It’s a dog’s life
Penny had a quiet morning yesterday.
The poor dog didn’t know what was ahead of her but then ignorance is bliss.
After lunch Daughter arrived and clipped Penny’s nails. Daughter is the only person who can do this and anyway it’s a good way to get her to visit. The nails were clipped and there wasn’t too much blood. Penny didn’t complain. Much.
Later I dressed Penny in her harness which is usually a sign of an impending walk and, with luck, a feed of chicken in the coffee shop. She trotted out to the car but decided she didn’t want to jump in. This was too bad as I had made an appointment with the vet and there was no point in my going without the dog. I picked her up [which she violently hates] and dumped her unceremoniously on the back seat. She didn’t complain. Much.
We arrived at the vet and I parked the car in the only available spot. When I got out I realised I had parked straddling a deep and very muddy lake. Penny had to jump into it to get out of the car. She doesn’t like water but she didn’t complain. Much.
We had a bit of a wait at the vet and Penny kept trying to make her way to the exit. Our time came and Penny made a bolt for the door. I dragged her into the surgery where the vet gave her a through overhaul, prodding her spine, checking her muscles and manipulating joints. Penny didn’t complain. Much. The diagnosis is straightforward enough – Osteoarthritis has strengthened its grip and apparently Penny is in constant pain, or at least a lot of discomfort. She never complained about it though. At all.
We left the vet with Penny full of some new wonder drug and a drop of painkiller. When we got to the car I remembered the muddy lake. Bugger. Penny didn’t want to wade into it so I had to use some gentle persuasion. She made a leap for the back seat of the car and missed. She slid unceremoniously out of the door and landed on her back in the muddy lake. We were both drenched. I cursed and Penny gave me a dirty [muddy] look. I picked her up [with some difficulty as she was now coated in mud] and tossed her into the car. She didn’t complain. Though at this stage I think she was in shock.
We eventually arrived home with some difficulty as they have closed off my favourite return route [until March? What the fuck?] so the diversions brought me half way around the county.
She is showing signs of a glimmer of forgiveness today.
I haven’t the heart to tell her we have to repeat the whole process for injections every month from now on.
“wasn’t too much blood.” You did not say whose.
Following your posts, it is obvious to me that your time is fully taken up with other things. Yet you very seldom grumble, much.
Which makes me even more grateful for your posts, for shepherding Martin Scriblerus (which is delightful bunch of individuals, all different) and doing the Raccoon archive, (A beautiful lady. I wonder how Gordon is doing?) as well as keeping alive the memory of Raedwald and Frank Davies, both of whom I followed keenly.
All power, or Powers, to your elbow. Thankyou.
“You did not say whose” Penny’s!
Life here is a case of adventurous tedium, or even tedious adventure. Life keeps throwing up little snags [like a leaking roof or q sick dog?] so that keeps we well occupied.
The Raccoon Archive and Scriblerus are both projects that required a lot of work at the time but are now just static sites. The latter is changed only when a member is added [or removed], while the former is locked down despite numerous requests for “guest posts” [which get binned].
For some reason, I think of Gordon quite often. My admiration for the man is stratospheric!
I used to read Raedwald too and, after the posts had stopped for a while, had assumed that he might have died suddenly. In a way it’s a nice thing about t’interwebs that often a site lingers on, gently gathering virtual dust, long after the owner is gone. The Whited Sepulchre (thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com) is still there more than seven years after The Last Blog Post – “Don’t Be Safe”.
PS: probably best not to clip Penny’s claws immediately before the next trip, she might make an association…
One of the problems with these sites is that no one can announce their own demise [unless they intend to do the job themselves]. Sites just go silent and if no one knows the author in “real” life, we are all kept guessing.
If the jag she is getting is Librela, then I can highly recommend it. Our nearly 14 year old mutt Tilly (she is a shaggy, Lurcherish cross BTW), has been on these monthly jags for some time. The effect is cumulative and should make Penny’s mobility much better, if Tilly’s experience is anything to go by. She is now bouncing around again at the merest hint of a walk. More, but shorter walks will be the order of the day though. I do wonder why I can’t get a similar monthly injection sometimes though?
I hope she gets the same lift in her mobility that Tilly has.
Look after yourself.
That’s the very stuff. It seems to be a magic potion all right with rave reviews everywhere and she’s down for the full course. In addition she’s on Calpol twice a day [3.4ml – they are very specific] which she quite likes.
Our Penny is a strange mix. She has the head and legs of a Lurcher all right but the rest of her belongs to something much larger. Her coat is partly silk and partly shaggy. But I wouldn’t have her any other way….