BC-Liz Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 As if we don't have enough drama with Rhea. Yesterday I came home at lunch for my usual "doggy duty" to find that Rhea had chopped off the tip of her left ear. We imagine it was done by the box fan that was sitting in the room, trying to circulate air for them. We should have known better. We are kicking ourselves for letting this happen to her. We rushed her down to the vet, since it wasn't something that would just heal on its own. They ended up having to cut down into the cartilage to find some that was viable. It looks like she has a quarter cut out of her ear. Seriously considering finding a less expensive vet now. In 2 weeks she'll be good as new, if not a little lopsided. The area that they shaved is huge though and that will take a while to grow back. We feel so bad, since we know we could have avoided this all together. I'll post a picture of what it looks like all sewn up soon. I didn't take a picture of it before the surgery...it was pretty gross...didn't feel I needed a picture to remember what that looked like. So, lesson learned. Don't use box fans around dogs...they are slicey. This one even has a pretty small grate on it. Good healing mojo would be appreciated. Poor girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Ouch! Healing mojo coming Rhea's way. Twist, especially, sends healing thoughts. Here's Twist channeling Van Gogh in mid-May when she badly sliced her right ear out on a walk--don't know how: The vet put a brace inside the ear and then bandaged the whole thing to her head so she wouldn't shake it. The bandage stayed on for 10 days. She now has a notch out of her ear, and a little bit of a flap at the top where the two "halves" didn't completely close up, but since the hair grew back it's not terribly noticeable. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Shepherd Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Good Mojo from Albuquerque little one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Ouch! Poor girl. Healing mojo for her. Maybe this is enough to convince me to look into one of the new Dyson fans, you know, the one with no blades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Hey Karen, I saw one of those at the store but even though it was plugged in we couldn't get it to turn on to see how it works. I use a stand fan with a really wide base and then just point the fan part down so it blows down on the dogs, but the dogs' body parts can't accidentally get near the blades. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 I have seen lots of box fans mainly plastic. I just can't wrap my head around it being strong enough to cut her ear off. I'm so sorry you are both going through this but am really glad to learn that they can be that dangerous. Eear's hoping it heals well and quickly with out much notice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted July 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I have seen lots of box fans mainly plastic. I just can't wrap my head around it being strong enough to cut her ear off.I'm so sorry you are both going through this but am really glad to learn that they can be that dangerous. Eear's hoping it heals well and quickly with out much notice! HA! We didn't either. But it was definitely the fan. There's a nice chunk out of 2 of the blades and hair stuck on the chunk.....ew As promised...pictures of the mayhem. Close up: It's starting to look better. It's definitely healing already. It's apparently far more itchy than it used to be. Poor girl. Besides being stuck in the cone of shame, she's handling it pretty well. But you want to hear the cherry on top of this awesome sundae?! Her pain and antibiotic meds are giving her seizures. YAY! damn it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 If the injury is a few days old I would think the pain is probably pretty much gone. Maybe itchy but not really painful. I'm still freakin on the idea of a box fan doing that. Can you imagine what it might do to a kid? What the heck was she doing that got her ear into the box? She has earned the nick name Van Gogh for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted July 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 If the injury is a few days old I would think the pain is probably pretty much gone. Maybe itchy but not really painful. I'm still freakin on the idea of a box fan doing that. Can you imagine what it might do to a kid? What the heck was she doing that got her ear into the box? She has earned the nick name Van Gogh for sure! I hope so, because we're stopping the pain meds and only continuing the antibiotics, hoping that the pain meds are the ones causing the seizures. I know a plastic fan blade can cut pretty deep into a finger, I once watched an idiot friend of my brother stick his finger in a fan to see if it would cut him...surprise....it did. How on earth she got her ear in it?! Your guess is as good as mine. I imagine she was laying next to the fan, since it was in a spot she usually lays, and somehow slipped her ear in there...pretty awful to imagine. Things like this make me happy that we go home for the pups at lunch every day...I couldn't imagine her having to deal with this for a whole 8 hrs before we got home. Rhea - Van gough...nice ring to it. DF has been calling her Rhea - halfear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Glad she's doing all right! What a nasty looking cut. Hey JP, where did you see the fan? I am going to check Wal-Mart but other than driving an hour to a large town I have no alternatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinavb Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Ouch! Poor thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I know a plastic fan blade can cut pretty deep into a finger, I once watched an idiot friend of my brother stick his finger in a fan to see if it would cut him...surprise....it did. I have a very clear memory of putting my finger in an excercise bike wheel to see if it would stop going round....surprise...it didn't but my finger did break!. If I forget I can just look at my "funny" finger. At least i was very young and it wasn't my ear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyleew Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 You could also get one of those tower fans. They are much cheaper than the Dyson fan. They have the Dyson fan at Target here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleS. Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Awww, poor girl I hope she feels better soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted July 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 Just an update: It looks like the pain meds were the culprit for the seizures. She's been on only the antibiotics for a couple days and she's been ok. However I think she's starting to get very irritated with us for putting her in the cone of shame for the entirety of the day. She's rather pouty. Just one more week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted July 30, 2010 Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 They have the Dyson fan at Target here. ^Yep. Karen, that's where I saw it. Haven't looked at WalMart. I was in Target looking for one of those high-velocity tabletop fans to use in the van with the inverter when I saw it. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted July 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 ^Yep. Karen, that's where I saw it. Haven't looked at WalMart. I was in Target looking for one of those high-velocity tabletop fans to use in the van with the inverter when I saw it. J. The only problem with those fans is...they're like $300 for a 10" fan or somewhere around there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted July 30, 2010 Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 A definite deterrent to purchase. I didn't actually look at the price, since it wasn't what I needed anyway. And since the darn thing wasn't working, there was no demo to make me gaga over it and thus willing to plunk down that kind of money (not that I would even if it spit chocolate out in addition to its cooling properties). J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted July 30, 2010 Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 Poor Rhea! I hope she's all better soon. She won't care if she has a half-ear, she'll just be happy to get rid of the cone. I meant to reply when you first posted, but I forgot to come back to the thread -- my first reaction had been to copy it over to my daughter who lives in Chapel Hill and has to leave her dog alone while she's at work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted July 30, 2010 Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 $300, me thinks NOT! Thanks for the heads up I won't even look at them now.....unless is spits out cool water, that may tempt me ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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