing it) or if we wait for the other dog's 10 day quarantine to be up... technically speaking, Watson is also under quarantine until Monday since he bit me... but it's not like he's in any shape to go anywhere but the vet anyhow.
He is currently sleeping next to me and all I can smell is the infection draining from his body.
Hopefully he will stay asleep and relatively pain free so that I can clean what has drained off of his abdomen and legs. I uploaded a picture of him when we got home yesterday afternoon with the way the wounds and drain look now. I know at least one person looked at them (the pics aren't all sad and depressing ones though). I won't add them right here though so folks who aren't curious or interested in that sort of thing don't have to see it.
