Doggie Accident

Poor Trip (our cocker spaniel), Sunday, came in from outside with an occasional limp and yelp. I asked Paul to look at his foot, because he sometimes gets something stuck in his pads and it hurts. Paul looked, and unfortunately it was more than just a sticker in his foot. Somehow he had broke his dew claw, down past the quick.

He would not quit licking it so we decided to wrap it with some vetwrap we happened to have. It was so funny watching him - he would hold his paw straight up in the air like he was trying to give someone a high-5, except he would just hold his paw up like that (I told him it was probably good to keep it elevated!!). He would do this, that is, until we quit looking at him. Then he immediately started chewing the wrap!

So Monday morning he went to the vet. He was still in pain and the claw was bleeding occasionaly. The vet gave him a local anesthetic in the paw and then cut the claw off. Because of how far down he had broke it they had to cut all the way to the base of the claw. Now, he is on pain killers and an antibiotic for his foot. While we were there we discovered that he had an ear infection - which we have been battling off and on since we got him. The dr said it is probably just his breed, but that it was pretty bad. So on top of the two medicines for his paw, we have to flush out his ears every day and put drops in twice a day.

He is getting rather spoiled though. The pain killers are chewable, so we have no problems giving that to him. The antibiotic is a capsule. We have to put it in a piece of hot dog to get him to take it. Now, every time he sees us get into a medicine bottle, he runs to the refrigerator. It is amazing how long it takes to train a dog to do something like potty outside, or sit or heal, but you throw a hotdog in the mix and they get it in a day!!

I take care of his ears before I give him the hotdog/medicine. His ears are pretty sensitive so the first several times we gave him the drops or flush I literally had to sit over him (I did not put all of my pregnant body weight on him!!) and hold him while Paul took care of his ears! He is getting better at it though, because today Paul has been out of town and I have been having to do it by myself! After all of that I guess he deserves a treat!

He will be sorely disappointed at the end of the 10 days when he no longer gets a hotdog twice a day!! Lets hope he does not go injure himself again for the treat!