After my frantic shout out this morning (for those not on Facebook we had a doggie emergency this morning), I thought I’d share more information.
Amber successfully delivered her puppies last night (more on that later) so I was up on and off during the night to check on them.
My horse hoof trimmer guy was coming at nine o’clock this morning to trim the horses’ feet so I got up earlier to make sure the horses had breakfast before he came. Then headed out to the dog house to let the dogs out of their crates and into the yards to potty and exercise.
The girls get out first because they go out into the furthest bigger yard. Then I let the boys out into the nearer yard. They all come busting out of the crates eager to head outside (although there are a few who quickly search around for any kibble pieces that might have been left behind before heading out the door). Gracie hopped out of her crate and nose to the ground starting sniffing. But as she was scurrying around with her busy nose I caught a quick glimpse of her face and knew instantly there was something wrong. I scooped her up took a quick look and put her into a kennel while I finished letting the boys out.
Then I had time to get a better look. Oh, man, it was bad. I don’t want to go into the gory details but it was pretty obvious her eye was damaged enough that in my ‘unprofessional’ opinion it wasn’t salvable.
I immediately called the vet to let them know I had an emergency and would be heading their way asap.
Poor girl. I couldn’t imagine how this had happened.
I informed my non-horse husband that he would have to catch and hold the horses while they got trimmed and keep an eye on Amber and her new family, then grabbed Gracie and we hit the road. Fortunately, I left at the right time to hit our little ferry and head over the mountain to the vet’s office which is quicker than my normal route. (If you’re off their schedule and have to wait, then it’s easier to go around and cross the Columbia River over the bridge. )
The doctor was able to quickly assess her injury. She said the sight was obviously gone, she could try to put the eye back in place and treat her, but we then might end up having to remove the eye after a week or two if it didn’t heal correctly. I didn’t want to put her through that and with the vet’s support decided the best thing was to have the surgery now and make her more comfortable as soon as we could and get her down the road to healing.
I left her there and headed home. As I drove I kept going over different scenarios trying to figure out what had caused such an injury.
The dogs went to bed later than normal last night because I was occupied with Amber. But when I put them to bed, each one went in its own crate. Gracie’s crate is stacked on top of Glory’s crate so I have to pick her up and place her into the crate. There is no way I would not have seen an injury that severe last night. Since Joy and Gracie are both ruby (but Gracie has white on her nose) I have to look to see who I’m picking up (it’s usually just a wiggle-waggle of red and black and tan bodies as I put the sisters (Joy, Gracie, Mercy, Glory, and Smudgie) in their respective crates for the night. But I couldn’t imagine she had harmed herself in a plastic crate (?)
While the vet was examining her on the table I was rubbing her tummy and felt what I thought was pitch. But on closer examination, we found there was a tear in one of her teats and some dried blood.
Here’s my theory; the girls were all out in the yard together yesterday and I’m guessing there was a squabble of some sort that I didn’t hear. Some of them are coming in season and they can get a little scrappy (hormonal) with each other. She must’ve got an injury on or near the eye (something small enough that I didn’t see when I put her to bed). Then during the night, it was probably irritating so she rubbed and pawed at it until it was a full-blown mess. Poor girl. That’s all I can figure. There’s no way I missed seeing “ZOMBIE-DOG” when I put her to bed! :O
I was able to talk to the doctor about an hour ago. She said the surgery went well, she had removed the injured eye and Gracie was recovering from surgery. She will stay the night in the hospital and I will pick her up tomorrow when I go in for Noah’s appointment.
It’s not the best scenario, but I know she will adapt to life with one eye. And I’m glad we have good doctors within our reach to help in these scary situations.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I will keep you all posted on her recovery!
