Practiced Flash a few times in & out of the boxes to get him used to it - and the noise. When the boxes open, they can make quite a banging sound. And knowing Flash, any unknown or unfamiliar noise can cause panic. He did VERY well with the help of a pharoh hound owner! Time to qualify...a nice lady who owns silken windhounds [totally cute little borzoi/whippet cross of a dog - bigger than a whippet but smaller than a greyhound] took Flash & Gracie down to load them into the boxes while I waited at the other end to "catch" them! Perfection! Thundering greyhounds. Flash overshot the lure. Gracie dove for it - hit her head & her right shoulder flared out in an odd angle.
Walking off the field, Gracie started to collapse. She couldn't seem to put weight on her right side and her breathing seemed "off." Did she have a dislocated shoulder or break something? I screamed for help as I couldn't get her to stand & was also trying to deal with Flash. Gracie's eyes appeared to glaze over but she could somewhat focus on people. She had weird shallow breathing - not the huge chest expanding breaths a greyhound should be taking at this point. ER vet? Her gums turned a weird purpl-ish color. Hmmm. Ran to the car & by the time I got it down to her, people carried her to me & her color came back. She began breathing normally, drank some water. Loaded up Flash & made the almost 2hr drive from down near Tacoma to Snohomish to the vet.
Xrays taken. Not her trachea [thought maybe cause she seemed to be breathing oddly], not her lungs. Diagnosis = mild head trauma [aka minor concussion]. Didn't even know dogs could have such a thing, but apparently it does happen.
SIGNS OF A CONCUSSION:
- Losing conciousness for a period of time [though not always]
- Woozy or disoriented behaviour [normally from a mild/light blow]
- Vomiting, not eating OR eating normally & vomiting frequently
- Dilated pupils in one or both eyes
- Seizures
- Lethargic, extremely tired or disoriented
- Difficult to wake if excessively sleepy
- Aggressive behaviour if the bruised area is touched
- Head tilted or hanging in an odd manner
Not all of these symptoms are present but if any are, you should probably consider going to the vet as there could be a more underlying condition like a skull fracture, brain swelling or bleeding. Seizures are normally a sign of a severe brain injury. It doesn't matter how hard you were hit, but HOW you were hit. A bump on the head doesn't have to be big and dramatic to cause a lot of damage.
By the time we arrived home, Gracie was back to her normal self. Ate fine, drinking fine, and played a little. Papa was up a few times with her overnight to check on her & let her out to potty. Honestly, I was disappointed that they didn't get to run a full program of straights as the qualifying run looked SO good but I'm SO glad Gracie is OK!
Sunday, we went down for the oval racing. On vet advice [and stern lecture], Gracie wasn't allowed [quite frustrating because she was SO eager & excited] to run so we turned in their paperwork to get NOTRA numbers for next time and signed up Flash for practices.
I was concerned because Gracie wasn't running with him & was unsure if he'd run without her or freak in the boxes despite doing fine yesterday. WOW we were wrong! Flash & Gracie were QUITE vocal in the car watching the whippets run. Barking. Spinning. Yelping & yipping. Annoying, yet fun :)
Gracie & Flash watching the action with papa...
Let me at that lure papa!
And a brief run preview:
3 comments:
How scary! I'm so glad that Gracie is okay! I remember a story from Greytalk a few years ago where the dog was pretty messed up for a while after a head trauma. If I remember right, it was a collision with another dog. Give her a hug from me!
Oh, and the girls give Flash two dewclaws up on his coat fashions! ;) They have Voyagers coats, too, but in different colors! :P
My two have cabonked their cabesas in the backyard, so i had heard about concussions. mine didn't have them, but they have scared me to death.
i can't always protect them. hell, i had a black eye in 1st grade and 12th grade from soccer--two going for a header. also had a header that resulted in a gash (her eye). rough play can do that, but it was what i loved to do. should my parents have kept me out of soccer?
as long as you know symptoms, you have to let those who want to play play.
I'm so glad she's ok. I had never heard of a concussion in a canine. I'm so glad you posted this info. I just hope I never have to use it.
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