Took Kaiser the pointer and Paddy the springer for a walk in Hanchurch Woods this morning – they did their usual crashing through the undergrowth chasing birds/rabbits etc.

When I got back did my usual hose down of the undercarriages (theirs not mine!) and the springer had picked up a 2 inch gash next to his plumbing- bit of blood but not loads.

He then jumped in his basket and must have aggravated the blood vessel and we had something out of Saw 3- a total blood bath so off to the vets- £300 later hes now asleep on the sofa and I cant take him for a walk or ride for 10 days!!

10 days for a working springer with no exercise- any ideas- will he like a jigsaw or a crossword do you think?

Nasty, I hope the little dude recovers soon.
Probably better with a jigsaw too.

Not the Black and Decker type obviously 😉

can’t you put something in his breakfast to sedate him until he recovers?

I don’t envy your task of trying to keep a springer still, be grateful it is only ten days. has it got a collar to increase the area of destruction as it gets cabin fever?

My cat earlier this year.

Yep got the full lightshade look going on- I suppose it will be worse as the pointer will still be going out and coming back with tales of ripping kids faces off and everything 😉

By eck mrmo that looks gruesome- my missus thought it was really funny that I was a bit squeamish while she was parting the flaps of skin- mind you she is a midwife!!

Leads me to a thought, I know my insurance would be void if I had an off on my bike. How does it stand for a trail hound with pet insurance. Hope the little fellas ok soon.

£300? Blimey, how much is a new one? 😉

.

We are insured so will ‘only’ be £75- kayak not sure if the kids would buy into just getting a new one!

I always run my greyhound on an enclosed field before going out for a walk, one morning he slips and falls in full flight and screams and howls endlessly. Panic ensues, carry him to emergency vet. Fractured hock and snapped tendons. £2k and counting for surgery and treatment. The accident was over a month ago and he’s still in a cast, a long way to go.

Seriously expensive walk 🙁

Wishing Paddy a speedy recovery!

Tbh he’s absolutely fine now and didnt make a noise even when the missus was trying to clean him up- I reckon springers are as hard as nails (or stoopid)

Mortu2k- £2k blimey -I hope you have insurance and wish a speedy recovery to your fella

Fred sends healing vibes.

LOL every time I see a dog with one of them on I want to pull its tail to see if its head lights up 🙂

Hope all your pets heals quick 🙂

Get a dog-it mind game, I use these everytime mine have to be crated – or lend them to friends.

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=1347&pf_id=56549

– Hide and Seek
– Teach him the names of toys and get him to go fetch them (or slippers, newspaper etc)
– Play cup and ball game
Teach some paw work (wave, cry, hide, raise paws….)

My springer got ran over (my fault)- spinal surgery on 3 vertabrae to relieve pressure caused by numerous discs pressing on the chord – they said when we took him home 3 days later “dont worry he doesnt need a collar he will be far to sore to move” woke up next morning to find him on the sofa with 3 staples pulled out his back – how the hell he did this i have no idea.

We had to carry him out to relieve himself for about 2 weeks (actually had to massage his bladder to get him to urinate. After that he had his ball removed from the top of his thigh bone – femoral head excision is what they call it. Another 2 weeks of no moving.

It was a total nghtmare but thanks to water therapy and his single mindedness for tennis balls hes made about an 80% recovery. Bit of a limp and has a bit arthritis in his spine but other than that he is champion. Thankfully insured as the bill was £4000 ish at last count.

All these stupid vets bills, are they only this high as vets know that most loving owners will have insurance?

The older my dogs get the more I want to self insure, it’s now past £50 a month for the two of them, fair enough one is stupidly inbred & needs a lot of vet time, but because of the excess I haven’t claimed since she was a pup, the other circa £20pm has never had a claim.

I think it’s just getting silly & going the way of the ambulance chasers, I just can’t see the value.

My Collie has done a disc in her back, she made a horrible noise when it went 🙁 rest for the last 2 weeks and currently short walks. She was on diazepam for the first two weeks which stopped her wanting to chase tennis balls, but now she is off them it’s a bit more difficult!

On the vet bills front, they are pets and the costs get charged that way. Horses for the same operations are nowhere near as expensive, possibly because they are seen as working animals rather than pets.

We have been thinking the same about pet insurance, currently £65 a month for 2 dogs and 2 cats! We have talked about putting the money in a bank account instead just incase they ever need repairing!

I’ll second Rickon’s mention of the mind games, I have the one he lent me *waves to Rickon* as my collie is healing. It takes the edge off his boredom but anyone in this situation has my sympathy!
An intelligent active animal which gets bored quickly finds ways to amuse itself – usually by slowly destroying something expensive. 6 weeks of “rest” and counting now hopefully only a couple more to go. I’m wondering if we will have any carpet left by the end.

dhamstrong – one of my collies slipped a disc too. The most important thing is to rest her. If you can, crate her. At a minimum of 6 weeks before any exercise at all. I can’t stress how important it is not to rush into exercise again – it’ll seem like you’re being cruel to her – but a few weeks of an unhappy dog is better than a lifetime of treatment.

We didn’t exercise Pip for about 2 months, and she’s made a 100% recovery and is back to chasing balls and coming out on rides.

*waves to Earl_grey* I will pop over this week and see Noodles…. and you 🙂

In two years our daft pointer has had three major incidents due to crashing about: broken ribs, inhaled grass seeds, and puncturing her retina with a thorn. Luckily she is insured.

All these stupid vets bills, are they only this high as vets know that most loving owners will have insurance?

No, that’s just how much it costs. Becoming a vet means being an A+ student at school, then spending five years working pretty hard to get a degree. Despite the apparently high vets bills, the wages are still pretty crappy.

I think you’d be pretty shocked if you saw how much treatment for people costs if it wasn’t hidden by the NHS.

Thanks rickon, encouraging that a full recovery is possible. Vet wants short 10 minute walks 3 times a day. That is all she is getting despite her claims to be fully fit.

Will look into the mind game thing

Minds games definitely 🙂 Pip was on them while inactive, being a collie they need the mental stimulation more than the physical tiredness. You can really knacker a collie with some mental exercises.

Other things I suggest while poorly:

Naming toys and asking for a retrieve of said toy, this assumes you have a solid retrieve – if not, work on a good solid retrieve, which will take you a couple of weeks.

Take that further to retrieving a pair of items – i.e. a pair of slippers, one at a time.

There’s a few other inactive tricks you a teach – paw work is a good one, but I’d avoid anything too active that could put pressure on the spine – i.e. sits, downs, stands.

It is tough, but you have to keep thinking you’re being cruel to be kind. If you slipped a disc you definitely wouldn’t go out and play Ultimate Frisbee everyday, so why should your dog 🙂

Here’s a photo of Pip to cheer you up, she’s 8 now and is more fit than most 3 year old labs:

Here’s mine after 7 days with a cone of shame

The vet gave us a couple; as he was amused/surprised as not many dogs work out how to break them

10 Days no exercise! You’re lucky we have a month of no ecercise and being caged for a few weeks too. She’s back to beating and field trials and better than before!

Get well soon!

Ritalin*

*hope he gets better quick 🙁