Tues 15th Nov: Panic over Sandy
November 16th, 2011 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
I seem to be spending more and more time at the vet clinic these days, not surprisingly I suppose when there are so many puppies needing this, that or the other. I took back Strawberry’s two siblings from foster today after they had been given their first vaccinations, and was told that Strawberry herself had been in that morning. She’s doing really well, and although the tips of her toes have gone it hasn’t made any difference (and she won’t ever need a manicure!) I also picked up Lemon after her second stay at Acorn, this time because she had both a cough (again) and had been vomiting. We’re all being extra careful about this since Jenkins’ sad demise (having eaten some towel), but she had nothing going on inside and is back home again.
Sandy cooling off in a rock pool
I had a moment of panic during the night when I reached out to give Sandy’s tummy a rub (both of us having been disturbed by some noisy goings on with other dogs) and felt a lump on her chest area. My first thought was that it was a mammary tumour, and after that I couldn’t sleep for wondering how I was going to get her to Acorn and leave her there for surgery. It seems simple, but Sandy is very scared of strangers and anywhere other than Lamma and the places she knows. On the occasions I have taken her to see a vet, most recently when she poked herself in the eye with a stick (and is now blind in that eye), she shook with fear throughout and insisted that I carry her, something she almost never does at home. When she first came to my house from AFCD a few years ago (along with an entire family of ‘Wanchai Terriers’) she spent about two weeks hiding under a cupboard before finally coming out and accepting me. Even now when I’m not at home she spends most of her time under my bed, or hidden in any other safe area. So this morning one of the first things I did was to get the clippers out and shave Sandy’s tummy area so I could have a good look at what was going on, and now I’m pretty sure that it’s not a mammary tumour but a grass seed that’s worked its way under the skin and become infected. These grass seeds are a real menace at this time of year, and I have felt the pain of them sticking into my own feet through my socks, their needle-like tips embedding themselves in skin very easily. The seeds can get between a dog’s toes, or in the ears (especially with breeds like spaniels) and cause all sorts of painful problems, and as there were several half-embedded seeds sticking out of Sandy’s tummy I feel sure that’s what the lump is.
As my life revolves around the dogs and my only news comes from reading second-hand newpapers put down for the puppies, I was a bit slow on the uptake about the $6000 Government handout now being available via online banking (but have now submitted my application). What alerted me to the the fact that the funds were actually being handed out was a donation cheque that arrived in the post with a note attached saying it was the $6000 that had been received from the Government, and although it’s been a long time coming it’s still a very nice pre-Christmas present, some of which I hope will trickle through to HKDR. It’s easy via www.simplygiving.com
