On Tuesday evening, he was romping in fresh snow, when he slid into and along the edge of a metal well cover. When he came to Nash's call, he was whimpering and leaving an alarming blood trail. He was squirting blood from a 4 inch wound at the top of his front left leg. Geoff and a local friend, Bill, who is trained in emergency first aid, and I immediately took things in hand. Bill and I held a muzzled Tug, who was relatively easy to handle due to shock, while Geoff stitched first the artery, then the open wound. Ben was our gopher, while Nash was sequestered in prayer. Two hours later, Tug was wrapped up and eagerly lapping up as much brothy water as I could put in front of him. He spent the night standing or sitting, and was quite grouchy the next morning due, I believe, to sleep deprivation as much as anything! He was finally able/willing to lie down at 4:00 in the afternoon, and has been on the speedy road to recovery ever since. Our main concern was keeping the stitched artery protected, so as to not have a repeat emergency. A call to the vet in Lewistown on Wednesday confirmed that our emergency treatment was up to snuff. Phew!
So here is a picture of our Tug in his "hospital gown"...a denim shirt gladly donated by his most devoted master, Nash:) You can see he is bright-eyed one week later!
We are all exceedingly grateful for the Lord's ever faithful help in this very trying situation! We know Tug's survival and recovery brings our Lord glory :)
wow!! I can't believe you were able to stitch him up on your own--I am just so shocked and impressed! You guys are amazing! I would have been crying and frantically trying to call the vet! Good for you guys. WEll, to be honest, when you live so far away from everything, out on your own, you HAVE to know how to do those things right? Otherwise if you can't hunt and get your own food, and you can't fix your wounds yourself when you are hurt, then why be all out there on your own, right? You get all that space to yourself, all that wilderness, but you also have the responsibility. I love it!
ReplyDeleteIt was terrible, to be sure! Thankfully, Geoff is very steady, and Bill was a huge help, and the boys were temperate, as well as helpful...and me? Well, I didn't faint :) Tug would never have survived the rough, 100 mile trip into Lewistown.
ReplyDeleteWe will deal with the well cover to be sure it doesn't pose any future threat...