For pet emergencies in the Black Hills of South Dakota region, Lupe recommends the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital at the Animal Clinic of Rapid City. The Emergency Veterinarian Hospital has a veterinarian and an assistant on duty 24/7, even on weekends and holidays. Pets in Rapid City and the Black Hills region are fortunate to have such professionally qualified and caring help available at any time. Lupe thanks lead emergency veterinarian Dr. Erin Brown for helping her late on the Saturday night of 6-27-15 following a bad injury that needed immediate attention!
About Dr. Erin Brown – Lead Emergency Veterinarian
Dr. Brown grew up all over South Dakota, but has always considered the Black Hills home. She received both her undergraduate and veterinary degrees from Iowa State University (Go Cyclones!) Her interests include emergency medicine, internal medicine and toxicology. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, gardening and spending time with her family. Her dog, cat, and rat also like to keep her busy!
After climbing Peak 6820 and Crooks Tower (7,137 ft.) on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 135 on 6-27-15, Lupe was seriously injured in Trebor Draw. The entire front of her left front leg was sliced wide open when she ran straight into a 5-strand barbed wire fence that had fallen over across her path. Fortunately, the barbed wire had only nicked the muscle beneath the skin. The jagged wound with Lupe’s fur hanging loose and the muscle exposed looked terrible, but Lupe could still walk, even run.
Still, the wound was horrifying to look at and extremely worrisome. SPHP carried Lupe as much as possible, but it was a couple miles to Black Fox Campground where there were people who could help her. Lupe got at least half of the way there under her own power. At Black Fox, kind people helped with some emergency first aid. A man named Jim gave Lupe and SPHP a ride in his pickup truck to the G6, which was still many miles away.
Lupe needed to see a veterinarian right away. SPHP called the offices of both of the veterinarians who have seen Lupe before. It was late on a Saturday evening and their offices were closed, but a recording gave SPHP the phone number for the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital at the Animal Clinic of Rapid City. SPHP called the number and was very happy when someone answered the phone. Yes, they were open. Lead emergency veterinarian Dr. Erin Brown was on duty. SPHP could bring Lupe in right away!
It was close to 10:00 PM by the time Lupe and SPHP arrived at the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital to see the puppy doctor. SPHP had to fill out a few forms. An assistant explained that Dr. Brown was with another emergency patient, but said Dr. Brown would soon be available. The assistant looked at Lupe and recorded some routine information.
It wasn’t long before Dr. Brown came into the examination room to see Lupe. She was very kind and sympathetic to the wounded dingo. Lupe seemed to trust her. (Even before meeting Dr. Brown, SPHP had assured Lupe that the puppy doctor loves all puppies and would help her get better.) Dr. Brown examined Lupe. Of course, she was going to need a bunch of stitches.
Dr. Brown left the examination room for a few minutes. She returned with a written medical treatment plan for SPHP to authorize. All the treatment options were itemized, complete with exact pricing. Dr. Brown calmly and clearly explained all the treatment options, what the risks were, etc. She answered all of SPHP’s questions. Within just a few minutes, SPHP had decided and authorized Lupe’s treatment.
Soon Lupe was being anesthetized in preparation for stitches. An hour after disappearing into the operating room, Lupe was conscious and back with SPHP again. The huge gaping wound on Lupe’s left front leg was now all carefully stitched up. She looked like FrankenPuppy. A plastic drain tube to help prevent serious infection stuck out of both sides of her leg. Dr. Brown said she had to trim some of the edges of the wound where the tissue had already died. (At least 3 hours elapsed from the time Lupe was injured before she got to the hospital.)
Lupe was going to be, OK, though. Dr. Brown explained to SPHP what to do. She said Lupe should wear a protective cone to prevent her from licking the wound. In 3-5 days, one of Lupe’s regular vets should remove the drain. The stitches could come out in a couple of weeks. Lupe got painkillers and antibiotics. Lupe and SPHP thanked Dr. Brown and went home. It was around midnight.
American Dingoes are good at having adventures and lots of fun. They are not quite as good at following doctor’s orders. SPHP still had an old plastic cone for Lupe’s head to keep her from licking the wound. Lupe despised it. SPHP relented and just kept a very close eye on her. Lupe was much happier and really pretty good about not licking the wound. “No licking!” was the order of the day every time she did think about it. Lupe liked her painkiller medicine, but refused the antibiotic. Being July, it was really hot out though. Lupe had no objections to the antibiotic as long as vanilla ice cream was used as a delivery system.
Lupe went in to see her regular vet on July 1st to get the drain out. The vet said one stitch had come loose. The vet reprimanded SPHP for letting Lupe get away without having the protective cone on. The drain came out just fine. There was no sign of infection. After visiting the vet, Lupe had to wear the cone, like-it-or-not.
NOT! was the dingo’s answer. She kept running into things and getting her neck twisted. She pawed at the cone trying to get it off. She laid on the floor staring into space looking totally bored and forlorn. She didn’t want to eat. Every time her spirit brightened, she ran into something else and got her head snapped around. Depression set in again.
The old cone wasn’t up to this abuse. It was made of a kind of brittle clear plastic. By the morning of July 3rd, two chunks of the old cone had cracked and broken off. Some of the remaining plastic came to a big sharp point. It looked vaguely dangerous to be wearing that thing, but the sharp end was at least pointed away from Lupe.
That evening, on the way to her grandma’s house, Lupe tried to stick her head out the partially open window of the G6. The cone snapped in half. It was useless. Lupe was thrilled. At grandma’s house she ran around playing squeaker ball. Late in the evening, on the way home again, SPHP saw that Lupe’s wound had partially opened up again. Several stitches had broken loose, not from licking, but from racing around with joy at the demise of the evil cone.
So late at night on July 3rd, SPHP took Lupe back to the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital again. SPHP bought another, bigger and better protective cone for her. Dr. Brown wasn’t on duty, but another vet was. SPHP didn’t even meet this vet, but Lupe got her wound stapled back together. Done in minutes, at no charge! The new, improved protective cone went right on. And that was the last of the problems.
Lupe didn’t like the new improved protective head cone any better than the last one. It was better built, though, and could stand up to dingo abuse. It took a while, but eventually Lupe resigned herself to it. Her wound started healing fast. Her stitches and staples came out on July 14th. The hated cone came off a day later. The Carolina Dog was free once more! Even so, for the rest of the month SPHP tried to just keep her quiet to let the healing process really take hold.
July, 2015 was a pretty frustrating and dull month for Lupe. About the only real outing she got to go on was Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 136 on Xochitl’s birthday. Even then, Lupe did not get to go on any long trek. She just waded in the creek at Cascade Falls. On a really hot day, she did enjoy it. The rest of the month was spent doing some pretty dull stuff or just laying around waiting to get better.
Thanks to Dr. Erin Brown at the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital, Lupe IS better – much, much better. So much better, that Lupe went to see Dr. Brown again yesterday evening. This time she just went to show Dr. Brown that she is all healed up, and to thank Dr. Brown for being there at Lupe’s time of great need – so late on a Saturday night!
Now that Lupe well again, she is destined for lots more dingo adventures in August, 2015! Within just a day or two, she is setting off on her action-packed great Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation! In September, she will return with tales from the American West. In the meantime, she has new posts scheduled to keep coming all through August about her adventures on her 2013 Dingo Vacation to the Beartooths and Canadian Rockies.
Want more Lupe adventures? Choose from Lupe’s Dingo Tales Index or Master Adventure Index. Or subscribe free to new Lupe adventures.