Rage Against the Cage

After the second failed suicide attempt, I was convinced that it was best for River if I brought her kennel back out and fixed it up so that she couldn't escape. Sure, they said, she would try to escape and probably scrape up her nose again, but when she discovers that she can't get out, she will stop. So, I bought some hardware and zip ties and made the cage impossible for River to get out of. And I put her in it today.


This is that I came home to: (River was still in the cage, so at least my handiwork was suitable.)


She pulled the carpet that was underneath her kennel into the cage. Now, you might be wondering how, exactly she managed to get to the carpet...

She broke the plastic bottom liner thing. And then tore it up into some pieces.

And she BROKE the metal wire of the cage. Easy peasy! No problem getting that carpet in the cage when you're the hulk.

Here is what remains of the bottom plastic.

And here is the twisted metal cage. Seriously. She's only a 45 pound dog. I don't think that I am even strong enough to do this to the cage, even given all day.

Holy twisted metal, Batman!

And this is what happened to my carpet.

So, what I learned from this is that keeping her in the kennel is just as destructive and expensive as keeping her out of the kennel. I mean, given a couple more hours, she probably could have strangled herself on the carpet, which is, I'm sure, what her goal was in this endeavor.

I need a puppy sitter. She just gets so crazy when there are no people around and she's left 'alone'. I need a puppy psychologist for this separation anxiety.

"What? What I'd do?"

End Blog.

Dog Attempts Suicide for the Second Time

I came home from work today and found that River got into the bathroom while I was gone. There were three bags of stuff from Carolyn's apartment's medicine cabinet on the floor that hadn't quite gotten moved all the way in yet.

River decided to eat their contents, which included a razor, a bottle of acetaminophen, a toothbrush, a tube of icy hot, some cold medicine, a thermometer, and a box a q-tips. There was probably some other random stuff in there, but it wasn't recognizable by the time I got home.

I have no idea how much of the medications she ingested.

I swear this dog is trying to kill herself. I still don't think she'll make it past her first year.

She needs to be put on suicide watch. I need some people to help volunteer for her 24 hour watch. And to take away all the shoelaces...



PS - She's fine. It seems. For now. Until the next time she tries to kill herself. My next guess is strangulation.


End Blog.

Suicidal Dog Slits Wrist

Tonight River took a sliding shoulder into the back door and broke the bottom pane of glass. In doing so, she managed to cut the outside of her right paw and puncture the area right near her dew claw. The laceration was clean and right to the muscle and was bleeding enough that I didn't think I'd be able to stop it myself.

I trapped her in the bathroom and tried to clean her up a bit and then taped paper towels to her paw to apply some pressure and stop the bleeding. (You know, after I stood in the bathroom for a minute staring at the medicine cabinet thinking, "I need gauze." "I don't have gauze." "I need gauze." It was a vicious cycle.)

Carolyn looked up an emergency vet and drove us there and I called Belinda to pick up Remy and take her to her house so that she didn't somehow get into the broken glass. I didn't need two cut puppies and bills to go with them. (Remy got a bath at Belinda's! How cool is that?)

When we got there, the vet cut off my make-shift bandage, looked at the wound, and bandaged her back up. Then he gave her a sedative. And it knocked her out. It also made her vomit up her dinner. She she is being really sleepy in the doctor's office.



And here is my shirt with dog blood on it. Luckily, I was in my lawn mowing getup, so I don't really care.



I think I might donate this shirt to the lab. What's not fun about dog blood on a shirt?


They gave her some stitches and bandaged her up. While she was there, I went to Lowe's to buy some stuff to fix the window. I settled on plexiglass and silicone to fix it in there, with a backup plan of plastic tarp in case I wasn't handy enough to fix it.

The bandage can't get wet and it needs to be changed if it does. If not, I have to change it every 3 days. It's starting to bother her because she keeps licking at it and limping and favoring it.

I put a latex glove over her paw to keep it dry and carried her outside because I thought she might have to pee. She turned right around a gimped herself back into the house. Then I fed her because I realized she threw up all her food earlier. She liked that, because she always likes food... and I gave her an antibiotic and some pain meds that are supposed to make her drowsy. It's kind of working, but she keeps messing with her paw.

Hopefully it will kick in soon.

Carolyn babysat her while I fixed the back door. Turns out I am awesome and managed to clean up the glass and put in a piece of plexiglass to fix it. Not sure how permanent of a fix it is, but I'm going to try to keep it for as long as I can. I'm pretty sure a new door or new glass might be really expensive.




I know, those pictures were really exciting.

Update: I took her out again and she peed and ran right back to the door. Then came in a drank a whole bowl of water. Maybe I'll set my alarm for the middle of the night to check on her.

Because this is the kind of thing she does when I'm sleeping:

(Not all the time, she just apparently didn't like Kovu's bed.)

Okay, it's late and been an eventful day. I'm going to try to get some sleep. I hope River does the same.


End Blog.