McKay's Mammoth Visit (late January)

I had a bit of a scare with McKay.  

Now that I look back on it, it was quite silly to be so worried.  And it also taught me a lesson as a pet care provider.  Always be more thorough than you think necessary when checking a pup out during your initial contact with him or her!  

The story goes:  McKay's mom let me know that he'd just had surgery on his tongue.  But at the end of the first day, when we were out playing in the yard, while I was shoveling piles of PooSnow, I looked down at M playing with the others and noticed that his front leg looked bloody!  I stopped the fun and made him sit still for a minute (which was not easy, since they were all playing so hard), and while he wasn't gushing, there was definitely some "ooze" happening, and it appeared as if he'd scraped his leg against something hard or sharp and it had sliced off the top layer of skin!  Yikes!  

Went inside to wash his leg, see what sort of damage was done and if we needed to go to the vet... and all the while I'm thinking, "What did he get scraped by?"

Try To Put 2 and 2 Together...

Did he slip on the edge of the deck?  The two steps to the yard are still icy, maybe...  Did another pup somehow bite... nah, bites don't look like scrapes.  I don't remember him yelping out in pain... is he that tough?  Was it the chicken-wire fencing?  Well, he did fall through the snow over in the corner (which was really funny, btw, he was so clumsy and kept breaking through the top layer of snow as he tried to run!).  Maybe there's something buried under there?

That's when it hit me.  "Oh, wait.  He just had surgery.  Maybe this was from where the IV was placed and him breaking through the crusty snow has irritated the skin."

Yep, that was it.  Mystery solved.  

And you know, I could have avoided all of that worry by simply doing a more thorough "check-in" when he arrived.  Checking for bumps, scrapes, dry skin, tender or sore spots.  I usually do give the new pups a good rub-down when they first arrive to help them calm down, which allows me to notice these types of things.  But McKay needed no soothing.  He was thrilled to go run and play with the others as soon as we got back to the house!  So I got lazy and didn't do my normal check.

A big thank you to McKay for reminding me to stay on my toes!