Our day begins as usual until Spike’s boo-boo.
(Today’s photos are a collection of photos that didn’t make the cut for previous posts. The lighting is weird in some of them because they were taken very early in the morning, and they aren’t edited.)
Spike, as you know, is a tough guy.
Nothing scares him. Well, thunder does, although not as much as it used to, and then there are The Nail Clippers. Bridget is as nonchalant about having her nails trimmed as a lady at a salon having a pedicure.
Not Spike. He acts like I’m going to cut his legs off.
Therefore, I don’t clip Spike’s nails often.
It’s too dang difficult. The only way I can accomplish the task is to catch him when he sleeps, and then I only can manage one at a time, because he wakes up furious with me.
He snarls and bares his teeth at me!
Fortunately Bridget, Spike and I walk over enough rough terrain that his nails are filed down naturally, except for the dew claw. I’m talking about the claw higher up, on the inside of the foreleg. And that’s a tough position for stealthy clips. Plus one of them is black so it’s not something one can do in haste. Anyway . . .
This morning while I’m outside and Spike’s inside, I hear him yelp.
I run inside and find him licking his paw around that dew claw which obviously has broken off badly to the quick. I assume he’s in pain, although it’s always hard to tell with Spike.
I give him a half-tab of Bridget’s pain medicine.
Okay, this is where I’ll raise the ire of any veterinarians or vet techs who read this blog. Sorry. The crew and I don’t live an ordinary life. We aren’t always in an area to run to a vet when an accident occurs. For that reason, I save pain pills.
Yes! I admit it! I know you’re supposed to throw them away and you’re not supposed to give medications to one dog that have been prescribed to another dog.
Well, I do it anyway.
Bridget and Spike are about the same weight and breed. Whenever one is prescribed pain meds, like when Bridget tore her whatchamacallit in her rear leg chasing a chipmunk, I try to get as many pain pills out of the vet visit as possible. Then when there’s a minor emergency involving pain — such as a nasty thorn removal, insect bite, or nail broken off to the quick– I can offer some relief.
And, if the injury is major, God forbid, I can alleviate the pain until we arrive at a vet’s office, which may take several hours depending upon where we’re camped and the time of day or night.
Back to Spike . . .
The pain med does the trick. He stops pestering his paw and acts normal . . . Spike normal, that is. He takes a long nap in the dog bed by my chair as I read a book. We don’t take our usual long walk and short walk — just a very short walk — and we stay around camp all day.
At supper he’s jumping around, barking at me to hurry it up with the food already, so that’s the happy conclusion of another episode in the life of rvsue and her canine crew.
Posting is difficult today.
The connection drops frequently. Internet signal is weak here among all these hills and mountains. If it weren’t for my Wilson antenna, I wouldn’t have any signal at all.
Hope you don’t mind . . . I’m going to make myself some hot tea, climb into bed with the crew, and read some more of my book!
rvsue
THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING AMAZON HERE!
As always, I appreciate it.
“REAR VIEW MIRROR”
February 20, 2012, the crew and I are boondocked in the Sonoran Desert near Ajo, Arizona.
