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Dog attacked by another dog

18 15:13:31

Question
Our dog was attacked this morning by another dog.  She seemed ok at first. Then a few hours later we realized she was not ok.  We noticed she was bleeding on top of her back in the loin area. The laceration is approx 1 inch in length and 1/4 inch deep.  I washed it out as good as I could with antibacterial soap. I put some bacitracin on it and covered it with a bandaid and it stopped bleeding.  I also noticed her leg was hurting.  She did not seem to want to move around at all.  About 6 hours later she began to pant pretty rapidly her respirations were about 80/min.  She is just laying down not wanting to move at all.  She is not drinking any water, so I am putting little spoonfuls in her mouth as much as she will allow.  I also gave her 250mg of tylenol.  She weighs 58lbs and she is about 5 years old.  This happened at 10:00am Sunday.  She has not bled anymore this evening.  We tried to see where she was tender at and she cries when I touch her on her upper shoulder blade toward her rib.  I am concerned she could have some internal injury.  I dont have any money right now, but If it means life or death or too much discomfort for her, I will find a way to take her in to the vet tomorrow.  Is there any advice you might have that I should be doing for her through the night?

Answer
Your dog is suffering from massive internal injuries. I cannot describe in here the damage that another dog's mouth does to the muscles and bones under the skin.
What you see is a few lacerations but on the inside there is minced meat and muscles.
She is panting from pain. PLEASE do not give her Tylenol again. It is very, very toxic to dogs!
You can use some aspirin but that will increase her bleeding some what. She needs to see a vet as soon as you can get her in tomorrow morning.

If she isn't seen all this torn up tissue under the skin and even deeper will start to rot and slough off. It will be a horrible mess and smell even worse.

What is even more dangerous is that she could have broken ribs or even a puncture letting air into her body somewhere if the bites were deep enough. She could also have a ruptured ACL (her knee joint) from the fight or have multiple tears in her leg somewhere.

You did the right thing cleaning her up and using soap and water. I have seen too many dogs not make it when not seen by a vet so please get her in first thing tomorrow morning. Give her one aspirin for the pain and make sure she has water near by.

I hope she will be okay tonight and please let me know how she is after you get her into the vets.