Does my friend's puppy need to see a vet? How do I convince him to do so?
Does my friend's puppy need to see a vet? How do I convince him to do so? General Dog Discussions
My boyfriend's roommate has a young dog under a year old. 1 week ago, we discovered that the outside flap of the puppy's ear was extremely swollen, the size of a person's thumb. It was too late to see the vet, so he decided to wait till morning. The next morning, after going outside and getting his paws dirty, my friend put his dog in the bathtub to clean him, and when the water hit his ear, it exploded with blood. Apparently the tub was covered in blood and it continued to ooze. We have no idea why the ear was so swollen in the first place. The vet office didn't open for another couple hours so my friend cleaned up the pup and the bathroom and waited to call. When he called, the vet said they would have just drained it anyway, and it would heal. The ear was split open on the tip of his ear about an inch in length. My friend refused to take him to the vet, so my boyfriend and I, not having the money to do so ourselves, got bandages, alcohol, a blowup-cone like protector, and Neosporin to clean and wrap the ear up. It started to heal and close up, but continued to open up whenever he shook his head and would ooze clear/pink color liquid. Now a week later it has become more swollen with each day, still oozes, and although not gaping open, it is not completely closed and is slightly discolored. It is not white, yellow, or green the way an infected cut may be, but it is not healing normal! I have tried over and over to convince my friend that the dog needed to be seen by a vet to drain, clean, and properly bandage the ear, but he will not listen to me. He keeps making the argument that the dog wouldn't die of this if he were in the wild, and that his body needs to fight it off and heal itself. Does the puppy need to see a vet? And how do I convince my friend to take the dog in? The puppy cries every time we try and touch the ear to look at it. He keeps shaking his head and is constantly trying to scratch it. He was sleeping a lot at first when it happened but his temperament seems to be normal other than acting annoyed or bothered by the ear. What should I do?