The Ballad of Bazal - a.k.a. This doggie proved me wrong.

So it was mid-January when my sister called in hysterics because her dog had been attacked.  She has a 10-year-old blue healer named Bazal.  I call him the ottomon, and my other sisters call him the giant tick.  Can you guess his shape?  Back to the story...


As I said, my sister called because Bazal was covered in mud and blood, and she didn't know what happened to him.  We needed to get him to the vet asap, but he's way too heavy for D to carry him alone.  So I raced to D's place. 

Oh, by the way... I was hosting a Keno party at my house.  Yep, I left a group of my friends to play without me.  Luckily, they are great friends and locked the door when they were through (not to mention cleaned up.  I still feel guilty about that!)

When I got to D's house, I assumed we'd take Bazal in my car because it's lower to the ground and easier to place him inside.  D assumed we'd taking her car.  Well, she didn't see my car behind hers in her driveway so backed up right into mine.  Her car was undamaged.  Mine needed the hood replaced.  Oh yeah, when it rains...

Okay, so we raced -- and I mean RACED to the 24-hour vet.  (I think she hit 100 mph.) The vet immediately took Bazal to the back and cleaned him up.  It was a long wait.

When he finally spoke with D and me, he said that Bazal has a severe laceration on his neck because the dog attacking him obviously went for the jugular!  The vet sewed him up as best he could but was afraid the stitches wouldn't hold because lacerations were so jagged.  D hands over her credit card.  They keep Bazal overnight.

Okay... long story short (too late), the stitches do not hold.  We make yet another emergency run to the vet and they say there's not enough skin to hold his wound closed.  From the way the vet spoke, I assumed we'd have to put him down.  Luckily, I was wrong!  

So here is what Bazal looked like (WARNING:  NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!)

Yes, his jugular was exposed.

D took Bazal to her vet of 25+ years and he kept him for a couple of weeks giving him hydrotherapy.  Essentially, they sprayed water on the injury twice a day.  That's it.  No salve, no "cone of shame" -- just antibiotics.

After those two weeks were up, D carried on the hydrotherapy at home.  It is now two months after this ordeal.  I never thought Bazal would heal, however, here's a photo of him now:

A-MAZ-ING! 

The original injury is about the size of a quarter.

There's much more to the story:  D having to drive to the vet's on a daily basis -- my car getting repaired incorrectly and then finally fixed --  a neighbor saying he knows what dog attacked hers, but having no proof, we can't do anything about it --  not to mention the vet bills.  Holy Guacamole Dip!  But it all turned out well in the end, because that booger Bazal is one tough cookie.