Sam as he ever was...

Category: Pets

Tag for posts about my pets

Mavis attacked at the dog park

Well, this was scary. She’s OK, but there will be an urgent care vet visit this afternoon to verify that.

I was at the dog park with Mavis and Janet, and a grand old time was being had by all:

Less than 10 minutes later, while I was posting that photo to social media, a very large black dog, who we’d seen already and had no trouble with, attacked Mavis. It happened instantly: the commotion, Mavis screaming, Mavis on the ground with a dog 4x-5x bigger than her on top of her, only about 10 feet away from me.

I yelled and ran to intervene. The owner of the other dog was 30-50 feet away, and by the she got near, I had already broken up the scuffle and taken Mavis away. She never did say anything to me or apologize or anything like that, which is really shitty. She just wandered off while I was checking to see if Mavis was injured.

I got this photo then, while sitting on a bench. Mavis was panting and trembling, and her neck and shoulders had a lot of saliva on them. But thankfully, no evidence of bleeding or abrasions, though clearly Mavis had to have been chomped to be so damp.

This was about 11:25am; our usual vet was unable to get her in today or tomorrow, so we’re going to an urgent care vet appointment for a check-up at 4:45pm. I expect Mavis will end up with some swelling and bruising and probably need some pain meds.

I hope she’ll eventually be able to return to the dog park and have fun again. She was very nervous and stayed very close to me as we walked back to the car. Usually she runs with Janet on fetches, but not after the attack.

Mavis is a gentle soul with a long memory. When she gets skeered it sticks with her. She still does not like walking past a house in our neighborhood where a gust of wind once made an inflatable Santa move unexpectedly, and that was 18 months ago. When walking by there we have to go to the other side of the street.

Seeing that happen to your sweet little doggy girl is upsetting. I remain discombobulated by it.

Demi: 2006-2022

A morning of crushing grief as we bade farewell to Demi. In the four years I taught at Code Fellows, she was on campus for many of the days as a friend and comfort to hundreds of students. She lived a full life, and left it in peace surrounded by love. Everything was her favorite.

BuddyCat: 2002-2021

The past few days have been an incomparable emotional grind. To recap:

BuddyCat always had something to say

Thursday, 2 September: Kimberly and I made The Decision that it was time for us to help our long-time feline companion BuddyCat to a dignified and peaceful exit from this life. His health was in rapid decline due to chronic issues, especially his kidneys, and it was clearly only a few days that he had remaining. The thought of us getting into a long weekend with him, and him having a crisis and suffering while assistance was difficult or impossible to find, was not something we could bear.

Friday, 3 September: Goodbye, BuddyCat. Perhaps one day I will record the details of the day. Or not. The important thing is that he got a gentle, peaceful, and loving departure. I had never before considered that crying could lead to dehydration, but I learned.

Saturday, 4 September (yesterday): Our first full day without him. It was a hard day, with many moments of intense debilitating grief that somehow felt shocking and surprising, even though we knew we were amongst them.

And now we are on to the next day.

There are so many things I want to write about him, so many stories to tell, and so many photos to share and contextualize. Not now. At the moment, I just want to get through today.

© 2024 samhamm.com

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑