PET CORNER
August 12, 2011

Rover’s escape

After 5 years of being in chains, Rover lost so much weight that one night in the height of a tropical storm, scared of the thunder and lightening, he pulled against his chains and the leather strap slipped over his head. At first he was confused not being able to comprehend his new found freedom.{{more}}

He made a few tentative steps away from the only world he knew that measured six feet in diameter, sniffed the air of freedom and started running as fast as his frail shaky legs could take him.

He completely forgot about the terrifying thunder and lightning. All he wanted to do was to put as much distance between him and that god forsaken chain that kept him a prisoner for the last five years. But, alas, due to lack of adequate exercise, his burst of speed was too much for his fragile frame to endure. He found himself struggling to breathe, and felt his legs buckling under him. Yet he willed himself on, until eventually exhaustion overcame him and he flopped down under a bridge to catch his breath, and to get some shelter.

And then suddenly, from out of nowhere came angry snarls and hostile barks. He was encroaching on forbidden territory; he felt an intense pain and burning sensation as jaws of steel clamped on his neck and body. He howled in pain, and then there was a rush of adrenaline, in a death defying manoeuvre innate to an animal backed against the wall with no apparent way out, he felt his teeth sink into bone and sinews. This he did again and again until he heard a blood curling scream and saw his attacker for the first time.

That is how he met Gipsy. Under better circumstances, she would have been considered pretty. She had multiple ugly scars all over her body. One of her ears was crumpled up like a cauliflower, more than likely due to the fact that she had a “hematoma of the pinna of the ear”, in which case the pinna of the ears acquires the appearance of a balloon, filled with bloody fluid and clots, caused by irritation in the ear canal, due to various causes, ear mites being one of the most frequent. In these casas, the irritation causes the dog to shake the head vigorously and scratch the ears with its paws. This causes the small blood vessels in the flap of the ears to break and blood to seep into the space between the inner and outer skin and cartilage of the ear flap. If left untreated over time, the ear flap (pinna) eventually adopts cauliflower appearance. (To be continued next week)

For further information, contact:
Dr. Collin Boyle Unique Animal Care Co. Ltd.
Tel: 456 4981
Website: www.uniqueanimalcare.com