Holly

It turns out that Holly has more in common with the plant for which she was named than we thought. Which is not to say prickly and semi-poisonous. Have you ever tried to remove a holly bush? Impossible! You can't kill the stuff. Our Holly Berry (aka: Holly Bear) is every bit as resilient.

On Friday, when we brought her home from the vet after she got sewn/stapled up, the only evidence that she was in any way injured was the white bandage on her ankle and the smell of animal hospital that clung to her fur. She jumped for joy when she got home and ran and wrestled with Blackie. Her night in the kennel made her forget she was house broken, but she remembered soon enough. Thank goodness for SpotBot!

By Monday evening, her bandages were looking pretty sad. It also appeared that the area under the bandage was swelling up and was possibly hot to the touch. So the next morning I carted her in the to vet. Again. By now, everyone recognizes us. Or at least Holly. She always gets the heroes welcome from the vet and all the techs.

When the bandages came off, it was clear that the area under the stitches was swollen. Dr. W. poked at it some and declared it to be a pocket of 'serum' (a combination of blood and lymph. Not pus, so no infection.) He had me come over and look at the stitches as he gave the pocket squeeze.

Now Dr. W is a teaser. He was aiming that pocket right at one of his techs. When the darn thing blew, I jumped back about a foot. It sent out two solid streams of dog juice. One hit the intended target. The tech got it right in the neck. But how's this for kharmic justice? The other stream? Hit Dr. W. In. The. Mouth. He was spitting and sputtering and actually had one of the techs wipe his tongue with a paper towel (his hands were occupied). He had to go rinse his mouth out before he could finish up.

He decided to let Holly come home without a bandage. She licks it a lot, but isn't chewing on the stitches or anything. He didn't charge us for the office visit again. How cool is that? A nice perk for a dog that seems to visit the vet on a weekly basis!