Halo from hell
January 13th 2010 21:55
The vet gave it a long name in an even longer forgotten language, but I can't remember the term. Basically, it describes what can happen to a skin graze if it doesn't heal. "And it won't heal," said the vet, "if the dog keeps licking it."
What happened to the healing power of a dog's tongue? Don't you hate it when science disagrees with anecdotal wisdom?
If Scratchy keeps licking his leg, the vet said, it won't dry. And if it doesn't dry, we run the risk of granulation. That, in turn, can lead to some nasty complications. And, as luck would have it, there is no wound more prone to granulation than a leg wound.
"So we need to bandage it," I said, showing the veterinary instincts which I had first felt so acutely in primary school.
"No," said the vet, "because we need the air to get to it."
"So we need a course of antibiotics," I said, confident I had it right this time.
"No," said the vet, "because it's not infected."
The thing about bandages or tablets is that they are relatively easy on everyone. Now a horrible thought came to me. "Not the ... whatchamacallit?"
"We need to stop him licking it, which he's probably doing because it's itchy," the vet continued, "and the only way to do that is a cone collar."
I've had experience of these things. I'm haunted by the look of bewilderment dogs and cats give you when you surround their heads with a flaring ring of plastic. "How can you do something so unnatural to me?" their accusing eyes say. A halo from hell.
The vet asked the nurse to get one from their store room. Size large. Back at the reception desk she put it together for us. Queues formed. Dark mutterings came from the nurse as she wrestled with the plastic tabs and slots. "Buggers of things to put together," she hissed.
And then we put it on Scratchy.
I couldn't even comfort him by saying it wouldn't be for long. "He'll only need to wear this for a short while, won't he?" I had said. "No," replied the vet. "About a month."
Tomorrow, Part 2: Cone call
images: http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/, wikimedia.org, fetchingdogcollars.com
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