Just back from the vet! At least half the staff of the office came in to see Rufus, since he’d made such an impression on everyone last week. He held up well for this exam, although they decided to pre-emptively put a stylish muzzle on him. I have a picture of this, which I’ll post soon. He looked like the Bizarro Ace the Bat-Hound.
Of Ru’s two main wounds, the front one is healing up just fine, but the rear one isn’t suturing up so well, so he may need another surgery in a few weeks. We’ll be going back Tuesday morning to have the drain (a long rubber tube) removed from his leg, and next weekend we’ll have a better idea of how that rear wound is doing.
The vet re-wrapped his leg and made the final cover out of a neon green bandage that has some bitter-taste chemical in it (to keep him from licking it). She told me that Rufus reacts kinda badly whenever he has a new wrap; the minute she was done and he was allowed to start walking, he yelped and kept twisting in circles, trying to get at the new bandage.
The thing is, he did the same thing last night when I put a wrap at the top of his bandage, to cover the part that had slipped down since Wednesday. I thought I’d wrapped him too tightly, but the vet explained that he just needs a little while to adjust.
Since this was my first time talking to the vet since Ru was brought to them on Tuesday, I asked about his long-term prospects of recovery. I had no idea how long it’ll take him to get back to his old self, as far as going on hikes, or even just walking around the block for a mile. In fact, I didn’t know if the nature of his injuries meant he would never do that stuff again. That’d be awful, since he really enjoys our meanders in the neighborhood. (I’m convinced that he’ll have no lasting ‘mental’ trauma from the attack.)
The vet said that if the rear wound does require an extra surgery, we could be looking at total recovery period of as long as . . . six weeks or so. Total. If he does better (and if there’s no complication due to infection, which is my big fear), he could be back up to snuff in about four weeks.
So, as gory and grotesque as his injuries are, we have a lot of hope that he’ll be back to normal by mid-summer. Just in time for those mid-90’s days that we hate going out in!
that’s wonderful news Gil – I must admit that I said a “mi sheberach” in shul for him this morning (while I was sitting next to the rabbi’s wife yet!) –
I really don’t know if this prayer counts for 4-legged beings, but I’ll keep saying it until he can meet up again with his chums for his Sunday hikes in the state park –
Hey there
I’ve been on vacation, so this is the first time I’ve read your blog in a week. I was horrified to read what had happened. My heart goes out to all of you…I am sending you all lots of happy recovery thoughts. You have no idea how glad I am that the worst case scenario didn’t occur. I can only imagine how awful it was being stuck at the conference.
From my own selfish perspective it’s probably a good thing I didn’t log on, because it was hard enough going away and leaving our two without being reminded about just how fragile greys are.
We picked our girl up from our friend’s place yesterday, but because of the kennel rules we can’t get Ned until late this afternoon. Suffice it to say that I’m even more anxious about getting him now….
I know it’s not a great idea to generalise about dog breeds, but I’m pretty sure the Akita is on the restricted breeds list here. Any news on that front? I hope that something is done to make sure that this dog isn’t allowed to do any more damage.
I figured you were either still on vacation or so utterly traumatized by the news about Rufus that you couldn’t even type.
It’s been rough, but now it looks like the big challenge is simply making sure he doesn’t lick his wound (tearing his sutures and/or getting them infected). And that IS kinda stressful, since it means I can’t really leave him for an extended period; his bandages slide down his leg almost immediately, and the sweatpant-leg that we use to cover everything either needs to be tied around his torso, which makes him uncomfortable and can get tangled, or left untied, which means it can just slide off if he move around in his crate.
I’m hoping for good news/advice on Tuesday, when we get the drain removed from his leg. Keep sending the love his way.
I was a little traumatized, but it’s not all about me ;)
Will keep sending the love (and so will Ned, who is currently passed out next to my chair with a cute old-man look on his face).
It was bad enough when Lizzie had ‘happy tail’ and it kept bleeding every time she licked it or bumped it on something.
It’s a good thing greys are pretty good at just chilling out…Sounds like Ru has a few more enforced quiet days ahead yet…
Thanks for keeping the updates happening (and for not publishing the gory photos).
Hi,
I just wanted to check up on Rufus and to see how he is doing. I am thinking of you all and I hope Rufus gets back on his paws soon.
Janice
The dog walker