Teetering on the brink

Cherryfudge

It's great you are able to get out a bit more. Sorry the poor dog is limping though. I hope your work pays off and she's soon back on four legs.

When we had small animals I learned to clip claws and teeth myself (even on black ones, having had the experience of lighter coloured ones where you can see how far to cut) which must have saved a good few vet trips as well as making life easier for the animals concerned. Also less stressful for the patient as it's someone they know well.

EatingBeans

Omg, clipping teeth? 😱 I am guessing that is on some kind of rodent? 

I can clip nails on the dogs and guinea pigs, only ever had the cat done once at the vet when he was getting caught on things, I am not brave enough for that myself! 👹🤣

Little dog is actually very obliging when it comes to her nails but she is normally upright when I do it. Unfortunately, the position of the splinter meant I needed her flat on her back so I could get enough light in to see what I was doing. I’ve never needed any dog in this position before so have never seen the need to train for it, but bless her, once I got her in position on the sofa and she realised she was going to have ham delivered to her mouth so long as she stayed there, she soon relaxed, legs akimbo just waiting for the next bit of ham! 🤣
Fingers crossed that fixes her issue. 🤞

LzzyIsGod

Hope little dog is doing ok

Cherryfudge

EatingBeans said:

Omg, clipping teeth? 😱 I am guessing that is on some kind of rodent? 

Hamsters - we had one whose teeth were at a funny angle so they didn't wear properly and needed to be kept an eye on. It was a long time ago but I think rabbits' teeth - or was it guinea pigs'? - also needed to be clipped on occasion. Worst were black nails on a black guinea pig. It's impossible to see where the quick begins so I had to proceed with extra caution.

EatingBeans

Aw bless, I can only imagine trying to cut the teeth of a tiny hamster. I bet the felt better for it. 🙂

And I can totally relate to cutting black nails. One of our guineas has black nails and big dog obviously has black nails too. Trimming a little bit regularly is the way I approach it. So far, so good. 🤞

EatingBeans

Little dog is putting more weight on her leg so no vet trip just yet. 

Still no hot spots, signs of infection or anything urgent but given the way she is limping I am wondering if it may be the start of elbow dysplasia and the splinter was a red herring. It would make some sense given her obsession with jumping off things with such enthusiasm throughout puppyhood despite me trying to limit her. I’ve had labs with both elbow and hip dysplasia before, so I’ve given her some dog pain killers, and added glucosamine and chondroitin supplements to her food which wont do her any harm even if I am wrong, and I am going to see if that helps. 

I should probably reassure you all that I am not just letting her suffer for the sake of saving a few quid at the vet. She is still bouncing around like a nutter, very happy and still jumping on and off things at every opportunity, it’s only that when she sits I can see that she is shifting her weight off it and when she tries to walk fast she is favouring the opposite leg and has the classic head nod of a limp. 

To avoid her damaging her other leg (she is now landing on one leg when she jumps so she really, really, has to be stopped), I have bought her a pen. Something I probably should have bought as soon as I realised that this ‘jumping as if she can fly’ thing, was going to become a habit, but hindsight is a great thing. This way, she can have a bit more space than her crate but she will still be confined to an area where she cannot do herself any more damage until I am sure she can be trusted. Then, when I get her out I can have her on the lead and focus on trying to train the behaviour out of her. She will still be right next to us so she will still get lots of attention, don’t worry.

If all this doesn’t work and she starts getting worse, or she still has the limp once her first season is over, then vets it will be. 

Cherryfudge

Poor doggie - but hopefully being in the pen will give her leg a chance to rest and get better. It's good she has an observant and experienced owner.

Newstartforme

Hope you are OK EB , not heard from you for a few days , maybe you're out enjoying the sun 

ellenvan

Hope all OK EB?

EatingBeans

Hi all, 

Thanks for the gentle nudges. 

I’ll be honest, I was feeling so rough I temporarily gave up on focusing on the debt and I found admitting that on my diary really difficult. 😞 I decided to focus on my health and trying to get little dog well again first, then pick up the pieces afterwards. 

I am very pleased to report that Little dog no long has a limp! 🎉 She is still contained in the pen when not supervised, but she does now get to run around the garden several times a day so she is a lot happier. In another week or so the pen will all be dismantled as she will have finished her season and be able to play with her brother, then she will be reintroduced to walks. Sadly though, even if it turns out not to be elbow dysplasia, the past couple of weeks have made me doubt whether she really has the right temperament to be bred from as her anxiety levels have been off the charts. I am not sure if it is being in her first season, being uncomfortable with her limp, not going out, or something else, but the barking has hit a whole new level and she actually snapped at my neighbour over the fence. She’s never been the most confident dog but she’s never snapped at anyone before and it took me and the neighbour by surprise. It was subtle and just a warning, but it was definitely there. Between that and the limp, she is giving me a whole lot of reservations about breeding from her. I was hoping she would be as good as Big dog, but she is far far from it in pretty much every aspect. Whatever happens, she will be with me and very much loved for her entire life, but she may now be spayed and I will look for a better !!!!!! which I can breed to Big dog instead, that is, if he decides he still likes girls after seeing his hormonal sister!

Big dog has seemed to cope pretty well with Little dog’s first season. He’s enjoyed getting out and about on more walks and hasn’t complained about being separated. With the pen up and him showing zero signs of stress, or indeed any desire to get to Little dog, I decided to let him through the house to run around the back garden sometimes, as well as the extra walking. He seems to be keen to give his sister a very wide berth atm, so I just made sure she was locked in her crate and well away from the side of the pen, then he seemed happy to run past. 🤣 Bless him, he is a total wuss. That said, he also managed to surprise me this week. No, surprise is the wrong word, give me the fright of my life would be more accurate! I went to answer the door to the Amazon driver as I regularly do, and I left Big dog behind me on the other side of the baby gate while I did so. He never barks or does anything more than wag his tail excessively to everyone at the door and had never jumped the baby gate before, so I considered him secure. Tbh, when I was really ill a few weeks ago my brain was like mush and I forgot to close the baby gate so he just stood at the wide open gate and watched wagging his tail at the gate entrance as normal. But, not this time. On this occasion he decided (without any warning!) to jump clear over the baby gate, barge past me and chase the Amazon out of the front garden, barking at him like some kind of guard dog! The poor guy was so freaked out he jumped onto our bin store and Big dog stood full on barking at him from the pavement. In all my years owning dogs I have never had a dog go out the front door when I’ve opened it, so it took me a second to realise what he had done. Whilst I am a million percent sure he would never bite anyone (unlike his sister!), I was worried he might run in the road and cause an accident or get run over. Thankfully, once I caught up and called him he instantly stopped barking and came straight to me giving me his his ‘sorry mum’ expression, so I was just left apologising to the delivery driver. I thought it might have something to do with Little dog being in season but I’ve had several deliveries since, and two workmen in the house, but he’s not shown any signs of repeating the behaviour so I am a bit stumped. I have concluded that he saw something in that particular driver that he considered a threat, or the guy started running and it triggered him to chase. Either way, I now have one dog I don’t fully trust to not run out my front door, and another that I don’t trust with people generally! I have my work cut out for retraining it seems. 😞 Oh, and I may have to invest in a muzzle for Little dog just to be safe. 

My biggest blow out budget wise has been the new window. Finally all fitted and secure, it seems like quite an extravagance to be buying when I am trying to pay down debt but every time I look at it I am still super glad I did it. The style has been changed, so instead of central horizontal and vertical bars, it is now one large opening pane with just a horizontal bar closer to the top and fixed glass above it. Plus I had them fit it to the outside of the space so I now have an internal windowsill for the cat to sit on. It completely changes the feel of the room as more light comes in, the lack of bars has removed the prison-like feel and standing at the window now gives a much clearer view of the garden. Oh, and I can now fully close the window so it will save on the heating bills too!😁 It is the last window that needed doing and now they all match so I think it will have added value to the house when I eventually sell it. In the meantime I get to enjoy it. When I last looked at my budget I had put money away for the window so I was hoping it wouldn’t increase my debt, but then I started spending extra on food (all the microwaveable meals), and to be sure I had enough in cash for the window I put the shopping on my credit cards. 🫣 The idea was that I would check where I stood at the end of the month and repay the spending on the credit card but, I just haven’t looked at my budget. 😞 I know the longer it goes the worse it will be but I didn’t want to be depressed all of my long weekend so I promised myself I would start back with at least my diary by the end of today and hopefully that will inspire me to relook at the budget. 🤞

Instead, I have spent the weekend enjoying my garden! 😁 I am still building up my stamina so it hasn’t been easy but I was determined to make a start. Bending over makes me dizzy so to start with I opted for sitting down to weed instead. I still got dizzy, but being already seated made it much easier to stop and start and I got quite a large patch covered. Bit unconventional, but hey, it worked.  I then moved on to trimming back a massive climber that has been invading from next door, and today, I actually managed to dig a few holes and get a few more plants in the ground! Then, between LOTS of rest breaks, I managed to dig a trench and seat the recycled path pieces to create a length of around 10ft of edging for the path. Each piece is really heavy so I have been putting off the job until I felt better but the lack of edge is blocking progress so I bit the bullet and thought I would give it a go… I then spent 3hours laying on the sofa recovering! 🤣 At least I wasn’t asleep though, so that is progress! I am very pleased with the difference I have managed to make over the weekend, so I feel these baby steps are working, even if it does feel painfully slow. Best of all, I already have everything I need so it is currently free! Next step is to weed where the ‘bathroom’ palms are to go and get them in the ground as soon as weather permits. Honestly, I am super pleased with how they have taken off again given their near death experience just a few weeks ago, but they really are too big for the bathroom. Each plant is now pushing 4ft tall and almost just as wide, with each new leaf close to 70cms long. Given that they are sitting on tables too, it really is like bathing in a jungle now! 🤣🌴