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.
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.
She came to sit by me, as she always do, after dinner last night.
Coco in her favorite position between my legs.
Coco obviously happy to be home.
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!
Coco : HELP!?!?!
She stopped asking for help and start posing for photographs after a few minutes.
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 is very comfortable in the Spice Cats home. He is a very handsome boy.
It doesnt take too long for Winter to make friends with Abel. However, there are still plenty of disagreements and arguements between the 2. As of now, Winter is still the alpha dog.
Abel's first encounter with Garlic. Surprisingly, Winter growl at Abel when he first approached Garlic. I think Winter is trying to protect the Spice Cats :)
Abel trying to get Garlic to play ball with him. He keeps doing that to all the cats!
They are great friends now. Sesame and Pepper are also getting used to Abel, only Ginger still hissed and growled everytime Abel is near.
The 2 doggie taking a nap in the house.
Mummy found my Non-Kitty-Look-Alike.
I scrutinized my new look-alike closely. Mmm....he does have the same color as me, and the ears are also yellowish like mine.
He is just slightly bigger than I am, and has longer ears.
OK, I accepted my look-alike. But I am still cuter.
This is how she looks with her new outfit. It keeps her body warm.
She seems pretty comfortable in the outfit. And the doggie mat is for her to sleep on, as the floor may get too cold as well.
Coco is now recovering from her cough and flu. She hardly coughs now.
She has the cutest ears.
Coco with her begging look.
She sits in a very funny way too, almost like a human.
I brought Garlic over to introduce Coco to cats and to make sure that she would get along with the Spice Cats when she grows up. They are about the same size.
Garlic : Mummy I wanna go home. Doggie play is too rough for me.
Coco was heartbroken that Garlic didn't wanna play.
She kept following Garlic around, and waited for Garlic to play with her.
Hello, my name is Scooter.
Took my parents 2 weeks to introduce Scooter to Winter. To my surprise, after 2 weeks, Winter accepted Scooter as part of the family. Winter who hates all dogs and who will try to kill all dogs that come into her path. I think she somehow knows that Scooter is going to be part of the family. She sometimes help clean Scooter's ears too.
And they share food, when they visit each other (My parents stay 3 houses away).
They absolutely love playing with each other. Winter is of course, the hyper-active and dominant one, while Scooter is always so gentle.
Good Boy. I am your big sister. You are gonna listen and obey me from now on.
