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Confession, guilt, sorrow...Do Not read if you get queasy

1K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  Charmed 
#1 ·
Poor Sailor has been battling an open wound on his ear flap for over two years. It started with the Jack Russell swinging from his ear, as if he were an earring. Sailor would even lower his head so the midget could get a better grip. We would get the ear completely healed for several weeks at a time, only to have the wound reoccur. When we separated the dogs , they both moped and cried. I tired making Sailor wear a snood when he was out with the terror. The ear had been treated by the vet and stapled, more than once. Well, here comes the guilt and confession part. I got my daughter to help me by having her wrap the ear with vet wrap. We padded the ear with gauze and applied copious amounts of ointment. We were both proud of the job we did, as it was quite secure. Sailor never shook his head or tried to get the bandage off. On the second day, for some reason, I thought I should check the ear. When I unwrapped the ear, the stench hit... and I could tell some, if not all, of the ear flap was going to come off. I did triage on the ear and got him in with the vet (about half the flap fell off with running water). Sailor had surgery to remove the remaining dead flap, and is now on antibiotics. I am getting used to his little flattened rose bud of an ear. I have been hand feeding him cat food because that is all he would swallow. This evening I got him to eat Weruva canned dog food, and Nutri-Cal. He acts normal for a 13 and a half year old dog, but I am only allowing him to exercise with the cat. My daughter feels worse than I do about the whole incident. She did the wrapping, but I checked it. I did not take into account how fragile his skin has become. On a good note, like a typical Standard Poodle, he does not hold any grudges and is just happy to be back in my bedroom. in his own bed. I am so sorry for what we did to him, but I am also, so happy that he is alive.
 
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#8 ·
Man I feel for you! We always try to do what is best for our dogs.......... Just today I almost 'killed' one of Molly's feet......When her feet get red and sore and itchy from 'unknown' contact allergy I usually lather them up with antibiotic or hydrocortisone cream and put socks on them ....but I recently got her booties with elastic toggle closures because the socks always fell off .........Put the booties on and wow they stayed on really good! It wasn't until evening that I noticed she was limping ........(even though I thought I checked that the elastic wasn't too tight when I put them on her)..... I discovered on her right front foot I had cut off circulation and her foot was swollen to twice it's size! Holy Crap! Thank goodness cold water and massage worked or I might have had a tripod poodle! I felt so damn guilty!
Amazing how forgiving they are huh?
 
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#10 ·
Oh my poor Sailor and poor you. Your intentions were good and you and your daughter did what you felt was a good choice, especially having been thru it several times. I would have done the same. In the end it turned out ok. No judgement from me either, we all loe our dogs and do what we feel is right.
 
#11 ·
Oh wow! Yes, it is definitely time to forgive yourself because this was an accident. You did what most of us would do, at least I would...try to clean up the wound and bandage it. You'd been to the vet time and again and this seemed like the thing to do. I guess the next step would be putting your terror on a liquid diet and pulling out all his teeth. j/k. What about getting him use to a muzzle? (like we talked about in that other thread) This is a bad game they're playing. I'm sorry you and Sailor went through such a hard time. I hope you find a solution for the future when the two dogs play. And really...don't beat yourself up. It's good that he's all healed and happy now.

I use to worry about cutting off the circulation on my Dobe's ears when wrapping them in vet wrap to hold the tampons in his ears while they were being trained to stand upright. The tampons would have thick padding on either end and some paper tape to hold it sort of, and then the vet wrap to really hold things together. Vet wrap is very good stuff, but also very scary. When I would use the vet wrap, (for future reference) I'd stretch it out as much as my arm strength could stretch it first, pulling hard. Then I'd wrap just enough to hold. Then after 1/2 hour, I'd undo it and check and do it up again lightly, no more than what will hold it on. Pre-stretch that stuff because it tightens after it's been wrapped. Most people use tape but that hurts to pull it off (pulls the hair) and paper tape doesn't hold. So I used vet wrap. But boy oh boy, you have to be careful with that stuff.

Poor Molly...you un-did that just in the nick of time. You must have been freaked. Whew!

Anyhow, we all do the best we can for our animals and things happen that you least expect sometimes.
 
#13 ·
Thank you Poodlebeguiled, I have to confess that I have helped do Dobie ears many times, but we never used vetwrap. I never thought of pre-stretching it. I will save that for future reference, if I ever get brave enough to use it again. I don't know why I did not check the status of the wrap after an hour or so, I know better. Honestly, if it had been on the younger dog, I don't think it would have been too tight. I have been keeping the little stinkers separated just because Sailor has been so weak, but a muzzle is a real possibility. It would help with the terrier's predisposition of eating the fallen palm dates, too. He swallows the seed and then, spends two days hacking it back up. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise... and, also for your kind words.
 
#14 ·
Mfmst, oh the Jack Russell is shameless. On Facebook there is that relationship status button that says, "complicated"; that defines Sailor and Simon. All the other animals keep Simon squared away, but Sailor has always had a soft spot in his heart for that rascally terrier.
 

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