Yet Another Journal

Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans,
cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of.

Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net
. . . . .
. . . . .

» Sunday, July 18, 2021

"I Do Not Like the Cone of Shame"

Tucker and I have had an "adventure" this morning. Neither of us liked it very much. Anyway, I was finally feeling well enough to take Tucker on the longer walk we were used to. In the last couple of weeks, with the headcold and other things I had only been taking him out front of the development, and walking back and forth under the trees (really, what I don't want to do is be out in the sun; I hate the sun—it hurts my skin). This morning it was cloudy and relatively cool, so we went across the street, walked all the way to Sandtown Road, then turned around and walked all the way down to the day care. Tucker had a happy time sniffing and marking things he hadn't marked in weeks. When we came back across the street, I decided to do one "extra lap" by walking the sidewalk in front of the neighborhood one more time. Well, immediately after we finished the "right" side (going toward Sandtown Road), Tucker plopped down on his hind end and started chewing frantically at his right hind paw. I checked it out and didn't find anything sharp between the toes. Nothing was bleeding. It did, however, almost look like the pad of one of his toes had been pulled off. That toe was very pink. So I sort of half carried him/he half limped home and I got things out to treat the leg and wrap it, and then, since I knew he'd chew at it, I would get the Elizabethan collar we had for Willow that's still in the hall closet and put it on him.

James had to hold him still so I could treat him. Checked the foot again, probing with my fingers, no sharp anything in there, no bleeding, just the one toe looking really pink. Put some alcohol on it, nonstick gauze, and tape. James let him go so I could get up to get the collar. He had the bandage off before I could even get off the floor. Tried it again, and was stupid enough to think that a better antiseptic would be Betadyne. Again the nonstick gauze, this time with Coban tape. Once again, he had it off before I could even get off the floor.

Not to mention he knocked the Betadyne bottle over and left a third of it on the rug.

Third time's the charm. I went back to the alcohol, yet another nonstick gauze pad, and I wrapped the Coban up around the hock, too, and this time sent James for the collar so I could admonish Tucker to "leave it!"

Guess what was not in the hall closet like it's been for years. 😠 😡

Now if James wasn't working this morning, it would have been the simplest thing to tell him to watch Tucker, command him "leave it" when he went after the bandage, and I could just trot off to Petco for a new Elizabethan collar. But he is working, which means answering the phone and working his laptop, not watching the dog. If he got a call, it could mean the end of another bandage.

At my wit's end, I called Alice, who's the closest by, since I knew her dog Cinnamon might have had one. Luckily she was just leaving breakfast for church and could detour all the way back to her house to get Cinnamon's Elizabethan collar for us to borrow. Thank you, Alice, and I hope you weren't too late to church!

Cinnamon is stockier than Tucker, and you should have seen him trying to get up the stairs with the collar on. He normally walks with his head down, so he kept bumping against the steps with the edge of the collar, and then when he got to the main level, he was bumping against the furniture. I gave up, and now that James could concentrate on his work and not have to watch the dog, I went to Petco and got Tucker his own collar. This one's a little smaller than Cinnamon's. He still bumps into things, but not as badly.