2 weeks ago we had an owner come in with an emergency. He had 2 Dachs that he left tied outside (he fell asleep for 4 hours). When we woke up and remembered the dogs, he found them all tangled up together in their cords. The male had strangled to death and the female was barely alive. She came in and her body temp was a good bit below normal, couldn't walk, was unresponsive, and we put her on IV fluids immediately. The owner felt horrible (as he should!). She was hospitalized and sent home after a few days....
This week, she came back in. Her owner noticed that she had developed a black spot on her hip that seemed to be getting larger. When he was told to bring her in, he said he would just "keep an eye on it." About 5 days later, when she was finally brought in it was HORRIBLE. I saw her in the waiting room (briefly) and saw a black stripe running the full length of her side. It was a quick glance and I thought maybe it was road rash from being hit by a car.
Wednesday morning: I arrived to do boarding. When I saw her in the hospital cage I was floored. She was wrapped from shoulders to hip in bandage. Blood had soaked through it and she smelled awful (I call it the "death smell."). The doctor came in later that morning so that she and I could take care of her wounds. I almost threw up when she took off the bandages (and I have a pretty strong stomach). This dog's ENTIRE side, from shoulder to hip and from spine to just above her underside was skinless. There aren't words to describe this dog's injuries. I meant to take pictures of her but she was picked up before I got time to. The edge where there was no skin meeting with skin that was left was black. She also had a line (about 1/2" wide and the length of her body) on the other side. The doctor was able to flush under her skin via holes where the tissue was dying. By the next day, the black line was thicker. The doctor said the smell was from all the dead and dying skin tissue. She would need her wounds debrided (we cleaned with a Water Pic to remove dead tissue) twice a day for the next 4 weeks. She had already had surgery to remove large portions of dead tissue and I suspect she'll have to go through that again. the doctor thinks she will lose all the skin from her head down to her legs and tail. The owner came and picker her up yesterday with instructions on how to care for her. Considering what he has already caused, I will be surprised if this critter makes it. To be honest, I think she should have been euthanized rather than be put through this. We aren't sure of what caused it but the top 2 possibilities are:
1. The cord was so tight around her body for such a long time that blood flow was restricted from getting around to the skin tissues
2. He used a heating pad and placed her directly on it. If she was as weak as she was when she came in, she wouldn't have been able to move herself off of it, causing burns.
I tried to find some pics online the kind of show what she looked like. She looked MUCH worse than the pics I could find.
Burned skin:
http://www.all-creatures.org/ha/jikken/dogBurned.html
We also started to clean her teeth. We stopped when we thought that the plaque was the only thing keeping them from falling out. You could actually see the root of her teeth, through to the other side. See the bottom pic at this page:
http://www.veterinarydentalcenter.com/periodontal.htm
This dog is young. She is 5 years old and not spayed...what a wonderful owner.
