much improved

the paw is much improved. It's starting to heal over - you can see it - although we still have to have the sock-freezer bag-sock combo every time he goes out. Since it's wet today tit doesn't all stay on very long...sigh

still fighting

we had a great workout yesterday, holding Murphy down while his bandage was - finally - removed! a bit of snipping to remove some hair, some cleaning to remove the gunk buildup, lots of panting and flailing around to put on a new, lighter pad-thing (held on with micropore - that'll never last) and more holding-down while his new doggy boot was added on top. Phew! A good job well done.

Progress - the new pad and doggy boot were swiftly despatched when richard took him out and let him off the lead. He disappeared for 25 minutes while I waited at home, juggling dinner on a timescale til I got the good news that he was back (and the bad news that the paw was now free to the air - and the mud)

So we're now on standby doggy boot and have given up on the pad thing. He seems to be surviving!

the dog with the sore paw...

seems to be much improved. He bounced round the track this afternoon and disappeared off into the woods... to return eventually, tearing round the corner, sans sock and plastic bag, bandage literally black!

eek!

back to the vets

as you can see I've now found the wire! so here's poor old Murphs in his latest injury incarnation. His painkillers have worn off at the moment he's on a downer and has retired to bed now.. more pills in the morning!

Life according to gizzy

My "free" afternoons have started - free from paying work, that is! now I can tackle all the non-paying things that need to be done (hmm)

Gizzy's take on it all is, typically enough, to see it as a great opportunity to get fed more often! but I'm holding out - she's sitting on the table as I do this, staring me into submission. It ain't going to happen, sister!

updates

well we've been back to the vets and the good news is his ears are now tickety-boo so we can get rid of the eardrops.

The bad news is he's got a fresh bandage on his paw - I had to hold him down as she slit the old one off and he was flailing around - he got free just as she was unwinding the padding underneath and ripped it off with his teeth - I bet he's been dreaming of that all week! It's very clean so all good but had to put another one on - boo! Now he's got to last til Monday with this one. And of course keep taking the tablets...

more battles

..and that's two - hoping there won't be a third. It was like Animal Hospital round our place on Sunday - poor old Murfs managed to slice part of the pad of his paw completely off! We don't know how, there was no glass or anything around but he was away in the woods so it could have been anything.

We were at one of Emily's horse shows so we stopped at the burger bar for lunch before we ended up taking him home to the emergency vet cos it wouldn't stop bleeding - I think we were getting a reputation for cruel and heartless owners given that we were standing enjoying a burger while Murphy at our feet was bleeding. To be fair we didn't realise it was so bad til it was still bleeding when we got home.

45 minutes at the vets later we arrived home laden down with disgruntled dog (head in lampshade again), MORE painkillers and MORE antibiotics!

I was going to post a photo of him, head in (badly beaten) lampshade and yellow-and-green bandage on foot, looking VERY sorry for himself.. but I've lost the cable to get it off the camera.

Then the cat decided to get in on the act that evening and threw up everywhere - out of sympathy I presume (or a desire to put a spanner in the works of me serving dinner, one of the two)