Dudley is entering day 24 with a cone on his head. What should have been a torturous 10 days has turned into over three weeks.
For a dog that lives to run, walk and curl up into small spaces, this is the ultimate imprisonment. And last night, we hit a new low for him when we finally left him downstairs to sleep by himself, instead of bringing him up to our room, as he’s done every night since we’ve had him. It’s that horrid cone, for goodness sakes, that makes these ear-splitting sounds everytime he scratches, shakes his head or tries to lick his privates. That, and in the dark he kept getting himself stuck between the wall and the bed, and requiring one of us (Casey) to get up and free him. During the day, we can’t let him out without a leash, and inside he continually gets stuck on furniture, and knocks us over with the cone when he swings his head. Kenny has begun to avoid him altogether, and when Dudley does advance for a pet, Kenny cries out, “No Dudley!” as our little guy has gotten stuck in the cone with Dudley’s head more than once.
We are taking him to the vet tomorrow for what we hope (oh, please!) will be the removal of his wretched stitches. We expect he’ll still need the cone a little (as the scabs are still there and begging to be licked) but at least then we’d know we were on the road to freedom.
Poor Dudley. He is so depressed he can hardly bring himself to scamper into the kitchen when he sees me with a cookie, much less motivate himself to do anything but lie on the sofa and sigh. Even his perky ears are a picture of doom.
Keep your fingers crossed for us tomorrow! Get well, Dudley!!!!
Comments
2 responses to “Life Inside the Cone… A Dudley Perspective”
All I can say, as usual, is bless your heart. We’re about 24 hours from a cone. I’ve been holding husband at bay with the, “I swear I’ll make sure he keeps the hunting booty on it.” Lance got his paw all caught and mangled in the cedar fence (don’t ask…his usual antics), and got a small cut which has now morphed into a straight up borderline abcess because Weims can’t helps but lick it and pick at it (seriously, are they women or what?). We bought $45 hunting booties to cover it (suggested by the $75 vet visit). First day was fine, but by day two, in Weim problem solving fashion, he’d figured out how to tear it off in under 5 minutes. He now has an athletic sock taped over the hunting bootie over the bandage over the antiseptic. We call him Peg Leg.
Oh Alicia! If only we could get our two gimps together to commisserate! Then again, they would most likely go nuts licking EACH OTHER’s wounds, and we would be back to square one. And you are so lucky that your vet bill was $75… Dudley’s running count so far? Over $5,000. And that’s just for this bum leg. Add up the other hospitalizations and surgeries he’s had and we’re well over $10,000. *sigh* Thank goodness for really good pet insurance…