Hi,
My dog Tyson decided one day to chase a cat
into the woods out of our house
(we never let him run unleashed).

He was back within 1 minute, but the damage was done.
The cat had scratched his arm.
I know that doesn't sound horrible, does it?!?

Well, turns out that that scratch
would start a whole new chapter in his life.

Tyson: "My arm got really sore the night I chased the cat,
so my mommy took me the the ER vet the very next morning.
They said I just pulled a muscle
(Little did they know that it was a lot worse than a pulled muscle!).
So later that night after I had seen the ER vet,
I was even bigger than before.

My arm was so swollen that I could barely walk.
So my mommy took me back to the ER.

They kept me overnight and nothing was helping.
I got progressively worse over the next day.

I went to go see my regular vet on Monday,
and turns out they had a great doctor!
He saved my life!

I had a nasty Staph infection that was resistant to antibiotics,
so Dr. "Mags" gave me steroids and that seemed to do the trick.

A few days later, I had to have surgery,
because my skin was rotting off of my body.

They removed about 25% of my skin,
and I was just showing off my bare muscle and tendons!

They said mommy wasn't allowed to see my leg under the bandage.

Once my infection was mostly gone,
I had to let my skin heal over, now.

I saw a specialist to see about getting skin graphs,
but those weren't going to work!

They said that they would see how I healed
and how much skin my body would make.

Well my leg ended up starting to die.
They had to amputate it within a week!

It was a long haul in a short amount of time, but I made it.

They all thought I wouldn't make it,
but I love life so much I pushed through it.
I WAS TOUGH!

Now that I have fully healed, I am WONDER DOG!

I still play and run the exact same;
it doesn't slow me down one bit!

Now mommy and daddy have a baby and I am a big brother.
I am glad I was able to stick around to see my baby Ryder!

My parents were so thankful that I made it, too!
We had a party just for me!

I will always be thankful to my Mom and Dad,
because they spent a lot of money to keep me alive!
$8500 total!

WOW, my Mom and Dad LOVE ME!
Anyways, that is my story!!!!"

Ok, gave you a few pictures to pick from.
We would be grateful if you could share Tyson's story and pictures.

Jennifer Smith
Anchorage, Alaska
Thursday May 28, 2009

Hi there.
My name is James Gibson (Jam for short).
I am from Tavistock, which is on the edge of Dartmoor in SW England.
This week, My dog Nelson (a CollieXBelgian Shepherd) was run over by a 4x4. He had severe injuries to his legs.

He was so severely injured that it is a miracle he is alive now.
He has had to have his rear left leg amputated the day before yesterday (Friday). He is still at the vet's.

His amputation had to be postponed for a few days,
because of his other injuries.
He is coming home on Monday or Tuesday,
but he will have to be in and out of the vet's every day,
because he has a shearing injury to the front left leg
that damaged his dew claw and another claw
and this will need dressing under sedation,
because it tore the flesh back to the bone.

I don't yet have a photo of him since he lost his leg,
but I have a photo of him last summer at the beach.
I will get one as soon as possible.

Although he is out of the woods (we hope) now,
he is still a bit of a mess
and I would rather send you a photo when he is on the mend.

The vets at my practice said they have never known a dog
that was so brave. He has had hundreds of injections;
painful, major surgery; drips, sedatives and morphine;
yet, he has taken it all without so much as a growl or howl.

I hope that he is going to be well enough
to run and swim like he did before
and live the same quality of life;
it is down to his good condition that he actually survived,
and I want to continue to ensure he is able to do that
and get his 2 hours a day.

James Gibson
Sunday May 31, 2009

UPDATE:

Hi Cynthia, Nelson is well and has come home yesterday.
He is full of life, considering what he has been through.
Sorry I haven't checked my email for the last couple of days,
but we have been rather busy, what with Nelson coming home
and needing wounds dressing and on top of that,
my Grandmother passed on Thursday and the car broke down,
so they say it comes in threes and hopefully that's that.

Nelson has been to the vets today to have the stitches out of his nose and face and I must say that he looks petty dapper, considering.
It tickled him when they took them out and the nurse had to watch out because he kept on licking his face.

The photographer from the local newspaper was there to take some photos, because the vets must have told them about his bravery
(what with all the proceedures he has undergone without a single complaint) and I guess it is some free publicity for the vets, which I am happy for them to have.

They had to put a small dressing on his back paw, because he kept on pecking at that open wound and last night when he was out for a pee in the garden he dived onto the compost heap for a roll around and managed to get a whole load of dirt in there and it took me ages to clean.

He is eating almost twice as much as normal, at the moment spread out over 4-5 meals a day he has to take 2 sorts of anti-biotic and one anti-inflammatory-painkiller and also something to settle his stomach a bit, because to start with, he was bleeding a little bit in his poo, but that very quickly stopped but he has still had a bit of a knock there and it is best to err on the side of caution.

He was always a little on the skinny side (because he is a bit nervous) but we are glad he is piling down the calories.
I have been using canned pilchards (like sardines in tomato sauce) to make him ignore the pills.
He loves them and gets through a large canful a day.

Thanks for your emails. I will keep in touch regularly to let you know how things are going and will try and send some photos.

Thank you
Jam.
Saturday June 6, 2009

UPDATE:

Hi Cynthia, managed to get a photo of Nelson onto my computer to send you, this was taken a few days ago, when he first came home. He has enjoyed a bit of a spruce-up since then, by way of a good grooming session with his brush and is looking a little less skinny after eating almost twice as much as normal, to get some weight back on. As you can see, he still is a good looking chap and all that is left of his facial injury is a little split in his left nostril and a barely visible scar running from that nostril around his face.

Cheers, Jam
Monday June 8, 2009

UPDATE:

Brave Nelson comes through surgery
He may not have a patch on his eye,
but Nelson has been in the wars all the same,
after a serious car crash left the brave Collie cross
facing horrific injuries.

Staff at Westmoor Veterinary Centre say the dog has been a hero patient - he survived major surgery to save his life after the accident last Wednesday.

Nelson had to have his hind leg and two toes amputated by vets.
He also suffered a gashed nose, his skin was ripped from his flesh
and staff also feared his jaw was fractured.

Denise Nordenhall, office manager at Westmoor, said:
'He's been an absolute braveheart, even though he's been in such severe pain. He's just been unbelievable.

'How he's got through this I don't know;
he just seems to have the real will to live in him.
Everyone here just loves him. He's been wonderful.'

Nelson's owner, James Gibson, said the accident,
which happened after his usual walk on Whitchurch Down,
was 'a terrible shock'.

'It was awful. At first, every time we went to see him
we thought it was going to be the last time. It was heartbreaking.

'And it's not like when a person is hurt; he couldn't really tell you, but he was literally crying with the pain,' said James.

'His injuries were so serious they had to wait
before they could amputate his leg -
and on his back right leg, the flesh has been pared
pretty much down to the bone.

'He's still very tired, but he's been so much better
since his leg was amputated.
To be honest, that's the least of our worries;
getting the remaining injuries to heal is the difficult thing.
I think it's going to be a long road.'

James said Nelson, a rescued dog of about four years old,
was 'a fantastic dog' who had been 'incredibly brave' throughout his ordeal.

'I think that's the only reason we've still got him,
that he's let the vets do what they've had to do.

'They've been unbelievable - I don't know how to thank them, really,' said James.

Courtesy Tavistock Times Gazette
Wednesday 10 June, 2009

UPDATE:

It's OK, they are not casts, just breathable bandages.
The back one is off now and he just has a pad on there.
The stitches are out of his face now and the front leg
with the missing toes is doing very well.

I did notice the other night that he has lost
about 5 teeth from the top and one or two from the bottom.
These will have to be sorted out somewhere down the line,
when he has recovered from the major things.

We are in the local paper today.
Thanks for your email
Jam
Thursday June 11, 2009

UPDATE:

It must have been very painful; however, he is making very good progress. He has had the bandages off both paws now, and though they are still a little bit messy, they are on the mend with every new day.

He is still not allowed out for a walk yet and he is getting very bored. He is used to having at least two hours a day on the moors
and staying in is driving him nuts!
It is becoming an all day struggle to stop him from licking his wounds too much.

Hopefully, next week he can start going on short walks (on the lead) that we will slowly increase over time (he has really been through the wars and we don't want to over do it), to build up the strength in his back leg.

Cheers for now,
Jam
Monday June 15, 2009