My poor Moose. Up until today, he’s mostly left his poor tail alone. Once in a while, he’d sniff at it, but mostly it just hangs there. His tail amputation is scheduled for Friday — I’m going to drop him off at the vet’s office first thing in the morning and can pick him up on Saturday morning.
I don’t even want to think about how upset Lally is going to be about a whole night without her Moose around.
Today, Moose realized that yes, there is a thing hanging off his rump. And that thing was apparently worth chewing. While I was out of the house for just three hours, he managed to chew a HUGE sore into the dying end of his tail — below the point where it’s going to be amputated. I came home to find that he’d chewed away a huge chunk of the fur and chomped into the skin. There wasn’t a lot of blood (more proof that the blood vessels are already severed and the circulation is gone) but there was enough to make me call the vet up.
Off we went — we’re at our fourth visit in a month, now. Moose has some antibiotics to take now to keep the sore from getting infected and keep taking after the surgery to keep the stump clean and healthy. And he’s got a lovely new hat.
You may know the hat I’m talking about — frosted plastic, lampshade shaped, and oh so stylish. My poor Moose has NO CLUE when it comes to cone clearance. He’s walking into walls, furniture, and my legs. A lot. But other than that, he seems to be doing okay with it. Right now, he’s flopped down next to the desk, his bonnet gently curving over his head. He didn’t have too much trouble walking around outside (though he did nearly take down half of the landscaping with a swing of the mighty cone).
We just have to cone our way through the day tomorrow, and Friday he’s off to the vet’s for his surgery. My shins should be nicely bruised by then.