This is a two part series because of length. Tomorrow the second half will be posted—with a big thanks to Gina for sharing her day with me.
My daughter recently acquired a new dog. It is the cutest red and white spotted mini dachshund. This has to be one of the most loving dogs we have ever had and he just dotes on everyone and everything. However…..he does chase my chickens and though we are working on that —he got a scruff shake and a growl just yesterday for not stopping when I told him to—I know that for the entirety of his life we will always have to watch him around the livestock. Dogs….all dogs…are preprogrammed to chase. Put them with some fun loving and like minded friends and you have a deadly pack waiting to rip the belly out of something. Even small dogs, after uncurling from your friends 2 month old baby, can go out with a few other small friends and take down baby horses and cows. I know…sounds unbelievable but it’s true. So the first thing I would like to start this article with is a plea for everyone out there to remind their friends and neighbors to not let their dogs run free. There is nothing worse than coming home to a sheep with it’s belly ripped open, intestines threatening to spill, moaning and baaing in pain.
Now lets talk about some things I have learned about caring for the dog attack victims.
First —do let Daisy bleed a bit. It should naturally stop. If it doesn’t there is something really wrong and Daisy will die painlessly in a short time from blood loss. It seems counter productive to let them bleed but you want the blood to flush the dog spittle/bacteria out. Cardinal rule number one: you can NOT sew up dog wounds. Ever. No matter how bad or “open” they look.
If you have a sheep or a goat, unless the damage is very minimal, your vet will probably tell you it will die. Unfortunately it very well may—but many vets automatically write off sheep and goats because of two reasons 1) they are food and cheap to purchase and 2) they don’t really understand them because they are not big here in the U.S. So…don’t take it too personally if they say that and don’t be to hard on them for thinking that. Most people would never consider putting down a horse with similar wounds but they do a sheep or goat.
One thing though: if Daisy has a ripped open belly in any form (the gut has many bacterias and even if the intestines aren’t ripped that area is extremely difficult to heal and keep clean) or a damaged spine or tendons that keep her from standing soon after the attack —please do put her down. These are problems that are beyond our home skills and require much money and effort and really are not worth going into. Give her a hug and tell her how much you appreciated her time with you and put her down by whichever means you do it normally. Beyond those things— just because Daisy looks bad right now doesn’t mean she’s knocking on death’s door either. Animals like people heal and regrow skin so there is a strong possibility for you to be successful—even if they look REALLY yucky.
Now if your not ready to let Daisy go just yet you need to follow these few processes:
One….shave the animal. I don’t care if it is minus 10 outside you are going to have to shave the animal if it has any kind of fleece what so ever. You can tie a blanket around them afterwards to keep them warm until some of the fleece returns. Why? Because for every bite mark you see there are 3 more (I guarantee it) hiding away under their hair. To be successful at saving your animal you HAVE to find all wounds right from the beginning. Up until recently I would tell people to remove hair around the wounds and be sure they checked all over. Now though I realize that that is not good enough. Many wounds are missed and so complete hair removal in my opinion is required because if you have never seen a dog attack you do not realize how many many many small punctures there can be. You can call your vet for this and have them use their surgical shears. You can do it with scissors or your own shears. If you are doubly triply sure that there is no cut in an area then leave the hair if you must but cut it short enough that it does not “droop” into damaged areas to re infect them with dirt.
During the hair removal, and next with cleaning, you will come across flaps of skin, rips and tears and even hunks eaten out. Do not be squeamish working around these. Either during initial hair removal and cleaning or later when re cleaning. Dirt is disease and disease is death. My best analogy for this situation is burn victims in the hospital. Supposedly removing burnt tissue is excruciatingly painful—yet the nurses and aids scrub (yes, scrub) with brushes to get it off the patients. If it is left on there, not only can new tissue not grow correctly but worse, infection will set in.
This is exactly the same thing: Dog attack puts your animal in “intensive care”. You must be the nurse that wields the scrub brush to be successful.
Second….And this is the CARDINAL rule. Clean, clean, clean…….and then clean some more. You will need a helper of course.
After you have found all those wounds I told you were hiding under that hair—you have to clean each and every single one of them. Not just by wiping them with a damp soapy rag like we do to humans, dogs and cats. Remember: humans bathe, dogs and cats lick….so the wounds continually get re cleaned and have forms of antibiotic reapplied. Even humans have antibodies in their mouth fluid to help heal their own wounds. Of course…we don’t usually lick but you get the idea.
However sheep and goats can not, and do not, do this. They must have each wound cleaned like a horse would have theirs cleaned: from the inside out. You must syringe with saline solution (1tsp NON iodized salt to each cup of water) each and every wound and each and every hole (one friend got completely in the bath with her sheep). You must push flaps of skin out of the way to get completely under all of them into little pockets of bacteria and dirt. Make sure you check each and every wound for flaps—you might be surprised. Use the syringe tip to get into the wounds slightly and squirt the fluid up or down into each wound. Do it well, very well…not just lightly and not just once. Especially the first day you must be aggressive about this. The more “ick” we can get out the first day the better. Again: infection is going to be your number one battle. It is your enemy.
You can use a lightly soapy water on the surface “scrapes” to help clean them but do make sure and rinse them well with saline water.
You must clean these wounds at least once every single day with saline and a syringe until they heal and scab over with a correct scab—not a scab covering infection.
Also, please…try and bed them afterwards on something easily kept clean. I know it’s annoying to think of them in your mudroom or garage but a dirt floor is just death waiting to happen with all the open wounds. Hay, shaving and bedding all harbor extensive amounts of bacteria and have little “pieces” that will re attach their selves to the wounds making them dirty yet again. The MOST annoying, tiring, irritating and stressful part of this whole entire ordeal will be the cleanliness factor. It is hard, messy and bothersome but it is THE most important part.
Please come back tomorrow for the important second half to treating dog attack.
Being squeamish, I totally skipped the part on treating dog attack victims…
but as the wife of an animal control officer, I second the plea to please, please, please keep your dogs under control. Even here in the suburbs of Boston, he gets far too many calls about dogs getting into yard-livestock and causing havoc. These are “good dogs,” ie dogs that aren’t aggressive toward humans and know to play nice with cats and other dogs, but chickens and rabbits and the one milk goat in this township? Fair game.
One of our Corgi girls was attacked a few years ago by a feral dog. She sustained over 80 bites and puncture wounds. It took seriously concerted effort to get her through the first three days, debridement and such but she did survive. She re-absorbed a planned litter of puppies due to the pain but she survived (and went on to have a planned litter later).
Once all the wounds were scabbed we massaged a mix of emu oil and vitamin E into every inch of damaged skin. She has no scars today at all.
I realize this may not be feasible for a farm animal but if it’s a farm animal that you show or the scars might impede movement it might help.
Excellent post.
Great post! I used to be an animal control officer (and a vet. tech as well) and dog bites are devastating and frustrating. When I worked in AZ as an ACO I had many cases involving goats, sheep or chickens where it was hard to “prove” whose dogs did the damage. It caused neighbor wars and it was hard to confiscate an attacking dog if no one actually saw the dogs attack the other animal. They could be the only dogs in the general area, but without actual proof all one could do in my job was report and cite with a court date. Frustrating for the law enforcement officer and the livestock owner. It is important to have personal responsibility for your own animals.
I also had a problem with dogs last year at my former homestead. The neighbor’s dogs killed all my goats, turkeys and ducks. My dogs were boarded at the time. Earlier, my dogs had been blamed for an attack on another neighbor’s goats (the attack happened at night and my dogs were inside at night). It caused a neighbor dispute which ultimately lead me to move to our new home.
This is really useful information!~
Great post. My parents no longer have livestock but have heard from neighbors that there has been an increase in dog attacks on livestock recently. After a few years of it not being as much of a problem they are having trouble again with people ‘dumping’ their dogs in the country- I blame the economy and people too lazy to take them to the animal shelter. These dogs form packs and go on rampages. The farmers are left to ‘take care’ of these dogs before they cause too much damage. Our dog was a dump that we decided to adopt before my dad shot him. He’s a big dog and could cause lots of damage if he got into livestock. He’s a sweetheart but I’ve seen him go after squirrels in the yard, I hate to think of what he’d to to something bigger.
Great post! I often wonder if the increase in attacks too is from poor quality food. Even expensive pet food made with organic ingredients may be lacking in the mineral department.
Even so, it is heartbreaking to have to deal with this on both ends. We should dedicate this post series to Dora! And hope no one has to experience what Phelan did recently.
Thanks for the great, if icky, post. Although I’m not yet on the farm this blog is helping me go from vague fantasy to learning the mindset I’ll need for homesteading.
I think our biggest mistake with Dora was the shearing. We hand shear and are new at it, and wasn’t as quick to find the wounds. Her skin was ripped off, but the flesh seemed to be the same color as her skin. And she went septic very quickly.
I too believe that dog food might be an issue. Dogs have been known to die because of the lack of minerals in dog food, nothing to keep them warm in the winter. We try to make our own dog food, using unwanted parts of butchered animals and vegetable. My dogs love carrots to chew on, have to watch them at harvest time.
Are any of the supposed guardian animals helpful? Llamas and donkeys-just another victim? What about the guardian livestock dogs? Kangal dog or anatolian shepherds?
On another livestock note-please make your voice heard against NAIS for the incoming Obama Administration.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/stop_nais
Sorry-maybe this isn’t the right place for this you can remove if it is not appropriate! Kris
Obama is pro-nais. Just a heads up on that.
Safira…thanks for the plea (can you say it again? I don’t think some people heard you)
AnnaMarie…unfortunately you know how difficult this can be to treat. Glad your dog made it. I’ll remember the oil for my personal use—I have heard other swear by it—but maybe not a cow or sheep
HH–thanks
Gina…people just never want to believe it’s theirs do they?
Judy …Dog dumpers make me mad. I always think they should be “ballsy” enough to just put them to sleep instead of leaving them to starve slowly.
Matron…no, this has nothing to do with nutrition–if only it were that easy we could leave high quality food around to protect our livestock. This is sport and sport only. Just like how even a fat cat will still stalk and kill a bird or mouse. Worse though is that if not stopped in the process rarely will they bother to even eat a bite once the animal is down and out. The only reason the bellies get ripped is that bellies and hind legs are the “natural” attack spots. An aquaintance had 8 of his attacked—4 died. None eaten. Sport..that’s all.
And as you said…terrible all around.
April … Ahh the mindset you need to keep animals
MP….yes, the shearing and bedding make a huge difference (one friend lost hers though she cleaned very well—but she bedded on small chaff and dirt)
And again…no to the nutrition. See my reply to Matron.
HickChick…yes, pyrenees, maremma, anatolian …all help. However some people have just a few sheep/goats/livestock and small acreage. They never feel as if they may need a large protection dog. The problem is kind of like chickens—sometimes you forget to lock them up at night or the attack comes unexpectedly during the day — then oops.
Oh..donkeys and llamas can do a good job just depends on size of donkey/llama and dog(s) that attack. They are no good for people that live in heavy coyote, wolf or cougar country. Then, yes, they will also be potential victims.
Monica
Great post!
Question about dog attack????
My goat was attacked by two dogs this morning. He has a few small tears on the insides of his legs, and one puncture wound on the inside of his flank. I was home when it happened and managed to stop it within a few minutes. He has trouble walking but seems to be using all of his legs, and it doesn’t feel like there are any breaks.
I had our local feed supply order some penicilin which should be here in two days. I read on another site that we should also give him a tetanus antitoxin shot (4ccs followed by another dose in a week), which I am trying to track down. The dogs had tags but I’ve never seen them before and couldn’t catch them.
The wounds are small and I plan to shave and clean them as soon as I can get a friend to come help me. Is there anything I’m missing? Do you think it’s necessary for me to shave his whole body if I can’t find any blood anywhere else?
Thanks!
No Nadia since you saw the attack and stopped it and are pretty sure the leg is all that is affected you should be fine. You didn’t say if it was an angora or short hair goat though. Short hair is much easier to see wounds through that long hair anything of course. I don’t think you need to worry about tetanus….I’ve personally never seen them fail to heal because of that (always it’s the infection that gets them)….though it won’t hurt.
Since you caught it, VERY lucky you, you shouldn’t have a problem. Just remember the cardinal rule: clean clean clean and make sure you flush flush flush. Don’t let that wound close from the outside until the inside is healed.
As far as walking incorrectly…though there may only be a puncture wound or two he could have strained it or twisted it while running, or even had it jerked by the dog. It could also just be sore from the puncture wound. You know how it is when your scared and jerk back fast…sometimes you get a “crick” or something like that…this could be same thing. In a day or two he should be walking more normally…If he had a ripped tendon you would know and that is what I am talking about when I say don’t try and save them if they can’t walk correctly. Do watch it though to make sure he doesn’t need a little help for a small fracture of the bone though just in case (doubtful it’s that but this way you can pay attention to it).
Super good luck. You can reach me through alandtc (at) catt.com if you need more help. I don’t know all the answers but I can surely try