I hate irresponsible dog owners.
Harsh statement? Yes, but today it's true.
Ty was outside playing after school today, down the street, playing hide and seek with a friend, standing in the cal-d-sac, when a dog started to chase him, attacked and bit him from behind while he was trying to run away, right in the back of his knee. A dog that is someones pet, a dog not on a leash or being properly supervised. Ty, of course was in immediate pain and his friend helped chase the dog away down the street. Ty started to head home and heard someone outside calling for their dog, but never caught a glimpse of them.
When he got home he was limping a little and my normal hypochondriac (the child once iced a mosquito bite) son casually says, "oh, I got bit by a dog."
WHAT?!?!?
I immediately took one look at him, drug him into the bathroom and started to clean the wound. I got T dressed, called Jase and told him to meet us at the ER. On the way out we drove past the area to see if we could spot anyone with a dog Ty described, but we didn't.
After spending almost 5 hours at one hospital, we were transferred to another further in to Austin because they didn't have the proper rabies treatments he needed. At that point Jase brought Taryn home, 2 year olds and ER rooms don't exactly mesh for long periods of time. I'm so glad now that he did, because the events at the second hospital were bad, not something I would want her exposed to. The hospital was great, but the treatment he had to undergo was horrible. Not knowing the dog or it's medical records, we were told we had a 12 hour window in which to determine if we would treat Ty for a possible rabies infection. The end of that window would fall in the middle of the night, and even though the Sheriff and Animal Control were involved and attempting to find the dog and it's owner, we made the decision with Ty's doctor to go ahead and get the treatments. Rabies is fatal, and with only 12 hours from the moment of the bite to get information, there was no question. He underwent one treatment tonight. It was awful, 9 shots total, 6 of those into the actual wound area. I've never heard him scream or cry so loud, or for so long. I've never felt so helpless. Ten years old or not, he's still my baby. The worst part.....this was only the first treatment out of 5 that he will have to have, all administered the same way, over the next month. In addition to several rounds of strong antibiotics to help fight a range of other possible illnesses that can be caused by a dog bite.
Unless we can find the dog.
Verify, without a shadow of a doubt it's medical history. The Sheriff and Animal Control will assist in quarantining the dog for one week, to test it for illness, including rabies, and observe it for aggressive behaviors. If it has bitten someone before, it will be put to sleep. There is a 2 bite law in Texas. I feel awful about that, being a pet owner myself, but after seeing what my son went through today, I'm furious at the owner of the dog for being so irresponsible. It's one of our biggest complaints with our new neighborhood, there are a lot of people with dogs that allow them loose in their front yards and garage, many times not supervised by their owner. So when you go walking by on the sidewalk, you get bombarded by a barking dog not on a leash. Seriously, what is wrong with people?! Do they not realize that if their dog attacks someone, especially a child, that it's serious?! We don't even take Kylie from the front door to the car without a leash.
Ty was playing, minding his own business, and this dog either got out, or wasn't being watched. It makes me so angry, just furious.
Tomorrow morning....door to door. We will find the dog and it's owner. And they will be held responsible.
OMG!!! How terrible! Poor Ty. I'm thinking of you guys. :::hugs:::
Posted by: Amanda | January 05, 2008 at 09:16 AM
OMG, poor Ty!!! I can't imagine. :( I'm thinking of you guys right now.
Posted by: Amanda | January 05, 2008 at 09:18 AM
omg Lyndsay. I am so sorry to hear had to go through all of that. I hope they find the owner of the dog and get things taken care of. How absolutly irresponsible of them!
Posted by: sandra | January 05, 2008 at 09:30 AM
I feel so bad for Ty, the treatment sounds way worse than the initial bite, but I am really glad that he was not hurt worse. I hope you can find the owner and get people in your neighborhood to be more responsible and supervise their dogs or keep them fenced.
Posted by: Emily Weaver Brown | January 05, 2008 at 11:24 AM
I totally agree with you about dog owners... some just don't have any common sense. I am glad Ty is ok! I hope you find the owner!!!
Posted by: Heather | January 05, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I'm so sorry, Lyndsay. Hugs to Ty!
Posted by: Julia | January 05, 2008 at 12:31 PM
So sorry for Ty. Keep us updated!
Posted by: Holly | January 05, 2008 at 02:03 PM
OMG, poor ty!! I've heard about those rabies treatments before, I am so sorry!! I hope you can find the owner and dog soon and have them held responsible!!
Posted by: JACKNDUG | January 05, 2008 at 02:48 PM
My little dog, rocky who was a toy Austrailia shepard, got attacked and killed last week by the neighbors two dogs. they had mastiffs and they had gotten loose from their yard. My daughter put our dog ont he leash and opened the back door to take him out. The dogs were in our back yard and attacked rocky out of no where. It has been an awful, awful ordeal for us the the neighbors. they were very apologetic and put the dogs to sleep without any prompting. But it scared us all to death. When I think about all the times I let them take Rocky out by themselves... anyway, I'm so sorry this happened to you also. People do need to take better care of their dogs.
Posted by: Nicole | January 05, 2008 at 04:46 PM
Poor Ty!:( I hope you find the owners of that dog and that he feels better!!
Posted by: Erin | January 05, 2008 at 05:29 PM
oh my! poor ty! as the mom of a 10 year old myself, i can totally relate with you on this! i hope that you find the dog and it's owner too and that all works out ok so that ty won't have to go through such aweful treatments anymore! poor guy!
i agree too that ALL dog owners should be more responsible about their pets and not let them roam freely.
Posted by: kathy p | January 05, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Oh Lynds...I am so sorry! I pray you find the dog and it's owner and that Ty doesn't have to endure anymore of those awful treatments. What a horrible day you have been through!
Posted by: Heather T. | January 06, 2008 at 02:23 AM
I'm so sorry to hear about poor Ty. He very nonchalantly told us about it yesterday - he is so brave. The treatment sounds horrible. I hope you're able to find the dog and its owner and that he doesn't have to have any more shots.
Posted by: McGee | January 06, 2008 at 10:25 AM
I had not looked here in a logn time and someone mentioned you moved! I am glad to hear you did. Next time I am back in TX I might try to schedule an appt!
Sad to hear about Ty. I will tell you what a neighbor of mine did. We have a local neighborhood website and she recorded her child getting the shots at the hospital and posted that horrid agonizing video on the website.
Post it, send it to your local TV station, put it on youtube, and tell people how horrid it can be. Take a photo of that agony and blanket your neighborhood with flyers with that photo like people do when they lose their dog. Fight. Good luck.
Posted by: secretfun | January 06, 2008 at 07:31 PM
It was so wrong for that dog to be out unattended and properly contained if biting might be an issue. I'm sorry for your son. I hope they locate that dog.
Posted by: rae | January 07, 2008 at 02:10 AM
I am so sorry to hear. It breaks my heart knowing what Ty had to go through. I hope you are able to find the dog and it's owners soon, so hopefully he won't have to endure anymore of the awful treatments.
Posted by: Amber Hope | January 09, 2008 at 11:37 PM