Catching Idle Butterflies

Oi, me eye!

Or in this case, me dog’s eye.

WARNING: If you are easily grossed out, especially when it comes to eyes, read no further!

Being such a beautiful spring day yesterday, Dave took Rufus for some rabbit hunting. Running after one through the bushes, Dave then heard Rufus whining. He called her to him, and out she came with a stick about ¼” in diameter sticking a few inches out of her left eye.

He tried to remove it, but all he managed to do was break it off at the socket. He had no idea how far in it went.

Dave called me to call our vet, Dr. Dockter (yep, that’s his real name) to see if he was still open. I called and listened to the message giving their hours and a number to call for emergencies.

I called Dave back with the emergency number.

“Could you call him?” Dave asked.

“I’d rather you did, because the doctor may ask you questions I can’t answer.” All I knew was Rufus had a stick in her eye.

Dr Dockter met Dave at the clinic not ten minutes later (and advantage to living in a small town). He then anesthetized Rufus to remove the stick out of her eye.

Dave and Rufus came home about 45 minutes later. He then carried a very heavy, knocked out Rufus with her tongue lolling out into the house and placed her in her cage.

I could tell that was hard on him. “It’s like carrying a heart-shot dear carcass into the house,” he said. It didn’t help she convulsed a little as the anesthesia wore off.

I don’t have a picture of it, because it’s still in the truck, but the stick was, and I kid you not, 4 inches long. That’s how much of it went into her skull.

When Dave showed it to me I asked, “How did this not go into her brain and kill her?”

From what Dr. Dockter said, it went in and downward toward her jaw. It didn’t pierce the eye either, so she still has it. Whether or not it will survive, it’s too soon to tell. There’s also a 20-30% chance she’ll retain her vision in that eye. He gave us eye drops to put in 4-times a day, and antibiotics 2-times a day.

Dr. Dockter described what happened as winning the lottery, or losing it depending upon how we look at it. In his 30 years as a vet, he’d never seen something like this.

Rufus was so funny last night, though. Dave and I went to let her out before we went to bed. As soon as we let her out of her cage, her tail was a wagging like crazy and as soon as we opened the door, she ran outside eager to play her nightly game of laser-tag.

Her eye was a little swollen, but not bad. It even appeared to me she could see a little out of it.

This morning, though, it looks much worse. But, the doctor did warn us it would. She’s also not as perky as she was last night, so I know she’s in a lot of pain.

After a week, we’re supposed to call the vet and tell him her progress. We’ll know better then how permanent the damage will be. Worst case, we’ll have a one-eyed hunting dog.