Accidents can happen anytime, anywhere, as pet owners we expect these situations right? How do we deal with this sort of injury? Be prepared with a first aid kit attached to you at all times on your daily walks. This is mine and Cody, my Italian Greyhounds experience which was a very bloody one!
Whilst on our favourite country side walk with our 4 sighthounds all running around and exploring. Cody our Italian Greyhound who loves running in and out of blackberry bushes, hurt himself! The next thing I hear a loud yelp and Cody running towards me covered and I mean covered in blood!
I gathered the gang up but I unfortunately didn't have a first aid kit with me ( I know, this is how I discovered the importance of having one ) We ran to the car, trying to keep as calm as possible, and got him to the vets. As I was on my own with 4 dogs, I couldn't hold his ear with any gauze etc or add gentle pressure which would have helped.
On closer inspection, Cody did a fantastic job of ripping his ear badly, his ear was glued and had a bandage wrapped around it. The vet said " keep him quiet and still for a few days" Quiet, still, ha ha ha she didn't know how hard this would be, he never sits still.
Anyway, Cody was extremely stressed and in pain as painkillers had not worked yet.
Felling sorry for himself and I don't blame him, he crawled into his cosy crate and slept for a while which was wonderful, this gave me time to gather myself and enjoy a deserved cuppa.
Cody woke up and what do most dogs do when they wake up, SHAKE themselves, well, the bandage came off and blood went everywhere. It was like tiny paint splatters all over the wall and floor, his crate looked like a murder scene. I quickly tried to cover his ear and stop him from shaking, which was extremely hard. I had to come up with something to cover his head and ear, one to protect his ear and keep it clean and two to save time cleaning!
As anyone with dogs knows, ears and tails bleed profusely, and as our little angels shake it's an impossible task.
So, I raided the sock draw and fashioned a wonderful head garment for him. Poor Cody had a different look every day, whilst the sock creation worked fine his ear kept working it's way out. When my back was turned, guess what, he would shake and it started all over again. Poor boy had PJ legs turned into a full on head arrangement, a pair of tights and many more, this went on for a couple of weeks.
Eventually we got there in the end don't ask me how, but now he has an ear with a large slit in it. It was a painful experience for us all, I wish the vet could have stitched it up but it wasn't needed she said!
So, if this happens to your dog try and keep calm, gather some gauze from your newly acquired first aid kit and have lots of socks, bandages and PJ legs handy. Keep the ear clean and as dry as possible. Then just wait for it to heal, this is the lengthy part.
Here are some photo's of Cody's ear fashioning the best in ear wear ever invented!!
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