On Saturday, April 17, 2004, my Patches, an 11 year old Greyhound who's been with me for over 6 years, was attacked and injured severely by her housemates, three other Greyhounds and a Whippet. She also lives with a Borzoi, but I have faith that Nadya was not involved for various reasons.
My daughter was home at the time while I was at work, but she was in the shower and didn't hear the fight break out in the yard. As soon as she discovered what had happened, she called me at work (which is 45 minutes away from home). I told her to call my friend and landlady, Carroll to help until I got home. I had forgotten that Carroll was at the home of our adoption group rep to help receive and clean the new adoptable dogs coming from the track. Eventually, Carroll came home, my daughter reached her and she arrived before I did. She called me on my cell phone as I was flying home in my van. I asked Carroll, "How bad is it?" I got the answer I expected, but didn't want to hear.....It's.......BAD!"
Carroll called the local veterinarian's who were not in on a Saturday afternoon, but they have a number for a vet's office in New York State 45 minutes away from us available on their machine. Carroll called them and made arrangements for our arrival their approximately and hour and a half later.
When I finally arrived at home, I saw Patches lying in a crate with a huge triangular flap torn into the back of her neck which extended nearly from jaw to jaw. She also had a large rip on her left buttock and I saw several smaller wounds on and near her ears.
We got her into the car and headed out to the Animal Care Hospital in Vestal NY where we saw Doctor Beaulieu, the vet on duty for emergency care. She examined Patches and determined that there were only about two wounds out of the fifteen or so that she would suture, leaving the less severe ones to air dry and drain on their own.
She was more worried about Paches age coupled with the obvious bacteria in the wounds causing infection and dehydration. She admitted her to the hospital and immediately placed her on pain killers and IV fluids and antibiotics.
I went home with my heart in my hands and waited for any news that might come. There were no phone calls that night or early the next morning, so I took that as "No news is good news". At 9:00 Sunday morning, I called the hospital and asked for a progress report. They told me that she was doing very well and could come home whenever I came to pick her up.
When they brought her out to me, I saw that there was a shunt for drainage installed in the neck wound and the muscle damage on the buttock was repaired and sutured, along with the front leg wound and the top of her head, all sutured. Apparently Dr. Beaulieu decided there was more stitching needed than she had first estimated.
The shunt will come out in a few days and maybe by then Patches will feel more like her old self.
The strangest thing about this whole thing is that it isn't the first time this same thing has happened to Patches! About five years ago, she was attacked and injured by one of my foster dogs. That episode resulted in 173 sutures over nine seperate wounds. Below there are pictures of her wounds after this surgery. Be warned...they are NOT pretty!
