My German Shepard got attacked by something the other day
 

And the unfortunate part was they had to amputate his tail the vet that did the emergency surgery on Scout said the damage done to the bones at the base of the tail and the size and depth of the incisor marks that the attacking animal was bigger than him and had a very high bite pressure. The vet also said he found 2 sets of scratches on his belly that both appeared to have 3 claws each. He also said that Scout was lucky to get away alive. Anybody got any ideas what animal we could be talking about larger than a 80 lbs GSD, high bite pressure, and 3 claws and attacks in daylight. I have pics on my iphone but can't seem to get them to my computer I will try to post them from my phone.

Immediate guess is mountain lion or bear...

Finally got the pics on the computer, I am thinking whatever attacked him jumped on his back biting him and trying to grip with its front paws. Sorry for the gross pic if it offends anyone let me know and I will remove it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1350348206.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1350348244.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1350348320.jpg

My thought was mountain lion. the only account for the 3 claws is just dumb luck.

The only other thought would be

http://www.factzoo.com/sites/all/img...with-child.jpg

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-rx/im...-3_54135_1.jpg

I'm really glad the fella made it. poor pup. I'm sure the other guy looks even worse.

Badger?

Smaller but those little F'rs are nasty.

My ex-wife never liked German Shepherds.

My wife saw a medium sized cougar along side the highway a few miles from our house not too long ago it was waiting to get at a road kill deer. I was thinking cougar or bobcat when he mentioned the claw marks.

wow really sorry to hear that Gman.. Looks like he'll recover.. Wonder how dogs do without tails ?

Do you have big cats near you ?

I don't think we have 3 toed sloths around here and the vet was posed the badger idea and said it didn't have sufficient bite pressure for the damage inflicted. Is your Ex in my neck of the woods after this if I see it I will shoot it I told my wife that we need to be very careful as whatever did this might follow Scout's scent back to finish him off.

You have coyotes? They have no qualms about ganging up on a large dog.

He will do fine without his tail just look a little funny because Sheperds are supposed to have big furry tails to slap you with. The vet tried to save the tail but the muscle and tendon damage too extensive and the main artery supplying the tail was completely severed so the tail would never functioned again and would have probably become infected. So he is gonna have that classic GSD stance without the classic GSD tail. Thanks for all the well wishes Scout was a rescue and just finished treatment for heartworms so he hasn't had an easy life to date I hope to make his life a lot easier and happier in the future.

Sorry this happened. I'm glad he is going to be ok.

Vet also ruled out coyotes said the bites didn't match and the animals to small I think if it had been a pack of coyotes he wouldn't have come back but we do have them.

Sorry to hear about this. I have an ex gf who lived in Marshfield and worked in animal health throughout Mizzou. She might know - I'll ask her when I get a chance.

Please give Scout a hug from the girls... :)

brutal injury!!

is that dog leashed like that full time?

G man,, I agree with your wife.. Not sure of the author but not long ago there was a thread regarding a cougar in Texas who was hanging in the neighborhood...

I'm guessing a WOLF. Bite pressure etc... I bet your dog fought like a Spartan.

Would a mountain lion take on a largish dog?

according to what I have found your state has had a lot of mountain loin sightings. The only other large predator in your area are black bears.

DNA tests shed light on cougar, wolf sightings | Missouri Department of Conservation

A large mountain lion would kill and eat a lone large dog...

No, that is his training leash and she had just lifted him down out of the truck and not taken the leash off yet. He has been in isolation for the last 2 months for heartworms and was on a 50 ft chain most of the time while we train him not to leave the yard and we were making some progress. This time my wife let him off to run while she put out the laundry and she said Scout ran around the house one time and took off and an hour later come back like this. I want to run this by you guys because this dog is very protective of all 3 of us I am wondering if he caught scent of this threat and went out to meet it because he had never acted like that before he always stayed close by when someone was outside the only times he ran off was when we left him out by himself.