Stupid dog! Info needed!(I promise this is true!)(

[Jon K.]

Saturday my kid's little dog "Princess" was gaily running through the woods behind my house when she somehow manages to hang her TONGUE on a barbwire fence. Predictably the dog freaks out, starts doing back flips and barrell rolls, worsening the situation. I get hold of the dog and try to get enough "slack" in the tongue to untangle it and the dog freaks so badly that she bites her tounge off and runs to the house. Not just a little of the tounge, but the WHOLE THING!! Blood goes everywhere, all over me, all over the ground, we follow a blood trail back to the house where we find blood all over the garage, the front porch, the van. . . This looks like the Manson murders!!! Such a little dog; such a lot of blood, Arrrrrrgggghhhh!!!!
We rush the dog to the vet (got there in fifteen minutes tops) and the vet freaks out as bad as we do!! "Oh my God what happened??" Upon examination he tells us that the tounge is completely missing and all he can do is sew up the stump.
My question: Can a dog survive without a tounge? Can she learn to eat and drink? We are completely prepared to hand feed the animal if necessary.
We will pick her up from the vet today and hopefully work with her to help her learn to eat and drink.
Anyone have any experience with this? Anyone? Help!?!

 

[IrishEKU]

:scream:

I have no idea but E-mail my brother at mghathorn@earthlink.net and forward your question to him, his wife is a Vet and can probably give you an answer.

 

[Jon K.]

Done!! My own vet has no experience with such a thing and has no opinion to offer. Thanks Irish!

 

[IrishEKU]

Your welcome big guy.

Good Luck,

 

[Green Horn]

Sorry to hear the news. I'd hate to have to deal with it if it were my dog this happened to. I don't know if there's much they can do w/o the part the dog bit off. Hopefully the dog will figure out how to lap up water with it's mouth and chew it's food with no problems. Most animals figure out a way to "adapt" when they're missing parts. I've seen 2 and 3 legged dogs before who do just fine. Atleast you won't have to worry about those sloppy-stinky dog kisses anymore. ;) [Hmmm, maybe I'll sell ya a Beagle tongue, '97 model. ) :) Sorry, couldn't resist... :yeehaw:

 

[Jon K.]

It's OK; I can see the humor! If it wasn't my baby's pet, I would be chuckling myself!!
In fact; Kristy (my baby) mentioned on the way home from the vet that surely it will not happen again!! Hehehehe.

 

[Rooster]

Dogs are a shining example of adaptation, improvisation and success. They can adapt to almost any combination of leg loss, without the help of prosthetics, canes or wheel chairs. I'm sure your dog will learn to scoop water in it's mouth to drink. Another option is to get one of those little water spouting garden fountains. Most dogs will drink water direct from a falling source, with minimal use of the tongue. Eating shouldn't be a problem as it's a bite and chew process.

Keep us posted. I love dog adaptation stories.

 

[Jon K.]

Just got the dog back from the vet. $350.00 (I guess Okie will have to wait a little longer!)
The dog looks fine; chipper and happy. Drooling all over. Trying to eat, with limited sucess. Hasn't really tryed to take any water yet.
Time will tell!

 

[Rooster]

$350.00. think what the bill would have been for a human! :eek: That's really not a lot to pay to get your pet all fixed up.

I remember once on some other forum, not even dirtbike related, there was this huge flame going on about how much you would spend on your pet when it came to keeping it alive through surgery, casts, pins, etc. I was pretty shocked at how much some people shelled out for their dogs. One spent over $3,000.00 on a set of stainless rods and screws to repair the things legs and pelvis after it got run over. WOW! There were also those that wouldn't spend over $200.00. They claimed that a bullet and a new pup would cost them less than $50. :eek:

Anyway......I think your dog will be just fine. If it's tail is wagging and it's eyes are playful, everything is good!!

 

[LoriKTM]

Wow, what a scary story wfo74!!

I wonder if maybe a giant water-bottle would work for your dog.  I think I've seen them used by puppies at the pet store. 

Hope everything works out.  Keep us posted!

 

 

 

[BigBore]

I'd be horrified if that happened to my dog. Hope everything turns out OK.

 

[wsmc831]

That sucks! My dog ran out into the street and had one of his back legs snapped last year. 3 months and 5500 dollars later he was all good. Now we affectionately refer to him as "hot tub" since we were just about to buy one at the time. But he's good as new and we eventually got one anyway. IMOP that's just part of being a responsible pet owner, even if it hurts :-)

 

[Jon K.]

Lori; We are going to try that if necessary. We had thought that a big "baby bottle" like they feed calves might work.
Bigbore; horrified doesn't begin to describe the experience. Horrified is a good start, but add apalled, dismayed, angry, panic stricken, sickened, guilty, helpless, and a few other emotions that I don't know the names for and I haven't even sorted them all out yet.
And I am not even a "dog guy".
One of the worst emotions is the feeling that I have disapointed Kristy (nine years old and she was right there with me). I had the dog in my hands and I am sure she expected a better outcome. I am the dad, after all.

 

[IrishEKU]

WFO74,

On a lighter note, while working on my bike this weekend I saw the biggest rat I have ever seen! :scream:

 

[IrishEKU]

Not to mention viscious! He tried to take my hand off! I hope it didn't have rabies :)

 

[KelvinKDX]

Hope your dog recovers quickly. :aj:

If i find a tongue laying around i will send it your way. :confused:

Yeah - dogs are pretty resiliant.

We refer to our dog Kelvin as the "Six Million Dollar Dog" after the series of soft tissue surgeries that he had to have on his anus.

wfo - you spent $350 on your dogs tongue - we (ok - my wife) spent $2,000 on our dogs arse! :moon:

 

[nos96]

well WFO that is one of the worst stories i have ever heard. I cant imagine what that would do to me, espically my girlfriend...she is the biggest animal lover I have ever meet and nearly cried when I read that to her. We both are very interested to hear how Princess turns out. Best of luck with that situation.

 

[Jon K.]

I was not complaining about the $350 (well. . . not really). Princess (for that kind of $$ I will have to stop calling her "the dog") had a good night last night; the wife is using a big syringe to feed and water her. The dog. . . oops!. . .I mean Princess. . loves it! She lays on her back in my wifes. . . oops!. . I mean Karen's. . . lap and soaks up the attention.
As soon as she heals up we hope she will do better and feed herself.
Thanks everyone for the shoulder to cry on!
She (Princess, not Karen) still barks at me when I come home, so I didn't even get a mute dog out of the deal!!

 

[KelvinKDX]

don't worry - we never thought that you were complaining about the $350.

Keep us updated. My wife (er uh) Wendy :) the dog lover expresses her concern.

btw - i can't help butt (ha ha) tell you that you are lucky (ok- so is Princess) that you do not have to give Princess a suppository for her condition. :scream: We had to do this with Kelvin for months after his surgery. He was not happy!

Good luck with Princess. Post up a picture of her when she is all better.

 

[Neil Wig]

I inherited a cat. The cat developed this fungus/rash like thing on it's head....lost all the fur off his head, and had a seeping wound look to him....kinda like freddy kruger. The vet wanted to do a biopsy on it....I told the vet he would have better odds of an autopsy..... Damn steroids fixed the cat...no autopsy.

 

[Lespaul20]

Irish that dog is pretty funny with your comments. Dogs are cool.

 

[GETMETOCA]

For some reason I kept putting off reading this thread (Similarly to why I kept putting off looking at MX547's thread with pics of rods in leg...lol!) I knew it was something I would have a hard time with. Wow, I could not fathom having to deal with the emotions of my dog or cat having that injury.

When my dog was six months old (he's now 8 years old) I was trying to get him to jump up in the back of the pickup and instead he took off after a car coming up the street. I WATCHED him take the car head-on and go completely under the carriage (smoosh) then in an adrenaline rush come yelping back to me then headed for a bush in the yard to hide out. I was so out of it all I could remember was my neighbor running over to me and yelling (over and over because I was in some kind of shock) "WHO IS YOUR VET??!!!" She finally got me and Sparky in her car and started driving. I thought Sparky was going to die from internal injuries any minute. He ended up with a fractured vertabra and some cuts in his mouth and was okay in about a week!! I felt so lucky, my poor baby.

I am really happy to hear that your dog is in good spirits and from your last report seems to be doing better? Gosh I sure hope so. I'm glad you seem to be committed to seeing the dog through this ordeal. You must be a really good person.

 

[Jon K.]

Princess seems to be a little depressed now and we are having a hard time getting her to take water and food. She doesn't have much interest. We are going back to the vet today, I am sure he is going to tell us how much weight she has lost and that she is dehydrated. But we are not about to give up!!
I did find reference to a "toungless" Greyhound that has done quite well. The greyhound had its tounge frozen to some metal. Not sure if he lost all of it or not, but other than a drooling problem is doing fine!
That might be what Princess is depressed about. We don't let her in the main part of the house now as she drools all over. I don't think Karen is going to relent on this one, so she will just have to get used to staying in the dining room. (Tile floors)

 

[Lew]

Good luck buddy. We all love our dogs. It hurts to see them injured.
Lew

 

[chumbucket]

I was going to buy a new bike and my dad was going to help me out a little bit, but then my moms cat got sick and they spent $2,500 on him, he is now the bike I will never have.