Jake is getting high…

As I type.  It’s not like he’s shooting up or anything, it’s all legal.  I had to take him back to the vet today for a follow up (Sorry – no pictures… was running late leaving work and so was then late for the appointment and left the camera behind in the chaos) and they gave him some happy pills.

They said that his wound is starting to heal the slightest bit (still looks uber nasty) but still isn’t making huge progress.  They extended his antibiotic regimen for another round and are making a switch from Rimadyl to a low-dose opiate.  I dumped his new feel-goods in his bowl a couple minutes ago, so we’ll see how it goes.

The Rimadyl was for his arthritis, which we started a couple weeks ago.  The vet wanted to see how he did on the opiate since there can be bad side effects from being on the Rimadyl long term.  Hopefully it will work as good as the Rimadyl did.

So, sorry for no pictures, but I wanted to update because I know a lot of you are following Jake’s progress.  I promise I’ll get back to blogging about Duchess eventually – it’s just this little event has taken over our household for now.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go pick out the perfect tunes for Jake’s first trip… I’m thinking “The End” by The Doors or “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd.

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Update on Jake…

I took Jake in for a check-up today to make sure that he’s healing okay from his pellet gun wound.  The hole has gotten larger, but they said that it’s due to dead tissue around the entry wound dying and coming off.  It looks like the infection is clearing up and they were able to look a little deeper to make sure that there wasn’t any deeper damage done.

I was mowing this afternoon and the neighbor walked over to ask how the dog was.  I told him that he was going back to the vet today.  The neighbor said that he spoke to his grandkids and they said that they hadn’t shot their guns in over a month.  Of course they haven’t!  I mean, 10 and 12 year olds are known for their maturity, honesty, and taking responsibility for their actions, right?

So, we have an old wounded dog that was shot by a pellet that mysteriously fell out of the sky… sent straight from heaven to punish Jake for his gluttony.  I knew it was coming.  It was only a matter of time.  The dog can eat a giant scoop full of food in .3 seconds.  Duchess better watch out… no telling what will fall from the sky to punish her for all the stuff she eats in the yard.

I have to take Jake back to the vet on Wednesday so they can check his healing progress again.  I had him in an e-collar (the cone of shame) yesterday and they said he doesn’t have to wear it anymore as long as he behaves and doesn’t mess with it too much.

Jake is quite happy to be able to play with toys again…

And the grody picture of the wound…

Poor guy – and Duchess has even taken over her favorite spot on the bed again and kicked him on to the floor.  To make up for it Jake got all the pizza crusts from tonight though, so I guess it’s all good.

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Jake got shot…

Not with a handgun, rifle, or shotgun… but by a pellet gun.  So I guess it could’ve been worse.

Friday I came home for lunch and we noticed Jake was licking his side.  The Vampire Wife took a look at him and thought it was a tick.  She did the usual squealing and pleading for help that she does when one of the dogs has a tick, but I was still eating so I regretfully declined.

Well it didn’t take long for her to realize that the situation was much, much worse than a tick.  This time when she yelled “COME HERE!” I knew something was up.  There was a hole in Jake’s side.

I immediately called the vet to make an appointment (is it bad that I have their number memorized?) and we were able to get in later that afternoon.  We loaded up and got to the vet’s office (which was PACKED) and anxiously awaited our turn.  Here’s a snap I took at the vet’s office.  Sorry it’s not very clear.

Our vet was gone, but his new associate was there and took a look at him.  They took him to the back where they shaved him up and examined him.  When she came back, she confirmed what we thought – a bb or pellet gun.  The hole is too precise in shape with no other trauma around it to be much anything else.

Our dogs live in the house, so it’s not like they’re outside much, but apparently it was long enough to get shot.  We live in a quiet neighborhood with very, very few children in it, but our next door neighbors have grandchildren that spend a lot of time over there and just happen to be outside shooting pellet guns ALL.  THE.  TIME.  Not to mention that those kids are like two tasmanian devils, high on meth, and running from the law.

Coincidence?  Highly doubt it.

I confronted my neighbor today about it and he denied that it happened (even though he showed me the big jar of pellets that they use), but said that he’d have a talk with his grandkids.  He said he may bring his boys over later.  I told him I’d love for them to come see my old dog with the infected hole in his side.  They never showed.  He probably thought it would be unwise to let me within arm’s reach.

Here’s a pic of the pellet hole (don’t look if you’re squeamish).  The Vampire Wife has it plugged up with antibiotic ointment so you can’t see into the depths…

I really, really hope they own up to it, come see Jake, apologize, offer to pay the vet bill, and promise to never fire a pellet gun in the direction of our house again.  If The Boy had done something like that, it would be full on Al-Qaeda style waterboarding going on at my house until I squeezed the information out of him, then I’d make him do exactly what I typed out above.

Infuriating.

At least Duchess is being really sweet.  She knows Jake doesn’t feel good so she’s let him have her favorite spot on the bed between the fireplace and the Wii (I don’t know why she loves it there when there’s all the rest of the bed to lay on but she does).  The only down side is she does about 20 circles before she resigns to being half on and half off the bed.

Last 4th of July weekend Jake had a major hotspot outbreak and his head swelled up to the size of a basketball.  I think from now on when the 4th rolls around, I’m going to pay my vet to have Jake go live with him for a weekend… just in case.

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