Spencer Had An Accident

[BeagleMum]

As some of you know, Spencer has a severe case of Separation Anxiety. We had it under control in the Spring but he cut his foot really bad while biking and I had to limit his exercise for about a week until it healed. I have cut back on the biking fearing that he will cut his feet again (he tries to pull the whole time) but I have not been able to get his SA to go away completely again.

Last night we went out to vote then for a quick dinner, we were gone maybe 2.5 hours. When I got home, my worst nightmare had come true, there was blood on the floor and Spencer had hurt himself. I checked his paws because that is normally what he cuts and they were fine, I went to check his mouth and realized that it was his eye he had cut. It looks as though he was trying to get out of the kennel and punctured his eyelid on the fencing. His eyelid is swollen up but he has been really good about letting me look at it. His eyeball is completely fine that God!! I went out and got some natural tears from the pharmacy and flushed his eye out a few times to make sure there was no dirt in there. I have started him on antibiotic drops that I had to make sure it doesn't get infected but if it is not looking any better by morning, we will be off to the vet for sure.

I was going to take him in to the vet last night but knew that the emergency vet at Alta Vista would charge me through my nose just to look at him (plus I don't trust them, they screwed around with my friend's dog for over a week, that's a whole other story). He is acting completely fine, it is taking all of my energy just to get him to relax.

My biggest concern is what I am going to do with him when I have to go to work on Tuesday (I am working from home tomorrow to be able to keep a close eye on him all day but I am in a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday that I absolutely can not miss). Man I wish there waas a dog daycare near me that I could trust.

[hazelrunpack]

Is the eyelid torn all the way through? If so, he should see a vet asap and get some antibiotics, if not a stitch or two.

Would you be able to board him at the vet while you're working?

[Frenchy]

omg what a bad day for doggies today ! :sad:

The only advice I can give you is (and maybe you're already doing this) to stuff a Kong with peanut butter , put it in the freezer the night before and give it to him when you put him in his crate.

I have heard that dogs with separation anxiety freak more right after you leave .... don't know if it's true but I always do the Kong thing when Nelly is crated.

[BeagleMum]

No, the lid is not torn (we would have been at the vet last night for sure if it had been) nor could they stitch it, it is just a small puncture on the inside of it. The swelling is coming down and his tears are clear to light brown (as they have always been). I have been using Polysporin antibiotic drops every few hours (4x a day) which is what I was ild to use when he had an eye infection a few months ago. So far so good. I am going to have to call the vet in the morning anyway to try to get a cone for him for when we are away so I wil see if they can take him in. He is trying to play with Sydney but of course I am not letting him.

The only kennel I really trust is over an hour away on a good day, in rush hour it would likely be almost 2 hours. The only daycare between my home and work is Petsmart but I know that they kennel them there as well so that may not be the ideal for him.

I was thinking about putting plexy glass around the bottom of his kennel (it is an outdoor pen thatis 6ft x 10ft, at least that way he wouldn'd be able to hurt himself like this trying to get out.

[BeagleMum]

Originally Posted by Frenchy

omg what a bad day for doggies today ! :sad:

The only advice I can give you is (and maybe you're already doing this) to stuff a Kong with peanut butter , put it in the freezer the night before and give it to him when you put him in his crate.

I have heard that dogs with separation anxiety freak more right after you leave .... don't know if it's true but I always do the Kong thing when Nelly is crated.

I have tried everything Frenchy from stuffed kongs to the tastiest food you can think of. He is at a point still where he will go in the kennelon his own, he will still eat the treats I give him then he starts to bark and try getting out. He managed to get out twice during the summer so he knows that there is a weak spot in the fencing and keeps going back to that spot. (this is the same dog who are his way out of a travel carrier one day when we were gone out and he had a hurt paw).

They say that their anxiety wil peak within the first 30 minutes and from the videos I have taken of Spencer, that is true for him. He starts calming down after about 20 minutes or so. Yesterday was the first time I had separated the dogs in a while because the last video I saw Sydney getting nasty with him again to steal his treats. I thought if he had the treat ball to himself he would be more distracted, guess I was wrong.

[Frenchy]

I'm so sorry , I'm going through same thing with Nelly but she never hurt herself , just the house

[BeagleMum]

Thanks Frenchy. Spencer has damaged the house too which is why we got the kennel for him. I swear this is the most determined dog I have ever seen in my life. He is going to give me grey hair!!

[kandy]

I'm so glad that Spencer is doing better today. How scary for you!!!! Determine little rotten bugger. LOL

I remember when you seperated them during the summer, but when you put them back together, he seemed a tad calmer. I hope putting them back together works for him this time too. And that you can get him back on his exercise routine quickly.

Have you tried doggie boots to protect his feet during the bike rides?

[BeagleMum]

I have used booties on him but he actually wore them out and I have not been able to get a new pair since then (not in season yet I guess). I did take them out biking tonight for about 5km so I hope that he does better tomorrow. When I watched the viseo last night from yesterday, he went on for 3 hours again, I was shocked. He went on the treadmill for a bit of a jog this morning and Sydney was out back in the kennel with him today and he had a much better day. His eye is looking really good, almost back to normal. Here's hoping we never have to go through anything like that again.

[kandy]

I hope you don't have to go through that again either!

[jessi76]

omg, just saw this post - poor spencer!!! great job on patching him up! sounds like you did a fantastic job!

as for the SA - instead of a kennel, could you devote a room to him? a "spencer-proofed" room of course.

[BeagleMum]

There is no way to "Spencer proof" a room, he would likely eat through a wall to get out. When we used to confine him, he chewed the door and door frame as well as the gates on the door. There is also no room that I could leave him in. Our house is carpeted and he has been known to pee on the carpet when he is upset (surprisingly he does not go while he is in the kennel). His kennel is really big, it is actually an outdoor dog run set up in my basement (it is 6ft x 10ft). When we are down there on the computer or whatever, he will go into his kennel and sleep. He doesn't hate it when we are home, he just hates being left alone, anywhere (not sure if you remember when he ate the roof of my SUV when I ran into my dad's house once for 5 minutes).

[Melinda]

I can vouch for his anxiety, I held his leash inside my home after they had spend 48 hours here..............and he started freaking!! he was with his sister, my brina and about 6 adults....Beaglemum had run out to her car

[aslan]

i know we all prefer this as a last resort, but what about trying prozac for a little while.

[kandy]

Beaglemum tried 2 or 3 different medications - none took the anxiety away for him.

[BeagleMum]

About a year ago we tried Clomipramine & Amitriptyline and neither of them did a thing for him. I was told to try Xanax with him but myvet didn't seem to keen to try that one (he had never seen a dog where the other 2 didn't work and he really thought that there was something wrong with Spencer). There was a 3rd one I was loking to try but they don't carry it in Canada yet so unless I wanted to sneak it in from the states, I was out of luck.

I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I am starting to wonder if the Orijen (high protein) has something to do with it because the last time he had gotten to this point (barking for 3 hours) he was on it and conveniently now that he is on Orijen again, he is bad again. I had wanted to give the food a try for a 2nd time hopeing it was just coincidence but now I just don't know. I am starting off this time by just inceasing the exercise and not changing the food and see if we can get it cack under control. If not, I am going to be forced to have to find another low protein food that Spencer can eat (he has a wheat and chicken allergy).