Russell the Jack Russell who got in a Tussle!!

So I may not have had any emergencies for Thanksgiving Day, but Sunday was certainly a busy day for me. It seems I was back and forth to and from the clinic all day. One particular case I saw Sunday evening is worth mentioning. His name is Russell. Russell is a Jack Russell Terrier who was a stray and took up residence at his current home about a year ago. It seems he went outside on Thanksgiving night and did not return until Saturday night. When he returned home he had several puncture wounds on his back and was obviously beaten. On Sunday his spirits began to drop; he was not moving around much and did not want to eat and he had an obvious odor about him. His owners called the emergency number and I met them at the clinic. When he came in I found a dog obviously in pain with several open wounds in the skin on his dorsal back. He was shivering; had a subnormal body temperature and was in a serious amount of pain. He had an odor of infection about him and was obviously on the verge of becoming septicemic.  By judging the character of his wounds it looked as though he had been attacked by another animal.

I placed a catheter and started him on IV antibiotics, fluids and pain medicine and placed him on a heating pad in an attempt to get is body temperature up. Monday morning he was feeling about the same. His temperature was up one degree, so we sedated Russell, opened up his wounds and placed some drains. We flushed his wounds and trimmed out a considerable amount of necrotic flesh.  It was a rough day the rest of Monday for Russell. He laid on his side all day; he did not eat or drink. He would not even stand; as soon as we would help him sit up right he would immediately collapse and fall over on his side. He just laid in his pen all day long with this pitiful look on his face. Things were not looking so good for Russell.

This morning his temperature was up; he would stand for a little bit and drank a small amount of water. Later in the morning his family came to visit him. After seeing them his spirits seemed to brighten. His family brought him some of his favorite food...moist and meaty patties. We put part of a patty in his food bowl and he did not seem to be interested so we left it there. Later in the day I walked by his pen and noticed that half of it was gone, so I put a little more in there. He did not eat it immediately, but when I walked by his pen and checked him a little later, I noticed he had eaten some more. He did this two more times. I would put some of the moist and meaty packet in his food bowl; he would not eat it immediately, but when I walked by a little bit later I would notice it was gone. He was a sneaky little sneak that Russell! This evening we have seen the first glimmer of hope in his condition. Hopefully his improvement will continue. We are all rooting for him up here at he clinic. He is a special little guy with a special family who needs him at home and needs him home soon.