Friday 7 November 2008: When the mother sighs

Just a quick update. I’m waiting for Chris to come back from his walk so that I can leave for Salisbury. I’m all packed & bag is in the car.

We have had a dreadful week with Jez. She picked up a bit Wednesday and then yesterday, as instructed by the vet, we gave her two of her ACP tablets. She was quiet for an hour and a quarter and then we had all sorts of problems with her. She was up and terrified. She was jumping up, backing away, running round, trying to eat the dog gate, an airer, and the furniture. She ripped by patio blinds and pulled some of them down. And she tried to eat the window. Oh and once again she kept pooing, so we were following her around with a scrubbing brush and toilet roll. Although she slept most of the afternoon and evening she wouldn’t go to bed and Chris had to sleep downstairs again. I took some video of her in case I had to show the vet. If you want to you can see it here.

Today she has recovered and we’ve been back to the vet where she’s had her stitches out. The good news is her leg has healed nicely and the pins have not moved any more. She is using it a lot, which pleased the vet. And eventually we managed to convince her (the vet) that the ACP tablets did not suit Jez and that she had an extreme reaction to them. So now we have some valium for her, although she’s been asleep most of the time since we got home, so she hasn’t had one yet. As I haven’t read any horror stories on the web about these, and as they appear to suit staffies, we’re not expecting any problems. I hope not as Chris will be on his own with her until Sunday afternoon. Fortunately we can start walking her next week – two 10 minute walks a day (although we add in standing around and sniffing time).

Not much to say about me other than the fact that Chris and I are now shattered and emotionally drained – sounds stupid but it’s true. I’m hoping that it’s all downhill from here on in and that our problems are over.

I’ll leave you with a photo of Jez from this morning. The caption reads:

"What Mum? You said I wasn't allowed on the sofa. But you never said anything about the coffee table, and I thought Dad had put those cushions on there so that I could get up and lie in the sun!"