cycas

The ones I have are these: but I think they may not fit tightly enough round the foot, as you say. I think I shall try one of them on her again before I order a set of Walkers ones, because I'm still not sure whether part of the problem is that having anything on that foot makes the bad wrist joint worse. I'll give it a go and see what she does. Why does everything have to happen to that leg Though thinking on, at least as both problems are on one leg, she can still walk OK.

Thanks Claz, it is comforting to know that I am not fussing over nothing. I mentioned the surgery thing to the vet, as someone on SWT had mentioned it to me, but she said that was unnecessary, so I'm not sure I'd be happy going back there and insisting they do it. I will put her back on the thuja pills and get some ointment as well. I might try the other vet practice round here if it doesn't clear in a couple of weeks: does that sound like a reasonable timescale for thuja treatment? Or maybe I should try the greyhound experienced vet again, but take printouts so he can see the toe in good light... I'm just a bit unhappy that I asked him and he didn't see it. I can't remember the name of the boots now but they were rather chunky things. They had neoprene legs, but I think they were a bit squarer than the Walkers ones.

Today, I fell to worrying about Mollydog's paw again (as you do). She has her dodgy wrist, which we know is arthritic, and for that she has Synflex and sometimes Metacam if it's particularly bad. I have thought for a while there was something odd about one of her toes on the same foot, and have been to the vet about it. I've seen 2 vets. One of them suggested a range of things that seemed to have no effect at all (bathing in malaseb, boots, antibiotics, wormers) she really hates the boots. Then I tried thuja pills and that did seem to make the paw better for a while. However, when I took her back to the vet, the other vet (more greyhound experienced) thought she was in no discomfort from the toe, and that her limp is down to the arthritic wrist only. Problem is that Mollydog is not a vet fan, so she scrunches herself up into the corner of the room by the door, where the lighting is quite poor. As she has usually walked through the mud to get there, this means that the view of the toe that the greyhound-experienced vet got can 't have been that great. Today I took some photos of the toe. Anyone who has experience with corns: do you think this looks painful? Should I persist in making her wear the boot (the wrist is knackered as well, so possibly having a boot on the foot making it heavier might make that worse, as it would be heavier?) Or would you just stick to the thuja? Should I try a third vet? (Or, should I get a life and stop staring at paws? )

Apparently clotted cream is lower in calories than butter! Woohoo!

Onions and leeks are supposed to be not a good idea, but pretty much everything else is OK. I find sweetcorn and peas tend to just go straight through though.

When I was at the vet yesterday, he checked out Mollydog's front wrist, which has an old racing injury and has bits of metal embedded in it. It is now arthritic, and won't fold back properly like the other one. He said that if it continued to get worse, we could consider 'pinning' the joint solid with a metal plate, which would mean it was no longer painful, but is a bit of a last resort as it would restrict the movement of the leg. Has anyone had this done for their dog? Any thoughts on how much it would restrict movement? I think it would be overkill at the mo, as she can run and walk mostly very happily, though she does limp a bit, and is sometimes in some pain - being careful of overexercising, specially on hard surfaces, has helped this a lot, and I now have some metacam to give her if the weather is wet and cold. I would like to know more for the future though, as the problem has been steadily getting very slightly worse ever since she arrived here.

None at all, but for Callie.

Could you put on a light covering of maybe a couple of layers or vetrap or something similarly breathable - just to give it a bit of protection?

Ooh, that's a thought. I can definitely find a supplier of aloe vera plants online... (goes off to rummage in bookmarks)

Vet thinks she has scratched herself very slightly on a bramble or something, then made it worse by nibbling at it. He gave me some piriton, but I didn't have any luck finding aloe vera as everything was closed by the time I'd finished at the vet and got into the town. (In case you were wondering, vet gave me that 'and you brought her in for THAT?' look when I showed him the rash. I swear it was much redder and angrier looking when I phoned for the appointment....)

Thanks Jacky. Am off to vet at 4pm. [thinks] I wonder if anywhere in Tavistock sells Aloe Vera? There is no H&B there. There is a small Boots, or a little health food shop... Alternatively, can you buy it online?

Mollydog has an area of reddened slightly scabby skin on one thigh. I think it itches a bit (though not 100% sure on that: she could be just pulling the scabs off cos she likes the taste!) It's definitely not itching badly. The scabs are small, and the area is still hairy, but visibly reddened. Doesn't seem to be causing major discomfort. Any suggestions? I'm off to the vet I think, but it looks like one of those slightly borderline small annoying things where vets are often not very helpful, so I'd like to know if anyone else has seen something similar, and what you did about it.

Did you find out what it was?

Mollydog is still staring down in bafflement at the towel...

Sorry, I really didn't mean to imply that people who didn't like children were ill! (I and my husband would both probably qualify!) It just struck me that if someone was bothered enough by the presence of anything to be making what (to me) seems like quite a big change in their daily routine that this might suggest something that deserves sympathy and respect. I usually shop in the evenings, and rarely encounter more than the odd child here and there: perhaps other areas are different, but if you felt you had to wait till midnight, I'd have thought the reason might be something more than just being a bit irritated. I mean, loads of things irritate me, but I don't make a huge effort to avoid things that are merely annoying. I just grump my way round them. No offence was intended to either side. Sorry again.

Are you sure you don't want to reconsider what you have said here? Would you laugh at someone who disliked flying, or spiders or dogs or open spaces so severely that it affected their daily life in this way? This sounds like a fairly serious psychological issue to me. 'PMSL' -is not a kindly or appropriate reaction.

Google for 'restaurant no children' and you'll find a batch of them, excluding kids under various ages, and at certain times of the evening. Google for 'restaurant child friendly' or 'kids welcome' and you'll find lots of those as well. Seems to me that there is a market for both types, and I don't really see why there is a problem with that?

There are places that aren't McDonalds and have really good chefs, but that don't do the whole silver service and starched tablecloth thing though. Personally I'd (usually) rather eat at a good comfy gastropub while wearing jeans than go to a place that was all Michelin stars and head waiters in a posh frock (assuming the food was comparable) but some people (my mother in law is one) really enjoy the formality and the being ushered to the table and having 5 sorts of fork, and that sort of thing. For a kid who has problems sitting still, I'd have thought good food in a relaxed environment would be preferable to somewhere where he could trip over a champagne cooler and fall in the lobster tank, or am I wrong?

I would have no problem with that at all. I don't particularly object to eating with children about, but their presence doesn't enhance my eating experience, and if there are lots of kids, (or one very loud one!) I'd rather be elsewhere. Effectively, anywhere that has visible play equipment on show inside, one of those strange plastic play tree things outside, or is full of toddlers already has a 'families only' sign on it to my eyes, and given a choice I would usually walk on by.

I would love to say the same, but I have a horrible feeling that I was probably one of the screaming dribbling running ones... I am not particularly fond of children, but I don't mind them eating in the same room, myself. Though now I am grown up I really don't like it when they fling things and scream. Clearly my tastes have changed with age. My impression is that the ones that do that tend to be the (noisy, hard-to-ignore) exception rather than the rule - but then I rarely go to 'family' eateries. Tis true about British children I reckon. When we had a week in Istanbul last year, there was one British family with a little boy, and as we were all doing the sights, we kept bumping into them. Must be millions of kids in Istanbul, and quite a few tourist ones, even out of season - but guess which one was the loudest?

I have a few books, but I'd like to watch a DVD or video to make sure I'm getting the right end of the stick (or maybe that she is!). (I thought about going to classes, but they are a long way - and also the only time I could go is evenings, and Mollydog just wants to sleep then. She definitely learns best in the mornings (though not too early - a dog needs her 16 hours beauty sleep... )).

Fingers crossed, and will keep a lookout.

What a great idea! I can't make it send more than a pound whatever I do though. I even tried cancelling the transaction, but it takes me back to the Subscriptions Control Panel rather than the Paypal one, so the only way I could make a larger donation would be to go direct to paypal and copy the address across, which would presumably not tie in with The Refuge system. Of course, one could make a second payment direct from Paypal, but I assume that would mean 2 Paypal fees.

No news on Orla yet? Have been handing on the description to everyone I can think of round here and got them all to put the numbers on their phones so they can call in if they see anything likely.

Me too! trainer - Victoria Dog - Mollydog, ex-racing greyhound Have clicker trained with her since I got her a year and a half ago : she was hopeless to begin with (or more likely, I was hopeless) but got better. I read a couple of books including the Karen Pryor one - had meant to go to classes but they are all such a long way away.