Poor Hilda.
As we neared the end of our walk today, we rounded a corner and suddenly encountered two young girls trying to ride their bicycles and walk their pitbulls at the same time. Unsurprisingly, one of the girls lost control of her bike and dog, and it made a beeline for Hilda and Thor. The pitbull assumed an aggressive posture, barking and towering over my poor bassets. Chaos ensued from there. Hilda freaked out and tried to make an escape. I somehow managed to hold onto my two leashes and pull the pitbull away by his collar. We walked the rest of the block to our house, then I noticed the bloody footprints following us down the sidewalk. My first thought was that she'd been bitten, but upon closer inspection I realized that one entire toenail was missing. The amount of blood was unbelievable! It was squirting out with each beat of her heart! I rushed her to the emergency vet where they had to sedate her and cauterize the wound. The nail had been ripped out to the bone, causing arterial bleeding. She must have caught it in a crack in the sidewalk during the scuffle.
She is still pretty out of it; she's been laying around all night. Nine month old Thor has been very concerned about her, laying next to her, whining and wagging his tail. Well, I guess if the nail doesn't grow back, that's one less nail we have to clip.
As we neared the end of our walk today, we rounded a corner and suddenly encountered two young girls trying to ride their bicycles and walk their pitbulls at the same time. Unsurprisingly, one of the girls lost control of her bike and dog, and it made a beeline for Hilda and Thor. The pitbull assumed an aggressive posture, barking and towering over my poor bassets. Chaos ensued from there. Hilda freaked out and tried to make an escape. I somehow managed to hold onto my two leashes and pull the pitbull away by his collar. We walked the rest of the block to our house, then I noticed the bloody footprints following us down the sidewalk. My first thought was that she'd been bitten, but upon closer inspection I realized that one entire toenail was missing. The amount of blood was unbelievable! It was squirting out with each beat of her heart! I rushed her to the emergency vet where they had to sedate her and cauterize the wound. The nail had been ripped out to the bone, causing arterial bleeding. She must have caught it in a crack in the sidewalk during the scuffle.
She is still pretty out of it; she's been laying around all night. Nine month old Thor has been very concerned about her, laying next to her, whining and wagging his tail. Well, I guess if the nail doesn't grow back, that's one less nail we have to clip.