Lil' Mommy (Chi) recovering after raccoon attack & amputation (w/ pics)

(warning: slightly gory description of injury)

This is my aunt's dog, Lil' Mommy. She was attacked by a raccoon in her own backyard. It climbed in over the chainlink fence and being a dog, Lil' Mommy confronted it, barking. We ran outside right as Lil' Mommy was running back into the house and the raccoon was on its way back out. We didn't see anything but the retreat, and Lil' Mommy jumped right in her raised bed as usual. Ten minutes later, I looked at Lil' Mommy and noticed a white bone sitting beside her... it turned out to be her leg. The flesh and muscle was torn away, and her back leg was only exposed bone from the paw, to up between the hip and leg joint. She never acted like anything was wrong or in pain - no whimpering, no shaking, nothing! We assume that she turned to run away and it grabbed onto her back leg, tearing the flesh from it. We took her to the emergency vet and had no choice but to get her leg amputated.



I knew that dogs recover from amputations incredibly fast, but I still couldn't believe that she was up and walking around the very next day! It only took her two days to learn to climb the front porch step. Who says chihuahuas aren't tough?!

Wow, this is amazing! Lil' Mommy sounds like an incredibly brave little dog and it's so nice so see she's making a nice recovery despite the terrible accident! She's very cute and seems to have very loving people around her too.

Aww! I have a little chi too and this really breaks my heart. That's so sad, poor little girl. She's certainly is tough though, no one would argue that. I'm sure she'll do great.

Is she eating out of that can easily? You might want to try putting whatever food that is in a little dish if it seems like she isn't eating much. Might not be an issue, but I've just noticed from my experience, my dog is weird about eating out of cans.

(05-29-2013, 10:10 AM)cliverederson Wrote: Aww! I have a little chi too and this really breaks my heart. That's so sad, poor little girl. She's certainly is tough though, no one would argue that. I'm sure she'll do great.

Is she eating out of that can easily? You might want to try putting whatever food that is in a little dish if it seems like she isn't eating much. Might not be an issue, but I've just noticed from my experience, my dog is weird about eating out of cans.

For the first day, we had to feed her from a spoon because her cone bothered her but now she's chowing down right from the can. We had to wait two days after the incident before the amputation (Care Credit approvals... ugh) so she was on morphine while the leg was wrapped in a cast, and she wasn't eating at all - not even her favorite soft foods. She wasn't drinking, either. So we are just beyond happy that she began eating as soon as the operation was over!
She's back to her normal happy self, with only a few changes - like wiggling her whole butt until she's off-balance when trying to wag her tail

She is one tough and brave lil' cookie! If course they are very tough. I trained one like her who was very brave and learned quickly. She seems to be a true soldier. Raccoons are getting out of hand! We were driving passed a parked car when lo and behold, there was a raccoon lying underneath it on its stomach! I guess it was seeking shade, but probably looking for food and animals to steal! I am glad that Lil Mama recovered so quickly. Raccoons are known to be rabid too.

(05-29-2013, 02:03 PM)cmdr-apollo Wrote: For the first day, we had to feed her from a spoon because her cone bothered her but now she's chowing down right from the can. We had to wait two days after the incident before the amputation (Care Credit approvals... ugh) so she was on morphine while the leg was wrapped in a cast, and she wasn't eating at all - not even her favorite soft foods. She wasn't drinking, either. So we are just beyond happy that she began eating as soon as the operation was over!
She's back to her normal happy self, with only a few changes - like wiggling her whole butt until she's off-balance when trying to wag her tail

That's just awesome. The first day Chooey's mandible got broken, I was panic stricken. She wasn't eating and she didn't want to drink her pain killers because of the pain she's experiencing in her mandible. I was worried that since she was taking pain meds and she wasn't eating or drinking, her kidneys might suffer.

Fortunately, that night, she was able to eat a single teaspoon of food which I felt relieved. The next day, we had to feed her through our fingers because she wasn't eating it from the bowl.

I am glad Little Mommy is recovering pretty well. I am surprised that it had to be amputated and it's as if she wasn't in pain when she walked in. We are sending her our paws and prayers.

I keep looking at that pic of Lil Mommy's face and it reminds me of my own chi. I hate that your aunt and you and especially Lil Mommy had to go through this, but it serves as a warning to the rest of us. I know the temptation, maybe it's cold out or raining, you have a fenced in yard and you don't feel like going outside with your dog, I understand that. But think of this story and be sure to accompany your little dog outside.

One time my ex-girlfriend was here with her Poodle and she let her dog out into my fenced-in backyard, but stayed at the door looking out. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and I heard her yell. I came running, and she said she saw a possum that was bigger than her dog (probably an exaggeration) but it was gone when I got there, I didn't see it. Her dog was not harmed, thank god. I've also put a trap out to catch groundhogs, and I caught multiple raccoons on my back porch as well. I live in a fairly suburban area, it's not out in the woods or anything like that. So be careful dog owners, don't think that wild animals aren't potentially in your back yard at night, or that fences necessarily keep them out. Keep those doggies safe!

Wow, that is amazing! I know that dog's small, but I never knew that raccoons could be so dangerous and vicious. I knew that they were aggressive, but...damn.

I'm glad to see that your Aunts dog is acting fine. I was unaware of their seemingly lack of care towards the loss of a limb, that's kinda funny now that I think about it. Just putting myself into that mindset, "Oh, that's nothing. I have three more!" Does anyone here know why they can recover so fast? That really interests me.

I know! It really is quite amazing. I've thought about this too, a surgery of that caliber would knock us humans flat on our butts for weeks sometimes or more, but a dog can have a major surgery and be up in about in a day or so. There's surely more to it than this, but the only thing I've heard is that dogs have a higher threshold for pain generally. Maybe the pain level that would linger for us just isn't noticeable as much to them? I'm purely speculating of course.

My friend's dog's leg was amputated, she bounced back within a couple days too. Even just when my dog was spayed, she was up and about in like a day, it seemed like her wooziness from anesthesia slowed her down more than the actual surgery.

Yes, raccoons are mean. My old boss had them climbing up onto his porch in San Francisco to eat the cat food. Yes, right in the city! The cats stayed away from the raccoons. And where I live now, I didn't know we had raccoons living right here, but my neighbor just told me yesterday that they caught and ate all the fish in his little pond.

I'm so glad that Lil' Mommy survived the experience. What a terrible thing to happen in her own yard.

I know I've posted a lot in this thread, but I just want to say this post had such a big affect on me, I am being much more careful with my dog in my own yard. I mean, I wouldn't let her out after dark before, but sometimes I let her go pee and it's a little evening-ish (never by herself though). The about 2 days ago, I let her out the door when it was just barely starting to get dark in the evening and walked out with her and she charged at a raccoon on my back porch, and I charged in too, luckily it ran off, there was so sort of attack or anything, but I thought of what happened to Lil' Mommy and I was so scared. Thank god everything turned out ok. I think that raccoon is living under my porch, I'm going to try to trap and relocate it with a Have-A-Heart trap. But I just wanted to write again to thank you for this post and making me more aware of the potential dangers in my own yard.

Poor little dog,she seems like a fighter though! I had no idea that raccoon's could be so vicious and tear a little dog's leg apart like that. Glad that the dog is ok and that medical attention was sought for her right away, good on her mommy for acting as fast as she did and was taken in to the vet. That is why it is important not to have garbage and things like that sitting outside to attract them, if you must put garbage out for pick up make sure it is secured in a container can of some sort where they can't get at it. Having animals around that are wild and then having domesticated pets, well lets just say the two of them do not mix. My own dog was attacked by a coyote because we had some stuff sitting outside that attracted them, so yes you have to be really careful and take measures to make sure nothing is around to draw them in. Anyways, glad the dog was brave and is still alive.