Eeew something bit my dog!

Last weekend, my dog Petunia Pig was sick -- barfing non-stop (even water), really lethargic, totally not herself. I first noticed it Friday night when she was throwing up all over the place, so I locked her in the crate for the night. There was barf all over it in the morning, so I kept her outside all day Saturday. That night, same thing, just laying around and throwing up all the time. Same thing Sunday. I was going to take her to the vet Monday morning if she was still having issues through the night, but things seemed to calm down over Sunday night, and Monday she started to eat and drink again without puking. By Tuesday she was back to her normal self, and we didn't figure out what was wrong with her, but at that point it didn't really matter as long as she was feeling better.

So tonight Christian was petting her and felt a lump in the middle of her back. He cut the hair away, and this thing was nickel-sized and it exploded on him -- blood and puss everywhere! So we cleaned it out with a syringe and antiseptic, and lo and behold, there are two little holes in her back and an abscess had formed underneath! The two holes were pretty close together -- only a few millimeters apart. So it looks like she was bitten by a spider or snake (which is what I'm guessing made her sick last week) and then it got infected! Eeeeew.

Petunia Pig got a nice treat of canned food for dinner tonight for being such a good patient. Christian was a medic in the Special Forces for years, and he always seems to relish the opportunity to jump back into emergency medicine when one of our pets needs it! It scares me (I'd rather take them to the vet), but then I get the "Are you trying to say that I don't know what I'm doing?!?! I know what I'm doing! I took care of US soldiers in combat, and you don't think I can handle a sick dog?!?!" So it's pointless to try and take the vet route when he's around... Although when Petunia Pig was attacked my our crazy ass neighbor with a knife or something and he wanted to stitch her up himself, I drew the line! I was like "NO WAY! GET YOUR ASS IN THE CAR!" But I ended up paying a $2000 vet bill for that incident

Just thought I'd share.

Wow! Have you seen any rattlesnakes around your backyard? We have seen several.
But it seems strange a snake would bite her on the back so I'm guessing a Black Widow was the culprit. Those are every where here too. They get under lawn furniture, grills, etc and could have easily got onto her back when see went under something.

I'm glad she was strong enough to fight it off. Poor Petunia.

Christian's first guess was also a black widow -- I didn't think she'd be able to survive a black widow bite, but Christian says she would be (she weighs ~80 lbs).

I've never seen rattlesnakes in the backyard, but I admittedly never go out there. I just let the dogs out. We keep the backyard pretty clean and clear, so there really isn't anywhere for them to hide or anything for them to hide underneath. We have a shed back there, but it's on the ground.

It's a mystery, but at least she's feeling better!

Sounds like a black widow bite. Really gross thanks for the detailed description.

Why didnt your neighbor pay the 2K. After they got out of jail

I think if it was in the middle of her back it was probably a bat. See was getting sick trying to fight off the infection.

Awww...poor doogie. I'm glad she is doing much better now.

We had the same thing happen to our cat when we lived in Florida. Dee was 20 years old and all of a sudden she got really sick. We took her to a vet and he found the bite. Nasty, blistery thing. He put her on antibiotics and we had surgery scheduled for the end of the week. She got better pretty quickly once we started cleaning it out so we cancelled the surgery. She lived to be 23!

Biff, sorry about your dog. It sounds like she's out of the woods. Could it be a scorpion? Dee had puncture wounds and we first thought it was a little snake but we found a nest of scorpions in our garage which is probably what got Dee. Best wishes to Petunia for a speedy recovery!

Catherine

I hope for the best, but $2000?! you must be feeling the same pain she's feeling

Sorry for lil petnuia biffy, you sure it wasnt a vampire that doesnt like to kill. Remember that movie where the vampire only sucked blood from animals. I think i was interview with a vampire

Because no one was there to witness him doing it. We know it was him. He had been threatening us and the dogs and sending us harrassing letters for over a year by that point. He said in the letters that he was going to do something to the dogs. The police didn't take it seriously -- they said it was "an animal control issue, not a police issue" even though the guy came onto our property through a gate, grabbed the dog, and then mutilated her and left her to bleed to death. She's lucky we came home right after it happened, soon enough to get her to the emergency clinic. My dogs have never been problems -- this same guy just hates animals. He tried to poison the two dogs of another neighbor, and threw lit fireworks at another neighbor's dogs, so he had a history of abusing animals. I filed multiple police reports against the guy (as did my parents, because he actually was able to find out who my parents are and where they live, and he started sending them harrassing letters as well), but the police wouldn't intervene -- they wouldn't even go to his door to talk to him. The best I could do was get a restraining order against him and move. So I did.

A bat. Perhaps. That's a good idea. Ugh. I hope it wasn't rabid. That would be horrible!

Thanks Smitty! She's back to her old self.

There were two little holes, and scorpions usually only leave one. I don't know what it was!

With all my animals, that's the least of my vet bills!! Haha.

It's funny because Petunia is morbidly obese (she weighs about twice what she should -- but she was fat when I adopted her; that's my excuse!) and we've recently put her on a diet and things are going well. But the vet said that had she not been obese, the bite could easily have killed her! I guess this is one of those times when being fat pays off!