My Dog's Goofier Than Your Dog

Last Thursday I had to take my dog Duke to the vet because he had, I thought, broken his nose. He had yipped loudly when my husband reached down to pet his muzzle that morning and we thought he did so because he had got zapped by static electricity when my husband touched him. When I looked at him closer I could see that his nose had an upward tilt to it and looked a little swollen. In fact, he looked like he had been chasing parked cars. Next stop-the Vet clinic.

At the clinic the Vet examined Duke and discovered that at some point earlier in the week Duke had driven something sharp into his gum right above his right canine tooth and then into the sinus right above that. The object was no longer in his mouth but the wound had abscessed and the infection had spread into his sinus. After the Vet put hot packs on Duke's muzzle to bring as much of the infection to the surface as possible I watched as he stuck a needle full of a numbing agent into Duke's gum. Duke did not like that at all. Then the Vet sliced opened the abscess and puss and blood started oozing out of Duke's mouth and nose. Duke did not like that either. In an effort to expel as much goo as possible he then forcefully massaged Duke's muzzle. Duke liked this even less than what had gone on before. After ten minutes of hell, with Duke fighting the doctor and the vet technicians all the way, they managed to get most of the puss and blood out and Duke no longer looked as if he had his nose bobbed.

I took Duke home along with two pill bottles, one with pain meds and the other with antibiotics, and instructions to put hot packs on his muzzle for five minutes followed by a massage twice a day for the next seven days. And, being Duke, he has come to enjoy his hot packs and muzzle massages. At some point he decided that the hot packs were just another way of getting water into his body and he spend each five minute period either trying to lick my wet hand or trying to lick the water off the washcloth I wrapped around his nose; as you can see in the photo below.



I think the only reason he let me do this without any protest is because he learned very quickly that he got a dog biscuit after each session. My other dog Kate also figured this out and would come sit by Duke so she could get her own biscuit. Today is the last day of this regime and Duke is doing great. He and Kate will have to figure out another way to get extra dogs biscuits from now on.