Mona
Well-Known Member
For the whole story, and because I am too tired and lazy to rewrite it all, I am just copy/pasting from email correspondence
This was from last night....
Just before supper tonight, Chris told me about a dog that came here and I wish he had've told me sooner! Now it's probably too late! It was a reserve dog I guess, and he and Randy (a friend of ours) had moved the couch and loveseat into the garage today so I could clean the carpet before the new furniture comes. Anyway, after they put the furniture in the garage, Chris left the garage door open as he had to go back in there to work. He (we) put up several thousand bags of frozen shiners (minnows) last month, and he had to package them by putting 100 baggies of them into a larger bag, just so they were easy to count as someone was buying 3000 baggies of them. Anyway, he was down there working when Randy showed up to help, so he left some bags of frozen minnows on the garage floor, up against the freezer. After they were done putting the furniture in there, they came in and had coffee. Then Randy left, and Chris went back down to finish up bagging the frozen bags of minnows. When he went down there, he said there was a reddish brown dog...kind of a "hunting hound" looking type with short hair. She was laying on the couch they had just put in there, and had eaten some of bags of frozen minnows. He told her to get down and he chased her off as we do to so many reserve dogs that come along, not really thinking more of it. He said she was skin and bones and tits hanging like it had recently had pups. He assumed likely all had since died, by judging by the condition of her. He never even mentioned anything to me until just before supper and then said he really shouldn't have chased her off, but should have shot her, as she is not going to make the night he didn't think, but he was not thinking clearly at the time as he was frustrated with what he was doing as things were not going as smoothly as he had planned. When he told me this, it was well after dark already, but I had him go down to see if she may have went into one of the portable garage shelters to maybe curl up and die in there. He said she had gone down the road, but he agreed to go and look anyway. Nothing there though. So after supper I brought down a big blanket, some dog food and water that I placed in a heated water bucket. I left all this in the garage, hoping she would maybe come back looking for more food (minnows). I put it all in the garage and left the door open, hoping she will come back, so I can at least TRY to help her, but Chris said he is certain she was VERY near death.
I feel so sad...was in tears just thinking about that poor thing, as I KNOW she must have been very bad off for Chris to have even mentioned he should have shot her instead of shooing her away, as he HATES the thought of having to do anything like that. Keep your fingers crossed that she comes back!
This is all from this morning BEFORE I went to the vet with her...
I went out last night before I went to bed to see if she was back in the garage again, and she wasn't, BUT, something had been, as the food that I had left was mostly gone, but there was no sign of her, so I wasn't sure if it was her or a fox or what that had been eating the food. This morning, Chris had to go to Fort to take the car in, and he stopped at the garage, I am guessing to check for her. We have an intercom from there to the house, so I told him to lock the talk button into place so I could hear anything that goes on in there should that dog show up. He said something I didn't understand, and so I told him why I wanted him to do that. Then I thought he said he is not sure if she is alive or dead, but thinking dead. I said "WHAT? Is she there?" He siad yes, she was laying on the couch again, but when he touched her, she wouldn't move, so he thought she may have already very recently died, although she was not hard or frozen yet. I said I'll be right there and went running down. I shook her and she would not move, but we could see she was breathing! I told him to wrap her in that green wool blanket I had brought down the night before and carry her to the house for me, so we could at least warm her up and see if we can help her. He did, and then he had to go. She smelled SOOOOOOOOO bad, that I had no choice but to get her into the tub. I just used the hand help shower thing to bath her. She is so weak, she really doesn't stand. I got her all cleaned up, sprayed her for lice and fleas, and closed her in the bathroom. I am scared because of my puppies here! But I cannot not help her! She is burping a lot so I am concerned about that, not knowing if it is because she just ate the food and got something into her belly or if it is a twisted gut or maybe some disease. I called the vet, he suspects she was "on her way out" when we found her this morning, and he said the burping and belly full of gas is likely from her scavenging garbage wherever she could find it to try to stay alive. I gave her two Lopatol (dewormer pills) and some Nutrical. He said to feed and water in small amounts to build her up slowly and not over-indulge. He said I can give her Pepto Bismol 3 times a day, 1 tablespoon each time, so see if that will help settle her tummy/gas problem. He also suggested feeding her puppy food and/or canned food as it is easier to digest and more nutritional value. I have her locked in the bathroom right now, and I went in and she is sleeping, saw me, just layed there but wagged her tail. I gave her a bit of water, then I talked to her and patted her while there and she seemed to really enjoy the attention. I am scared to put her outside to go to the bathroom for fear she may take off. I think I will put her in a 30" tall 8 panel ex-pen I have for Monkey that I use for Chihauhua pups etc. throughout the years. I think she will be OK!! She is BEAUTIFUL! I have named her "Irish", in part due to her deep Irish red coloring and partly due to her "Luck of the Irish" for actually being alive yet this morning for us to help her!
OK, now this is all new, since I got back from the vet this afternoon...
She has scabs here and there all over her body, I am assuming from a bad case of fleas and/or lice, but I treated her for that first thing after her bath and trimmed her nails too. Then when I was back in there trying to comb out a bunch of gooey patches, I noticed what looked like a puss filled blister on the outside of one of her back tits. As I manouvered her around to get a better look, I saw puss just OOZING from a different spot, between her two back tits. I packed some toilet paper in there, and it soaked up a large amount of puss. I did it a couple more times, and decided then I better get her into the vet!
She has a bit of a cough, almost like she had a drink of water and it went down the wrong way, but doesn't cough hard or often. They considered Blasto, as it is common in this area, but they xrayed her and her lungs looked good...thank God! The puss, well that was oozing from a hole between her two back tits, and all I have to do for that is to soak it with hot compresses several times a day, then strip the milk from the teats...it (the milk) was coming out all yellow today, but is white tonight! UGH! What a mess! While she was laying on the examining table awaiting them to come get her for her xrays, I noticed goop running from her vagina too, so I told the gal I thought the doctor should come and see her again about that, as I feared maybe Pyometra. The vet thought not, but took swabs, and then later thought it could be, so she just said to monitor her closely to ensure she does not go off her food and water and become real lethargic, and watch for color and fever as well, and if anything like that happens, get her in ASAP! They wanted to spay her to get rid of that, but they felt the risk was too high that she would not make the sugery in the poor shape she is in, so it os booked for Jan. 6, and we hope she'll have a few added pounds and recouperated some by then. AND, they even told me the xrays today would be paid for by them, and they would also help some with the cost of the spay as they sometimes do that for rehoming of pets that are abandoned or whatever, so I was thrilled with that offer! Now I just hope and pray she will be OK. I think she will, as she is already alot more alert after just 12 hours. One thing I did notice, is that now that she's "thawed out", the puncture in her left hind quarter seems to be causing her some pain, so maybe they will have to reopen that and cut away something and reclose it, but I am guessing they cannot do that until she's spayed either. They did not even want to vaccinate her today because of her condition! She is one two kinds of meds now to fight the infections in her body.
She actually looks worse in person, as the flash kind of glared off of her and didn't show just how thin she really is!
This was from last night....
Just before supper tonight, Chris told me about a dog that came here and I wish he had've told me sooner! Now it's probably too late! It was a reserve dog I guess, and he and Randy (a friend of ours) had moved the couch and loveseat into the garage today so I could clean the carpet before the new furniture comes. Anyway, after they put the furniture in the garage, Chris left the garage door open as he had to go back in there to work. He (we) put up several thousand bags of frozen shiners (minnows) last month, and he had to package them by putting 100 baggies of them into a larger bag, just so they were easy to count as someone was buying 3000 baggies of them. Anyway, he was down there working when Randy showed up to help, so he left some bags of frozen minnows on the garage floor, up against the freezer. After they were done putting the furniture in there, they came in and had coffee. Then Randy left, and Chris went back down to finish up bagging the frozen bags of minnows. When he went down there, he said there was a reddish brown dog...kind of a "hunting hound" looking type with short hair. She was laying on the couch they had just put in there, and had eaten some of bags of frozen minnows. He told her to get down and he chased her off as we do to so many reserve dogs that come along, not really thinking more of it. He said she was skin and bones and tits hanging like it had recently had pups. He assumed likely all had since died, by judging by the condition of her. He never even mentioned anything to me until just before supper and then said he really shouldn't have chased her off, but should have shot her, as she is not going to make the night he didn't think, but he was not thinking clearly at the time as he was frustrated with what he was doing as things were not going as smoothly as he had planned. When he told me this, it was well after dark already, but I had him go down to see if she may have went into one of the portable garage shelters to maybe curl up and die in there. He said she had gone down the road, but he agreed to go and look anyway. Nothing there though. So after supper I brought down a big blanket, some dog food and water that I placed in a heated water bucket. I left all this in the garage, hoping she would maybe come back looking for more food (minnows). I put it all in the garage and left the door open, hoping she will come back, so I can at least TRY to help her, but Chris said he is certain she was VERY near death.
This is all from this morning BEFORE I went to the vet with her...
I went out last night before I went to bed to see if she was back in the garage again, and she wasn't, BUT, something had been, as the food that I had left was mostly gone, but there was no sign of her, so I wasn't sure if it was her or a fox or what that had been eating the food. This morning, Chris had to go to Fort to take the car in, and he stopped at the garage, I am guessing to check for her. We have an intercom from there to the house, so I told him to lock the talk button into place so I could hear anything that goes on in there should that dog show up. He said something I didn't understand, and so I told him why I wanted him to do that. Then I thought he said he is not sure if she is alive or dead, but thinking dead. I said "WHAT? Is she there?" He siad yes, she was laying on the couch again, but when he touched her, she wouldn't move, so he thought she may have already very recently died, although she was not hard or frozen yet. I said I'll be right there and went running down. I shook her and she would not move, but we could see she was breathing! I told him to wrap her in that green wool blanket I had brought down the night before and carry her to the house for me, so we could at least warm her up and see if we can help her. He did, and then he had to go. She smelled SOOOOOOOOO bad, that I had no choice but to get her into the tub. I just used the hand help shower thing to bath her. She is so weak, she really doesn't stand. I got her all cleaned up, sprayed her for lice and fleas, and closed her in the bathroom. I am scared because of my puppies here! But I cannot not help her! She is burping a lot so I am concerned about that, not knowing if it is because she just ate the food and got something into her belly or if it is a twisted gut or maybe some disease. I called the vet, he suspects she was "on her way out" when we found her this morning, and he said the burping and belly full of gas is likely from her scavenging garbage wherever she could find it to try to stay alive. I gave her two Lopatol (dewormer pills) and some Nutrical. He said to feed and water in small amounts to build her up slowly and not over-indulge. He said I can give her Pepto Bismol 3 times a day, 1 tablespoon each time, so see if that will help settle her tummy/gas problem. He also suggested feeding her puppy food and/or canned food as it is easier to digest and more nutritional value. I have her locked in the bathroom right now, and I went in and she is sleeping, saw me, just layed there but wagged her tail. I gave her a bit of water, then I talked to her and patted her while there and she seemed to really enjoy the attention. I am scared to put her outside to go to the bathroom for fear she may take off. I think I will put her in a 30" tall 8 panel ex-pen I have for Monkey that I use for Chihauhua pups etc. throughout the years. I think she will be OK!! She is BEAUTIFUL! I have named her "Irish", in part due to her deep Irish red coloring and partly due to her "Luck of the Irish" for actually being alive yet this morning for us to help her!
OK, now this is all new, since I got back from the vet this afternoon...
She has scabs here and there all over her body, I am assuming from a bad case of fleas and/or lice, but I treated her for that first thing after her bath and trimmed her nails too. Then when I was back in there trying to comb out a bunch of gooey patches, I noticed what looked like a puss filled blister on the outside of one of her back tits. As I manouvered her around to get a better look, I saw puss just OOZING from a different spot, between her two back tits. I packed some toilet paper in there, and it soaked up a large amount of puss. I did it a couple more times, and decided then I better get her into the vet!
She has a bit of a cough, almost like she had a drink of water and it went down the wrong way, but doesn't cough hard or often. They considered Blasto, as it is common in this area, but they xrayed her and her lungs looked good...thank God! The puss, well that was oozing from a hole between her two back tits, and all I have to do for that is to soak it with hot compresses several times a day, then strip the milk from the teats...it (the milk) was coming out all yellow today, but is white tonight! UGH! What a mess! While she was laying on the examining table awaiting them to come get her for her xrays, I noticed goop running from her vagina too, so I told the gal I thought the doctor should come and see her again about that, as I feared maybe Pyometra. The vet thought not, but took swabs, and then later thought it could be, so she just said to monitor her closely to ensure she does not go off her food and water and become real lethargic, and watch for color and fever as well, and if anything like that happens, get her in ASAP! They wanted to spay her to get rid of that, but they felt the risk was too high that she would not make the sugery in the poor shape she is in, so it os booked for Jan. 6, and we hope she'll have a few added pounds and recouperated some by then. AND, they even told me the xrays today would be paid for by them, and they would also help some with the cost of the spay as they sometimes do that for rehoming of pets that are abandoned or whatever, so I was thrilled with that offer! Now I just hope and pray she will be OK. I think she will, as she is already alot more alert after just 12 hours. One thing I did notice, is that now that she's "thawed out", the puncture in her left hind quarter seems to be causing her some pain, so maybe they will have to reopen that and cut away something and reclose it, but I am guessing they cannot do that until she's spayed either. They did not even want to vaccinate her today because of her condition! She is one two kinds of meds now to fight the infections in her body.
She actually looks worse in person, as the flash kind of glared off of her and didn't show just how thin she really is!
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