Just a quick update on Annabelle so I can write my Idol entry up. I'm exhausted since I pretty much leave the house around 7:30 and don't stop moving until 7:30-8 o'clock at night.

There was a stand-in vet at the vet's office today so she couldn't tell me if the wound looked any better. She said it sounds better from what she's been told... but yeah. The vet tech said that it didn't look worse, but that's all she could tell me really.

Annabelle is still limping tonight, though the vet wasn't too worried about it. I just hate that it isn't my normal vet.

The bacterial cultures have come back!

And yielded no results. It doesn't appear to be a flesh-eating bacteria. So what does that mean?

Brown recluse or rattlesnake bite seem the most likely candidates. I wanted to scoff at the rattlesnake bit because I always walk Annabelle and keep her close by, I always keep an eye at her at the dog park.

BUT someone had a good point that if it were a baby rattle snake at the dog park, and only got her with one fang, chances are I wouldn't notice.

This sort of makes sense.

We were playing with Annabelle and a basketball that was deflated a bit. She was playing fetch. All of a sudden, she stopped running for the ball which is odd for her, we had just gotten there. She batted around with another dog for a few minutes, but wasn't entirely playful (it happens when Kevin is around, so not terribly odd. She likes to stay by him).

The next day? She was in bad, bad shape. Limping and sickly with a high fever. The e-vet looked at her paw and said he noticed a small puncture wound, but assumed it was a nail or something since the nail bed was also damaged. He assumed she hurt it playing somehow, pouncing her paws too hard on the ground. I'm not sure if he even asked about possible snake bite, but maybe?

My vet did ask after it necrotized, but I swore I never took my eyes off her... but now I wonder if that had been enough?

It's responding like a rattlesnake bite from the sounds of it. She's a big dog so it likely wouldn't kill her with antivenin. The suggested treatment is otherwise antibiotics, antihistamine (for allergic reaction) and IV fluids, which she's undergone all that.

So will I ever know what's causing this? Brown recluse? Rattlesnake? Something else I'm not even thinking about? Ugh I just want her to get better and I want some answers as to what's making my baby sick :(