Weak stomach? Don't look!

A few weeks ago I blogged about my dogs missing and returning.  It was good to have them home and they seemed pretty happy to be back as well.  Tuesday of last week they must have decided that whatever they were after out there was just too tempting and took off for another adventure.  Marcus our older dog took off 1st.  We expected him back a few hours later.  The German Shepherd apparently got worried and went out after him.  So, they were gone again.  I didn't really worry about it since Marcus came back on his own last time and Jerry Lee was shacked up all comfy in a neighbor's bed.  So we went about our business plus we have a million other things to worry about. 

Marcus, our 1st baby boy who we received as a wedding gift the night of our wedding, has been part of our family for 7 years.  He has always had his way in our house, sleeping wherever he pleased, shedding his hair everywhere and making me sneeze and wheeze like crazy until I couldn't stand it anymore.  He was kicked from our bed where he was always so comfortably tucked in under the blankets with his head on a pillow.  Then he got kicked from sleeping in our closets and scattering the dirty clothes everywhere and completely destroying my underwear in record breaking time.  Then he was kicked from the house this summer and had to spend his time in the air conditioned garage with the new dog. Poor guy, huh! You could say he wasn't thrilled.  But me, things were good.  I didn't have his annoying hair everywhere, and didn't have to worry about hiding my laundry basket, and didn't have to worry about him sneaking into our bed every chance he got. 

Notice how fat and satisfied he looks!

Then he started this going on adventure crap and got hurt.  Here is the yucky part.  He showed up last Sunday as I was getting home from my mom and dad's.  I was getting the boys out of the car when he brushed up against my leg.  I annoyingly said, "Hey, Marcus.  Nice of you to come home!"  Then I took a second look and saw this:

 A tail ripped in half and a neck mangled so bad we couldn't even really tell how bad it was.  (Sorry, these were taken with my phone.)  I knew I had to take him to the vet.  Especially with his tail looking the way it did.  So, Monday morning I stayed home and waited for the vet to open.  We got in fairly early.  They have no idea what he got into or what got him and neither do we.  But, whatever it was it got him good.  $560 worth of surgery good.  He went into surgery shortly after I left him at the vet.  They amputated his tail and cleaned up his neck and stitched it back together.  He looked so much better when I picked him up the next day. 

He had multiple scratches all over his body mainly his eyes and chest.  He had lost 15 to 20 pounds.  He was treated for flees, he never had them before and round worms.  He had some issues with his liver enzymes.  He was covered in little ticks.  I don't know if he got into a nest of them or what.  All of that along with this gaping hole in his neck and a mangled tail. 

 So this is what he looks like today.  Skinny!  The boys get quite a kick out of his cone he has to wear.  I think it is mean to laugh at him about that. 

He has a drain in the neck wound that the boys are scared to death of.  They think Marcus' whole purpose right now is trying to get blood on them. They scream and run in fear!

He is on a special diet to gain strength and is on 2 antibiotics and one pain med.  He is going in today to get his drain out.  I have secretly been planning in my head that I would let him back into the house once he is healed, but I'm not telling Dale yet!!!  I might change my mind.

Thanks to Wyatt's great ability to take extremely random pictures I can show you that his tail went from this:





To this:

 It actually looks a lot better than I thought it would. 

If you can believe it he actually tried to run away the last 2 days I let him out and he tried again this morning.  Picture me big and pregnant running after a gimpy dog with a cone around his head, yelling his name!!!  Too bad I can't get you a visual of that one! Whatever he found out there he must really like.  And it isn't some random dog he is doing.  He got his boys cut off a LONG time ago.  He has yet to hump a blanket since they have been gone. 

If it's not one thing it is another.  I guess this is just what is keeping us going and distracting us and not allowing us to get fat and lazy by spending too much time with our butts on the couch.  Our German Shepherd still hasn't come back home.  I wish I could say I was bothered, but honestly, I'm not.  She is very friendly and would approach others, Marcus would not.  Mark was totally out for an adventure.  She constantly craves human attention, so I'm quite sure she is yet again shacked up in a neighbor's bed.  At least that is what I am telling myself!