She ran around me in big circles barking and wanting to play and I can't figure out why but I had this weird uncomfortable feeling. I tried to shake it off and told her to go to the bathroom and she did. As I was getting a poop bag out of my purse she took off across the beach at high speed to go run in the water. I didn't really think anything of it as she does it all the time because she loves to swim in the lake. As I reached down to pick up her poop I saw her pass a huge Rhodesian Ridgeback on her way to the water. He lunged at her and I heard her yelp. She immediately ran over to a woman with a schnauzer who was standing nearby and the lady patted her side and told her it was okay. Meanwhile the Ridgeback had put his ears back, his tail went between his legs and he went to find his owner.
I called Ruby to me as I don't like her that far away from me unsupervised but she wouldn't come. I called her a couple more times and finally she came running to me but as she approached I could tell something was wrong. I called her to my side and I saw a huge flap of skin torn from her side. I immediately picked her up as I didn't want her getting any sand in the wound and walked over to the woman with the Ridgeback. Turns out that she has two, one was on leash & the the other was the one that bite Ruby. I told her that her dog just bite my dog and she replied "That isn't like him." Then she offered to drive me to the vet in her Dodge Durango. I wasn't about to get in a truck with her two dogs and my injured dog so I told her that she had done enough and carried Ruby out of the beach.
At that point Hallie had arrived (thank GOD!), quickly assessed the situation and said, "We're going to the vet right now, give me your keys, I'll drive." Of course we were stuck in some residual Cubs traffic and typically bad Friday night traffic but managed to get to Jewell Animal Hospital fairly quickly. It was the closest vet nearby and they took her in immediately and gave her a shot for pain. The vet had to take care of his other patients first but concentrated on Ruby as soon as he could. I think he did a great job as he had to put her under to clean the wound, insert a drain tube and staple her together. He then gave her another shot to get her back up and she was wobbly but on her feet fairly quickly.
She was still really out of it but $506 and 2 1/2 hours later we loaded Libby back in my car, Hallie drove back to the beach to get her car while I held Ruby on my lap. Hallie got in her car with Libby and I put Ruby in her crate in the back of my car. She cried the whole way home even though I drove carefully & tried not to hit any potholes.
Sorry about the quality of this picture. It was right after I got her home and her eyes where still really dilated from the anesthesia so I didn't want to use the flash. She cried all night Friday night so neither of us got much sleep.
Here's a close-up of the wound on Saturday morning. 18 staples and a drain tube. Lovely.
Saturday afternoon Ruby's appetite returned and she was moving around a little better. I decided to take a quick shower and someone decided that her lidocaine patches were yummy.
Here's the naughty girl wearing her stylish Elizabethan collar:
And a close up of her wound. You can really see the bruising here:
She's on an antibiotic and two pain meds, Rimadyl and Tramadol. She gets her drain tube out this evening and the staples will come out in another 7 to 11 days. Needless to say we will also be missing the Smack-Dab trial in addition to missing Plano and Dock Diving this past weekend.
I'd like to thank everyone who heard about what happened to Ruby for the concerned phone calls and text messages. It really means a lot to us. And especially thanks to Hallie for being there for me. :)
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