What a long time it is since I last put paw to keyboard! I’ve been intending to put paw to keyboard for days now but, for some reason, I just haven’t found the time. Last week I was feeling a little off colour. On the Sunday when we had been to Whyteleafe Common I was a little bit sick. Then I became a little bit loose in the bottom department and spent a few days definitely a little off colour. Even when I went to see my personal surgeon, Bonito de la Puerta, for my appointment on the Tuesday he noticed that I was a bit off colour. I had gone right off my food too and didn’t even want to steal things from the side of the road. My personal surgeon, Bonito de la Puerta, told him to stock my medication and see what happened over the course of a couple of days. So, that was that – I stopped taking Metacam (anti-inflammatory and pain killer) for pretty much the first time in my life! I did have a few weeks off Metacam after my first hip was done but then my personal doggy doctor, Michael, noticed that I was in a bit of pain on my left hip and so I went back on the Metacam. Funny really, I have been taking it all my life and yet I don’t miss it one bit. I’m not in any pain anymore and I’m quite happy not to take it. There is only one downside that I can see – I always used to take my medicine with, what many of my fans will recall, ‘Monty Meat’. Basically, they used to try and disguise my medicine by putting it on a rather tasty piece of ham, beef or chicken. Now what made him think by stopping the Metacam I would stop having Monty meat is beyond me!
Oh my woof, he can be a bit dense sometimes! I mean, my regular fans will know, he’s not very bright … about as bright as a Christmas tree with the lights off, if you get my gist! My personal surgeon, Bonito de la Puerta, had said that they should leave it a couple of days and see how I was doing but by Thursday morning he had decided that I should go and see my personal doggy doctor, Michael. We did get an appointment but my personal doggy doctor, Michael, hadn’t remembered to tell me that he was going on holiday! I get lots of messages from him on WhatsYap reminding me that my Advocate (A treatment for fleas and their larvae, roundworm, hookworm, heartworm and ear mites.) is due to be applied, or that I’m due for a vaccination, but he completely forgot to mention that he was going on holiday! Fortunately, there was another doggy doctor standing in for him and, although he wasn’t my personal doggy doctor, he did examine me. He decided that there wasn’t too much wrong with me (I think I’ll be the judge of that!) but thought that maybe the antibiotics that I had had after my operation had killed off the good bacteria in my gut and that was causing my upset tummy. He gave me some probiotics to take and some special food and said that I should be starved for a day before re-introducing food in small quantities.
It did take a few days for me to recover but, on reflection, I think that the doggy doctor was right and there wasn’t too much wrong with me. I rather liked the food that the doggy doctor had given me and I didn’t mind the probiotics either. So, after a few days I was feeling much better again. Over the weekend Daddy Richard worked out that I was rather partial to the food that the doggy doctor had given me. He complained that it is really expensive but it really didn’t matter because he was dispatched to go and buy some anyway! He came back with a different brand (his excuse was that the shop didn’t sell the one that the doggy doctor had given me but that the people in the shop had said this was very similar) which it transpired was equally as tasty. I have done a bit of Doogling about this thing about antibiotics killing off the good bacteria in my gut – it seems that it may well be true. The funny thing was that all I heard them talking about for the next few days was my poo! “Did he have a poo?” would be the first question after I had been out for a walk. “Was it runny, or is it getting back to normal?” came next! Honestly, humans are very odd sometimes … in the doggy world we don’t find any need need to discuss the state of poo – we just have a jolly good sniff of it and, if there is any doubt, a little taste. I don’t know why humans seem to find this so disgusting!!!
The good news is that I’m much better now! It was only about a week that I was feeling under the weather and I’m back to normal now in all departments! Returning to my appointment with my personal surgeon, Bonito de la Puerta. It will come as no surprise to my regular fans that he was very pleased with my progress! He said that it all felt good and that I was moving it well. The only downside was that he said we should do more of the same, i.e. restricted exercise, no jumping, no playing and nothing off lead. It is a bit of a pain in the bottom having to be attached to one of them all the time, but I suppose it is for the better in the long run! November the 11th is called Remembrance Day here in England and many people wear a poppy to remember those that gave their lives for their country. It is an incredible fact that over 2.5 million animals were also injured during what is known as the ‘First War’ or ‘World War I’ or even ‘The Great War’. It was supposed to be the war to end all wars but it is a very poor reflection on the human world that it was anything but in the end. Of the 2.5 million animals that were referred to the Army Vetinary Corps through injury, 85% of them returned to ‘active service’. Anyway, the point is that the animals aren’t mentioned so much but I wanted to do my bit of remembering, so I got him to get me a poppy too! I am wearing it with pride on my harness.
I’ve been able to walk a little further recently and have been to Bay Pond. I can’t really walk much further (well I can, but I’m not allowed to!) because I’m supposed to be sticking to my 10 minutes of walking three times a day. Bay Pond and back is a bit more than 10 minutes but it isn’t too long and I always have a rest when I get there, so I’m generally behaving myself and sticking to my restricted exercise. To be perfectly honest, I get a bit bored with walking around Salisbury Road, Dewlands, Court Road and back up the High Street. It isn’t that I don’t like it around there but there are only a limited number of places to sniff and some of the messages are a little stale nowadays. There is one other thing too though … there are some very unsociable people who walk with their doggies around there who don’t ‘pickup’. There is quite a lot of poo on the pavement and I don’t want people to think it is me. I don’t want to get a bad reputation because I always make sure that they pickup and dispose of my presents properly! I won’t leave it quite so long before I put paw to keyboard again. I couldn’t believe it but I got complaints! People kept emailing and asking why they hadn’t heard from me. To be honest, when you’re feeling off colour you don’t much feel like putting paw to keyboard and then with all the best intentions, there are things to do once you’re feeling better. Talking of things to do, I am due my midday walk now and I’m not going to miss out on that so, for now, must paws …????
