I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but Sally currently has a sorely paw, having probably stood on a piece of broken glass or similar when in hot pursuit of a cat the other day. It's taken a lump out of the side of one of her pads, the chestnut pad on her left fore paw. She's being very good about not licking it, but it's in an awkward place.
Elanor has been putting a sock over it with a plastic bag over that when taking her out, and we tried that this morning when taking her for her first thing run in the field. We're obviously not as skilled as Elanor, and it all came apart rather, with the result that the wound opened up again and started oozing.
Elanor had left some Hibiscrub with us, so we were able to bathe it when we got back to the boat. This afternoon, I tried putting a piece of gauze on the wound before binding it over with tape; that worked a bit better, but it still got a bit rubbed up. If necessary, she'll have to go to the vet, possibly ending up with a cone of shame on her bonce to stop her chewing off a full dressing.
I did wonder if we would need to cut slots for her ears through the cone, which occasioned much hilarity about the place. It's not a serious wound, just hard to heal.
We've spent most of the rest of the day printing the calendar. It takes a while to print off six by twelve sheets at 'best' standard of print, not helped by the fact that the printer is feeling its age a bit, and occasionally throws a wobbly about such a big job. This then necessitates switching it off and on again, and sometimes rebooting the computer, with the associated challenge of not losing track of how far you've got with the job.
One final query: a letter in the Independent today recounted the experience of the writer, who had wanted to pay £20 into each of his two grand nephews' Child Trust Funds. He filled in the paying in slips at his local branch of HSBC, and took them with two £20 notes to the teller.
Only to be told "Sorry, we don't take cash."
Huh?
/blur
5 comments:
More dog advice! Sorry to hear about Sallys cut paw - something I have to cope with from time to time! Pads are not "stitchable" and the best treatment seems to be to keep the wound from opening up. I put a bit of gauze (melolin) cut just to cover the wound and then wind on cohesive bandage. This is great stuff as it doesn't stick to the dogs hair but sticks to itself. I wind it round the leg and down over the paw and back up and round a couple of times , if you see what I mean. This gives protection when the dog is out but you should take the bandage etc off as soon as you come back indoors. You can buy cohesive bandages from a vet at great cost or get them from a horse food place (where they sell them as tail bandages).
Good luck!
Ann
Poor Sally, that's such a typical 'greyhound' injury!
Any amount of dog first aid advice here (very experienced!!) but I'll echo Anne's advice - we use self-adhesive melolin type dressings wherever we can. Even supermarkets sell sticky crepe-type bandages now - just be careful the you don't wind them too tight.
We have a selection of neoprene booties here too, fastened with velcro - invaluable to protecting sore feet/bandages - email me if you want a website/reference.
Give Sally a hug - she must be so frustrated if she can't be her usual high-octane self.
Regards
Sue
Ann and Sue: many thanks for your wise advice, which I've passed on to Elanor. (I did tell Sally as well, but she just folded her ears back and rolled her eyes.)
The big problem is that she's actually taken a piece out of the side of the pad; I said it's like the injury you get the first time you use a mandolin to slice veg without taking care, but Sheila says a more female example is what happens when you're shaving your toes and let your attention wander…
I'm so glad I wear a beard.
I'm sure it will heal eventually; Sue, I'll email you about bootees - Elanor's got one, but it's not very good, being completely stiff, so the paw can't flex at all.
Thanks again and all the best
Bruce
Sue: Guess what, I don't have your email address! Can you email me on bruceATnbsanityDOTmeDOTuk?
Cheers
Bruce
Bruce,
He couldn't deposit money in the bank? It must be progress.... Once upon a time you had difficulty getting it out!
I'm just being different not wanting to write about dogs :-)
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