March 18th 2022 Random Ramblings - #WhatsUp

First, for those who wanted to see a photo, here's Mam's little dog, Izabel, wearing the collar I made her, which - you may or may not remember - I did while practicing loom knitting stitches, and then put a flower I crocheted when learning how to do the crochet puff stitch on to it.  Anyway, here's Izabel:

 

 

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As you may or may not know, it was St Patrick's Day yesterday.  We don't celebrate it here.  You'd think how close we are to Ireland would mean we did, but nope.  Still, I have been joining in with some shamrock-making with the ACB Crafters.  But I don't have photos of them.  I made a crochet one and two different kinds of loom knitted ones.  I'll hopefully have photos to show you next week.

 

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My Dogs haven't been groomed since before Christmas.  They're in need of it again.  Especially Lilie, who has trouble wearing her own claws down.  However, since I had trouble getting hold of the groomer, and all groomers have a four to six week waiting list these days (and that's minimum... I've spoken to some quoting longer waiting lists) I couldn't get the dogs booked in for grooming until April.  Even then, I couldn't get them booked for the same day.  So, since Lilie needed to go to the vet for a check up before they'd renew the medication she gets for her skin irritation issues, I booked Logan in first, with Lilie the following week, and asked the vet to trim Lilie's claws.  I'll be switching dog groomers after this though, because I've found one who will come to us, but they can't do the dogs until at least June, which I also booked now.  So, Logan is getting groomed at 9:00am on April 14th, and Lilie is getting groomed at 9:00am on April 21st, and then a groomer is coming to the house to do both dogs at 10:00am (or 10:30am, if the dog they're doing before my two takes a bit longer than anticipated) on June 21st.

 

Back to this past week though, when Lilie went for her check up.

 

She was doing her happy wiggle dance while the vet was cutting her claws, despite my best efforts to keep her still.  The result being that one ended up cut a bit shorter than it should have been, and she bled a bit.  It wasn't bad, and the vet wasn't concerned.  But when she started refusing to walk on that leg on Monday, we were concerned it was worse than it appeared.  Well, it wasn't, but we did learn something we should have been told when Lilie was a couple of years younger than she now is: Lilie has a physical abnormality in her back legs called loose knees.

 

The vet here didn't tell us because he assumed we already knew.  In fact, when I saw the other vet at the practice on Monday, she acted as though I did know, and only realized I didn't when I asked what she was talking about in response to the words, "Her existing knee issue."  Because it's something that will have been obvious since she was a puppy, so with her having been almost four by the time we moved back to Wales (she's five in a little over a week) the vets here assumed her vet in Hastings had told us.

Except, they hadn't.

We had mentioned her little skippy walk to the vets in Hastings, and her habit of sometimes lifting one of her back legs for a short time, and then seeming fine a few minutes later.  But they said it wasn't anything to worry about, and gave us the impression her skippy walk was just a cute thing she did, and the other thing was her finding a new way to get attention.  I mean, Lilie loves attention.  Except, while it isn't really anything to worry about when she's only doing that, it is because of a genuine physical problem with her legs where, as I understand it, her knee joints don't fit in the sockets right, which - as I said - I learned about just this week, and is called loose knees.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, as long as she doesn't keep her paw up for more than a short time, it's nothing to worry about.  And if she's reluctant to walk on it for a day or so, all that means is she needs Metacam (which is an anti-inflammatory and painkiller).  However, if she starts doing it for more than a day or so, she'll have to go in for x-rays so they can take a close look and see if they need to do more for her.

In theory she shouldn't go beyond the needing Metocam sometimes phase at this stage in her life.  But the chances of that not being enough will increase when she gets older.  So, now she has not only the skin irritation issues for us to try and keep under control (which, by the way, are currently under control; she's still doing well with her Apoquel pills and Recicort ear drops) but also this issue with her back legs.

    

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On the subject of medical issues...

 

When I went to the dentist back in September when I had the issue with the abscess, they said for me to come back once I was healed and better so they could give me a checkup and do anything that needs doing.  But first it took a couple of weeks to heal, and then I was dealing with hospital tests, and it was my birthday.  And then... Well, you know how it goes.  Anyway, I called them at the end of last week, and the soonest they can fit me in is June 29th at 3:15pm.  Yes, really.  So I took the appointment, because I figured better to have one for a few months down the line than none at all.  I can always call them and mention it if I have an issue in the meantime.

 

Unlike Kelly, who got refered to one all the way in Swansea (the nearest city to us, and about 14 miles away) even though we have this one literally up the road, and several others between us and the one he was sent to, when he was trying to get seen by one because he was dealing with a dental issue.  Which, if I'm honest, was what reminded me I needed to call to book to see my dentist.  Well, to be totally honest, I called them first for Kelly, and only thought about booking my appointment when I was talking to them.  Either way, they said they couldn't see new NHS patients without a 111 referral (111 being the emergency number to call here in Wales for situations where you can't just wait for a doctor, but aren't in enough danger to need to call 999; 999 being our version of 911) and when we called to get that he was sent to the other dentist, and it was take that one or get no dentist appointment.

 

So... Yeah.  There's an example of the pros and cons of the NHS right there.  I'm still grateful we have it though, even if sometimes the round-about way you have to get things done is frustrating and generally incredibly slow.