Just an update…
I took Kramer to our vet yesterday for a status checkup. The vet said he looked very good and was healing up nicely. The drain in his chest will have to stay in for several more days, as he’s still leaking fluid; that all has to finish evacuating, or it will eventually form an abcess if it has no place to escape. (We have him in a t-shirt all the time, to catch the flow, to keep him from licking it, and to keep dirt, etc., away from it. He looks comical, but it does the job.)
He also said that from the surgery report he got from the emergency vet that it didn’t appear that there was any muscle damage; he thinks what happened was that the stake pierced through the dog’s skin and a layer of subcutaneous tissue and fat, but bounced off the muscle wall…so that’s good. He said there wouldn’t be any permanent damage, and once he heals up from this, he’ll be as good as new.
My big problem now is keeping him quiet.
He wants to run, and he can’t, because he still has sutures in his chest, so I have to walk him on a leash every time he goes outside. We live in the boondocks, and last night I had him out by the edge of the woods and we kicked up a deer…I had to really bear down on him to keep him from yanking the leash out of my hand. Then we found a brand-new fox den behind a stand of oaks we have, and I had to bear down on him again to keep him from sticking his head down the hole on that.
I asked the vet when he could go up and down stairs, and he said any time, as long as he doesn’t
run up or down the stairs. I said, “Good, because if we leave him locked up in his kennel all night, he misses his boy and starts to cry…then I have to go and get him and take him upstairs where Noah is, and then he’s fine.” The vet said, “You’re not
carrying him up there, are you?”, and I said, "This dog weighs
ninety pounds—do you think I’m
insane???" He laughed, and said as long as I was walking him upstairs, that was fine.
So, anyway, he’s doing nicely, he’s bright and clear-eyed and alert, and provided no unforeseen circumstances, things are going well. Ten thousand thank-you’s to everyone for your prayers over the last few days…I can’t tell you what it means.
As for the stakes, they now have big white five-gallon plastic buckets over them unless they’re in use…and when they are in use, dogs and kids are kept away from that area.
