Jack got hurt ... again
My father took Jack for a ride down to the store today, and had Jack's leash attached to his collar. We normally don't hook him up by his collar, but his harness, since he has occasional issues with a collapsing trachea. Needless to say, his collar was loose. When they got home and got out of the car, Jack slipped his collar and took off. My father called me at work after he couldn't find Jack, and I left work to look for him. Because he was missing his collar and tags w/phone # (he is chipped, though) my father called our local police station, told them what happened and left our # in case anyone should call in about a loose dog.
After a bit of time, a man a few houses up the street called. He had seen Jack on our road (a very busy main street) and called him to get him off the road. He put Jack in his sunporch and got a hold of us. I picked Jack up, with many, many thanks. He seemed no worse for wear.
But, when we got home, Jack started shaking his head. Thinking he had some dirt or something in there, I called him over and lifted his ear flap. He yelped and snapped at me. Uh oh. I picked him up and gingerly looked at his ear. The inside was all bloody, but he wouldn't let me touch his ear to get a closer look. I called my other job (vet) and told him I would bring him in after I finished at the bank. I didn't think it would be too bad, probably a scratch or something.
I just got home from the bank, and Jack is acted very, very 'off'. He is shaking his head a ton more, his tail is tucked, and he is acting like he's in incredible pain. *Sigh* His appointment is for 7:30, so we'll be leaving in about 10 minutes. My mom's going to drive us while I hold Jack, because I don't think he'll let me put his harness over his head, so I can't hook him into his car seat.
I'm a little concerned that there is more going on here. I wish he would let me look in his ear, but I'll have to wait until I muzzle him. He hasn't acted like this since he impaled himself on a branch 2 years ago. I'm worried.
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We're back. All that drama was from his ear. He had no other injuries that we could find, and the doc checked him over thoroughly. He was acting so painful at home she wanted to make sure it didn't look like he got 'glanced' by a car or something.
He definitely did get into some sort of trouble, though. At the very base of his left ear, he has two small punture holes/lacerations. The vet's best guess is that he got bitten by something. The wounds themselves didn't look too bad once we got the hair clipped and got him cleaned up a bit, but he is still very, very painful. The vet thinks if he got bit, then it also involved maybe crushing the cartilage a bit around there, because she didn't think the pain resulted just from the wounds. She couldn't get a good look down into his ear canal, he was too painful, and she didn't think sedating him was necessary.
So he came home with antibiotics and Rimadyl for pain. I am to bring him back next time I work so one of the doctors can take a good look down his ear canal when he's less painful. I put Jack in his crate for the night, because he's shaking his head like mad, and pacing/circling. Hopefully the Rimadyl kicks in soon and he'll be more comfy.