Ava Goes To Emergency Vet

Warning --- Very graphic photos below that shows a lot of blood. Proceed at your own risk.

As you can see Ava is home and resting. She will get the bandage off in 24-48 hours but the cone and staples in her leg have to stay for 14 days. Appointments have been made with my regular vet to do each removal. It's a real mystery what happened. I have looked inside and outside and the mouth, chest and feet of each hound and dog ... no signs of blood on the hounds and dog. The vet did say it was NOT a dog bite.

I had gone grocery shopping and came home to this. Instead of leaving her in the crate I chose to keep the patio door open for all four of them to enjoy the beautiful morning. But aren't all accidents like that?? A decision was made and a "what if I had ..." is applied after the bad news?

When I saw drops of blood and signs of blood splatter, I assumed there had been a dog fight while I was gone. When I walked in she was hiding under the table by the louvered doors and the other three were standing under the table with her.

When I saw this amount of blood I expected the worse ... like a cut artery. I could see blood pouring out of her front leg. You can zoom the next photo up to her leg and see where she was cut. I put what food required refrigeration into the fridge while I was calling the VCA Emergency Vet Clinic. It rang forever and I doubted I would get an answer and was trying to think what to do or where to go. Luckily a live voice picked up and it wasn't a message machine like past experiences with that clinic.

She would not let me get near her to see the damaged leg. I knew it was going to be hard to catch her to get her in the car but I did do that easier than I had thought it would be. She was a great traveler to the vet.

I thought it was a good sign when she got out of the car and walked normal to the front door. She did not limp which to me was a good sign.

For the first time that I have ever seen when driving by on the expressway, the parking lot was full. I had to take the last spot in back of the clinic.

As I walked in the lobby all the seats were full of people but I didn't see any dogs or cats with those people. I found out later I would not be allowed to go back inside with Ava while the vet examined her.

The more she walked the more blood was getting on their floor. They took the leash and led her away immediately while a tech came out with a mop bucket to clean the floor. Blood was everywhere so I knew she was still bleeding profusely.

After an hour and no word from them I asked the front desk what the latest news was. They had stopped the bleeding as soon as she arrived and she was doing fine.

When I got home I checked outside for anywhere she might have cut her leg ... you can see from the photos, nothing looks suspect. That one photo showing the ends of the planks is not sharp enough to do the cut she has.

The vet said it was a vertical cut and definitely was not a dog bit. She said she sees similar cuts when dog tries to jump a fence and catches their leg on part of the fence. When I told her the other dogs I have maybe have been playing, she said it was possible that if she jumped up she might have caught a tooth from one of the others. It did cut a vein but not an artery.

Hard to tell what happened even after these photos outside.

Of course as soon as I open the door to get from the garage to the mudroom, all three rushed pass me to see what was up with Ava. I finally let go of the leash and let them inspect her in the garage. She had figured out that cone pretty fast so she could walk anywhere she wanted without too much trouble.

After the initial excitement, after the hounds and Walter went running back into the garage obviously to inspect the situation a little deeper, I was able to close them in the garage to be alone with her. I fed her, let her drink water and then go outside by hereself. She never attempted to run. When Henry, Watson came outside they stuck their noses inside the cone to see if Ava was okay.

None of them is letting me know what happened. I have check the jowls, chins, chests and feet of each of them for any signs of blood and there are no stains to be found.

She was happy to get home. At least she already has a cone bought and paid for, that she can use July 17th for her spay appointment.

I can't believe the day is over already. I am tired and could almost take a late siesta. I can't think of anything else that can go wrong like they have in the past 30 days. It has been amazing, hard to believe.

Not as hot as the past week here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.