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As a follow-up to the story of MacKensey's hunting adventures in Colorado I am happy to tell you that he seems to have completely recovered from his encounter with the porcupine. For nearly 2 months after being quilled the second time he continued to do nothing but lie around in a nearly catatonic state only to wake occasionally screaming out in pain from a quill apparently puncturing something very sensitive inside him. Both Suzanne and I were beside ourselves wondering what we could do to ease his pain. After numerous trips back to Dr. Katy Wilson's office asking what to do she referred us to a Veterinary internal medicine specialist, Dr. Lori Wise of the Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital where a series of ultra sound tests were done. The ultra sound tests revealed a quill about 2 inches in length that had escaped the initial extraction surgery and was migrating through MacKensey's heart lung area. A sack of fluid which was believed to be blood was beginning to form around his heart. Things were looking grim for the little white hunter...By the time of the third ultra-sound it was apparent that the quill was moving through this vital area. The fluid sack was beginning to shrink in size and all we could do was wait. One morning at the end of April about 6:30 am, Suzanne was petting him feeling for additional quills (we had found around 10 or 12 that had surfaced in different places) she was poked in the finger on the left side of his chest. She said I think I found another quill! Carefully laying him on his side and examining the area, there was the telltale black tip of a quill sticking through his skin coming out from between 2 of his ribs on the opposite side of where the quills had entered. Grabbing a pair of hemostats I latched on to the end of the quill and slowly withdrew the nasty culprit from poor Mackensey's side. Sure enough it was about 2 inches in length. From that point on he seemed a whole new dog. Back to running and chasing with the other dogs and even enjoying a little scrap with his friends. The last ultra-sound revealed no additional quills and the sack of fluid completely gone. This can only show once again how tough these little terriers really are and how we need to be really careful where we let them run, because they are first and foremost a hunting/working terrier and given the opportunity will take on almost anything which can be detrimental to their health. Talking to different people since this had happened most people have said "I bet he has learned his lesson with those porcupines!" I can assure you that nothing is farther from the truth. In MacKensey's mind I am sure that he is thinking that he will really teach those porcupines a lesson they won't forget the next time he finds one! Suzanne and I wish to once again thank everyone who was concerned about MacKensey and called on a regular basis to see how he was doing. I would also like to express my thanks to Dr's Dave and Katy Johnson and Dr Lori Wise for all their time and effort to save this little guy's life. |
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