Piper’s own little mystery – a month-long saga

For those of you who have read my books in the Jorja Matthews’ mystery series, you’re aware that my protagonist has a rescue dog named Piper. For those of you who know me, or who have read about this fact in previous posts, you also know that I actually do have a Lab-mix named Piper. Other than Jorja, who is loosely based on my life as a private investigator, Piper is the only character in my books based on an actual…being.

Piper just wasn't feeling well

Since my last post on Mother’s Day, I’ve been very distracted with a mystery surrounding Piper after she began to have some serious medical issues with her neck. It actually began just before Mother’s Day weekend when her neck began to swell up. I called to schedule a vet visit but wasn’t able to get an appointment until the following week, which seemed to be okay at the time. But then during Mother’s Day weekend, that changed completely when her neck became so swollen, it caused the area to rupture. 

Nasty business, that. And just a bit scary.

The vet looked Piper over and discovered she had an abscess so they kept her overnight to drain it and get her started on some antibiotics. I took her home the following day with high hopes that all would be well and she would heal soon enough. 

More than a week later, on the day she was to return for a simple follow-up appointment, her neck had begun to swell again. At the vet’s office when they were looking her over, the area ruptured again. Our vet was not equipped to help any further and we had no choice but to take Piper to an emergency vet. This time, the ER vet prescribed different antibiotics and placed drain tubes in her neck to avoid any further swelling until the area healed.

But Piper was able to pull both drain tubes out within a couple of days - I think she was getting sick and tired of having her neck messed with. And I really can’t blame her.

Even without the tubes, the area continued to drain so I kept ace bandages wrapped loosely around her neck to catch most of the drainage and I watched her like a hawk for the next week until her follow-up appointment. By the time we went back to the ER vet for a visit, the swelling was much better, but we could clearly see a mass just below her jaw line that appeared to be more than fluid. An ultrasound had already been used and no tumor, foreign object or injury had been seen, so the reason for the mass was still a mystery.

This was getting serious because we had no answer and yet she still had a condition that would obviously continue to cause issues.

Our only other option was to think about exploratory surgery - to at least remove the infected tissue, and hopefully discover the underlying cause of the infection. Obviously, I couldn’t let her continue as is, that would have been cruel. There really was no other option, so we scheduled her for surgery last week, having no idea what to expect but with a hope and a prayer that the vet would finally figure it out and fix our girl.

After dropping Piper off that morning, I waited all day for a phone call and could barely focus on anything else but what news I would get. The surgeon had multiple surgeries that day, some more serious than Piper so the wait was understandable. But by the time the surgeon called me that evening, I was beyond worried. I was scared.

Chunk of wood found in Piper's neck

But the surgeon had terrific news when she called – after removing almost all of the tissue and finding nothing (at that point even she thought she wasn’t going to find the underlying cause), the surgeon was finally rewarded with the answer to the mystery when she was working on the last infected area. Buried deep in the tissue she found a small chunk of wood! Her guess is that Piper was chewing on a stick and that a piece of it punctured through her throat in an area that heals fairly quickly, often within a day or two, so that after the puncture healed, the wood was stuck inside the neck.

Mystery solved!

Piper home after surgery - feeling better already!

That small piece of wood is probably the most expensive piece of wood I’ve ever purchased, but my relief is priceless, especially after discovering Piper’s condition was caused by a foreign body, rather than a disease or illness of some kind we might not have been able to heal her from.

We’d do just about anything for our kids, as most parents would, and that includes when it comes to our fur babies. If you’re not an animal lover, then you might not understand, but when your pets are part of your family, it can really affect you when you see they are hurting or sick.

So that’s what’s been keeping me distracted for the past month. Just thought I’d share Piper’s story and the mystery I’m glad we finally solved. 

Until next time – have a great day!