Vet

More March Sunday Musings

~ beetleypete ~ 61 Comments

Last Monday, we drove to Fakenham to colect Ollie’s casket of ashes from the animal hospital. They were very kind there, and the casket with his name plate on it was nicely presented in lovely bag containing a card, and a certificate guaranteeing that Ollie was cremated on his own. It also gave the name of the person who cremated him and the time and date, along with a unique reference number. It was upsetting for both of us of course, but it provided an element of closure to be able to bring him back home.

—————————————————————————————

On Wednesday, Julie popped in to see the dog groomer at her shop. Kelly had looked after Ollie’s grooming needs since before he was two years old, and she adored him. Julie was given a lovely gift for us that caused her to stand and cry in the shop. The last time Kelly groomed Ollie, we spoke about the fact that it might be his final visit. Unbeknownst to us, she took a paw print of his rear paw that afternoon, and saved some of his fur that she had combed out. Then once she got the news that he had died, she had the paw print mounted in a lovely box-frame, and put the fur into a small glass jar. Then she waited until she saw one of us.

—————————————————————————————-

My plans to keep up with my daily walks were interrupted this week, when the recently serviced and repaired central heating suddenly stopped working on Wednsday evening. I contacted the repair company on Thursday, and they said they would try to get someone out to me that day if I could wait in. So I sat at home from 8am until 4pm and nobody came. Luckily, we have a wood-burner that I lit to keep the house warm. Ringing the company again, I was told that both repair engineers had been caught up on long jobs, but that someone would come on Friday. On Friday morning I rang to confirm, and was told I was first on the list once the other planned jobs had been completed. Someone eventually turned up at 3pm and fixed the fault. At least I got to have a long walk on Saturday in lovely weather, but this morning I have woken up to rain.

—————————————————————————————–

Julie is going to meet her daughters today. The twins are taking her out for a Mother’s Day traditional English Tea in their home town of Attleborough. If you are celebrating a Mother today, or you are a mother being celebrated, I hope you have a wonderful day.

——————————————————————————————

Ollie’s Last Car Ride

~ beetleypete ~ 184 Comments

In the early hours of this morning, Ollie woke us up by making some noise in the kitchen. He was breathless and panicking, and for the first time since his cancer diagnosis last December, we knew his time had come. He could not be settled, and his breathing was laboured and very rapid.

As our usual Vet does not open until 08:30, Julie rang the emergency number, and got through to Fakenham Veterinary Hospital. We spoke to the Vet on duty, and said he had to be put to sleep and we would be bringing him in. Once we were ready, I lifted Ollie into the car, and he relaxed onto his bed in the back. On the 30-minute journey he managed to calm down, as he dearly loved to ride in the car with us.

The Vet and her assistant nurse were very kind to him, and gave him treats, which he ate immediately. As there were no other animals or people in the hospital at that time, Ollie was remarkably calm. A cannula was inserted into his leg, then a rug and blankets were put on the floor in a side room. We were given time with him before the Vet returned with the medication, and both sat on the floor holding him as he was injected with it.

Once he was pronounced dead, we were given more time with him until I became too distressed to stay any longer.

We have arranged for a cremation, and his ashes will be returned to us in a couple of weeks in a small casket with his name on it.

Coming back to the house and not seeing Ollie there to greet us as usual was the hardest thing. I wanted to let you know, as I am aware that Ollie is much loved in our community.

Later today, I will reply to some comments on blog posts, but I will not be able to catch up with yesterday’s posts from bloggers I follow.

The Shortest Day: Winter Solstice

~ beetleypete ~ 46 Comments

The 21st of December is usually a dull and uninspiring day. It was still dark before 8:10am this morning, and will be dark again by 3:30pm. Today is also extremely windy, which is driving the occasional heavy showers.

I had an early start to get into the nearby town of Dereham to do some banking. The local electricity company decided that today was a good time to dig up the road smack in the middle of a major road junction in the town centre, causing traffic chaos all around.

After the bank I had to drive to the Vet’s in Swaffham to collect Ollie’s Arthritis tablets, and I could feel the car being buffeted by the wind on the main road.

It won’t be too long before I take Ollie for his daily walk, and I am looking forward to doing very little (other than cooking dinner) once it gets dark.

Ollie At The Vet: An Update

~ beetleypete ~ 122 Comments

I took Ollie to the Vet today because we were concerned about what seemed to be a persistent cough. The Vet gave him a good examination, and I was totally unprepared for the diagnosis he gave me.

Ollie has a tumour, a Melanoma in his mouth close to the base of his tongue. It is the size of a golf ball, and has been causing him to clear his throat, which we mistook as coughing. After I got over the shock, the Vet gave me three options.

1) Exploratory surgery to see if the tumour is attached by a tag, or attached all over his mouth.
2) Intentional surgery to try to remove the tumour from the outset.
3) Do nothing, and let nature take its course.

Options one and two have no guarantee of success. Even if it is attached by a tag and can be removed easily, it is likely to re-grow quite aggressively. If it is all over the area, the Vet would not even try to remove it, and would recommend not waking him up and putting him to sleep then and there.

After a discussion with Julie when I got back, we have decided to choose option three. Ollie is still happy, still eating well, and still enjoying his walks. If it comes to the point where he won’t eat, or becomes seriously breathless, then euthanasia will be essential.

So from now on he can have nothing hard or crunchy to eat, as he will not be able to swallow it. We have to monitor his eating, and look out for any breathlessness, bleeding from the mouth, or refusing to go on his walks.

There is no time window prognosis, and the Vet said it could be weeks, months, even longer.

As you can imagine, despite Ollie’s good age, this has been a terrible blow for us.

December Sunday Musings On A Saturday

~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

Tomorrow we will be visiting family to celebrate our grandson’s ninth birthday. As I will not be around on the blog that much, I am changing the day I usually post this.

—————————————————————————————

I have to mention the weather, which has turned incredibly cold. No snow yet in Beetley, but plenty further north, and in Scotland. The cold was made worse by a north-easterly wind that you can feel in your bones, (at my age, anyway) but it is supposed to turn warmer and wet sometime next week. (Relatively warmer of course, not actually warm.)

—————————————————————————————-

The sub-zero temperatures appear to have given Ollie an intermittent cough. He seems happy enough otherwise, but we won’t take any chances. So he is off to the Vet once again, next Tuesday.

—————————————————————————————–

The week has been overshadowed by attending a funeral on Thursday that involved a trip 130 miles south, close to London. But I have already posted about that, and I think everyone has seen it.

——————————————————————————————-

Not yet 3pm, still only 0C outside, with a misty view that makes it feel like night already. Winter has arrived in Beetley, and announced its presence.

——————————————————————————————–

Julie has done the food shopping for Christmas, it has been delivered, and it is all residing in the new freezer. Other than fresh vegetables, milk, and bread nearer the time, we are sorted for the three-days of over-eating.

———————————————————————————————

Whatever you are doing today and tomorrow, stay safe, and do it with a smile on your face.

———————————————————————————————

More November Sunday Musings

~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

We finally lost the crisp and clear sunny weather that I had been enjoying. On Friday evening, it was replaced by torrential rain that lasted until almost 2pm on Saturday. That was accompanied by dark skies necessitating having the house lights on by 1pm. On Ollie’s walk, the river was close to flooding again, and the mud was slippery and annoying.

—————————————————————————————

As November drags on, it is always dark by 4:30 pm now, sometimes earlier than that. But the leaves are hanging on in the Oak trees and Beech hedges. I expect to wake up one morning at the end of the month and see them all just bare branches. The biggest leaf falls tend to just happen overnight.

—————————————————————————————-

Ollie is on day five of his antibiotics for a gum infection. He is still shying away from anything hard to eat, but happy to rapidly consume the fresh chicken I have been feeding him. He was at the Vet’s on Wednesday. If you missed the post about that, here’s a link.

A Good Wednesday

—————————————————————————————–

The new fridge-freezer we had delivered this week (also on Wednesday, see link) is working very well. The fridge part is so cold, I had to turn the control wheel down on Saturday as some things stored in it were becoming ‘firm to the touch’. Julie has filled two drawers of the freezer compartment with food for Christmas and the coming week, so next week’s supermarket bill should be considerably less than we are used to.

——————————————————————————————

Whatever you are doing on this November Sunday, I hope it makes you happy.

——————————————————————————————-

A Good Wednesday

~ beetleypete ~ 69 Comments

Some days just go well. And when that happens, I think it is worth celebrating.

My first job today was to take Ollie to the Vet in Swaffham to have his teeth looked at. That went surprisingly well, it really did.

1) He was able to jump into the back of the new car for the first time. No steps were required, and I didn’t have to lift him.
2) There was no traffic, so I arrived 25 minutes early after a 12-mile drive.
3) I was seen immediately by a new Vet, despite being so early.
4) Ollie allowed her to look at his teeth without becoming angry or distressed.
5) He has a gum infection around the sockets of two teeth on the same side, and antibiotics should hopefully clear that up in ten days.
6) After a general examination, the Vet announced, “Ollie is in remarkably good health for his age. You are doing something right in the way you look after him”.
7) The bill was £125. It could have been five times that (or more) if he had needed anaesthetic and tooth extractions.
8) He was able to jump into the back of the car after seeing the Vet.

We were also awaiting delivery of the new fridge-freezer, and had been given a time window of ‘Between 12:00-14:00’. Julie is off work today, so was able to wait in while I was with Ollie in Swaffham.

1) They arrived at 11:45.
2) By the time I got home the new fridge-freezer was in place and switched on.
3) The old one had been removed, along with all the packaging from the new one.
4) I was able to relax and have lunch before getting ready to take Ollie for his walk soon.

From where I sit that’s a really good Wednesday, and it isn’t even 2pm! 🙂

November Sunday Musings

~ beetleypete ~ 65 Comments

A change in the weather after Wednesday cheered me up. It turned a lot colder, but with bright sunny days accompanied by blue skies. It felt more like the Novembers I remember from my youth.

—————————————————————————————

We had to bite the bullet and buy a new fridge freezer on Tuesday. The other one had lived in the shed for a long time, (there is a conventional small fridge in the kitchen) and being technically ‘outside’ had started to work erratically. I can’t complain, as it had worked okay for a few years, and we had been advised not to keep it there when it was delivered. So now we will have less space in the kitchen, and have to shift things around before it is delivered on Wednesday. We bought the same one that Fraggle featured on her blog this year, but had to grit our teeth when we were charged £50 EXTRA for buying it in white instead of the standard silver finish. When did ‘white goods’ start costing more for being in white?

—————————————————————————————-

Ollie seems to be having some trouble with his teeth, which is not surprising, considering his age. I had a look in his mouth, but couldn’t see anything obvious. However, he had been refusing anything hard to chew like hard biscuits, then his not-so-hard dental care stick was left half-chewed yesterday, and Julie noticed blood on the end. So he has to go to the Vet on Wednesday, piling on the expense so close to Christmas. But if it makes him better, it doesn’t matter how much it costs.

—————————————————————————————–

I had my appointment at Norwich eye clinic last week, but wrote about that on another post. If you didn’t see it, here’s a link to that.

A Long Dull Day

——————————————————————————————

Whatever you are doing on this cold November Sunday, I hope it makes you happy.

——————————————————————————————-

Ollie And His Dewclaw

~ beetleypete ~ 83 Comments

Late Sunday afternoon, Ollie was sleeping soundly on his rug in the hallway when a noise outside made him jump up to investigate. As he did so, he let out a terrible scream, like a small baby being injured.

When he calmed down enough for us to investigate, we discovered that the dewclaw on his left front leg had caught in the rug fibres, and had almost been ripped off. The wound was bleeding, and every time he tried to lie down, he caught it and screamed again.

We decided that we would have to apply a bandage to the area, in case his vestigial ‘thumb’ was compromised. For the first time ever, Ollie tried to bite Julie as she applied the roller bandage, an indication of how bad the pain was. With some cajoling and struggling, she managed to secure the neat bandage with tape, and although Ollie didn’t like the feel of the bandaged foot, he eventually relaxed.

Early on Monday morning, I rang the Vet as soon as they opened, and I was lucky to get an appointment around midday. When I went to wake up Ollie, I was amazed to see that he had not chewed the bandage off during the night, and he went out into the garden without limping.

On arrival at the Vet’s, there was a very long delay, because of earlier appointments over-running. When we saw the triage nurse she said she wanted to let a Vet examine the injury, and took Ollie into the treatment area at the back while I waited in reception. Ten minutes later, she returned with a happy Ollie, who no longer had our bandage on his leg.

He had indeed torn the claw down to the quick, but it was still attached firmly, and the digit was not affected. They had cut the claw down to the level of damage, and stopped the bleeding by applying pressure. The Vet felt that should be enough, although she had also prescribed antibiotics in case the wound became infected.

The bill for the 10-minute treatment and medicine was £101. ($130)

As a result of having to do that, my day was running over three hours late. Ollie was able to go for hs usual walk when we got home, my breakfast was eaten in the late afternoon, and my weekly supermarket big shop happened hours later than usual, causing my fiction serial blog post to appear rather late in the day. It was also getting close to dinnertime with nothing prepared, so we ordered Indian food which was delivered thirty minutes later.

As for Ollie, he is back to his old self, apparently unaware of the drama he caused by getting his claw caught in a rug.

Belated Sunday Musings On A Wednesday

~ beetleypete ~ 63 Comments

I have only just realised that I didn’t post any Sunday musings on the 23rd. I must be slipping! So here are some midweek ones instead.

—————————————————————————————

Having just got used to our newer car and starting to enjoy it, a sudden crop of warning signals appeared on the dashboard as Julie was driving to work one morning. This naturally alarmed her, seeing a large orange spanner, an orange exclamation mark, and text advising of some kind of pollution problem. So she rang the dealership. They said it was safe to drive, as the warnings were orange, not red. Then they booked it in for the next morning for diagnostic inspection. As Julie had to go to work, she took her old car, and I drove the newer car to get it checked. They examined it while I waited, and declared that it needed a part in the exhaust sytem that controlled the exhaust emissions pollution. They could fit one in thirty minutes. Fortunately, the car is still within its short warranty period, or the bill would have been almost £350. As it is a parts-only warranty, I still had to pay £44 (plus tax) for labour. We have only had the car for seven weeks, so I am hoping we don’t see any more orange lights for a very long time.

—————————————————————————————–

Talking of cars, Ollie is now starting to use the folding steps to get into the back. On a trip to the Vet yesterday, he ran up without too much coaxing. But we still have to stand either side of him, or he will leap off the steps sideways. But no amount of cajoling will make him use them to exit the car, He still insists on jumping down.

——————————————————————————————

The Vet pronounced that Ollie’s ear wax problem is greatly improved. One more week of ear-wash, and she doesn’t need to see him again for this issue. As it was a ‘return visit’ with no presciption necessary, we got a ‘discount’ on the fee. It still cost us £30 for her to tell us that though.

——————————————————————————————-

I hope you are all having a good Wednesday, wherever you are.

——————————————————————————————–