Poorly Paw & Pawty!

As some of you will know, a major part of my outdoor activities includes trying to catch me a squirrel, or better still a rabbit. I mean, mum calls squirrels tree rats which doesn't sound altogether appetising. But rabbits, mmm...I eat rabbit & I know it's good (sorry Sunshade's Georgie!). I have not however had much luck bagging myself one of those furry friends though. And then I had a cunning plan...maybe I could pose undercover as a rabbit! Surely then I could get close to the cotton-tailed cuties then...yummy!

First I practiced chomping on a carrot. Well if it's good enough for Bugs Bunny it's good enough for me!

Yep, not bad at all. Oh, and if you're wondering why my nose is brown, its because I was erm "helping" dad paint the fence. You know how helpful us Airedales are!

I also tried chomping on some grass as I have heard that rabbits are partial to a bit of the green stuff too. Mmm, how deliciously sweet & tender.



And the final part of my masterplan was to learn to hop!



Hmm, not really. I hurt my paw. I cut it on Wednesday when I was on my walkies. It was bleeding quite a lot. Mum cleaned it up when we got home & could not see anything in it. However yesterday & this morning I was limping a lot & was not my usual perky self. Normally in the mornings I am eager to get up & out on my walk, but the last 2 days I have been quiet & subdued.

I wasn't really fussed about getting up.

I'd rather stay cosied up on the sofa. Any of my Airedale buddies will concur that this is not typical behaviour.

Everything was just too much effort (apart from eating. I'd have to be really sick to lose my appetite!)

So this afternoon we went to the vet. My friend Barney the Red Setter wasn't there today which was a big disappointment as I love seeing him. When we went in Emma the vet had a good look all over. I had also eaten yet another washing up sponge on Wednesday too you see (my 4th!) so she wanted to make sure the lethargy wasn't due to anything being blocked. All seems OK, so I guess mum will have the delight of finding that in my poo sometime soon. Well things started to go downhill after that. She only went & stuck a thermometer where the sun don't shine! Oh my doG, that was a shock. The she looked at my paw. She couldn't see anything in the cut either, but said it was quite infected. I was crying a lot when she was feeling it. When mum read up about Airedales before getting me, a lot of the books warned about Airedales having high pain thresholds & to watch that they weren't being stoic about bad pain. Well, I think I got the wimp gene in my family, because when I hurt everyone knows cos I cry like a baby! After the poking & prodding at my paw, she stuck not one but two needles in the scruff of my neck. Well it was cry me a river time then. I'm embarrassed to tell you how much of a cry baby I was. Emma said I was a total wuss & mum agreed. Thanks for the support there mum, cos we all know how brave you are when you're hurt don't we? Anyhow, Emma gave me some liver treats when she's done & we left on good terms. She said at lest I just act like a big girlie rather than snapping & biting so I think she still loves me. I did feel a bit guilty when we went back into the waiting room & there was an 8 month old Lab waiting to go in. He must have been thinking oh my doG, I do not want to go in there!!!". Sorry black Lab!

I have to take pain killers & antibiotics for the next 3 days,have my foot leaned with warm salty water (that's going to sting isn't it, gulp) and have little exercise. If I am still limping on Monday I have to go back so they can look harder at my cut to see if there is something in there. Please let me not be limping by Monday!

Still, at least if I'm house bound I'm going to have plenty of time to chat to you all at the pawty! Every cloud has a silver lining. Mum's happy too as she gets to drink all the wine as I can't drink with my antibiotics. As long as I get extra cheese that's fine by me.

Licks

Oscar x