Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Update on Puppy Nicki

The news couldn’t be more troubling. Nicki is 2 months old. Her injuries became evident once Maria the veterinarian had gently washed the gunk and dirt on her throat. Obviously, she had been bitten by a large dog. There is a hole in her throat that is still open and is infected. She also has bite marks on her front paw. She’s on antibiotics.

In addition, the other vet noticed that there was a slight protuberance on the side of her neck very close to her head. He exclaimed that she should have died when she got shaken by the big dog. The first vertebrae was pushed sideways by the violent shaking action; this usually results in instantaneous death. Her case appears to be less than 1% of such a young puppy surviving. In addition, he thought that this occurred probably a month ago; it means that this tiny puppy had to survive (how I don’t know) with terrible injuries for a number of weeks. He says that the vertebrae has now “soldered” itself in the position of the luxation.

This means that she’s now a cripple, barely able to lift or move her head to one side, and in a way, is paralyzed in a position that her head does not align with her body. I gave her a bath to help rid her of fleas and plenty o’dirt. It may take a few more to do it well because she has to be handled so very gently or will cry out in pain. There is no way that she would be considered for adoption. I guess a Higher Power put her on my way. I’ll take care of her for the duration of her life, hoping that mine is long enough.

She’s still very fragile, alarmed and frightened by anything new. I’ll postpone taking photos until she has recuperated and feels a bit more certain of her improved living conditions.

2 comments:

Sondra said...

awww sorry to hear the news is not so good...I feel that she will improve and have good quality of life with you.

bargirl238 said...

What a fighter !love can work miracles and sounds like she has a lot of that from you.

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