Friday, April 15, 2011

Bear Comes Home

(Update by Jason) Bear's overnight trip to the emergency vet clinic came to an end this morning when Melissa went to pick him up while I worked my way through chores. Between Bear's trip to the vet, a short night's sleep, and stormy, windy conditions all day today I won't be sorry to see the end of this day.

I'm glad we took him to the clinic last night; it wasn't immediately obvious that he needed to go except that he was acting kind of strange. He now has stitches in eight different places as well as two drainage tubes to keep things from getting infected. As you might imagine, he isn't feeling very well today and he mostly just laid around and slept on the couch. The good news is that he's expected to make a full recovery. The bad news is that Bear has added another $1,032.00 to his tally of vet bills through the years and will need a couple more trips to the vet before this is all resolved. Sadly this is far from Bear's most expensive trip to the vet!

According to Melissa, the vets said his wounds (and mental trauma) were consistent with injuries they see when dogs get themselves into trouble with raccoons. I'm a little surprised at this because I dispatched a raccoon in the barn a couple of weeks ago; having two raccoons in the barn at more or less the same time would be unusual.

Below are a few pictures of Bear taken this afternoon.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad he's doing OK and is on the road to recovery - raccoons can be very aggressive.

Holly Ratcliff said...

Poor Bear! Get well soon, little guy. :-)

RuckusButt said...

Oh, poor Bear! I'm glad he will be alright but my gosh that looks horrid. I have to say he must be one tough and brave little guy to take something on like that, regardless of what the other creature was!

On the plus side that new hairdo will be cooler for the summer :/

IsobelleGoLightly said...

Oh my goodness! It makes it worse when Bear has to have a ring-around-the-Bearzie haircut to go along with those wounds! Many wishes for a speedy recovery!

Mare said...

Poor little guy! Glad he's on the road to recovery!

Unknown said...

A raccoon attacked my Pom (Izzy) for no reason while I was watching from a great distance... not sure if there is something about their shape that triggers it...

cheyenne jones said...

Glad to hear he is ok, and doing well.

Vivian, Apollo's Mom said...

Oh poor Bear! He's not much bigger than a large raccoon himself! Thank God he is home and on the road to recovery. Maestro and I send our best wishes and hope he gets well soon!

amy324 said...

"Bear Comes Home" Best blogosphere title of the day. Bear is looking at Jason like he knows that Jason is trying to help him. So sweet. I think the other dogs should be randomly shaved in solidarity.

Bif said...

The 'mental trauma' might have largely to do with the necessary but decidedly unique clip job, maybe? Poor Bear, bravely defending the property regardless (obviously!) of cost.
Wishing him a speedy recovery =)

Jason said...

Bif; We were joking that Bear looks like a hula dancer ! :)

It will definitely be cooler for him ! Odd, but cooler !

RebelRoX87 said...

Awww!!! Poor little guy!!:(