Lucy Girl

Lucy has had a bad time of it lately.  A while back, our not so nice neighbor left us a letter telling us how Lucy barks all day and really bothers her.  She wanted us to do something before she called animal control - again.  We wanted to avoid any possibility of Lucy being taken from us, so we took aggressive action and got a shock collar.  

We were surprised when it seemed to work.  Lucy could bark a little to alert us to something, but was triggered out of her cycle of endless barking at every squirrel, leaf, or car passing by.  Our neighbor didn't complain again, so all seemed well.

Friday I noticed a foul smell from Lucy's direction and I figured she needed a bath.  Saturday, Sarah Graves and I pointed it out to Aaron.  He couldn't smell it, but agreed a bath would be good.  On Sunday, both kids were napping AT THE SAME TIME so it was a good time to show Lucy some love. Aaron took off her collars and noted the smell might be in that area.  I put her in the shower and quickly realized her neck had a large sore.  I was scared to death that bathing might hurt her, so it was a very quick bath.  Aaron agreed he was concerned and left to take her to the emergency vet.

The vet felt she had an allergic reaction to the metal on the collar being against her skin and that formed sores that absessed.  Lucy was taken in for surgery to remove the dead tissue.  When she came home that night, it was far worse than I expected.  She has a drain and lots of staples across her neck. She was crying and completely out of sorts.  She had no appetite and no desire to take the two antibiotics and pain medication prescribed.   Aaron and I felt awful for her and terrible that it got so bad without us realizing.  She never had fever, ate and drank as usual, and she played like normal. 

She and I have found a system for getting her to take the medicine and she seems okay.  She might be bummed for the medicine to end and along with it her peanut butter on a spoon and hand fed treats routine!  

Her energy is good, but the area is going to take a long time to heal.  I will take her tomorrow to have her vet check her out.  Hoping all gets better for Lucy soon.  

We feel like awful parents, but are doing our best to make it better.