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Just got home from work today and got a panicked call from a neighbor because a puppy he owns was badly attacked by an older dog he has.
His situation (judge if you will; I certainly do, but it is what it is. Trust me I have offered crates, money for spay/neuter, advice....)
He has a mellow older intact male mastiff mix.
A ten-month-old pit bull intact female who is currently in heat and has tied with the male, so she's probably very recently pregnant.
Two three-month-old pit bull puppies.
The hormonal female pit went after the male puppy this evening with serious intent. Neighbor got them all separated and got the pups inside and called me so I ran right over. The puppy has numerous puncture wounds to his head and was bleeding profusely. I had neighbor and his girlfriend run a bucket of warm water and dish soap (excellent antibiotic wash) and we cleaned up the poor pup. Who is of course terrified. All shallow punctures, no tears, nothing near the eyes.
Neighbor has a big bottle of Cephalexin (go-to vet antibiotic for punctures) so my instructions were:
Wash the pup's wounds daily with soap and water and do not let them scab over.
Start the ceph tonight and do for two weeks.
Watch for swelling, lethargy, not eating or drinking.
Keep the effing dogs separated! 24/7.
And spay/neuter them all!
Also a talking-to about how three or more dogs is a pack, pack dynamics, the utter unbelievable freaking stupidity of having four high-drive intact dogs in the same house, etc.
And, how at least one of these dogs has to go. None of them have done anything wrong but were placed in a bad situation; the poor recently pregnant and hormone-addled pit will either go to rescue or the humane society. I just hate that and told him that dog DID NOTHING WRONG. Well, except attack a puppy, which is not correct behaviour. But she was placed in that situation.
He has absolutely no money for the emergency vet; if it comes down to it I will pay that.
He just texted me, the puppy is eating and drinking.
So I think it will be fine since he has Ceph.
I know I know, please keep commentary about how dumb people with no money to even speuter have no right to own dogs, etc to a dull roar...like I said it is what it is and I am just trying to help. Yes, I do have some massively stupid neighbors but my concern is the puppy right now. And to a lesser extent the other dogs in the house.
Did I miss anything in my advice, medical-advice-wise?
I don't think you missed anything, but hopefully someone with more knowledge will jump in.
I just want to say you are a great neighbor and they are so very lucky to have you. Hopefully they'll listen to your advice but I haven't seen any flying pigs lately so.....
Oh dear. Really, some people should not be allowed to have dogs.
Pregnant ******* will naturally be very aggressive. They can not defend themselves very well while they are in the process of whelping or when they have a nest full of very young whelps, so their instinct is to instill the fear of wraith into any potentially dangerous (to the whelps) dogs in the area.
The whole point is to be able to give a hard stare and to send the rest of the pack fleeing for fear that they will anger her into knocking them around.
Your high status alpha ******* don't have to get grumpy, because the pack will already fall down in submission if she lifts an eyebrow. But a lower status ***** must teach the pack to not mess with her.
Her fear is that the rowdy younger males will try to play with or even kill the new whelps and she does not want a fight in the nest. So she kicks butt well before the whelps are born, to establish that she is not to be trifled with.
My concern would be for any children or strangers who might come into that home. Advise him to keep his homeowners insurance up to date-after he has a lobotomy.
An additional comment here: There is a serious temperament issue somewhere in this pack.
A 4 month old is losing his puppy immunity by that age and even without seeing it, I would bet the puppy provoked it.
But the pup should have immediately backed down and submitted when the older dog gave a serious correction, and he apparently didn't. Or else, if he did submit, the mama dog should have quit and maybe just rolled him around after he started to grovel, and she didn't, she ripped him up.
So, I am going to agree with no kudzu here. He'd better keep his home owner's insurance up to date. This is where Pit Bulls get their bad reputation from, from people like this guy who has dogs who are not controlled, not cared for, and have poor temperaments. The dogs involved should never be allowed to reproduce because faulty temperament is very inheritable.
This doesn't have anything to do with the treatment for this pup but this is a very good example of why a Pit Bull should only be purchased from a reputable breeder who concentrates on breeding for temperament and not obtained from a cardboard box in front of Walmart. With Pit Bulls, the parentage matters perhaps even more than it does with any other breed.
Yes indeed, the owner does need a brain transplant and before he even decided to take in these two puppies (along with the woman/room mate who had them) into his house I warned him that he was asking for trouble having three untrained/under-socialized pit bulls plus another dog, all intact, in the same house. That three or more dogs is a pack. If you won't spay-neuter, then crate and rotate (I have several extra crates he could have borrowed.) Etc and etc. I tried but truly you can't fix stupid.
(I get a discount at a non-profit vet clinic that will spay for $55 and neuter for $35 any size dog and vaccinations are $10 each. I've offered numerous times to set up an appointment; this is insanely cheap. But he's always had some excuse.)
I also told him today that EVERYTHING was HIS fault. The young ***** getting pregnant. The puppy getting attacked. That the young mama pit going into rescue (if he is lucky, he's trying to place her but I am not optimistic) or getting killed at taxpayers' expense is his fault, all of it. The dog did nothing wrong, she was just put in a bad situation.
Ugh, I am so pissed off about this.
Puppy is apparently eating, drinking and playing like normal but his head is somewhat swollen. I'm guessing just fluid and not infection because he was started on Ceph right away but I said if it's no better by the end of tomorrow he is going to the vet if I have to kidnap him to get him there.
Of course the puppies have had no shots and nor has young mama pit. And no dog in the house (including the four-year-old mastiff mix male) has every had HW meds or been tested. What the owner spends on cigarettes in a month is way more than what basic vet costs would be.
Sometimes I just despair; people are so freaking stupid.
oregon thanks BTW for your insight about young mama pit being proactive in protecting her unborn. I talked to a friend last night who shows Dobes and has bred a couple of litters and she agrees with you. I know a ton about dogs but really have little experience with pregnant ******* and so on. Although I still think that it's "incorrect" for an adult dog to try to kill (not just discipline and scare) a 12-week-old puppy. I do have a LOT of experience with puppies and bossy older dogs.
But maybe pregnancy hormones + high prey drive + pack behaviour + all four dogs were outside unattended in the yard when the attack happened was just the perfect storm. Nobody saw what happened but my understanding is young mama pit has gone after both puppies before and the pups are quite compliant. And young mama pit has not been well-socialized generally so she is very nervous at least around new people. Although there's also two cats in the house that none of the dogs bother. (So far...)
I agree that the vast majority of pit bull owners are less than responsible and combine that with a dog-aggressive, high-prey-driven breed, idiot owners are the number one reason why pit bulls are over-represented in bites and fatalities. They are the throw-away ghetto dog of choice in this area and it sickens me.
Yes indeed, the owner does need a brain transplant and before he even decided to take in these two puppies (along with the woman/room mate who had them) into his house I warned him that he was asking for trouble having three untrained/under-socialized pit bulls plus another dog, all intact, in the same house. That three or more dogs is a pack. If you won't spay-neuter, then crate and rotate (I have several extra crates he could have borrowed.) Etc and etc. I tried but truly you can't fix stupid.
(I get a discount at a non-profit vet clinic that will spay for $55 and neuter for $35 any size dog and vaccinations are $10 each. I've offered numerous times to set up an appointment; this is insanely cheap. But he's always had some excuse.)
I also told him today that EVERYTHING was HIS fault. The young ***** getting pregnant. The puppy getting attacked. That the young mama pit going into rescue (if he is lucky, he's trying to place her but I am not optimistic) or getting killed at taxpayers' expense is his fault, all of it. The dog did nothing wrong, she was just put in a bad situation.
Ugh, I am so pissed off about this.
Puppy is apparently eating, drinking and playing like normal but his head is somewhat swollen. I'm guessing just fluid and not infection because he was started on Ceph right away but I said if it's no better by the end of tomorrow he is going to the vet if I have to kidnap him to get him there.
Of course the puppies have had no shots and nor has young mama pit. And no dog in the house (including the four-year-old mastiff mix male) has every had HW meds or been tested. What the owner spends on cigarettes in a month is way more than what basic vet costs would be.
Sometimes I just despair; people are so freaking stupid.
oregon thanks BTW for your insight about young mama pit being proactive in protecting her unborn. I talked to a friend last night who shows Dobes and has bred a couple of litters and she agrees with you. I know a ton about dogs but really have little experience with pregnant ******* and so on. Although I still think that it's "incorrect" for an adult dog to try to kill (not just discipline and scare) a 12-week-old puppy. I do have a LOT of experience with puppies and bossy older dogs.
But maybe pregnancy hormones + high prey drive + pack behaviour + all four dogs were outside unattended in the yard when the attack happened was just the perfect storm. Nobody saw what happened but my understanding is young mama pit has gone after both puppies before and the pups are quite compliant. And young mama pit has not been well-socialized generally so she is very nervous at least around new people. Although there's also two cats in the house that none of the dogs bother. (So far...)
I agree that the vast majority of pit bull owners are less than responsible and combine that with a dog-aggressive, high-prey-driven breed, idiot owners are the number one reason why pit bulls are over-represented in bites and fatalities. They are the throw-away ghetto dog of choice in this area and it sickens me.
/rant.
Rant away, you happen to be correct on ALL points!
Just got home from work today and got a panicked call from a neighbor because a puppy he owns was badly attacked by an older dog he has.
His situation (judge if you will; I certainly do, but it is what it is. Trust me I have offered crates, money for spay/neuter, advice....)
He has a mellow older intact male mastiff mix.
A ten-month-old pit bull intact female who is currently in heat and has tied with the male, so she's probably very recently pregnant.
Two three-month-old pit bull puppies.
The hormonal female pit went after the male puppy this evening with serious intent. Neighbor got them all separated and got the pups inside and called me so I ran right over. The puppy has numerous puncture wounds to his head and was bleeding profusely. I had neighbor and his girlfriend run a bucket of warm water and dish soap (excellent antibiotic wash) and we cleaned up the poor pup. Who is of course terrified. All shallow punctures, no tears, nothing near the eyes.
Neighbor has a big bottle of Cephalexin (go-to vet antibiotic for punctures) so my instructions were:
Wash the pup's wounds daily with soap and water and do not let them scab over.
Start the ceph tonight and do for two weeks.
Watch for swelling, lethargy, not eating or drinking.
Keep the effing dogs separated! 24/7.
And spay/neuter them all!
Also a talking-to about how three or more dogs is a pack, pack dynamics, the utter unbelievable freaking stupidity of having four high-drive intact dogs in the same house, etc.
And, how at least one of these dogs has to go. None of them have done anything wrong but were placed in a bad situation; the poor recently pregnant and hormone-addled pit will either go to rescue or the humane society. I just hate that and told him that dog DID NOTHING WRONG. Well, except attack a puppy, which is not correct behaviour. But she was placed in that situation.
He has absolutely no money for the emergency vet; if it comes down to it I will pay that.
He just texted me, the puppy is eating and drinking.
So I think it will be fine since he has Ceph.
I know I know, please keep commentary about how dumb people with no money to even speuter have no right to own dogs, etc to a dull roar...like I said it is what it is and I am just trying to help. Yes, I do have some massively stupid neighbors but my concern is the puppy right now. And to a lesser extent the other dogs in the house.
Did I miss anything in my advice, medical-advice-wise?
You did fine. Unfortunately your neighbor needs to divest himself of a few dogs, and have the remaining dogs sterilized. His dogs do not need to be breeding, it's a recipe for disaster. I am sure there are either low-cost or free spay and neutering services in the area he can utilize.
You did fine. Unfortunately your neighbor needs to divest himself of a few dogs, and have the remaining dogs sterilized. His dogs do not need to be breeding, it's a recipe for disaster. I am sure there are either low-cost or free spay and neutering services in the area he can utilize.
I agree 100 percent, and indeed there are - I've offered to set up appointments and even pay for the speuters.
The good news is, the puppy appears to be doing just fine and is healing well.
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I just hate that and told him that dog DID NOTHING WRONG. Well, except attack a puppy, which is not correct behaviour. But she was placed in that situation.
