When we were in Baja, Bella injured herself several times. Having your best buddy hurt is hard in any situation. Down there, it was doubly traumatic for me as we were so far from the "big city." Compound that by the day of the week (did we have to wait through the weekend?) and potential language snafus, and Bella being hurt became a big issue.
All her injuries were play/exuberance induced. Chasing a ball while not looking where she was going, she ran into the front of a parked car hitting it hard enough to visibly move it. I thought she'd dislocated her shoulder. Luckily, with a couple of anti-inflammatories under her belt and a few days of rest, she was fine. Best yet, she started looking where she was running!
Then she cut some pads on her back paws. We were told that the yard, all sand, had once been a neighborhood dumping spot. For two months I raked the yard daily, always uncovering shards of glass. I figured I pulled out over 20 pounds of glass, rusted nails and wires, broken pottery and other sharp objects—but most was glass. One pad was cut severely enough that I wondered if it would ever heal back to a normal shape. And what about infection? Luckily, infection didn't set in and her pads are fine!
This was followed by another injury where she stopped putting any weight on a back foot. (Her poor back paws!) There is a ubiquitous, little grass in Baja that several dog owners warned me about. Of course, it is most problematic when it dries because its color becomes even more sand-like. And like foxtail here, this grass can also kill. I looked at Bella's paw (which is also sand-colored) and found nothing. My husband did the same with a magnifying glass. We even tried to clip the fur which was tough as her fur is already short, but we found nothing. I wanted to take her to a vet in the city, but we had to wait until Monday—two days away.
Luckily for Bella and us, a neighbor was a retired veterinarian from the states. Although he wasn't interested in practicing anymore, he was willing to look at Bella. The way he did it was interesting. Where we went right to the source—her paw—he said he always starts further away. One, he wants to calm the animal, but also, the injury may actually be elsewhere. He started at her hip and worked his way down to her paw assessing leg movement as he went.
The vet looked both at the bottom and the top. Bingo! Looking at the whole foot from the top (not just between toes), you could see how swollen one toe was. He surmised she had probably sprained a toe and suggested we put her on anti-inflammatories for a couple of days. He said if there was any abscessing to let him know immediately as that could mean the grass seed was an issue. However, after several days she was fine.
On our drive back home in the states, late one night before bed, she jammed a stick into the back of her mouth, slicing skin open. Awful! Blood everywhere! I was frantic, but luckily we were back in the states and I knew we could get to a vet early in the morning.
All her injuries were from play though that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. But wonder if your pup is seriously hurt? Considering how I hate the sight of blood (fainting would not be too off the mark), how does one handle a pet's injuries?
I feel lucky that none of Bella's incurred injuries in Baja were life threatening. Quite a few years ago, I attended a Pet First Aid class put on by a local shelter. It was brief, but a good class; we each received a pet first aid booklet that I keep in Bella's traveling bag. Recently I learned that a neighbor teaches a more intensive pet first aid class and is trying to put together a local offering this spring, which I'd love to attend.
Today I received a link via Bark Magazine on how to deal with a bleeding pet. Because many of us take our dogs traveling and those dogs participate in many of our sports—hiking, mountain biking, skijoring, etc.—the chance of a pup getting hurt is not all that unlikely. I urge you to look into pet first aid classes offered in your community. It's a great feeling of security knowing you are better able to help an injured pet until you can get it to a veterinary hospital.
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