Our sweet little Lilly has had a really rough go of it for the past two weeks. On the fourth day of our vacation we got a call from our vet saying that the kennel brought in Lilly because she was involved in an accident. They said her tail was cut down to the bone, and they would need to amputate.
Cue the tears.
Lilly is the sweetest, friendliest and most loveable dog on the planet. She literally loves every single creature she comes in contact with, and wags her tail like no other dog I've ever seen. She's just that happy 24/7. The vet said they didn't see teeth marks, and it appeared it was slammed in a door. Of course this happened on the Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend. We didn't get the message till after the vet closed (for the long weekend, of course), so the people at the kennel took Lilly to the emergency vet. We advised that it would be ok to amputate if that's what they felt was best for her health (apparently the skin on a tail will not grow back, so an open wound like that, down to the bone would introduce a great likelihood that it would become infected). They amputated about 1 inch of the tail - and then sent her home. The owner of the kennel cared for her during the remainder of our vacation (though of course I wanted to come home immediately).
When we got home, she had a cone around her head, and her tail was stitched and wrapped. All appeared ok. This Saturday she got her stitches out, and then from there to today - it seemed like it got worse and bloodier. I took her back in this morning, and they said it is infected. They sedated her and kept her for the day with the bandage off to help the wound breathe. I picked her up at 6pm tonight, and she's here in her crate, recovering in the living room. We'll keep her sedated, and keep taking her to the vet so she can keep an eye on things. I am really praying that they won't have to amputate her whole tail. It is truly Lilly's essence -- that sweet, tail-wagging little personality that I love so much. It is how she shows her emotions. I have been a mess today -- it just makes me so sad that someone's negligence in closing a door could hurt my poor puppy so badly. I know that people who don't own dogs won't understand how sad this can make someone -- but she truly is a part of our family. I love her so much, and I am just praying, praying, praying that her tail will heal, that she will be pain-free, and that a year from now we will have only distant memories of this incident (though of course we'll never leave her there again).
