Soapbox

Spay and Neuter your Pet

   Tuesday we had Tucker, now 6 months old, "fixed". And they fixed him up good, alright! It has been a nightmare. In a medical dictionary, under "complications" there is a photo of Tucker.
   He was originally scheduled for right before Thanksgiving, but what with the whole D-con incident I thought it would be best to push it back a week and just make sure everything was OK.
     If I hadn't, we never would have made it to Pennsylvania this year.

    We ended up in the doggy emergency room the first night because his poor scrotum was so swollen it was the color and size of a big purple plum. We watched it get worse and I was worried that he was bleeding excessively internally, maybe from the D-con. Finally  Ted and I got dressed at 11:30 and took him to the place I never wanted to go again: the place where Boomer died.
    Wow. Painful memories, let me tell you.

   The doc there was as sweet as she was before and after running a clotting time and hematocrit assured us that Tucker looked worse than he was and to put ice on his 'nads (or what was left of them) periodically. Whew! (A $150 whew, by the way)

    Wednesday morning and the swelling was no worse, but as requested we took him to the vet for a look-see. Dr. Lehnerd said there was a blood clot inside and took him back to surgery to relieve the pressure. He removed a clot, stitched him up and sent him back home….

….where he proceeded to keep oozing and eventually we could see that his second sewing job wasn't very good and the incision was gaping open a bit. So we took him back, to see Dr. Little this time. She put 2 staples in and pronounced him, again, better than he looked. But he had to wear a stupid collar around his neck to keep him from licking.

   Thursday was a good day. Tucker was full of energy and other than running into things all the time with his funnel head was clearly on the mend: bruising fading, swelling reducing, appetite ravenous. Yay! Over the hump at last!

    And then this morning I was feeding him and noticed fresh blood on his back leg. It seems that his lampshade collar keeps him from licking, but not from trying to lick, and the rigid edge of the collar had abraded the tender tissue of his scrotum, which was seeping and oozing blood. Crap!
   I was camped out in the kitchen for hours because every time I walked away he would try to lick himself, scraping that collar over tender flesh. Couldn't take a shower, couldn't eat from nerves and wondering what in the hell was going to happen when I went to work in the evening.
     I called the vet and was told to give him Benadryl to make him sleepy so maybe he'd leave himself alone, but where was I going to get Benadryl? I couldn't leave him long enough to go buy some!  I remembered that my neighbor has young children and figured she was bound to have some, which she did.

    Finally I took him back to the vet (my 4th trip) for a look-see and a larger collar. Dr. Little cleaned him off and said the damage was minimal, bleeding not excessive and gave him a bigger collar.
   Tucker hates the thing! It is heavier and ungainly and makes the old one seem like a breeze. They tried padding the edge with gauze secured with bandage tape. But this is a dog whose favorite pastime is methodically tearing to bits cardboard boxes and the newspaper. He fought the collar for about 5 minutes and then set to work tearing the tape and then gauze from all around it. It's actually rather amusing to watch him and it keeps him occupied, at least.
   Oh yeah, and the latest development? His incision is bleeding again. Not a lot, just enough to have me almost weeping in frustration and anxiety. It's not that I think my dog is dieing or anything…. it's just that I want him to be well!
    
It wasn't supposed to be this hard! It's not like he was hit by a car or anything! The vet and techs say they have never had a dog with as many problems after such a simple surgery as Tucker has had. Gosh, I feel so special. Oh, and here's a little ironic twist: when I call the vet and get put on hold, the hold message is all about how good it is for both you and your pets to have them spayed and neutered. Ha!!

   Define "good".