Who Shot Bobby McGee?
Our hearts have been totally broken by this precious baby. Bobby McGee was found on the side of Hwy 31 and assumed he was hit by a car. He could not put any weight on his left front leg and cried terribly when you tried to pick him up. Since it was late on Sunday, we took him back to the shelter to clean him up and remove the hundreds of ticks. Tonight we could give him something for pain and get him in to the vet first thing in the morning. As we were gently giving him a warm bath, we noticed dried blood on his left shoulder. After washing it away to our horror we discovered a bullet hole in his shoulder. I cannot understand why? This baby is so sweet!
Poor Bobby McGee. Xrays, skin scraps, blood work, exam, ears checked, heart worm test, we covered it all! And his problems just keep piling up. First and most important is this bullet in his shoulder. It entered the left shoulder, crossed the spine and is lodged in the muscle on the right side. It has broken his left shoulder. At this point, it is a major surgery and records have been sent to Birmingham. I simply refuse to just amputate because he is such a young dog and I want to save his leg if there is any hope at all. We also saw in the xrays that he had been shot with a shotgun. His body was covered from head to toes with buck shot. Far too many for us to even count. His left back foot is swollen and deformed from so many pellets lodged in it, but sadly it is an old wound that cannot be corrected. Both ears were severely infected. We are treating. He is Heartworm Neg! Wonderful! But he is Ehrlichia positive from the ticks. We are treating. He has demodectic mange. We are treating. He has yeast infection of the skin. We are treating. He has parasites (hooks and whips). We are treating. When we left the vet, poor Bobby McGee had a bag full of medications. And don’t forget plenty of pain medications too.
For the next week or so, we are focused on getting him in better shape. His blood work was very low, too low for surgery. We are waiting on word from Birmingham. We desperately want to save his leg. This type of surgery is a rare surgery and I am sure very costly because the shoulder is in several pieces. I just want this poor dog to know that life can be good and that NO ONE is ever going to be mean to him again. He has suffered a life of abuse and neglect that no animal should ever know.
