Pdog had her first accident last Sunday at the dogpark - she was bitten by another dog! The whole thing was pretty strange - we had just arrived at the park and Prairie ran by another dog that was chasing squirrels. As Prairie ran behind that dog, it turned and bit her. She yelped and we thought she was just startled, but she came over to us and TD immediately saw that she was injured. She was pretty freaked out & just laid down, but neither of us thought she was too injured, although we definitely knew we needed to head to the vet.
I carried P to the car while Tom got the owner's information & filed a report with the park - its ALWAYS best to report an accident/injury/etc immediately before leaving the scene. (This includes calling the police - they will not come to make a report if you have left the scene.) Standing around waiting for authorities is usually the last thing you want to do when you or a loved one is injured, but do yourself a favor and do it! That said, I am very glad the two of us were there together because I am not sure I would have done all of that if I had been by myself - even though I know better!
Ouch!
But thankfully, police do not need to be called when one dog bites another dog, so as soon as TD got the info we could head to the Emergency hospital. We are lucky that there is a vet school with an excellent hospital here. We received great care and didn't have to wait more than a few minutes. We saw a resident who examined Prairie and recommended general anesthesia so that they could thoroughly clean the wound and make sure there wasn't any other damage before stitching her up. They then gave her a sedative and let her fall asleep with us before they took her back.
They told us to come back in 2 hours and so we did. Apparently, she had a "rough time" coming out of anesthesia - we didn't know what that meant but the doctor said she bit him (!!!!) and so they put her back under. She ended up then being hypothermic and they wouldn't let her go home til she warmed up enough. It took about 90 minutes for her to get to a good temperature, but the doctors were nice about letting us know how things were going every 20 minutes or so - usually by saying, "Should be about 20 more minutes!" over and over. But eventually she was ready to go home. (This is a good time to mention that Prairie HATES the vet so sitting in a cage with hot air blowing on her & getting her temperature checked for 2 hours was not her idea of a good time.)
She was pretty pathetic on Sunday evening - still pretty groggy from all the meds and generally feeling sorry for herself but she woke up on Monday feeling 100% and ready to run - which she can't do until she gets the stitches out in 10 days.
In the meantime we are going on lots of walks around the neighborhood and trying to keep her from bothering her incision. The t-shirt helps, and while its not her favorite, it is infinitely preferable to the e-collar which is like kryptonite to Prairie.
And, on a legal note, there is a law in our state deeming dog owners responsible for any damages from their dog to humans, livestock or domestic animals. We are lucky that the owner accepts full responsibility and will pay for Prairie's medical treatment - which wasn't all that bad - about $350 total.
All in all, we were pleasantly surprised with the response of the dog park staff and the owner and the vet care we received. We got a call from the ER doctor on Monday asking if everything was ok and we even got a call yesterday from our regular vet who received a message about Prairie from the Emergency Hospital. He was calling to make sure everything was fine and that we didn't need anything or have any questions. If only human doctors were so attentive!
that I got for my birthday from my sweet parents. The best part about this one is that it's waterproof. As soon as TD gets here, look forward to some canoe documentaries.
