Bushi's Boo-Boo

As if trying to rehome the yaks wasn't traumatic enough, out dog Bushi developed a large hematoma (blood blister) as a result of last week's inadvertent yak vs. dog fight. (I'll post about THAT trauma in a future post.)

Bushi really prefers to wear hot pink.

This morning I spent my waking-up-should-be-drinking-coffee time attempting for about the 5^th time in18 hours, to make one of CK's XXXL t-shirts into a suitable covering. (Any of Quantum or my t-shirts are back home and probably need the laundry before I can use them.) The t-shirt is so that she doesn't bleed all over the place, since the wound is draining, and will be for gods-know how long.

With Bushi's Lady Gagaesque makeup, she's always been a fashion queen, but this is ridiculous!

Bushi's hematoma lump pre-surgery.

The lump showed up Sunday morning. Maybe I hadn't noticed it earlier because CK and I spent 4 days straight, dawn to dusk working on securing the yak pen. I woke up Sunday, looked at her chest and had a panic moment. The lump was the size of a tennis ball.

Our wonderful vet, Doc Roberts had to cut the lump open to drain. I'm always terrified when my dogs have to have anesthesia, since Zen nearly died on the operating table when he was neutered as a puppy.

Today I get the exquisite joy of taking her into the bathroom and flushing it out, first with peroxide, then with a chlorhexidine solution. The peroxide flush is only for the first few days, but the chlorhexidine flush goes on until I can no longer get the syringe into the wound. Oh what fun!

The hematoma itself didn't seem to hurt. Despite my attempts to keep her quiet until I could take her to the vet (and of all weeks to have a Monday holiday!) she wanted to bounce around, chase rabbits and cause her usual trouble.

The surgery seems to have left her a bit sore though. She spent half the night on the floor, probably because getting up on the bed was uncomfortable. Last night I'd helped her onto the bed and she decided to get down for water and some crunchies. She let out a tiny heart-rending little yelp and before I could reach her, the other dogs were circling her, sniffing and consoling. They hate it when any of their pack is in pain.

At this point, when we're scrambling for money for hay, $80 wasn't really something that we could afford. Many thanks to the kind person who contributed to our Save the Critter Project fund and made it possible to bring her to the vet.