Monday, March 23, 2009

Yesterday... sucked

Alright, I've calmed down enough that I might as well explain this post.

Thursday we took the dogs hiking in Peachy Canyon like I blogged about here.
Friday night our friends Tay and Dom stopped over, then Saturday we had a dinner party dealy-o plus the weather was cold and blustery, Sunday morning there was some rain so when it cleared up in the afternoon our dogs were more than ready to get out some pent up energy.

We loaded them in the car and headed back out to Peachy. The grass was still wet, and it hailed a little, but they had a great time running around, digging, rolling in poop (um, ya), and making general messes of themselves. We noticed Bailey limping and called her over to see if she had a burr or something stuck in her paw. Her paw was bleeding. I rinsed it off and it was apparent that she had torn one of her pads, pretty deeply. Whatev, it happens.

A little back story; Bailey is technically Jerad's dog. We got her and Buddy a day apart after we moved into the new house, but technically Bailey is the Border Collie he has always wanted and Buddy is the Lab I have wanted since I had to put my last Lab to sleep. I guess Wyatt would be the surprise love child?

Anyways, Jerad didn't really grow up with dogs and I grew up in a family that always had dogs, horses, a burro... so he usually defers to me on anything pet medical related. When he saw his baby's bleeding foot he looked up at me and asked "whatdowedonow????" I told him it was no big deal, we would just load up the dogs, and take her home to clean it up. He went to find a sheet to cover the back seat with because Wyatt and Buddy were filthy, and a towel to wrap Bailey in so he cold hold her in the front seat and try to contain the ever expanding blood spewing from her foot.

Its about a 20 minute drive home and I drove so he could hold the diva dog. I rolled the back windows down cause Wyatt and Buddy literally Smelled Like Ass.

They were both pretty tired so they were each sitting on one side, heads casually turned towards their own respective windows, tongues lolling out, taking in the smells.

After about 10 minutes I heard the slightest sound and look in my rear view mirror just in time to see Buddy hit the pavement, land sort of on his side, and limp off the road. Just for a reference, I was driving probably 35 mph. It was like time stood still. As I was watching him hit the ground I could hear Jerad asking me:

"Did Buddy just jump out of the window?"

I was waiting for him to not get up. Or to get up and then fall back down. Or for another car to come around the corner and run him over.

I thought to myself "Wyatt might try to follow him" so I rolled up the back windows really fast.

I quickly slowed down, still keeping my eyes on him in the side mirror in case he got scared and ran away I'd know where to look. All of a sudden Jerad was shaking my arm and saying "YOU'RE ROLLING WYATT'S HEAD IN THE WINDOW!" And Fucking A! I had completely rolled his neck up in the window because he had stuck his head out to look at Buddy. By this point, my hands were shaking so badly that it was an effort to roll them back down but I did, and Wyatt seemed to be fine.

I brought the car to a stop and jumped out calling Buddy's name. He was a few hundred yards back but when he heard my name he came running/limping up the road until he was a few yards away and then was scared to get close to the car. After another minute of coaxing he came to me and after a super quick exam it was clear there was no major breaks or dislocations. Which I don't see how is possible from his size and the way he landed, but I'll take it! We loaded up and continued home.

I was still trying to act calm even though by now I was pretty upset. Jerad didn't make it much better because he kept describing how Wyatt looked being choked in the window. Thanks babe. He also kept commenting on my speeding and taking the corners too fast and I had to assure him that I "literally could not drive any slower at the moment even if I wanted to."

By the time we got home, Buddy was hopping around like a little Billy Goat and you would never have believed he just kamikazed from a moving vehicle. We put him in the kitchen, and took Bailey in the laundry room to wash off her wound. We thoroughly washed it and then rinsed the wound using betadine and a curved tipped syringe (kills germs, fights infections). Then I put a clean sock over her paw, and doubled a rubber band over it to keep it on, and left her in the laundry room to check on Buddy.

After carefully running our hands over his whole body it didn't seems like anything was broken, and he wasn't in any real pain, just a little sore. But who wouldn't be after that right? he really loved the "exam" aka "full body petting."

I heard some scratching on our bedroom door which was confusing because... there was no dog in there... right?

I opened the door to find Bailey. Who was bleeding again. Profusely. This was very apparent because she had pulled the sock off and then pranced allllllllll over our floor JUMPED ON OUR BED (which our dogs don't do) and pranced all over our white comforter. I told Jerad that the cut was not going to clot and to go get some surgical glue while I tried to salvage the bedspread. I'll skip that part but just so you know, we still have a white, blood free comforter. Bailey was patient enough to wait in a down-stay until Jerad got back.

We rewashed her foot, and I applied 2 coats of the surgical glue (which also has an antiseptic in it) because the cut was quite deep. It also turned out that the cut was through 2 pads, not one. After the glue was dried I wrapped her foot in a sterile bandage. Basically there should have been nooooo way she could have gotten an infection right? I have had a lot of dogs tear a pad and Bailey got above and beyond the normal treatment.

After she was all wrapped up she spent the rest of the day and night chilling on a clean mat in a wire kennel in the living room (so she couldn't walk around and re-open the cuts). I thought everything was fine and today or tomorrow she would be up and at 'em again.

Yesterday was soooo traumatizing because, well, Mah Poor Baybees!!!!

Buddy slept in our room and whined a bit and couldn't seem to get comfortable, I'm sure he has some bruising, but otherwise was fine and super stoked to be in our room.

This morning when Jerad went to let Bailey outside to go to the bathroom.... her paw was twice the size that it should be. Freakin great. So, either it is somehow infected which I don't understand, or she got bit by something and we missed the bite? I have a 3:00 vet apt and I guess I'll find out then. Yeash. Luckily it doesn't seem to hurt her.

I have a bunch of pics I will post later and a vet update. Anyways, yesterday was one of the most stressful days I have had for a long time... I think just because everything was happening at once and I'm the one that is supposed to be calm. Jerad also said he was going to blog about this, so if he does you can hear an in depth explanation about how I tried to strangle Wyatt.

Cause I'm a loving mom like that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll cop to it. I did the exact same thing to Pascal a couple of weeks ago. It took a second for me to get the window back down too! lol Poor lil guy just looked at me like "WTF???"

Steph said...

Ya, I think it was much more traumatizing for me than him. Haha it makes me feel better to hear I'm not the only one tho!

liz oelker said...

oy!! you're dogs just wanted to give you some excitement. i'm glad your comforter was ok. what was bailey and buddy thinking? i wish buddy could talk so you could know why on earth he jumped out the window.