Rescue Journal

wait and see

Carol  ·  Sep. 28, 2014

both new little chi-buddy and teek are settling in well. they are little cuddle buddies and i am their new best friend.

i have been becoming increasingly concerned about pepper...so many more questions than answers. i wasn't sure where we were going with him, how much time to give him and if i even should be sending him to our clinic tomorrow for sedation and full body shave...it's not like he hasn't had enough trauma lately. anyway. i needed some advice and whatcom road clinic was open today...Dr Borgman has been great with us in the past so i took pepper out to see her to help me decide about tomorrows appointment and if i should cancel it. the timing was perfect because the swelling is starting to go down and he is not quite as sore and freaked out as he has been so she was able to fully exam him and see what progress if any that he has made.

here is what we found...

now that the blood has started to drain from his eye and the swelling is going down. we now know that he has lost the vision in that eye. also we discovered that probably due to nerve damage neither eye can now close..this means his corneas are drying out and he has the very beginnings of corneal ulcers in both. and even tho he currently will not stand on his back two legs, we know that the legs are working and feeling pain stimulus...he just does not know how to use them because his front leg is so messed up and he is still pretty over all sore so he is most likely a bit afraid to try too hard to move yet.
that front leg has had all of the tendons severed in his wrist area...unless we did very expensive, very painful and probably not very successful orthopedic surgery..he will never be able to weight bear on it again. the question becomes can he learn to be a three legged dog and is he game once he heals to even try?
pepper was a mentally messed up dog before this happened so it is not surprising that he is taking his injuries and disabilities quite hard.

so his current plan of care is...
i will cancel his appointment for tomorrow...no point in stressing him out any more. we are doing a good job with his daily baths in helping keep his wounds clean and infection free so we will just be happy with that. he will need eye lubricant four times a day, most likely for life now. even tho he is a biting little bastard..i think we can manage this by popping a cone on his head each time. we will continue to syringe feed and give him his 3 types of injectible meds. we will see where he is a week from now...if he has not regained some quality of life then we will need to let him be free..if he has regained his quality of life then we will continue to provide whatever care that he needs for as long as he finds joy in his life.

big sigh...more wait and see.

Comments

Fiona

Loved Mo singing this song on Saturday and she has a very nice singing voice. I hope Pepper improves.

Debra in Malaysia

Pepper please pull through this.hope the little guy is going to be ok.
Dr. Borgemann is awesome!!

lynne arnason

how do you get on the site for voting. i will if i know how to thankyou

Elisabeth

Go Pepper - listen to Mo's song!
On another note - I noticed that SAINTS is entered into the AVIVA challenge that starts again today. I just voted, but thought I'd remind others...

Penny

Let's all send love and healing thoughts to Pepper - he needs our help to get him through this, poor baby. Love your post, Mo!!

Mo

Peppers Song

"This Little Light Of Mine"

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
Every day, every day, every day, every way,
Gonna let my little light shine.
Light that shines is the light of love,
Hides the darkness from above,
Shines on me and it shines on you,
Shows you what the power of love can do.
Shine my light both bright and clear,
Shine my light both far and near,
In every dark corner that I find,
Let my little light shine.

I want that little light inside to shine BRIGHT and BIG , so BRIGHT that I can see it from my house in Maple Ridge..come on Pepper..come back to us & let us show you how much that little light can shine !!!!