(Warning…. some pictures may be too much if you have a weak stomach!)
Leo and Roscoe have been challenging each other and fighting. It’s VERY crazy when they do this because they are getting so big. They definitely know their place with us “humans” but as dogs do, they are establishing their place amongst each other.
Austin was working in the backyard when Leo and Roscoe started fighting. Of course, Austin didn’t want them fighting so he got in the middle and tried to break them up. BAD IDEA!!! Two eighty-pound, 7-month old puppies, have no idea what they are capable of. For some reason, even he doesn’t know, he bent over and this kid that stands over 5’9” got his head between the dogs and either a tooth or a claw met his ear and split it open. Luckily, Isik was home and immediately ran him to the emergency room. I immediately left work and met them at the hospital.
Because the cartilage in his ear had been split, the emergency room doctor would not sew him back up. We had to wait… and wait… and wait… for the plastic surgeon to get out of surgery. They told us it would only be about 2 hours.
Well, we waited… and waited some more…
Isik got a chance to look at all the great surgical supplies…
oh the many possibilities… because we were just waiting….
They couldn’t give Austin anything orally, because they didn’t know what the plastic surgeon would have to do. If they had to actually take him into surgery, he couldn’t have anything in his stomach. So after a couple hours, and a discussion with the ER doc, I allowed them to give Austin an injection of morphine to help with the pain.
Within minutes he was sleeping.
Finally, after 7 hours, not the initial 2 hours we were told, the plastic surgeon FINALLY arrived. We got to watch him create his art, which is exactly what he did.
Just prior to getting Austin prepped this is what his ear looked like.
After getting him prepped.
Numbing the ear.
The doc said that the numbing creates the ear to relax, the bleeding stopped, the cuts opened wider. He put gauze in the ear canal to prevent any liquid from going into the ear. Now would have been the perfect time to just put a bar through his ear, but the doc didn’t think that was such a great idea. Austin could have had a one-of-a-kind piercing… oh well…
Just in case you ever wondered what the cartilage in your ear looks like, now you know.
The first set of stitches is done.
The final set of stitches in done.
A total of 34 stitches, internally and externally.
Dr. Eric Ashby did an amazing job! This is 24 hours later.
Although it was a little swollen (the left ear), it looks amazing!
2 1/2 months later, the cartilage is a little bumpy because it takes cartilage so long to heal. Other than that, you can only see the faint remnants of a scar if you look closely.
Austin certainly won’t try to break up two fighting dogs again.
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