The Worst Thing Ever
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03-08-2010, 10:02 PM
#1 (permalink)
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Bartleby and I went to Idaho to visit my friends and let him play in the wild and with other dogs... or so we thought. I was being extra cautious mainly afraid that bartleby would injest something horrible, being that he is a vacuum cleaner. Well I was told over and over again by many good dog parents there that I should just let him have some fun, well I let my guard down, for no less than one minute when the yelping started, I ran to find my boy huddled in a corner with two of the other small dogs looking at him like he was crazy. There was a small amount of blood on his paw and he was near the kitty box so I thought, "Oh Bartleby, you know better than to play with cats," I picked him up and he opened his mouth, blood poured everywhere.
I was freaking out as you might imagine, the rest of the people were fetching ice and towels to stop the bleeding, but it wouldn't cease. We prodded in his mouth looking for the cut, I was sure he ate some glass, but the blood wasn't coming from his throat and he would let me stick my fingers down there with out protest. All of this was so odd, every one thought that his lips were cut or the top of his mouth because he, like all bostons, is brachycephalic and everything looked so odd in his mouth to everyone else.
Finally the bleeding subsided, and I sat with him, feeling around his face when I felt it... one side of his mandible was obviously broken. Everyone tried to tell me, in hopes of calming me down mind you, that he would be in far more pain if his jaw was broken. I entertained the idea that he had glass stuck below his jaw, but it was a foolish idea.
I waited with Bartleby until the vet opened at 8, he acted mostly normal, with out opening his mouth or being able to shake his head.
When we got in to the examination room Bartleby wouldn't let any one near his face. His prior pain free state could be attributed to the loss of blood (I estimate about a pint). The vet checked everything else first, to leave the worst for last, and found B'bo had gained a heart murmur, something he has never had before.
Finally she gave him a sedative and examined his jaw, he still yelped though he was very drowsy, but she concluded that his jaw was no longer stable. She took him in for X-rays and returned to tell me that he had at least two fractures in the jaw (the worst of which I had already felt) and that there was a puncture wound in his mouth from a dog tooth.
The best we could come up with is that a dog that was no where near the crime scene that is a human lover yet was standoffish to Bartleby somehow came in bit him and took off before we got there.
The vet immediately went in and did surgery connecing the worst break with two wires and the second definite break with a wire around the front of the bottom jaw. The last possible break was never determined, his head was too awkward and thick to get a good shot and that side of his mandible was stable and if it was cracked it would heal with care.
B is now sitting in my lap, not quite sure why he can't play but content none the less, when he gets out of my grasp he bounds a leaps and acts like he always has. I liquify his food, which he loves, and give him pain killers and antibiotics. As per vet's orders (which I understand, though B' doesn't) there is no fun, no playing, and no chew toys for the next 6-8 weeks.
Pivot, the dog who we suspected bit Bartleby, recently did no help to his case by getting in a vicious fight with another male dog. He just hasn't been trained to enjoy the company of other males and I do not persecute him for that.
I hope that if anyone else has to go through this horrid ordeal they will find hope in my story and know that these little guys can bounce back from horrible events, even the morning after the attack (before the vet visit) B' walked right up and sniffed pivot like nothing had happened, Bostons are awesome.
-Arthur
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