On Thursday night, as usual, I was playing ball with Abel in my backyard after my badminton game. Then I noticed that occasionally Abel would sit down and lick his hind leg. As I checked closer, I notice a small wound, about the size of a 5cents coin. Abel was not limping, in fact he was jumping around trying to catch the ball. So I decided to leave it till Saturday morning to bring him to the vet to check it out.
So first thing Saturday morning, I brought Abel to the vet. We waited for 45mins before the vet was free to see us. To my horror, the vet shone some light into the wound and I saw maggots moving inside! The vet gave me a few options. As I did not want to take the risk to have Abel sedated (because of his age), I decided to take a slower approach of clearing the maggots.
The vet then took a long tweezer (dont know what you call it), and removed the live maggots from Abel's hind leg. She took out more than 20 maggots! It makes all my hair stand seeing the maggots squirming around. Abel was such an angel and never protested to the process, he only flinched once during the whole process. After that the vet recommended that I leave Abel there for a few hours for her to clean up more maggots (Apparently some maggots buried deep into the flesh but need to come out to breath).
How did Abel gets maggots on his leg? Well, the vet said that Abel must have a wound (could be just a scratch) and as the wound was healing, the skin around the wound was dead. So that attract flies to come lay eggs. And because Abel LOVES soggy and muddy areas, the eggs hatched and thus the maggots!
This is how the wound looks like after bringing Abel home from the vet. The wound is so much bigger! The vet gotta removed the dead cells around the area and cleaned it. And because the wound is at the hind leg, the bandage wont stay intact.
A closer look at the wound, its very deep and painful! Its pretty amazing that Abel was not even limping and did not flinch everytime I clean or apply medication to his wound!
As the bandage wont stay intact, Cathy went to the vet for me and got a collar for Abel, to prevent him from licking the wound. Thanks Cathy! Don't know what I'll do without you :)
This is Abel with his collar. He did not complain about his collar. He was happily moving around the house, drinking water and wagging his tail.
Sunday morning, I brought Abel to another vet for a 2nd opinion and for a check up. The vet took out 2 dead maggots and 1 LIVE one! Another round of medication to flood the wound and kill the maggots. Abel didnt even flinch once. The vet praised him for being so cooperative.
At 1130am, I checked on Abel's wound, saw a dead maggot, used my eyebrow tweezer and took it out from Abel's wound. I then went out and left Abel alone at home for 3 hours. He did not destroy my house :)
Abel is house-bound until his wound recovers, should be about 10-14days. His wound looks a lot better this morning, its no longer swollen. He is behaving like normal, running after his balls, chasing after the cats occasionally (the cats have decided to stay upstairs), his appetite is also normal.
I think all the maggots have been removed. My parents have agreed to babysit him whenever I am at work. He is on antibiotics, cream are to be applied on the wound twice a day. I will also bring him to the vet again for another check-up tomorrow morning.
Eva : Can I swim too? Please? Please?
Abel : I am gonna get EVERYONE wet!
Whiskey : Mummy is just trying to keep me dry and clean.
And I wonder why Whiskey stayed away from Abel the whole time......
Thats not the head. Whiskey is the cleanest dog you have ever met.
Squeek! Squeek!! Sqqeeeeuuukkkkk!!!
Whiskey : I dont get it. What's so fun about getting wet and dirty?
This is how the wound looks like after bringing Abel home from the vet. The wound is so much bigger! The vet gotta removed the dead cells around the area and cleaned it. And because the wound is at the hind leg, the bandage wont stay intact.
A closer look at the wound, its very deep and painful! Its pretty amazing that Abel was not even limping and did not flinch everytime I clean or apply medication to his wound!
This is Abel with his collar. He did not complain about his collar. He was happily moving around the house, drinking water and wagging his tail.
Abel was all excited in the car. Knowing very well he is gonna have loads of fun!
Abel in the Fatest Recall Competition. We managed to get into the semi-finals!
But Abel got distracted in the semi-finals and followed his pal, Golden, instead. So we lost.
Abel on the way home, knowing that the fun has come to an end. But what he does not know is we are going out again this Sunday to meet some of his friends!
It was hot! This little fella decided to take a break.
Barely 2 months old. It safer by mummy's legs.
This fella reminds me of Spike :)
The weirdest dog of the day! And she does not look very happy!
And of course, Abel's mate for the day, our cute little Whiskey!
Just relaxing after a long walk...
Some action at the restaurant where we had lunch, and they are both male!
Smelling action.
Zeus, a 3 months old Male Maltese. Extremely cute.
Abel just love soaking in the swimming pool, with his toy, of course.
Abel got a new admirer, a male admirer. Sparky followed Abel everywhere and could not take his eyes off Abel.
Then off to the beach!
All the Golden Retrievers, being natural swimmers, love it.
Abel, being followed everywhere by his new admirer.
Retrieve Competition! And yes, the one with the water bottle is Abel!
After all the playing, Abel was exhausted and slept for hours.
It was heaven for the dogs as they run free by the beach.
Abel was busy chasing after ALL the female dogs, big or small. Thats Abel kissing one of the females.
That's Abel again, scolded by another female for following her around.
Chloe, a 5 months old female Golden Retriever, simply loves the mud and could not help rolling all over it!
This was how Chloe looked like after all the rolling in the mud.
Abel and Prince, after a shower and waiting to dry.
When all the dogs were dry, we moved on the lunch for the humans, where the dogs waited outside.
This is the really gross work of Winter.
Into the water he jumps after the bottle.
Never fails to bring the bottle back, no matter where you throw it.
Then, waiting eagerly for the next throw!
Shake! Shake! Shake!
Abel and Winter sitting and waiting (not so patiently) while I close the gate. I make sure they sit until I am done closing the gate and ready to start the walk. They will sit by themselves 70% of the time.
Abel and Winter, walking side by side.
Every morning, we also drop by to say Hi to Coco. Coco is always happy to see us.
Abel refused to go into the water and I had to pushed him in. He came right up.
I pushed him a few times until he got all his legs in the water. Then he realized its not so bad afterall.
Testing out the fetch game in the water with the leash. I was a bit worried he will swim away!
Then off he went! 1st swimming attempt was quite hilarious as he was splashing water all over the place!
2nd attempt was slightly better and after a few times, no more splashing water :)
He absolutely loves it.
That's me, trying to pull Abel away and trying not to get the poor man all wet.