Snakebite Victim Update...

It's been 15 days since Gale shot this gruesome photo; some 12 hours after Annie's run in with a rattler in the grass beside Freezeout Lake. As I posted previously up until a week ago the leg was not looking good, things were not going well. She would not drink unless forced to and was eating very little. She would not put her foot down instead continued to hop about on three legs...Trust me, for us it was damn frustrating, difficult to deal with and tough to watch. But then last weekend something of drastic turn for the good, the swelling began disappearing, the discoloration began to fade, and every now and then she started using her foot. Better still she began eating although still not drinking anywhere near normal, she did drink.

The above two photos shot a couple days ago show how fast the healing is progressing. The swelling is gone, hair is growing in and except for the two places where dead skin sloughed (also sloughed between her toes where the snake hit) if it weren't for the short hairs you would never know. Especially if you saw her running through the snow this morning...leaping Annie of old fashion from the concrete to the deck...twice mind you...Well hell, can you blame us for cheerin' like two little kids at Christmas...Anyway Dandy Annie is if not herownself at last, my take is she's damn close...Hooray!

Snakebite Victim Update...

This picture had become all too familiar up until yesterday that is....

...finally after countless water baths, wet towel treatments, pill battles (Annie does not do pills period, end of discussion) several injections (not havin' needles either)...not drinking, eating little, hopping around on three legs...as I say finally yesterday she put foot down (for the most part), drank some and ate pretty good...Hooray!

Ten long pain filled (for Annie), fretful, frustrating, fearful (for us) days since a rattler nailed her in the foot. Up until yesterday the hoped for, though highly unlikely, quick healing process seemed to us negligible at best and two three days ago seemed to take several steps backward--dead in the water actually.

Gale and me already stressed by a string of events that included constant worry, no sleep, unanswered questions, vet visits which by then had become almost a daily occurrence; to say nothing of shattered nerves which led to ridiculous shouting matches--admittedly foolish and certainly doing nothing for Annie's equally stressed out condition--well, as I say two, three days ago we had all just about had IT...

Then yesterday morning, the threat looming of a whole day in the vet's office administering intravenous fluids due to Annie's baffling refusal to drink or for that matter eat much of anything...suddenly a breakthrough she ate pretty good, drank some and wonder of wonders actually walked on all four feet...

Actually the swelling has all but disappeared from her lower leg and foot and except for up under in the groin area the only redness is where some "superficial dead skin" has sloughed off..."Looks pretty good according to vet" which as you might imagine sounds pretty sweet at this point...So there you have it, perhaps not quite out the woods yet but damn close...With any luck at all the next update will include a shot similar to this one...