Where's Amnesty International when you need them?

I’m being tortured here – hasn’t anyone told them? Between Mum & Dad and various vets I’ve been subjected to pain and misery!

On Friday Mum drove be back to see the orthopaedic specialist in Devizes. We had a nice journey – I had my duvet in the back of the car and it was nice and sunny. It was even good when we got there as I met a very nice dog with his two owners who made a big fuss of me. Then Mum handed me over to the nurse and left.

They said I had a very big operation on my leg. It certainly hurts enough! I’ve got a bigger scar than ever now. And it turns out that the vet has cut through my thigh bone and taken a chunk out. And the bone is now held together with metal plates and bolts. This is supposed to be a good thing. Ha! The vet should try having it done to him. It’s really painful, I can tell you. AND they’ve shaved my leg yet again – just as the fur was starting to grow back nicely. And as if that’s not bad enough they’ve shaved away a rectangular patch of fur on my back. So now I look like some weird sort of punk dog. Mum took a photo of me before I had my dressing and morphine patch removed so you can see what I mean.



It was really not nice after my operation. I had to stay at the vet’s overnight and although the nurses were nice and very kind to me, they weren’t my Mum and I just wanted to go home. But Mum & Dad came and got me on Saturday afternoon. I hadn’t wanted to eat anything the nurses gave me, but Mum had bought me a bowl of chicken & pasta which I ate before we left to go home. When we got home all I wanted to do was sleep as I really didn’t feel very well at all.

I’m gradually feeling better, and am almost back to normal today, other than my leg still hurting. I am doing my best to use it though. And I heard the nurse tell Mum I had to stretch it, so I try and do that too. And the good news is that I’ve finished my antibiotics, as they were upsetting my tummy.

BUT – I’m not allowed out for 3 whole weeks! And if I go out in the garden I can only go out on a lead. Which means Mum or Dad have to come with me so I can’t really stay out very long and can’t have a good sniff around. And today Mum has even put paper up over the patio doors so that I can’t see out.

So, first they inflict lots of pain on me (for the THIRD time) and then they keep my under house arrest and don’t even let me see out of the window. And that sounds pretty much like torture to me. Mum’s even saying I can’t have all of my Christmas presents! It’s not fair! What have I done to deserve all of this?

Well, anyway, I hope you have a nice Christmas, even if I’m going to be deprived!

Oh Poo!!

I’m really grateful to Gypsy for teaching me that phrase. It’s a really useful phrase. And this is an Oh Poo Week. Monday I got carted off to see this specialist vet – it was miles and miles away. I seemed to be in the car forever! Talking of which, I’m refusing to get in that car now – I’ve worked out that every time I do end up at the vet being pulled about.

So, we get to the vet and waited around to see him. There was a nice black lab in there, but he didn’t seem to want to say hello to me, so I kept persuading Dad to take me outside for a sniff around while we waited. The vet was very nice – we were with him ages while he talked to Mum & Dad and looked at the photos of the bones in my leg (people take photos of the strangest things, if you ask me – I mean, who would want a photo of the bone in my leg?). Then Mum put me up on his examining table and he pulled me around again. And it really, really hurt, I can tell you.

After that Mum & Dad left and the vet (who’s called Ian) took me through to their hospital, where I and to wait around all day as I was the last dog he saw. Anyway, not content with the photos he already has of the bones in my leg, he took some more!!! Which involved yet another anaesthetic. Hey! Hasn’t anyone ever heard that too many anaesthetics can be bad for a little dog?

Well, I thought I was going to have an operation, but when I woke up I was just the same. Turns out that agreed with Mum & Dad that they would take me back on Friday. Apparently my operation might turn out to be bigger than he thought.

So tomorrow, I’ve got to go through it all again!!! I don’t suppose I’ll write anything for a little while now while I get better, but I’ll try and let you know how I get on before Christmas.

Otherwise Mum took me over the Heath for a walk yesterday. I haven’t been there for months. It was so good, and it was nice and warm and sunny too. And I met a really nice young dog that I was allowed to have a bit of a play with. I was pretty tired and my leg hurt when I got home though. Still, it was worth it.

I got a present!

I had a present today – it came all the way from America, especially for me! It was a really, really tasty dog biscuit in the shape of a bone. Mum opened the parcel, and as soon as I smelt it I went over and pestered her (oh, well, alright then – jumped all over her) until Dad took it off her and let me have it. Mum had wanted to wait until Christmas until she gave it to me!!!

Anyway, it was an extra special yummy biscuit, as you can see.







And even the packet it came in was really tasty…



So thank you very much Audrey. Plus there was a really nice picture of a horse in with it from Mari (cos I really like horses – I nearly got to see the ones on the Heath the other day, but I couldn’t quite get to them, and they wouldn’t come over to see me).

The other big news today is that Mum says she’s had something through the post from this specialist that I’m going to see. The vet had phoned her yesterday to say we had an appointment on Monday. But Mum says she has to leave me with the specialist all day, and that they might operate! I wasn’t expecting that. I thought I’d have to go back later. This afternoon Mum took me with her when she went to the vet to pick up my Xrays, and they confirmed that the specialist normally operates the same day. I’m not looking forward to that again. But it would be nice to get my knee fixed. It’s been hurting more a lot recently, especially as Mum is now giving me less meds at night. And it would be really, really nice to go for a proper walk again and to be able to run around and play with other dogs.

How much is that doggie in the window?

I’ve got a new place to sit! (although I’d better not be for sale)



It’s great – I can lie in the sun there and look out the window. Which means that I can see what those pesky cats next door are up to. Usually it involves them strolling around the drive like they own the place. Sometimes they stop and take a drink from a puddle just to wind me up! I tell you, one of these days I’m going to find a way to get out there – then they’ll know it!

Anyway, back to my window. It’s always been there, of course, but I’ve never been able to get up there. But Mum has let me back up on the sofa’s this week (she’s made me a step so that I can get onto the sofa in her sitting room easily). From there I go onto the arm of the sofa, and then onto the top of my crate (which kept bending down, so Mum has put a board over the top of it for me, and then onto the window sill. You can see what I mean in this photo.




And not only that, but I've been allowed to sleep on the sofas at night too. How good is that?

This last week I’ve had a whole week where I haven’t had to go and see the vet. My leg hurts quite a lot sometimes though – Mum thinks it might be the cold weather. Then at other times it doesn’t seem too bad. But the good news is that Mum & Dad have taken me for a few short walks. I’ve mainly been to the Country Park, and once we went to the heath (where a very rude spaniel bit me on the nose!). We don’t walk anywhere near as far as we used to, but I get to see somewhere different and there are lots of good places to sniff where we go. It tires me out though, so I tend to sleep quite a bit afterwards. I think that’s why Mum takes me.

I still don’t know when I’m going to see the specialist. My new vet had to wait for my Xrays, and the old vet never sent them. In the end Mum went and collected them herself then took them to the new vet. I don’t expect I’ll get my leg fixed until after Christmas now. If I get it fixed at all that is. Mum has seen a new picture that she wants, and Dad said it was that or getting my leg fixed. When he asked me what I thought I voted to get my leg fixed.

Talking of Christmas, Eric and Pat came for an early Christmas lunch yesterday – I was soooo excited. Although I wasn’t quite so excited when I found out that Eric had forgotten my Christmas present. Mum says I’m the little dog Santa Claus forgot! And after I gave him a present too!

And hasn’t it been cold? It was all frosty here over the week-end (we didn’t have any snow). I didn’t think it was very funny when I found that my big drinking bowl in the garden was frozen. Every time I tried to lick it my tongue stuck to it! Dad took the ice off it for me, then the next thing I knew it was frozen over again.

Well that’s about it. I had a walk earlier so I need to get back and have a snooze now, especially as Mum has put the heating back on.