Sangre de Drago and Ernie the Greyhound
On July 10th we received a call from a greyhound rescue group we volunteer with saying they had a call from a downtown emergency vet that they had a seriously injured grey who needed help. It seems the greyhound who became Ernie was let out with 6 other hounds all un-muzzled and he was savagely attacked and badly injured. They sewed him up in several places, put a cone collar on him and sent him back with the trainer to the track. He was apparently just thrown in a kennel and promptly forgotten. Ernie managed to get his collar off and chewed most of his stitches and was bleeding from several wounds. The trainer brought him back to the vet and wanted him put down. The vet convinced him to release ownership and let him be turned over to an adoption group. Thus, greyhound rescue came into play and since Jim & I had fostered some 11 hounds, a few with some fairly serious health issues they thought we might be able to care for him.
We have to say that when we first went to the vet's to learn just how to provide that care and saw his wounds we had some serious second thoughts about having said yes. He had huge open wounds on both front thighs that went under his legs and the one on his left side was torn open down over his leg joint with even bone exposed. Plus he had many smaller bite wounds all over his body.
But as the vet & techs worked on him removing and replacing his bandages over these terrible wounds he licked their faces and hands and wagged his tail the whole time, and we knew this was a guy who wanted to make it...then the least we could do was try and help him get there.
Our greatest fear that we posted in group emails was that he might develop a massive infection and we would lose him. Of course he was on heavy pain meds and large doses of antibiotics but it was the long, long healing process (months) that would leave him open to infection and he was so weak we had to lift him up when we needed him to stand.
We received an email from Michelle at Greytescape saying that she had this remedy called Sangre de Drago from the Amazon rain forest that was a wonderful healing agent. We checked with the vet of course as Ernie is not our hound and was told to try it on a couple of the smaller wounds first to see both the healing properties and if Ernie had any adverse reaction to it. He had none and the small wounds we put it on showed quick healing and closure in just a few days. So with the vets OK we put it on all his wounds and his healing has been quite impressive. His recovery has been steady and quite remarkable to watch. By the end of July the vet felt it safe to take him off antibiotics and 2 weeks later weaned him off pain meds over a week’s time.
As I write this Aug 31st all his wounds are healed save for the most severe one with the bone exposure on his left leg, but that continues to slowly heal and Ernie has lost his limp which was assumed would be a permanent result of his injuries. His personality has come to full blossom like the young 3yr old hound he is. He is learning to play with toys and our other dogs. This is such a long way from the day we brought him home when we really thought it was probably a 50/50 chance whether he would make it. This guy really did want to be here and we think the Sangre de Drago really helped him make it. He is going to make a wonderful fur-buddy for some lucky person or family.
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