Hell Hound

We went back to the vets.

Given that her foot clearly was causing her pain, it was perhaps inevitable that she reacted badly to having it poked again. Personally, I would have expected growls and an attempted arm removal, but this vet was more optimistic than I.

I like this vet a lot as she is not just knowledgeable about cats and dogs, but is also very open to owner research and holistic medicine. However, I find holding a conversation whilst looking at her quite hard. She is crossed eyed. Perhaps she had trouble focusing on Lila's menacingly bared teeth....

After a swiftly terminated poke, a large muzzle was provided. Sadly, Lila is adept at removing them and the poking ceased almost as quickly as it commenced. Lila was simply not having her foot touched and that was that.

We decided that the best way to proceed was to knock her out. A large hammer was found and we repeatedly hit her on the head until she passed out.

I may have made that last bit up.

We made an appointment for the following day. Lila was duly starved and returned to the vets the next morning. She hopped out of the car with a surprising amount of glee for a dog at the vets again with a sore foot.

Things didn't start promisingly.

Lila refused to climb on the weighing scales. Last time she was weighed she was 37 kilos, but that was a little while ago and without an accurate weight, giving her anaesthetic would be problematic. It was decided to go ahead with a sedative and weight her later.

A puppy had been brought in as an emergency. She had constipation and was howling mournfully as she underwent repeated enema's.

Lila was supposed to be getting sleepy, but instead she was getting agitated by the puppy's cries. We were taken to an empty consulting room where I sat on the floor with her and helped her give in to the effects of the sedative.

The idea of the sedative was to relax her, weigh her, walk her through to the X Ray room and lightly anaesthetise her.

The best plans are those that work. This plan had a fundamental flaw which was very quickly discovered. Lila had been given a leeetttllleee too much sedative and was not going to be walking anywhere.

After crapping all over the floor, Lila fell into a deep slumber from which she was reluctant to stir. One well known problem with this sedative is that dogs can appear to be deeply asleep, but can come round extremely quickly, bite whoever is nearest in their confusion, and then drop off into another snooze. Sleeping Beauty was therefore muzzled again.

(I wish they had told me about that before her spay and hernia repair. That would have saved me some nice facial bruising.)

So Lila was carted off the the X Ray machine on a stretcher. No anaesthetic was given as she was so out of it. I picked her up no more than two hours after I left her.

She spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake and failing miserably. She would start to chew her bone (a bone that Zach covets and is not allowed) and fall asleep mid chew. Zach would pinch it with glee and sneak away for a quiet chew.

The upshot of all this drama?

The stupid bloody dog has a broken toe.