a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: *#&@%! and Other Choice Words

Sunday, April 25, 2010

*#&@%! and Other Choice Words

SUMMARY: Not now, Tika, no injuries!
This morning, warming the dogs up out in the extra soccer field, I thought I saw Tika limping after chasing Boost down the field. She stopped to sniff at a gopher, and I watched her carefully, and saw nothing else. Wouldn't that just suck, with 3 weekends in row of agility and nothing for 2 more months, and her doing so well, for her to come up injured halfway through the 2nd weekend?

I looked at her feet just in case she'd picked up a burr or a foxtail or something, but nothing.

Before coming home from the trial, running the dogs on the lawn with a friend, I commented that Tika didn't seem to be as fast today in competition as last weekend and maybe the novelty had worn off (no competition for over 2 months, almost no agility classes, then 4 whole days of agility! Wahoo! But now, been there, done that).

This evening, i realized she was lying on her bed, licking at her ankle area. Upon closer examination, I see that she has sliced off a penny-sized flap of the carpal pad on her right front foot. But not cleanly off; it's like a flap.

It's not bleeding, doesn't seem particularly sensitive to the touch, doesn't look dirty or jagged.

I've slathered it with neosporin and put vet wrap around it--which I suspect she's now off in a corner carefully removing--and now I have to decide whether I want to spend a chunk of $ and a couple of hours to have the vet look at it in the next day or two. I don't think I want to try to snip off that flap of skin on my own; I'm afraid it's still "live."

And I don't know whether that means she shouldn't be running next weekend.

This sucks.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Ellen,
    Tricki rips those all the time, with a flap too, and sometimes the flap comes all the way off. It is no big deal, it can be a bit sore for a few days, but heals quickly, so she should be fine to run next weekend.
    Tammy

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  2. Thanks; that gives me hope.

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  3. London frequently rips off chunks of his stop pads, the best thing to do is cut off the flap, file the rough edges, maybe put a little bag balm on it and she should be fine by next weekend. I wouldn't wrap it.

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  4. Interesting. Well, OK--I'll heed the voices of advice. AFTER we've done some fun running in the yard this morning I'll take the wrap off. A friend has some bag balm; maybe I can snag a bit of it.

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  5. Ah man. Hope it's as simple as people seem to think!

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