Cankles, Claws and Calamities

Well, last week turned out to be slightly more eventful than I had originally planned.  You may have read my Agility Diaries post - Mina meets the A Frame and seen that I fell over (a rather ungraceful swan dive) and hurt my ankle...

The rather glamorous sounding hospital

As it turns out, my ankle quickly became very sore and swollen necessitating a quick trip to the A&E of the rather grandly named Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby.  After a bit of a wait in A&E I eventually hobbled my way to a doctor to be told that my ankle was badly sprained and that I was lucky not to have broken it!

This has meant that on my non dog-related work days I cannot wear my high heels to the office and have had to resort to my flat shoes (thank heavens for Skechers - a memento from my London commuting days - and my range of ballet pump type shoes).  It's also put a spanner in the works when it comes to Mina's agility training and general walking of the dogs. Thankfully, my poor long-suffering hubby has been walking the dogs whilst I've struggled (yes, hard to believe I know) to put and keep my feet up.

So, although I haven't been able to walk the dogs I have been able to play with them in the garden.  I can sit and throw balls and toys whilst the hounds hare around generally having a good time. Now, you may know that Mina has the nickname of canine catastrophe. She is, in my opinion, the reason pet insurance was invented (see a previous post about her catastrophic ways here) and a good example of why pet insurance is necessary. Stevie and Jasper (touch wood) seem to have escaped most of this until Saturday evening (after all the vets had closed).

Whilst enjoying chasing Mina, Jasper suddenly pulled up with the GSOD.  For the uninitiated, the GSOD is the 'Greyhound Scream of Death' and you'd know it if you heard it. I'm afraid to say that when it comes to minor pain, Greyhounds are the 'big girl's blouses' of the dog world. (Major pain, on the other hand and they seem to become a very stoic breed).

Jasper's GSOD was enough to send me hobbling at a fast pace across the garden and hubby hurtling down the stairs to see what had happened. Lord knows how Jasper did it (I was videoing him and Mina at the time and can't see what he did) but he ripped his dew claw in half, right at the top. Dew claws bleed like jiggery and trying to keep Jasper still whilst I put on a melolin pad and some vet wrap was no mean feat.

Mina counts her blessings she's not injured (for once)

As the claw was broken so high up, I ended up taking him to the emergency vet who cut it off (cue another GSOD - my poor ear drums), gave Jasper an antibiotic jab and then bandaged his whole paw.  The instructions were I was to take off the bandage on Sunday. Ha - fat chance!  I couldn't get near the bandage without more GSOD, which meant a visit to my normal vet on the Monday.

No wonder, poor Jasper wouldn't let me near him. When the vet removed the bandage (using a scalpel to slice through it), the remaining part of Jasper's dew claw came off with it, leaving him with a very bloody stump/quick.  This time the vet only bandaged part of his leg, finishing with some rather funky leopard print vet wrap, and leaving me with instructions to give him some metacam and to take the bandage off on Wednesday (today).

Jasper channels a 'flashdance' vibe

I have to say the leopard print vet wrap looks rather dapper and made it look like Jasper was channelling a 'Flashdance' vibe with ankle warmers.

So, the time has come to take the bandage off... fingers and paws crossed there'll be no more GSOD but if your windows happen to rattle around 2130 GMT you'll know why!