Like a Stuck Pig

Yesterday the kids and dogs and I were out doing chores (well, the humans were doing chores, the dogs were playing in the snow) and all of the sudden I heard Devin yelling for Buford.  I look over, and Buford had blood all over the side of his head and neck.  It seemed like so much blood, but he was running around acting a fool still.  I looked him over best I could and didn't see any wounds, so my next thought was that he killed something.  He's got quite the prey drive, and I knew Rocky the rabbit was loose in the barn.  Kylee assured us that Buford had not been in the barn at all, because I told the kids when we went out to keep the door shut for that reason. 

I quickly finished up the chores and took Buford inside to the tub.  I hosed him down and didn't see any wounds, and it appeared it wasn't his blood. Just when I thought I'd need to go outside to see what he killed, I saw a fresh drip of blood in the tub.  Turns out there was a teensy little hole where a thorn poked his ear. He must have been running through the brush and got his ear caught.  The sucker would not stop bleeding!

I wrapped his ear up in gauze, then wrapped an ace bandage around his head, hoping to keep his ear still.  He hated it, and kept trying to paw it off. 


















So then I tried to wrap part of the bandage around his neck, but that didn't work either.

He even tried to get Devin to help take it off...

Then we tried just a band-aid since the bleeding seemed to slow down a bit. 

That worked for a short time, but after a while there was too much blood for the band-aid.  Then I called my vet friend Lindsay to see if she had any tips.  She said to open the ear up so it's back on top of his head, and try wrapping with vet wrap. 

So I did that, but the little stinker (I wasn't calling him such nice names last night) kept pulling the whole thing off his head.  I kept putting it right back on.  He slept through the night with it on his head, and when he went potty this morning he managed to get the ear loose and it started bleeding again. 

So, thoroughly frustrated, I went to the vets and got an e-collar (aka cone of shame) for him.  He FLIPPED out when I first put it on, but I out-stubborned him.  I convinced him the collar wasn't trying to eat him, and he's finally coming to terms with it.  He's learning to be careful about where he walks, after running into walls, gates, etc.  I think he's getting the hang of it though. 

Hopefully if I leave his ear wrapped for another day or two the bleeding will stop.