Fully Vetted

Captured a lovely moment between dog and baby today. 

Dogs have shown little interest in the baby on the whole but today Sprocket decided to see if she was up for a game of fetch.

On a Health and Safety note, I did monitor the whole interaction very closely but there was no fear in either party, just curiosity.  Sprocket wasn’t cornered and was free to leave if he wanted but he was very happy to share her lovely quilt for a while.  (NEVER let a baby approach and corner a pet, particularly if they are asleep!)

Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

What is a good pedigree? 

The recent BBC1 documentary has highlighted the not-so-wonderful side of dog breeding. Of most concern is the attitude of the breeders that are in it for the vanity of showing, and the money that comes with it.  All will profess to being dog lovers but do they really walk the talk? Read the rest of this entry »

Pesky things, grass seeds. They are almost as sharp as thorns and in such abundance this time of year. I think we have removed them from most orifices in pets; eyes, noses, nailbeds, ears, the list goes on

Even worse, due to their streamline conformation, grass seeds can work their way into the body , under the skin, up legs or even into body cavities such as the middle or inner ear.

Not all grass seeds are the same. Though I’m no gardener the worse ones are the ones that look like this - I think this is a fox tail variety. Read the rest of this entry »

There are some days when I threaten the spaniels that they’ll be posted on eBay.  Their misdemeanours over the past few days are listed here:

Sprocket woke the baby up by barking 

Spot had weed in the kitchen overnight

Sprocket chewed up the baby’s squeaky toy

Sprocket and Spot, in the car park where we stop to walk, found someone’s disregarded McDonalds by a bin and wolfed the lot

Spot rolled in fox poo on his walk Read the rest of this entry »

  I have recently had to keep our dearly beloved cat in a cage to help him recover from a broken leg.  Over the years I’ve prescribed resting in a confinement cage to many a broken cat. The usual reason being that because we make such a good job of repairing our patient’s broken bones and keeping their pain levels under control that they feel great and want to run around. If we let them go about their daily life outside they risk dislodging some of the meticulously placed metal work that is holding the bones together. Bear in mind that bones take 6-8 weeks to knit and tendons/ligaments even longer.  The metal work is stronger than the bones and if dislodged can cause serious further damage. Read the rest of this entry »

I set off today in fine spirits. We’ve had a lovely few days of weather and what could be better than a dog walk by the river in the sunshine? Read the rest of this entry »

Since the arrival of our baby , the dog walk has become a little more complex:

Never have I had to make such a detailed assessment of the weather before the walk ( Metcheck is by far the best tool for this.) I need to work out what gadgets and extra layers must then be stuffed into my combat pants to avoid baby getting sunstroke/heatstroke/drenched/chilled. This is in addition to trying to stuff 2 dog leads, poo bags, dog whistle and ball into the combats. 

If the detailed assessment of the weather and gathering of appropriate attire hasn’t taken too long we can leave the house before the weather has changed, the baby needs another nappy change or it has got dark

The site of dog walk and mode of baby transport must also be considered very carefully.  Steep hills, stiles and fields full of cows are now quite hazardous with a small child and far too grubby to actually take our four wheel drive high-tech buggy that cost a fortune. I have taken to using the babasling as a mode of baby transport. I have no idea what I’ll do when she becomes a big fat baby, perhaps I can buy the boys a dog treadmill (only joking, don’t they look horrid) 

(dogs and babies need to be walked whatever the weather - here is husband modelling baby sling and baby modelling thermal baby gro)

Feliway is a marvellous product.  It is a natural way of calming cats.  Some clever person has bottled the pheremone cats emit when they are relaxed and happy and turned it into a plug-in diffuser that spreads happy cat vibes all over your home.  It has countless uses for stressed-out felines; when you move house or when you are trying to introduce a new household member (such as a baby.)

DAP  is the canine equivalent of Feliway.  The clever people bottled the pheremone that mummy dogs emit when they are feeding their babies. 

The animals have been very calm about our new arrival. It makes me wonder if I’m emitting some pheremones at present.  If I am, the cat seems to like them

I’ve had a baby!  As far as I can make out, babies are just like kittens or puppies.  Cute, adorable, cuddly also expensive and messy.

Betty’s Babies - 5 old weeks today