It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Ends Up In a Cone

Waiting to see the vet

What began as a simple afternoon walk resulted in a three hour visit to the emergency vet with Ruby on Saturday. As with many of our mishaps, I blame the rabbits! You see, Ruby darted headfirst into a juniper bush after one and came out yipping and squinting. I could see a tiny speck of blood in the corner of her left eye and knew immediately that I should take her to the emergency clinic. Eye injuries are not something to wait or take chances with.

I've spent far more time at the local emergency clinic than I'd like. My Norwegian elkhound, Freya, spent three days in neurology ICU there last summer, and Ruby had x-rays last winter for a suspected obstruction after eating a piece of a plush toy. It was busier than I had ever seen it on Saturday, and our long wait was quite a challenge as I tried to keep Ruby from seeing other dogs. Even once we were in a room we waited for at least another hour. A tech told me that three critical cases came in at the same time. I knew that we were not a major emergency and was not annoyed by the delay (although I was wishing I'd brought a book!). I was just thankful we weren't there under worse circumstances.

Finally the vet took Ruby back to stain her eye, and showed me where the dye had picked up near the middle of her lens. He prescribed some antibiotic eye drops and we had another long wait back in the entrance area for the prescription and discharge instructions. Ruby had done really well, all things considered, so I was disappointed when one of the employees wheeled a vacuum cleaner straight toward us and sent Ruby into a reactive frenzy. It was especially disruptive because there were several people being obviously faced with difficult news and tearful decisions, so I took Ruby around a partition to try and calm her down.  

In order to keep Ruby from rubbing or scratching her eye, I put Pawz rubber dog boots on her feet that first night. These are a great thing to have around - I used one for Boca when she had her paw pad injury. The next morning I picked up a Comfy Cone from Kriser's - much better than the plastic ones the vet carries, and another smart item to keep on hand. Ruby spent Sunday being quite depressed and followed me around like a little velcro dog, but has since adjusted well to her new accessory. The prescribed eye drops were another story...

Even with my dad's help, it was nearly impossible to get the drops in Ruby's eye. She developed an instant fear of the bottle, and struggled mightily. I thought I was making progress with using the peanut butter bottle and a lot of patience, but after getting one lucky drop in, she became suspicious of that method, too. I knew there was no way I was going to get them in her eye three times a day for ten days, and called my regular vet for an alternative. They prescribed an ointment, which is going much better, although I notice that the redness increases after the ointment is applied so I'll be placing another call this morning to see if that is a concern. Ruby isn't squinting and doesn't seem overly bothered. She will have to have her eye re-stained on Saturday and I hope that it will heal up just fine. I plan to take up the vet bills with the rabbit colony...