Friday, April 24, 2009

A medicinal day

Poor little Margaret has been limping around lately, and I assumed that the origin of her problem was her fingernails, which looked much like this. We have been unenthusiastic about trimming them because the few times we did, we resembled participants in the St. Valentines Day massacre afterwards. The quick was growing out so far that it was impossible to trim the nails without cutting into the it, creating a bloody and painful mess. So this morning Margaret and I took a trip to the vet for a manicure! (Margaret got one. I didn’t.) The vet, not our usual Dr. Heino who was out of town, was brave, and just went for it. She trimmed them a tiny bit at a time, and it became evident that the long quick problem had resolved and the quick had retreated. However, when she looked into Margaret’s mouth, she said “Yuck!” so now Margaret, having done with the manicurist, is scheduled for a trip to the dentist. She was a very brave girl and only writhed a little. When her ordeal was over, she enthusiastically wiggled and wagged to show the vet that she was still a favorite, despite the trim and physical exam. Margaret’s problem was not nails at all, by the way. It was her little hip. So she will be taking doggie ibuprofen and glucosamine.
Here is a picture of another patient getting her picture taken by her family, and a peek into Dr. Heino’s cabinet of trophies removed from doggie tummies. Note the large round brownish ball (about 2.5 inches diameter). It is a bezoar or hairball. Surely it is not from a cat!

3 comments:

bex said...

Poor Margie! You'd better start carrying her up and down the stairs!

Laura said...

It took me a few trys to take a close look at the trophy case contents-made me a little woozy at first. Glad I don't work in GI :) Hope your little Margaret is feeling better.

Unknown said...

Cutting nails on my dogs is the job I hate the most. I do it every week, a little at a time but I hate it. Luque yelps before you have even touched him!