Thursday, July 6, 2017

Max the Magnificent is on the DL*

*DL for those non-athletes ~coughwirecuttercough~ DL stands for Disabled List.

Soooo......

Max is down with a serious cut across three pads on his front left paw and a deep puncture wound on the outside pad. This is his tragic story.

He's a high energy, high maintenance pooch. I take him for walk/run/drags twice a day, and that doesn't count all the times he launches himself off the deck into the middle of a flock of birds or to chase the resident bunny who lives under the wood pile. He is a furry bundle of barely contained fury. I try to find places where he can go off-leash and really get it out; one of his favorites is John Stiff Dog Park in Amarillo: lake, trees, ducks, geese, and.....jackrabbits. OMG! He loves his little jackrabbit buddies! He'll chase them until he's almost dead from exhaustion. Oh yeah, they play with him, letting him get close before they kick it into overdrive, but he never gives up. There is not an ounce of quit in that dog.

So on our outing to JSDP yesterday morning, he lights out after this bunny that's every bit as big as him and they cross the road in, the median, the road out and into open field. Max comes up lame just into the open field and I know something is hugely wrong. He never gives up the chase that quickly.
I catch up to him and he's sitting there with his left front paw up and blood pouring out of it. I kick into Mommy Mode. We get him into the Momvan, get the paw cleaned and assess the damage. Not too bad, I was expecting to see entire pads ripped off and missing. The bleeding has slowed to a trickle and he's not whimpering anymore. Executive decision is to head home. Bunny chase is called off.

He rests most of the day, limping to his water bowl and licking his wounds. About 2 pm, I notice more blood and he's avoiding jumping up on the furniture.  Not out of respect for the upholstery or anything, just too painful with the foot and too hard without it. We take a little trip to his Vet, sweet girl, young redhead, up both Max and spouse's alley, and get it checked. There's no way to suture a dog's pads, the flesh is too squishy, so it's a round of antibiotics, some awesome painkillers, a few day's off walkies, and NO LICKING. The pills aren't a problem, he's an idiot for cheese. The walkie embargo is a bitch, he's been sulking. But the licking? I'd have better luck stopping wirecutter from posting mean driving memes than I've had stopping the licking. I'm supposed to take him in for a CONE OF SHAME if he doesn't cut it out, and I've told him. I've even threatened to post pics of him in the COS on the blog for all y'all to see. Nothing is working.

So stay tuned for Episode II: Max's Shame.

Max post-pain meds




12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah poor Max. Good time to kick back and let his 'strategize' on how to choke a rabbit to death, once it's caught.

pigpen51 said...

The truth comes out. Angel, you are a jinx. Now it has spread to poor little ole Max. I am not referring to the cut paw, but to the COS. Nothing could be worse in the life of a dog than that. Imagine a human animal having to wear something like that, then trying to get a drink of water, or, if wearing such a contraption, most likely a drink of strong whiskey. It would be a nightmare, until you figured out that you just stand under the barrel and fill up the cone, and then drink until the cone is empty.

Poor little dog, I do wish him fast healing, and a swift run back at those crazy wabbits. May he catch at least one, just to say he can.

I always hate it when my dogs or my kids are hurting, it makes me wish I could take the pain for them.

drjim said...

Any idea what he stepped on?

Get well soon, Max!

hiswiserangel said...

I'm pretty sure it was broken glass in the median. Some idiot chunked his beer bottle out and it broke into anti-dog mines.

Judy said...

Poor baby!

drjim said...

If there's room in your car for full ones, there's room for empties until you get to a trash can....

Jesse in DC said...

Poor Lad. Have you put him in for the doggie purple heart? After all, he was wounded in action. Swift healing, pup!!

Hawken Cougar said...

Clean cut? Hold the wound closed and put a drop of super glue on it. Try to leave a portion of the cut left open so that it can drain if needed. Dentists are using super glue to close gums without stitches. I've glued me own cuts closed. Works great.

Anonymous said...

My wife's dog "Fwankie" stepped on my machete, in the back of my truck. Deep cut, lots of blood. Took him to the vet the next day, she said stitches or glue wouldn't hold, it would just make a bigger mess. She thought it best to keep it clean and let it heal. She'd amputate and cauterize 1/2 if it caused him problems. I got bit trying to put a bootie on him. So much for clean. His walks were more important than his pain apparently. He was back to chasing rabbits the next day and digging mice within a week. Almost as good as new, he just has an extra toe. Max will be fine in spite of everything you or the vet does.
ignore amos

Anonymous said...

pour on the antibiotics, and keep up the pain meds, and the comfort food....I'm just thinking what it was like to be laid up hurting and couldn't hunt, which hurts even worse...wish I could send him a bottle of scotch, or maybe some doggie cannabis bites....scratch his tummie for me and tell him to hang in there......


vaquero viejo

Granny said...

The low life that left the doggie land mine for our intrepid Max will never know the pain he has caused, nor will they care. Karma will grab them by the balls and I hope whatever they step on is so toxic there won't be any meds for it.

East Of The Pecos said...

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