Chewie got bit in the face

[Kimmy & Chewie]

Chewie got bit in the face by a labrador who was off-leash today :(

It happened at our weekly Obedience class. The labrador (name Tara) belonged to a former student of the class and the owner brings her here pretty regularly and she's always off-leash. I've seen both of them a few times before. Chewie even played with Tara 5 minutes before the incident.

5 minutes before class started, I decided to take Chewie for a "warm up". He was heeling nicely when we walked pass Tara (off-leash, owner no where in sight). Being the friendly dog that he is, Chewie took a few steps to greet Tara (tails wagging), but Tara reply with an attack. It happened so fast, there was a lot of noise...Tara's growling and Chewie's crying/yelping and backing away. Seconds later, Chewie was on his back and Tara was on top of him. Chewie doesn't bite back, only kicking all four paws trying to get out of the jam. I yelled and Tara finally back off.

I checked Chewie and found a big puncture under his eye :( I rushed him to the vet immediately.

Tara's owner found me as I was carrying Chewie onto the car. She's actually a really nice old lady and offered to pay the vet bills. I don't remember my response to her as my focus was on poor Chewie.

The first vet we saw cleaned the wound to assess the damage. She said the it require stitches as the bite is quite deep (2 cm). And because it's so close to his eye, he will need to be sedated under general aneasthetic as they cannot afford him to twitch at all while they stitch.

I felt terrible!! The 2 good things were 1) it missed his eye and 2) Chewie's still in good spirits (must be a doodle thing!)

He happily played fetch while we wait an hour for the operating room and for the surgoen to arrive.

I was told to come back in 3 hours (1 hour to under and 2 hours to wake up)....I was a nervous wreck!!

Here's what my poor Chewie looks like now :( Was quite shocked at how much hair they had to shave off.

He needs to be in the 'cone of shame' all the time and keeps bumping into things. Also need 4 different drugs to take for the pain, swelling and prevent infection.

The final bill was around US$400 and I yes, I do plan to get Tara's owner to pay for it!!

 

[Bonnie and Kona]

Kimmy, I am glad you explained the reason that $400 is so very expensive. I was pretty sure the cost of living was drastically different and comparing your bill with ours is apples to oranges. I am sorry you are strapped with such a high bill. Is the other dog owner accepting responsibility for the bill? If not, I would definitely approach the training center about it. They have some responsibility for allowing off-leash dogs. Their cavalier response to your question is rude, irresponsible and uncaring. I am hoping to hear all of the vet bill will be covered by the responsible parties!

[Kimmy & Chewie]

@Lucy, yes the vet bill might appears low compared to vet costs in the US. Cost of living in Thailand is lower which is driven by lower labour costs compared to the US or EU. For example, minimum wages in Thailand is approximately US$10 PER DAY. (I think the US is US$7 per HOUR). I belive the composition of the bill is also different. Here, the cost of drug (mostly imported) is more than 80% of the bill, rest is services/doctor fee. I believe the opposite to be the case in the US where services&doctors fees take a big chunk of the bill.

Vet bills appears low if in nominal terms, but if you compare the $400 bill with the average national household monthly income of $800 per month, then it's pretty substantial.

@Pam, the response from the training center was something like "Tara,unfortunately, was badly bitten as a puppy. That is reason she is nervous around other dogs. It's unfortunate because she is a very reliable and friendly dog with people and dog aggression is not typical of labradors"

WTD!? He did not respond to my question about why Tara was off-leash nor take any kind of responsibility.

Should I go back to this training center? I don't like how they handle this incident, but at the same time I don't want Chewie avoid his fears (if any).

 

[Pam & Trixie]

Im glad to hear he is doing pretty good too.

Im glad you caught the double dose of the Antibiotics.  I hope they will let you return them.

Let us know what the Training center says or does...I really think no dogs should be allowed to be off leash there.

 

Keep Healing Chewie.  Trixie hated the cone of shame- It spooked her too

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Happy to hear Chewie is doing well and seems to have no fear as a result.  Hope he continues to do well.  I do have to say that the vet bill really didn't seem all that bad for an emergency vet and a operating room and surgeon.  The double dose of antibiotics though was scary!  They should have realized something was wrong when you told him you already got an antibiotic and he didn't see it in the record ... hummmmm

[Kimmy & Chewie]

Chewie's wounds are healing nicely. We went to the vets yesterday for them to re-dress the wound and it looks good so far. The vet (different vet from the one on Sunday) said that eventhough they cleaned the wounds inside, there's a 10% chance of infection caused by anaerobic bacterias inside the wound, so she prescribed Chewie ANOTHER set of anti-biotics. I told her Chewie was prescribed 4 drugs on Sunday, one of which is an antibiotics (I didn't remember the name at that time). She said, no you need this one too. So fine, we took the medicine home. When we got home, I compared the new medicines with the old ones and discovered that it's the exact same drug!! (Metronnidazol) Had I not check, Chewie would have been given double dose of anti-biotics!!!

So I called the vets office and ask her why she prescribed the same drug. She check the computer system and Chewie's file and we're told that the vet on Sunday failed to write down all the drugs he prescribed. Unbelievable!!

Apart from the close-call OD anti-infectives incident. I think Chewie's doing great. It's not as happy/bubbly as normal, but I think it's because of the "cone of shame" rather than the bite wound itself. He has to wear the cone so he doesn't scratch his wound, but it means he cannot play with this toys properly and keeps bumping into things. He's a jumpy dog as it is, so the noise of the cone hitting the furniture startles him everytime.

Apart of that, I think he's doing well. He doesn't appear to be afraid of other dogs. Yesterday, he tried to initiate play (heads down, bottom up) with all the dogs in the waiting room at the vets office :)

 

[Pam & Trixie]

Wow, how scary!  And Look at Chewy Still Smiling.  Poor guy.  I am so glad he did not get his Eye Damaged.  That looks like a Big wound to need stitches.

I hope he has a fast recovery & isnt afraid later.

I agree with all the others.  I dont see why that dog was off Leash with its Owner not right there!

 

How is he feeling today?

[Angela, Wheeler & Wicket]

We hope Chewey has a speedy recovery! Poor guy, so glad it wasn't worse!

[Jennifer]

Poor Chewie :-( UGH, I would have been SO mad!!!!

[Sequoia & Dudley]

Poor Chewie, poor YOU! What a frightening experience! Fortunately, Chewie will mend. Thank goodness the bite missed the eye. I'm surprised it was only one puncture. I do have to admit I had a flicker of amusement when I first saw your post that "Chewie" is the one that got chewed. My sense of humor can be warped at times.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am so sorry this happened.  I am glad that it wasn't Chewie's eye.