Emergency » Dogs Don't Look Both Ways

meet Cheyenne, a little dog hit by a big truck

_Other Dogs Who've Been Injured 6 Responses »

Sep 282009

No, I didn’t suddenly get very small and grow pointy ears. This little dog is Cheyenne.

cheyenne at vet_cr

Unfortunately we dogs sometimes seem to find ourselves in places that are meant for cars and trucks – and definitely not dogs – and when that happens, it’s not too good for us dogs.

My little friend, Cheyenne, is half Miniature Pinscher and half Jack Russell and little Cheyenne was hit by a truck. Her survival was really amazing.

Cheyenne got a splint put on her broken leg, just like I had. Cheyenne also had her jaw wired and her pelvis broken. I’m going to say that Cheyenne doesn’t feel very good right now.

But the good news is that she is alive, and got really good emergency medical care, and that she has momma and a grandma who want her to get better!

Cheyenne is only a puppy. And there are so many things going on around her that she doesn’t understand. I think that in this photo, she is saying “Just love me!”

If I could, and if she were feeling well, I would give Cheyenne a big lick – my way of saying that I want to be her friend!

*******************

know thy dog

7: Recuperation 2 Responses »

May 232009

How well do you know your dog? Do you know what he’s thinking?How can you find out what your dog is thinking or what he is trying to tell you?

Two days ago, my mom saw me licking my bandages and asked herself, “What’s he trying to tell us?” I didn’t offer any ideas or suggestions. I did, however, look at her with my big wide open brown eyes.

She didn’t quit, there, however. She didn’t take silence for an answer

She telephoned the local animal hospital. Somebody suggested that my parents put collar back on me, but Jane didn’t like that idea: She said that I could lick my way around the collar anyway. Besides, Jane wanted to know what was causing me to lick the bandages. The veterinarian there said to just put the sock on and that if I continue licking my bandages, to take me to the big 24-hour emergency hospital. She put the sock on and left it on until it was bedtime, when we all went to sleep. know_thy_dog

The next evening, dinner was cooked and the table was set for dinner. My dad had just come home from work and was getting ready for a nice restful evening and beginning to the weekend. All was quiet in our home. I was in my bed in the dining room and my mom was nearby. Suddenly breaking through the silence and distractions of getting ready for the evening and dinner, my mom heard the sound of lick lick lick. The sound of me licking my bandages was unmistakable. She stopped what she was doing.

I followed her movements with my eyes. She walked over to me, and noticed my bandages were wet. She looked into my eyes and saw me looking at her. Then she looked at my toes, which were visible through the open bottom of the splint and noticed that my toes were very swollen. She touched them a little and felt that they were swollen. I didn’t say anything then either, but I continued to look at her with my big brown eyes so wide open the white around them were like the crescents of the moon.

Then she called my dad over to also take a look. He said, right away, “The bandage is on too tight.”

It was really exciting for me when my dad put the sock back on my foot and got the plastic bag because I know those as signs that I’m going outside! Then my dad said, “Joey, come” and got my lead. Even better, I’m definitely going outside! Then we went outside and toward his car. Even better! I’m going for a car ride! With a wag of my tail, I forget all about my paw and my bandages and we drove off.

Right away the emergency care doctor came out to see me and right there in the hospital lobby saw that my bandages were too tight and quickly got a pair of scissors and cut my bandages open right there! Wow, relief! Then she took me with her into an examination room, took off the old bandages and re-bandaged my splint.

In a while, my dad and I came back home, and mom gave me dinner and my meds. Today I’m standing with all four paws on the ground and walking with all four legs – most of the time.

don’t feel badly for me

3: Days 1 through 5, My Stay in the Animal Hospital in the Critical Care Unit No Responses »

Apr 192009

Many dogs who have just been hurt are capable of walking, and do. Handle your injured pet as gently as possible and keep his movement to a minimum. ***

After my mom got driving instructions to the big 24-hour emergency animal hospital, the technicians put me on a stretcher and carried the stretcher, with me on it, to my mom’s car, and put me, still on the stretcher, in the back seat. My mom drove me to the big 24-hour animal hospital with me lying on the stretcher on the back seat. When we got to the big 24-hour animal hospital, she ran in and told them that we were here. Different technicians came, rolling a gurney with them, pulled the whole stretcher with me on it out of the car, put it on the gurney, and wheeled me into the big 24-hour animal hospital.

I spent that day and the next six days there.

Here is a picture of the entrance (and exit) of the big 24-hour animal hospital.

Don’t feel badly for me. I like the big 24-hour animal hospital because there, I can do another one of my hobbies, which is making friends. When I was there, I made friends with other animals who were patients in the hospital, and with people, too. I made friends with the doctors and with the technicians. There are also volunteers in the hospital who just love dogs and cats and who are there to make us animals feel comfortable, and there I made friends with the volunteers, too. Children came to visit their pets and I got to make friends with those children and their parents, too. It’s a pretty interesting and active place.

A little girl whose dog was in the pen next to mine was upset thinking that her dog was not happy in the pen and in the hospital but I’m certain that we dogs were quite content to be in our own space.

Dogs like me like our own space. It’s in our nature. We love people, but we like peace and quiet and our own space, too, at times. There was a time a few years ago when, if I did something I wasn’t allowed to do, my parents would put me in my crate, which is down in the basement. Eventually they figured out that I actually like being in my crate and that it was the total opposite of a punishment so they stopped putting me in the basement if I did something they thought I shouldn’t do. So here in the big animal hospital, I was content in my own pen. I needed a lot of quiet and personal space in order to begin to get better. I was in a good place, and I was alive, and there were many other dogs and animals near me, so don’t feel badly for me.

*******

(getting) attention!

2: Day One. Trauma Strikes 2 Responses »

Apr 182009

A dog who has been seriously injured will not tell you that he is in pain or how seriously wounded he is. Never assume that your dog is fine, just because he is quiet. ***

vca

In this hospital, the veterinarians, doctors who are specially trained to care for animals, gave me oxygen and fluids so that I would feel better and calm down. They checked out my heart and lungs. They gave me some shots to calm me down so I wasn’t in pain. They also gave me a lot of attention. I’m sure that the oxygen and fluids helped, but the main thing I liked getting was the attention. That is another one of my hobbies, getting attention.

Afterward, the doctors came out from the surgical room and told my mom that I had been hit by a car, and that she needed to drive me to the big 24-hour animal hospital named “Angell” immediately. These doctors had already called Angell and told them to expect me. When the doctor said to my mom, “You have to get him to Angell immediately or he could die”, she gulped a big gulp and looked her straight in the eye. The doctor said something about my heart and my internal organs. My mom was surprised, and not surprised. She was surprised that I was so wounded, because I had been so quiet and hadn’t complained, because I was able to run all the way home after my injury, and because many of my wounds were hidden from her view. But she trusted the doctors, and did exactly what they told her to do without hesitation.

And she was not surprised because countless times before I had escaped and each time come home safely. But I think that she and my dad always worried that the next time could have a different outcome.

the wrong side of the fence

2: Day One. Trauma Strikes No Responses »

Apr 182009

A dog who has been seriously injured will not act like a human would: He will probably not let you know that he has been hurt at all. If you have a pet, do you have the telephone number of an emergency animal hospital easily available in case of an emergency? Is it on a magnet on your refrigerator? My dog was hit by a car and here’s what happened next:

***

On this morning, I didn’t wait around for Animal Control to arrive and put me in their van and bring me back home. I didn’t wait with the other dogs while some nice person telephoned my home and let me stay with them in their home or in the park until my mom came and picked me up. Even though my whole body, and in particular my leg, was hurting badly, I ran home, to the back of our home, and there I waited quietly, just outside the gate that opens to our backyard, just a few steps from the entrance to our home and kitchen. I knew that eventually my owner Jane would notice me sitting outside by the gate. So there I waited, patiently.

Time passed.

I then heard the sound of Jane opening the door to the deck on the 2nd floor to see the glorious morning unfold before her eyes and to call “Joey! Joey, come!” I followed her eyes as, standing on the deck, she looked past me and toward my usual spot, under the apple tree – and just saw grass and the apple tree. I then followed her eyes as she turned her eyes downward, saw me there below, and said “Joey, why are you on the wrong side of the fence?” I didn’t answer her question, but she figured out that something wasn’t right. I could hear her thinking.

She immediately left the deck and ran downstairs, opened the rear outside door, opened the gate, saw me wounded, and brought me into the “in” side of the gate, and closed the gate. Then she went inside and picked up the telephone. My owners are wonderfully organized and we have the telephone number for our veterinary hospital on a magnet on the refrigerator (close to the telephone number of Animal Control.) So right away my mom Jane called our veterinary hospital where I have all my check ups and teeth cleanings and shots, and told them that there was an emergency “with Joey” and that she was bringing me over there. And that’s what she did.

She drove the car to the back of the home and opened the rear door. She wrapped a towel around my chest and belly, then lifted me up, trying to avoid all the areas where I was wounded, which was difficult, and put me in the back sea of the car, which is a pretty big deal, since I weigh 80 pounds.

I didn’t tell her exactly what had happened to me. All the way to the animal hospital, she was wondering what had occurred, and I remained speechless.