Covid and dogs with grass seeds in their paws

 Recently I succumbed to the Covid wave here in Australia, and spent a couple of weeks in bed. When I started to feel better (and was not required to quarantine), I took Peppa for a walk in a local park. It's winter here, of course, and the grass in the park was mowed and short, but I think that was the day Peppa got a seed in her paw. 

At one stage, after playing vigorously with lots of friendly pups, she lay down and didn't want to walk. I thought she must be exhausted. In retrospect, I ask myself why a healthy young pup would be exhausted by some play. Now, with 20/20 hindsight, I think she might have had a grass seed stuck in her paw. 

I'm resolved to check her paws after every outing to a grassy area.

So, she began to limp. We went to the clinic and the vet on duty checked her and thought perhaps she had broken a toe. An x-ray ensued, and it was sent off to an expert for another opinion. While we waited, we came home with a cone on her head and pain relief medication - Metacam. 

She sat around staring morosely into space, and the pain relief injection she'd been given at the vet seemed to have spaced her out so completely that she couldn't even keep her legs under her and kept swaying and sinking to the floor. Such a stressful day.

I took the cone off, because she wasn't paying any attention to her foot. And I didn't give the Metacam because I thought she wasn't in pain. (I've since been told it was an anti-inflammatory also, so I guess I should have given it.)

Back to the vet clinic a few days later, for an examination by our usual vet. He couldn't see any sign of what the problem was, but suggested an operation to open the swellings (two on top of her toes and one between her pads). It was organised for two days later.

What a relief it was when the operating vet called to say that after a long search she had found a grass seed buried in the flesh of the paw. 

So, home again with pain medication and antibiotics and instructions to keep the bandaged foot dry. Hmm...that meant no walking in our jungle of a back garden, which at this time of year is damp with dew for most of the day.

All was going well until last night when I noticed Peppa had removed the bandage and dressing. So, off at midnight to the Animal Emergency Clinic to get it rebandaged.

But what a surprise awaited us there! It was fortunately a quiet night there, so the usual offering of stressed and suffering animals wasn't as bad as it can be. And who was there?

The first Lhasa apso we have ever met! So exciting. He's a Golden, and looks a lot like Peppa, so we were very pleased to have it confirmed that she is also a Golden (which is what she was sold to us as). And the owner knew the breeder we had got Peppa from and said she's a good breeder, which made us feel even better. 

So a good ending to a stressful evening. Peppa has a nice new bandage on and we'll continue to keep it clean and dry (here's hoping) until we go tomorrow to have it checked. The vet nurse at AEC says it's healing well.

The other owner has also had a grass seed removed from his dog, so we're warned to be ever-alert after walks. He said it's because of their thick fur that they tend to pick up grass seeds.

Forewarned is forearmed.

those darned lipomas scare us

For about six months we've been worried about a lipoma in Penny's neck. We tried to be optimistic about it, but our local vet thought he should take it out. However, he decided that because it was so close to her carotid artery, he should stop the operation and we should wait and see what it did.

It's been simmering in our minds as a generalised anxiety, and when I took her to the vet yesterday to talk about her cough, of course he also re-examined her lipoma and thought it was time to consult a specialist surgeon. (We've been going to our local vet each month, BTW, to keep a check on it.)  I was concerned that it might be pressing on something in her neck and making her cough.

We were fortunate to get a specialist appointment for today.

Off we went, Penny most concerned that her worst fears had finally come true and her humans had forgotten to feed her. Of course, it was only because the specialist centre told us not to give  her food in case they operated.

Well, they did. And it was great news. The lump was a simple lipoma, not invasive, as everyone who examined it previously thought was possible.

And now she's home, having got rid of this worrisome growth. She has four more lumps that we know of,  but the surgeon examined them and said it should be okay to leave them alone.

When she arrived home, she was tuckered out, but managed to make her way to the kitchen when she heard dinner being prepared.

I cooked up a nice bowl of soft-boiled rice, carrot and chicken, and we gave her a small serving.
(Yes, you'll notice I burned the pot in all the stress of the moment, but her meal was not burnt.)

She tucked into the delicious meal and even had the energy to check around the outside of the bowl to make sure she hadn't spilled any.

During the evening we fed her the rest of the meal, in two separate serves. She certainly hasn't lost her appetite so far.

Now it's a matter of keeping her comfortable and checking she doesn't scratch at the stitches. She didn't after the last operation on this lipoma, so here's hoping.

Oh, and the cough... well, she had so many (expensive!) preparatory checks today that we now know there is some bronchitis, so she'll continue on the doxycycline and we'll hope the bronchitis will clear up.

dogs' vision compared to ours

Browsing the Dog Trick Academy, I came across a link to an interesting article about how dogs see.

I've often noticed than when something is thrown for Penny to fetch, she waits for a moment before setting off. (And how wonderful it is that many years down the track after her cruciate operation, she is able to run once again. We don't do much throwing for her, though. We're still aware she has a weakness in that leg.)

If it's a long way away, she will circle in a way that makes me think she's depending more on smell than sight.

clipper causes skin rash after surgery for lipoma

I hope you'll forgive me for yet another post about Penny's surgery, but I thought our experience might be useful information for other people deciding whether to go for this option if their dog has a lump.

We visited the vet for a check-up today, four days after the surgery, and the wound looked swollen around the stitches, which the vet said was 'serum' around the wound. It might have been the result of Penny's activity since the operation. We'll take it even more quietly for a few days until the wound is not swollen-looking. On the other hand, Penny has mostly been resting and we only go out to toilet a few times a day, on lead.

The ghastly-looking redness around the wound was most likely a rash from the clippers used to remove her coat around the site for surgery. Here's the photo from a few days ago:

 and today it is much less sore-looking:

In this photo you can see that there is no stitch at one end of the cut. The vet said he left this open in case the wound needed to drain.

Whilst reading up  for this post, I've come across a really good article at The Kerry Blue Terrier Foundation, dealing with the question of whether or not to have surgery for a lipoma.

The article discusses the pros and  cons, gives lots of case studies, and talks about other possibilities than surgery, including:
watch and wait
no treatment
liposuction
injection of collagenaze
weight loss, diet and exercise
acupressure
herbal medicines
homeopathy (not much success reported)
aromatherapy

One thing I was glad to read was that modern anaesthesia means that it should be safe for even an older dog to undergo surgery for a lipoma. I must admit this was highest in my list of worries when  we opted for surgery.