I know a lot of you may kind of know what’s going on but I just wanted to fill everyone in. Yesterday afternoon, I decided to take Louie on a walk through Deep Ellum (the area that I live in.) We were about ten minutes down the road, and passing my a wrought iron fence that was covered in vines, so neither of us could see in it. Louie, being the adorable man he is, always walks in front of me and to the left a little bit…with his tongue dangling out, per usual. As we passed the side of the fence, a blue heeler came out of no where…no barking or anything-stuck his head through the fence and bit my poor baby’s tongue right off. Louie being the sweet boy he is, immediately backed off, but still barked. I didn’t notice he was bleeding at first, and then I saw flesh on the ground and immediately figured out what happened.
As I stood on the side of the street hysterically crying and a dog pouring blood out of his mouth, I started trying to wave people down, as I knew there was no way Lou could make the walk back to my house. Luckily, a man who drives a bus from nursing homes to Baylor (the hospital near my house) saw me and pulled over and asked if I needed help. As soon as he saw Louie’s physical condition, he jumped out of the bus, picked Louie up and asked me where I lived. This guy didn’t miss a beat. He held my hurt pup in his lap the whole way back to my house, giving me time to call my mom and the vet to let them know we were coming. He was covered in blood, but didn’t even care. I wish I knew who he was…but I digress..as we got home, I quickly loaded him up in the car. We got to the vet and they basically said there was nothing that could be done to stop the bleeding. Apparently tongue lacerations are pretty common among dogs and are the fastest to heal, but the slowest to stop bleeding. My parents rushed to the vet to be with me and Louie, who was acting like everything was just fine and dandy the entire time.
Anyways, after receiving antibiotics, medicine to slow down his blood pressure and the bleeding, and pain killers, I decided to take Louie home. As we walked out to the car, the bleeding continued and was getting worse. (The vet had previously told me that it usually takes 2 days for the bleeding to end.) I knew I didn’t have anywhere to keep him in my little one bedroom apartment that would keep both he and the mess contained, so I decided to let him stay at an emergency clinic overnight. SO glad I made that call. Overnight, his body temperature got high, so the vet gave him a shot of fluids in his little back (it kind of looked like a camel’s hump.) I called to check on him late last night and they said his bleeding had completely stopped (YAY!), so I picked him up early this morning and took him back to the vet where he stayed all day. Now, he’s FINALLY home with me. He’s got a cone on his head, a lump of fluid on his back, and part of his tongue missing, but he’s still in THE BEST SPIRITS. It’s absolutely amazing. I sedated him before we got home, so he’s pretty out of it-he’s actually asleep in my lap and snoring away right now-but he’s on his way to a full recovery. Thank you to everyone who prayed for my little man. It’s going to be a rough recovery, as he has to relearn how to use his tongue to eat and drink, but he’s going to be okay and I am so excited!
As for the dog who attacked him, I went back to the house last night to try and talk to the owner. All of the neighbors told me to stay away and that the owner was an alcoholic who has lost his mind and didn’t take care of the dogs at all. I called Animal Control, they wouldn’t do anything unless the dog attacked a human. I called the City Manager, and nothing would be done by them either. I finally decided to call the SPCA, as the dogs (there were two in the fence, only one attacked) had no food, water, or visible shelter, and that, is abuse. Obviously the dogs haven’t been taken care of very well, or it wouldn’t have attacked the way it did. I really hope the SPCA can do something about their situation and that both dogs can find a good home.
I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who was praying for Lou yesterday…it was a rough day, but we made it through! Here are some pictures from beginning, to right now…
