Updating Archie

Awww, Gawwwd.  I hate to say it but Archibald McDog, the greyhound with somebody else's ears, just ain't got no sense.  While Finn McCool, the greyhound with his own ears, understands his injuries and helps you help him get better, so you can get to the healing the easy way.  But with Archie, it's got to be done the hard way.

When we last left our sad canine, (posting of 1/21/11) he was draped in a pinned together ensemble, wearing the Cone of Shame, and generally looking like a shambling mess.  And very shortly after he shook off the effects of the anesthesia, his recovery trajectory started looking like deja vu all over again.  Two years ago, the same cancerous lump was removed from the same back of his leg and he quickly pulled the stitches out and left a big gaping mess that precipitated a rushed run to the emergency clinic, then back to the vet until Dr. Truax finally said, We'll just have to leave alone and let it heal from the inside out.  So, this time I figured a large Cone of Shame would keep that snooter off those staples.  No such luck. 

Within days he somehow managed to get the Cone pushed back far enough to get that long nose into the staples.  So, it was back to the vet for restapling, which didn't bother him a whit.  No pain shot yet he didn't even turn his head to see what Dr. Truax was doing.  Leg?  What leg?  Stitches? What are you talking about?  But Dr. Truax and I did know this last stapling job was likely a waste of time as well, and, once again, he said, Don't worry about it.  The wound is granulating nicely, dogs often don't bother about torn skin since in the wild it's a common occurrance, it's healing nicely and shouldn't be a problem. 

But, the good doctor did suggest that since the Cone of Shame wasn't working, obviously, I try jury rigging a cervical-type collar thick enough to prevent his neck turning around to get at that leg.  Which I did, whacking pieces of styrofoam packing material and sticking it all together with duct tape.  Naturally, he managed to get the thing up and over his head and gleefully ripped the new stitches out so when I got home, there he was, tail wagging, duct-taped collar dangling from his halter, little metal staples scattered about on the pillow.

Sigh.  So now, we do it the hard way.  The Archie way.  Gaping wound gently rinsed once a day with good old warm salt water and kept covered lightly to keep the other dogs from sniffing around, thinking they'd play Nurse Barton and "help" clean things up right into another huge vet bill.  And a daily ibuprofen tablet for any discomfort.  And a re-rigging of the new Duct Tape Collar of Lesser Shame. 

And we wait and let time do it's thing.  

So far, it's working.  He seems more comfortable with the new regimine.  But it pains me to have to admit, I got a dog that just ain't got no sense.  At all.