Another breakthrough was a small park my daughter found just around the corner from our house, it is completely enclosed, has a high gate and hardly anybody goes there. Hippie goes there now and when she?s there she is let off the lead and wins her imaginary races as she runs in joyful circles until she cannot run anymore. What a beautiful sight that is. It makes it all worthwhile!!! It is not without hazard, however, only last Saturday whilst racing around the park Hippie suddenly became lame ? she managed to walk home but there was obviously a problem, her rear left paw was bleeding from between the pads. We cleaned it up but it was deep and started to bleed every time it was touched. A quick telephone call to the vet got us some advice (free, I might add) just dip the whole foot into salted warm water occasionally. It seemed to work and our girl, who cries and whines at everything, didn?t even yelp. Next morning though, she was off her food and completely unable to put weight on the foot. Also she was very listless so we decided to call the vet again. He said she should be seen but as it was a Sunday and there was an extra charge we might like to leave it until Monday. My daughter has to pay the bills remember, but she didn?t mind ? she wanted Hippie seen and we both had to work on the Monday anyway.
The vet could see the wound but was unsure if whatever had punctured the skin had broken off inside causing more pain. He said he could either try anti-biotics and painkillers for a couple of days but if things worsened or didn?t improve he would need to investigate further under anaesthetic. He gave us the choice ? no question really ? we would try the pills first.
It worked – within a couple of days she was walking again although we only took her on road walks until it healed properly.