OMG!  I cannot believe this happened .... what's a mommy to do?  Earlier
this evening I saw my two kiddos sleeping soundly in their cage.  Two
hrs. later I come upstairs to check on them and there is blood smeared
all over the bathroom floor where their cage is!!!!  Of course I freak
out and a million and one things go rushing thru my mind about the
kiddos, ranging from "did they get in a fight?" to "Is someone peeing
blood?"  What's going on????
 
I trace the blood to Sasha and find out that SOMEHOW she managed to rip
one of her claws almost completely off!  When I finally got to the root
of the blood area, I notice that one of these claws is hanging on by a
tiny piece of skin so I instantly begin trying to stop the bleeding with
pressure and assest the severity.  (trying to stay calm while my baby is
bleeding is no small feat for me)!  Sasha is shaking and I am shaking and
we're both a mess ....
 
After a bit of a struggle, I manage to stop the bleeding but Sasha keeps
wanting to walk aroound on her legs, which starts the bleeding back up.
So I get her in the travel carrier cage so she can't move around and call
the emergency vet and explain the situation.  They advise that if I can
get the bleeding to stop, she'll be OK until morning - when I can get her
to her regular doctor.  Of course, I have no problem taking her to the
E.R. but if it's not really a dire emergency and tif hey won't do
anything else over and above what I can do at home, then is that really
necessary?
 
GREAT!  But now I'm worried sick and thinking of a million more things
that could happen to her through the night if I DON'T take her to the
E.R.... she'll die from too much blood loss, die from infection of the
open wound?  Who knows?  It looks like she's doing fine, however, because
she's going to sleep so apparently she is hopefully not in too much
pain???
 
Boy is this going to be a long night!  As long as she doesn't keep
"nursing" the wound and keeping it freshly open I think we'll be OK.  I
put her paw in baking powder as a coagulant but was afraid that might
cause an infection if it gets directly into the open part of the wound,
where the claw used to be???
 
Well, have to go check up on the patient again .... any recommendations
for me, in case this should ever happen again?  Update to follow
 
Jennifer, Sasha (Miss 9 lives!) & Snowy
[Posted in FML issue 4499]