Small dog update
There is rarely a dull moment when one owns a terrier. Earlier this year - in the heat of Summer Tammy really seemed to be going downhill: not keen on walking and seemed to have completely lost her zip.
After a visit to the vet - who spotted she had a kneecap that was dislocating a bit more easily than might be expected - we gave her a course of anti-inflammatories and started giving her a sardine a day for the nutritional goodies. It has also got a fair bit cooler.
Putting all of those together she had reclaimed her zip and was dancing to got out in the mornings (and not just because she needed to park a coil). This made our morning walks much more pleasant.
So on Sunday Frances noticed that she seemed to have had trouble getting down some steps and was limping a bit. We were very careful with her through the day. Of course that night as she went out for her final toilet stop a wombat was on her lawn. The 5 steps down to the lawn were taken at 50kph and 150dB.
Exit, briskly, one wombat.
However as the stop was revised to its intended purpose I noticed that she was doing a fair impersonation of Dudley Moore in the Tarzan Audition sketch from Beyond the Fringe. (For those that know the sketch - I saw the original, in about 1966 at the Mayfair Theatre - all the you-tubes miss out the punchline, which is when Jonathon Miller enters wearing a leopard skin leotard wanting to play Long John Silver!)
The next day (Monday) she was in a bad way and could barely walk. The morning walk was terminated after 100m. So she was lifted carefully and carried up and down all steps. This seemed to work and she seemed a lot better in the evening. However she took a jump down later in the day and by the next morning was gimping badly.
Tuesday was not good but she didn't get any worse and by afternoon seemed a little better. Yesterday (Wednesday) she was pretty much dancing around to go for a walk and strode off up the drive with her tail vertical. We decided that she should be on a graduated return to duty so turned at the top of the drive (600m return) even though she was quite keen to keep going. As I went out for a run she was trying to jump on the bed which was discouraged.
This morning (Thursday) she was off like a rocket and we decided to extend the walk if she was happy to keep going and not limping. Despite her being hot to trot further we turned at Widgiewa (2.6km return) and she led the way home. We decided to still keep her from going up and down steps. This lasted until I left the door open into the garage and she bolted down 5 tiled steps to see if there was anything in there that needed killing (or if she could get taken for a ride somewhere). Realising that neither of those two conditions applied she promptly bolted back up the stairs.
We will still try to moderate her activity as far as we can , but she really is a tough little bugger.
After a visit to the vet - who spotted she had a kneecap that was dislocating a bit more easily than might be expected - we gave her a course of anti-inflammatories and started giving her a sardine a day for the nutritional goodies. It has also got a fair bit cooler.
Putting all of those together she had reclaimed her zip and was dancing to got out in the mornings (and not just because she needed to park a coil). This made our morning walks much more pleasant.
So on Sunday Frances noticed that she seemed to have had trouble getting down some steps and was limping a bit. We were very careful with her through the day. Of course that night as she went out for her final toilet stop a wombat was on her lawn. The 5 steps down to the lawn were taken at 50kph and 150dB.
Exit, briskly, one wombat.
However as the stop was revised to its intended purpose I noticed that she was doing a fair impersonation of Dudley Moore in the Tarzan Audition sketch from Beyond the Fringe. (For those that know the sketch - I saw the original, in about 1966 at the Mayfair Theatre - all the you-tubes miss out the punchline, which is when Jonathon Miller enters wearing a leopard skin leotard wanting to play Long John Silver!)
The next day (Monday) she was in a bad way and could barely walk. The morning walk was terminated after 100m. So she was lifted carefully and carried up and down all steps. This seemed to work and she seemed a lot better in the evening. However she took a jump down later in the day and by the next morning was gimping badly.
Tuesday was not good but she didn't get any worse and by afternoon seemed a little better. Yesterday (Wednesday) she was pretty much dancing around to go for a walk and strode off up the drive with her tail vertical. We decided that she should be on a graduated return to duty so turned at the top of the drive (600m return) even though she was quite keen to keep going. As I went out for a run she was trying to jump on the bed which was discouraged.
This morning (Thursday) she was off like a rocket and we decided to extend the walk if she was happy to keep going and not limping. Despite her being hot to trot further we turned at Widgiewa (2.6km return) and she led the way home. We decided to still keep her from going up and down steps. This lasted until I left the door open into the garage and she bolted down 5 tiled steps to see if there was anything in there that needed killing (or if she could get taken for a ride somewhere). Realising that neither of those two conditions applied she promptly bolted back up the stairs.
We will still try to moderate her activity as far as we can , but she really is a tough little bugger.
Comments