I'm shaking right now because something just attacked our dog. He's just a little half-chihuahua lapdog, but we let him out every night to do his business. Usually he stays close to the house, but tonight he ran off after something into the pasture by our house.
There's a lot of blood loss for such a small dog. Mom's trying to get the bleeding to stop now, but there's nothing else we can do.
We're a small community. We have one vet for the whole town who keeps regular hours.
God, I hate this. I hate not being able to DO anything, but worst of all, I hate having to be the strong one because Mom nearly had a nervous breakdown right on the spot. I can't afford to worry about it because she's FINALLY calmed down a little.
Mom and Dad are taking care of him, using steri-pads to keep pressure on the bite. He has his rabies shots at least. If one of our neighbor's dogs shows up at his house with blood on its mouth then we'll know what happened. I'm more worried that he had a run-in with a coyote. Whatever it is went right for the neck.
*sigh* God damit. This is why I don't like pets. Something ALWAYS happens to them. I've had five dogs and six cats that either ran into the road or under a car. I had one that even got its paw caught in a riding lawnmower because life is cruel to a 12 year old cat-lover.
Most people own animals from the time they're kittens or puppies, and raise them to die of old age, but anything I touch bucks that trend spectacularly.
Fuck it. I need to go cry. Sorry everyone. I just needed to vent.
Comments
Huggs heading your way
I know your pain only too well and have often fought the urge to have pets but almost can't live without them.
Hard to beat the unconditional love they give us.
I hope all is well soon.
Thank you. I really, really
Thank you. I really, really need that right now. It doesn't look good, and Dad, in his infinite wisdom, told me to prepare for the worst.
Mom's just sitting there holding him in his favorite blanket. It's just too much for me. I tried to stay in there, but I can't. I'm not strong enough, so I'm hiding in my bedroom.
It seems like it hurts more every time it happens. He was literally a member of the family. He's the first dog my parents have ever allowed to sleep in their bed (started to stop him whining when he was just ten weeks old, and how he's a good six or seven).
I don't want to think he won't be okay, but I already know better. If he makes it through tonight it'll be a miracle.
Anyway, thank you for the support. You don't know how much it means. My dad's doing his stoic "Man" thing he does (I don't know what you call it. Refuse to show emotions thing), and I'm trying my best to do the same because Mom already blames herself for what happened.
As much as I love animals, this is the last time I go through this. It's like losing a best friend every five or six years. It just hurts too much to do it again.
Edit: I just went and checked on him. They've got the bleeding to slow quite a bit, so that's a good sign. We can get him to the vet first thing tomorrow, as long as he can make it through tonight.
Pets, like love, are worth it
My sympathies, having a pet in danger or distress is second only to having a child, spouse or parent threatened in the amount of anxiety it can cause.
To love is to be vulnerable to loss, to pain, even despair. But who could choose to be without love and stay sane?
That said, I would never keep a ferret or rat as a pet, they don't live long enough. I'm tempted by llamas, pigs and miniature horses that outlive even cats and dogs. But parrots and elephants too often end up outliving their owners. And that's sad in a different way.
Lulu
- Gender is between the ears, sex is between the legs and anywhere else you can get it. - Lulu Martine
- Gender is between the ears, sex is between the legs and anywhere else you can get it. - Lulu Martine
I am sorry hon
I hope the little dog survives. hugs.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
It's amazing how much many of us love them
but then a good pet loves at a basic level, minus most of the deceits of humans.
I wish, I hope for the best. Fluids, as much as the little one can be encouraged to drink would help. So sad.
It's locking the barn door after the horses have fled but can you fence off an area by the house for just purposes in future? A high enough fence would eliminate many of the threats to the dog or any future pets.
We are quite restrictive on letting our cats out though I wish my sister was even more so at times. I've seen too many dead animals on the roads and in the streets -- we live in a well built up inner suburb -- to risk letting them out unsupervised. And beyond the menace of vehicles are coyotes, dog packs, foxes, sick people who like hurting things. And in the rural areas, brush choppers and all kinds of farm machinery, animal traps.
You have me crying imagining one of ours in pain.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
That's, I think, what gets me
I've been saying for years that we need a fence, that we need to stop letting the little runt wander off on his own unsupervised like this.
We have a pack of coyotes that hunt on the cattle rancher's pastures here, to say nothing of the possums, foxes, and myriad venomous snakes (I lost a black lab about eight years ago to a venomous snake bite. By the time we found her,w e had to put her down just to keep her from suffering any further).
Maybe now they'll listen when I say this area's just as dangerous to let him out alone as it was when we lived in town.
We were going to look at another house this weekend, and that is the FIRST thing I'm going to look for if we still do, assuming he makes it. The last time I checked though, an hour and fifteen after the actual attack, he was still awake and trying to get comfortable. I don't know if it's a good sign that he started wagging his tail when I walked into the room, but I'd like to hope so. :-)
I know I said I'd never do this again, but really, the pain of (potential) loss is always outweighed by the unconditional love. They never yell at you (Unless you step on their tail), they always know when you're having a bad day. He even came to check on me more than once when I've been sick. I can't let that go.
Err, anyway... Going to get back to my herbal tea, then try to get some rest.
Thank you, everyone.
Oh!
*hugs!* and tears and best hopes of mine are yours.
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
I hope your dog
recovers, they are like child substitutes - my two cats are squabbling toddlers, but I do worry myself silly if anything is wrong with them.
Angharad
Angharad
Quick update on the dog, since I can't sleep :-/
It's just past 2am here, four hours since the bite. I saw the bedroom light on, and I thought I heard mom crying, but she was just talking to him while she changed the bandage.
Looks like the bite was in the muscle in his neck, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow how severe it is. It looks like he'll make it through the night, so our next concern will be keeping infection out. Mom's worried that the vet will want to just put him down, but I'd like to hope veterinary medicine's come a bit further than that in recent years.
The thing is, it's a pretty deep wound in the muscle near his neck, but he's able to move around, and we managed to get him to take a little bit of water.
I'll post an update as soon as I know something. This has all been so surreal, and it's brought back a lot of bad memories, but I've put that all aside for now. I can deal with my problems after I know he's going to pull through.
Prayers with you
I hope all is OK I have 2 dogs and they are my babies I prayer everything is OK with your puppy HUGS & KISSES RICHIE2
He's going to be okay!
I'm shaking again, crying as I write this. The folks took him in to see a different vet the next town over instead of taking him to the local vet because my aunt highly recommended him instead.
Anyway, they've checked him out, gave him a couple of shots (one for the pain, one an antibiotic), and gave us some medicine to give to him.
As far as the bleeding goes, he says that it's okay for it to bleed a little. Makes no sense to me, but I'm not a doctor, and like I said, my aunt very highly recommended him (She's been through this twice with her dogs)
But the bottom line is, he's going to be okay. I'm just so overwhelmed with relief right now that I can barely see straight to type this, so I'm going to disappear again.
I'll tell you one thing though, this has been a Thanksgiving to give me pause for what I have to be thankful for.
I'm thankful to have him, I'm thankful he's going to be okay, and I'm thankful that I have all of you. I love you all.
~Zoe
Much to be thankful for
I went to bed with hopes he would be ok, glad things went well for him and you.
We don't really own them, we just have custody and stewardship for their life for awhile.
I feel it is our responsibility to try to make it the best life they can have since there is not much they can do to better it themselves. So you have sort of this god job, if you were incarnated as someone's pet how would you like to be treated? They're at your whim and mercy, please make it a good life. They are more intelligent than we give them credit for, they just think differently.
Portable fence
I have 40 feet of portable fence, 30 inches tall, plenty for a chihuahua-cross (unless there's some Jack Russell in there). Where do you live? If you're in SoCal, send me a PM and I'll drive over with the fence this weekend. You don't want this to happen again.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Yay!!!
Thanks for the updates Zoe, I was worried/praying for the little guy. Years ago back in California I lost my kitten Ratso Rizzo to coyotes, I'm pretty sure. Heard them yipping close by and the next morning no cat. I don't blame the coyotes but damn it hurt. A year later I was working at this little detox facility that had two dogs, it was two a.m, heard these weird unfriendly animal noises out in the yard, looked out there and saw Sam and Hope back to back with this circle of coyotes around them, about three seconds from being torn to shit. Reminded me of that painting of that hopelessly outnumbered band of Voortrekkers trying to hold off the Zulus. I woke up everybody in the house as I grabbed a shovel and ran straight at them swinging it, screaming as aggressively as I could. The coyotes took off into the hills, like they'll do when the pickings arent so easy anymore, but then the crazy dogs decided we were winning now and took off after them, barking "Who's bad now, motherf*ckahs?!!", and were soon out of sight where I couldn't help them. They came back okay, thank God. So yeah, fences are a good idea if you can afford them...
~~~hugs, Veronica
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
good news
That's good news! I'm really pleased to hear that he's going to be okay.
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
Bleeding
A little is ok because the blood will A. form a clot at the sight, B. help clean the wound. so this is why a little is ok as long as it's not excesive. Just fyi hun.
Love Samantha Renee Heart
Love Samantha Renee Heart
I know how you feel...
We have lost way too many cats to the coyotes, including a beautiful fluffy tomcat that was the father of my current kitty. Every time I see an ad on the local store's bulletin board showing a small lost dog, I know that, chances are, their beloved pet became a coyote's meal.
I hope your little pooch survives the ordeal.
Quick update: More good news :-)
Well, our dog's made it two days now, and he's already getting stronger. The ordeal's taken a lot out of him. We couldn't get him to eat at all yesterday, but he would drink water and a little milk. This morning we couldn't get him to eat at first, until we pulled out the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. He got excited about that and gobbled it right up.
It amazes me just how intelligent animals are. He's (understandably) afraid to even go out now, even with someone with him, but we got him to do his business, drink some water, and after a nice turkey breakfast he should be ready to go out again before long. He has a long road ahead of him, but the important thing is he's trying, and he's getting stronger.
I am way behind on my PMs, and I'll try to get to those this weekend. I'm also writing still, as honestly, writing is one of my three avenues for self-therapy (the other two being music and video games :-)) so hopefully I'll have something ready next week on that end.
Thanks again, everyone. Your support and understanding mean so much to me. It took this incident for me to really understand how much I love that dog. He gets on my nerves sometimes with the bad habits we've taught him (like barking at every car that pulls into the drive :-P) but after this, I'll never look at him the same way again. :-)
Happy Holidays,
~Zoe
Pets
Zoe I know how you feel sweety I really do no the dag barking at every car that comes in the driveway isn't a bad habit at all that a good trate he's looking out for his poeple he's trying to tell you that somone who dosen't belong is at the house I have a retriver mix that is like that a ggod watch dog. I'm glad he is doing ok hun I am I'll send you a OM of a story that happned to me last week on our dog. It's amazing how attached to animals we get espicaly our pets. Anyway I hope he gets better A cyote IS a posiblity wouldn't rule it out thats for shure. I am glad he is getting stronger it will take a while for his energy level to return to normal he has lost a lot of blood & it takes time for it to be replaced. Anyway Zoe please keep us informed on his progress :( I'm so sorry for you & the dog that this has happned to you both. Maybe it will bring you & your mom closer, maybe some day you can look her in the eye & tell her you are really her daughter maybe I pray you can.
Love Samantha Renee Heart
Love Samantha Renee Heart
Update: A week later
Well, it's been a tough week for all of us, but the dog's doing a lot better. He's able to move a little better, and the swelling's decreased drastically. the only problem now is keeping a bandage on it to keep him from scratching at it.
It looks like he's through the worst part though. I'll be honest, this really threw me for a loop, and coupled with the holidays, personal stuff I'm going through right now, and learning that the other therapist might not work out either (scheduling conflicts), I'm more than a little depressed, but I'm trying to work through it and get back to writing again. Hope to have something ready some time next week.
I just wanted to post a ltitle update and let everyone know I haven't been abducted by aliens or anything. :-)
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the update. I'm pleased to hear the dog's doing a lot better Zoe. With all the stuff that gone on in your life recently I'm not surprised you've been more than a little depressed. Hopefully things will improve for the better soon.
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."