Long Night With Max

Tuesday evening I let Max out to "go" one more time before bed. I knew there was a rabbit on the other side of the fence, this is a common occurrence. They usually hop away and Max will stare longingly. But no. The rabbit had to run along the fence the long way, and Max chased it at full speed...that is until the chain-link blocked his way. He ran into it head on. He somehow managed to get his back leg caught in the fence, so I ran out to try and help him. By the time I got half way there, he was yelping, but free. I checked his back leg, and he looked ok, besides a serious limp. I figured he twisted it, and that it would be sore for a while. Later when I told Roby what had happened, he noticed some blood on his lower stomach close to his back leg. Great. There was a rather large laceration! Max wasn't whining at all...just limping! After looking at it closer, we decided it definitely needed stitches. UGH I called the Animal Emergency Clinic, and they had an opening at 9:40. Because I hadn't been there before, and the drive was at least 25 minutes, I headed out at 9. We got there just minutes before his appointment, the tech. came in to assess him, then the doc came in. They were both impressed with how well he listened to commands even while in pain (what a good boy!!!). She said they had to put stitches in right away to prevent infection, and possibly a drain. To be able to do that, they had to IV sedate him. He would be there at least two hours. I was glad I took some of my note-cards to study!!! They took him back around 10:30, and we headed home at about 1:00 am. He has to wear a neck-brace like device for the next two weeks to prevent him from licking/chewing (they don't use cones much anymore).

I did take a picture with my cell phone before they took him back. And a close up of his stitches. WARNING: they are up close and graphic!!!
Open Cut
Stitches

He was being so good waiting for he doc!

He got seven external stitches, and at least five internal (they didn't tell me). We were lucky that he didn't need a drain! I'll be taking the stitches out in two weeks! Until then, pain meds and antibiotics!

When we got home he was still out! Roby had to carry him from the truck inside.
Poor Max!

The next morning we discovered it wasn't the fence itself that cut him, but the stake that holds the fence down. We were very lucky it went in at an angle instead of straight in!!!