Yes, for the first time in her life, Bean had to wear the dreaded E-collar. I came home on Wednesday to find blood on the couch in the office (the one she is allowed on). I checked her paws and the dew claw on her front left paw was a bloody mass of nastiness. Seriously? It looked like she had stepped in some raw hamburger meat or something. So, off to the vet for some expensive surgery (they ended up taking off the whole claw), and when Bryan picked her up on Wednesday night, she was wearing this. I think she looks very Shakespearean in the photo above, don't you?
In this picture you can see her bandaged paw. She had to keep it and the E-collar on for 3 days, and yesterday (Saturday) we released her. She is full of energy and as good as new, which is slightly disappointing. We were hoping for maybe a few more days of down-time before she got back to her usual crazy self.
"When you don't share your pizza crusts with me mommy, it makes my paw hurt." Since her wound could have had something to do with the fact that we don't clip her nails (she has eaten several nail trimmers), the guilt was a little overwhelming. We dealt with this by hand feeding her bananas and pizza crusts, carrying her up and down the stairs whenever she wanted, and letting her sleep in the bed with us.
Those of you who share the bed with your dogs on a regular basis, my hats off to you. It was the worst sleep of my whole life. She had to sleep with her head (with big plastic E-collar) on Bryan and her big fat butt on me. The weight of it pretty much forced me to lie in the same position all night, and I was achy all the next day. But, what could we do? The first time we saw her try to run into her crate for bed and bounce back because the E-collar wouldn't fit was friggin hysterical. But the eighth time was just heart breaking.
4 comments:
I actually slept on the floor with my big guy when he had his e-collar on.. mostly because he couldn't sleep.. it was actually a bitenot collar becuase his head was so big.. he couldn't sleep so I ended up taking it off and sleeping on the floor with my hands on his head.. I woke up everytime he tried to move.. which wasn't often
Oh Bean, I feel your pain! I had to wear one of those stupid collars about a month ago when I hurt my knee. Mommy laughed at me when I tried to go through the hallway gate & couldn't then she had tears swell up after a time or two of me trying & she helped me. She also lets me sleep w/her in the bed. I crawl under the sheets & then weasel my way up to the pillow & sleep on it just like she does!
~Woof!
Storm
Ohhhhhhh, poor Bean! Does she not let you clip her nails? I don't know if it's the clippers she objects to, but on dog.com you can get the electric nail trimmers, kind of like what manicurists use in salons. It's faster, there's no squeezing sensation, no actual clipping, but it does make some noise. You can also give animals Rescue Remedy to help with stress.
I had to have an e-collar when I ate my mom's allergy medicine and had to go to the vet clinic. I chewed up the first catheter tube, so after they put in another one, they put an e-collar on me. I almost couldn't fit into daddy's car! Then I had to sit straight up in the back, because the e-collar was so big that I couldn't lie down or lean on the back of the seat. Mommy and daddy were snickering. I did not appreciate it.
Great blog! Bean is adorable although quite pitiful looking in the e-collar. Hate those! When my lab had knee surgery I couldn't bear to keep it on him. Amazingly, he never even licked his stitches. Like "energypaws" I slept on the floor with him until my husband took pity on us and carried his 85lb butt upstairs.
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