"The Poor Dog."

A dog came into the office with an open wound a couple months ago, that was 400mm (15.75 inches long) that spiraled from the shoulder all the way down the leg. The wound had small bits of stone embedded in it, and raw bone was showing around some of the various foreign bodies in the line. The wound had been there and gotten worse and worse, for a couple years. It couldn't close because of the small stones that were embedded in the wound. Despite the diligent attention of the dog's tongue, the wound produced copious amounts of pus which the dog licked down, but to no avail. The smell from the dog was putrid. I explained the options to the owner: That the remedy for the situation would be speedy, healing would occur in less than a week and the cost would be considerably less than a thousand dollars. (Closer to 600-700$)

But it was over ten years old, and the owner was understandably afraid the dog was going to die under anesthesia, so they took it home. By my estimation, it has at least three years left to go because it's only 11.

I struggle with a few things.

1. The owner has to live with that smell, and the knowledge that the dog has a 15 inch open abscess 24 x 7 x 365.
2. The owner loves that dog.
3. The dog is suffering.
4. It wasn't even 'about the money' but the idea that the dog could possibly die, so it gets to live with a fifteen-inch oozing abscess for the next several years.

There are only three inaccuracies in the above.

1. This didn't happen a couple months ago. This happens without any exaggeration: Every 3 or 4 DAYS.
2. The wound is truly, exactly as described except the 'stones' in the wound aren't stones, but in fact rotting teeth.
3. The wound isn't visible on the arm, but in fact simply in the mouth of an average 80mm mandible (Shih Tzu, Schnauzer, or similar the length of four arcades)

Here's how it correctly reads:

"A dog came into the office with an open wound a couple months ago, that was 400mm (15.75 inches long) that extended from one side of the mouth to the other on upper and lower arcades. The wound had small rotting teeth embedded in it, and raw bone was showing around some of the various rotting teeth in the line."