Thursday, July 21, 2011

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - July-19-2011

June 19
It's now apparent that the wound his getting smaller. In all the years I have had dogs I have never experienced anything like this. It blows my mind that a tiny little spider can cause so much damage. I also have a black Great Dane and there is no way I could discover any colorization on him and catch this in an early stage, quite frightening.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - July-15-2011

July 15th
The wound is getting a little smaller in size. The progress is painfully slow and Rex has a really hard time walking. Some days he can't walk at all. He's alert and eats all his meals and the wound does not seem to bother him. He leaves it alone.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - July-6-2011

July 6th
It has now been a month since his surgery. It is hard to tell but things is improving. The flesh is is filling in and has more mass than a week ago. The wound itself is pretty much the same size. 

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-23-2011

June 23rd
All the dead skin is gone and Rex is now left with a huge open exposed wound. I can see deep holes between the exposed flesh. It's horrifying to see my boy like this.  But, I have to man up and keep it clean and make him as comfortable as possible, I sleep next to him and turn him over every 3-4 hours.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-16-2011

June 16th
No improvement. I know realize he may lose all his skin and leave a 3 inch open wound.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-15-2011

June 15th
Rex's wound is a mess of rotting flesh and skin. It's all coming apart.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-11-2011

June 11
We're losing the battle to save the skin. The skin is coming lose and apart. I can also smell rotting flesh. I feel so bad for this guy.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-10-2011

June 10th.
I'm applying hot towels 3-4 times a day in an attempt stop the flesh from dying. Rex is on 3000mg of Keflex plus 200mg  Rimadyl.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-7-2011

The day after the surgery. The stitches is holding the skin together. The vet suspected it not to and prepared me for the possibility for it all to fall off, leaving an open would.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-6-2011

In mid May I discover some faint discolorations on Rex's right thigh. It first looked like dirt which made sense since he falls down quite a bit. I tried to wipe it clean but it did not come off. It was so faint and hardly noticeable that I did not make too much of it, something that turned out to be a huge mistake.

Two weeks later I noticed a tiny hole in the middle of this area and a drop of blood came out. Again I thought he had fallen an punctured a small hole in his skin. I wiped the blood off and nothing else came out. A couple of days later I again saw blood dripping from this tiny hole. I called the vet and she told me to keep an eye on it for any changes.
A couple of days later I saw 3 more holes and small drops of blood. This  was a Saturday afternoon and I called the vet again. She asked me to come in on Monday so she could take a closer look. That Sunday evening it got much worse. While cleaning the area the skin broke between the holes. It was tin as paper. I then realized this is not good something is eating his flesh!
Monday morning we went to the vets office. They stitched up the ripped skin as best they could, took a tissue sample and sent that of to the lab. They suspected an insect bit or cancer.
I was pretty sure it was not cancer since Rex has been on B-17 for many years and I don't know of any dog or human that have gotten cancer while taking B-17. It will be a first.

Here is Rex after his surgery. The wound is stitched up and he's knocked out.