Yesterday morning I woke up to a beautiful spring day. A few weeks ago I was shivering with winter, but now spring is here. My orange tree is soon to blossom and I can smell other spring smells in the air.
But, I was just about to walk into the shower and I saw Monty trying to go outside. When I say trying, she had trouble walking as one of her back legs wouldn’t hold her up. I called her to me and she still had real trouble. I immediately thought the worst and told JJ to quickly get dressed while I called the vet.
I told them what was up and they didn’t have an appointment for another three hours. Monty was a bit distressed and my heart was pumping fast and I of course thought the worst. I know that when dogs get older their back legs tend to go but I thought I had more time with Monty before that started happening.
She kept trying to follow me around with her very drunken looking gait and I ended up picking her up and putting her in her basket. JJ gave her some biscuits and we sat there for a bit patting her and trying to reassure her.
I got on with my jobs before the visit to the vet while wondering if I could carry a 25kg dog out to the car for the short trip to the vet.
Luckily it didn’t come to that. By the time we had to leave she was walking pretty well, with just a bit of a stiff back leg.
The vet checked her out and said that she’s okay but because of her age, arthritis could be a problem so we need her to take it easy and not take her for huge long walks.
Phew! I’m dreading the time for Monty to go and I’m certainly not ready for it now. She’s getting older though, about 11, so it will happen sooner rather than later. I think of Monty as my first child as I got her during a time when I’d vowed I wasn’t going to have kids. Now that I do have a human child, I still love having Monty around and so does my son so we want to keep her for some time yet.
While I’ve got you here, go check out some photos I’ve been taking with the Sony Ericsson phone I’m trying out.
Oh, and PS – Happy father’s day to all the dads. I tried to tell JJ that he could make me breakfast in bed but that didn’t wash.
Jen,
Get the vet to test the hip joint. Poppers’ keeps coming out of its socket but as soon as you push it back in he’s fine again although a bit stiff and unsteady for a while afterwards.
Poppers was gone 11 before we got him from the rescue centre two and a half years ago so keep hoping. A collie-cross will survive a lot longer than a pure bred!