Politics Is A Rough Sport

I'm numb. I had anticipated posting some photos of my Sky dog today and I'll do that soon, but in the never ending saga of the Portie Blog, we have a new development.

As you all know, we lost two important pack members last week. Samba and Sky both died of cryptosporidium infection which went thru our entire pack. The others were all able to fight it off, though some were pretty sick for a while. Samba, with her compromised immune system from her three year battle with MMM, was too weak to fight the bacteria and Sky, for unknown reasons, also became too ill to recover. With help from our vet and from the vets at the Missouri College Of Veterinary Medicine, we tried everything we could think of to save them, but it didn't end well.

Yesterday we took Sebastian to the vet because of hair loss and swelling in his hip area. The diagnosis is an infection in the hair follicles. Sebastian has always been an itchy dog and we've given him antihistamines and fish oil since he's been living with us. When he first arrived in July, his coat and skin were in pretty bad condition and they've improved a lot, but we're not sure what the underlying problem may be. He doesn't appear to have food allergies, so perhaps once we get this infection cleared up, he may be less itchy and have better skin and coat. He's taking antibiotics and getting medicated baths and we're confident we can help him get over this.

Last night I went downstairs to feed the dogs. I let all eight of them into the yard while I prepared their meals. Then I let four of them in to eat. When they were finished, I sent them back outside and brought the other four in. As they finished eating, I picked up the empty bowls. Fudge was last to finish and when I reached for his bowl I saw that it was covered with blood. I sent the others out and examined him. There was blood all over his chest and leg so I though at first that he'd injured his leg. Then I looked at his face and almost lost it. Blood was pouring from his right eye. The lid and area around the eye were hugely swollen and I couldn't see the eye. I didn't know if it was still there.

I called Rob who was out buying some groceries and I grabbed some cloths, wet them and held them to the eye to try and stop the bleeding. When Rob got home he called Dr B, but he was too far away and sent us to the emergency room. I sat in the back seat next to Fudge, who was very agitated, and held a compress to the eye. The emergency doctor took him right in, sedated him and checked the eye.

The eyeball is OK. He has three small lacerations to the inside of the upper eyelid. They were too small to suture, so he was given pain medication and drops were put in his eye and he was sent home, still unconscious. He woke up around 9 last night and was very groggy. We put drops in the eye before bed and this morning he could open the lid, though it's still very swollen. It's also a lovely rainbow hue, with lots of purple and blue amidst a little red and yellow. I was planning to take our Christmas picture today with Fudge wearing a Santa hat, but instead he needs a pirate's eyepatch.

So, what happened? There are several things going on here. First: Fudge is a bully and tease. He loves to grab another dog's toy and then shove it in their face while humming. Naturally the other dogs, don't appreciate this behavior and some react worse than others. Noah gets fed up and fights back and any other dog that touches Monkey has to deal with the wrath of Bailey.

Second: Rob and I are dealing with an overflow of stress this week. I know the dogs pick up on it and I've noticed short tempers several times over the past few days.

Third: There are two pack members gone, one was the pack leader. Now we're facing a realignment of the pack order and there are several candidates vying for the top spot. I know Fudge would love to be leader, but he's not all that popular with his pack mates. Bailey would have been my guess a few weeks ago, but suddenly I notice a change in Norma Jean and then there is the dark horse, Sebastian. He's acting more sure of himself and is starting to look like a possible leader.

Fudge may have run into something outside last night, but he probably got in the face of the wrong dog and found some teeth poking into his face. When we returned from the hospital we inspected everyone and didn't find any blood on any of the other dogs. We'll never know just what happened, but I suspect the campaign for pack order got a little too rough. From now on Rob and I'll supervise more closely till they get this all sorted out.

Fudge is going to be OK in a week or two and that's the important part right now.