Two days before Christmas the crew went out for a potty break, my yard is fenced and they are typically quite safe in their own domain. However after about 5 minutes I heard everybody barking like crazy. I went out and could tell they were all under my deck except Grace who was peering under the edge and barking too. Under my deck is a large area that ranges from 3 feet of crawlspace to 1 foot of crawlspace closest to the house. I called the dogs and all of them came immediately. Everybody had muddy feet except Miss Paula who was covered in mud like she had been rolled in it. We got everybody cleaned up and quickly figured out that Paula had gotten into a whale of a fight with something. We assume it was a raccoon due to the nature of her wounds. They can be pretty aggressive and are known to get after dogs that back them into a tight spot.
The photos below show the progress of her wounds from Dec 24th through Feb 14th. During the course of her treatment my vet clinic (Pryor Veterinary Hospital) did a great job of making her recovery quick and successful. She was put under twice to remove dead skin and clean the wounds, she had a series of 8 laser therapy sessions to speed healing and control infection, a couple of weeks of antibiotics and lots and lots of TLC. As you can see she is doing very well is nearly all healed up. Now we just have to see if the hair will all grow back.
