Doggy Dilemma

You may recall Glen won a red rosette (first prize) at Twicey Show, even though I had concerns regarding a swelling on his face, he won £6 prize money and believe you me it went no way towards paying the vets bills, it may have covered the cost of diesel on one journey to the vets but that would be all.

Poor Glen, he does seem to have some bad luck. He was off the stot (under the weather) during the winter with lameness and a tooth abscess then there he was at the start of the summer swelling up once again.

Shep decided it would be a tooth abscess which was causing him bother and so self administered sheep penicillin to the fella for a few days until the swelling went down. Nothing quite like a course of antibiotics to solve the problem. Life was looking up - until........

Both Moss and Glen had been out on a three hour hill gather arriving home weary and happy until Glens face began to swell, and swell, and swell. By late evening he was looking far more swollen than he had previously before I had solved his problem.

By morning his eye was almost swollen shut and he was a sad lad. I had to head for Scotland shearing soon after 7am and left him behind with instructions to the other half that I would be ringing the vet and trying to resolve the problem one way or another.

There were no appointments available that evening but he got squeezed in, received stronger antibiotic injections and sent home with pills and a further appointment for x-rays.

Unfortunately for him his face continued to swell, only on the one side, but he was beginning to look an awful mess. Even worse he went off his food, not even interested in anything dead and rancid - not good. The first time in his lifetime that he went off his food - life must be bad!

On the Friday night bloody goo started to run out of his mouth and my god did it stink. Shep is well used to disgusting smells but this made my stomach want to turn - ugh, it was 'orrible. At least I knew that what ever 'it' was 'it' had burst and was obviously draining. By the time he went in for his appointment on the Tuesday his face looked a great deal better and he was feeding again.

However, that wasn't the end of the story. He had a full day at the vets after having undergone dental treatment, not only a tooth removed but a hole drilled into his jaw bone to help remove the infection, also a hole from the outside of his face to add to the draining process. The whole thing has almost put me off going to the dentist I can tell you!!

More antibiotics were to be taken and a further appointment to check he was alive and kicking was booked and full rest was the order of the day. He rested fine on the day after his operation, left lying in the garden whilst I clipped sheep on this farm I live on. The same the second day, he was left to lie quiet in the garden, only to be found in the sheep pens doing what he likes best, obviously he thought he was feeling a great deal better!! The Saturday saw him working hard and chasing sheep onto a clipping trailer, however, after dinner he said 'no'. Again out of character for the dog but he knows better than anyone when he's had enough and it was just a few days from his operation. I took him at his word and he was happy to lie with the pup and watch the proceedings from a safe distance.

Hopefully all is now well, ten days since his day with the vets and his face looks normal, he is behaving normally and is raring to go. Shep has to clip 260 sheep to cover the cost of the bill, which is no great hardship, Shep likes clipping sheep!

As for the course of sheep penicillin Shep had been injecting Glen with? Well, I'm told I did a good job of clearing up the infection but I didn't remove the cause which just meant the infection could return - good try though!

I'm sure this dog has a fetish for the vets, they love to see him, tell me he's one of their favourite dogs! I think they make such a fuss of him he has to find an excuse to go back and visit them every now and again. Let's just hope by having his jaw bone drilled he's learnt his lesson and decided they're not as nice as he first thought.