Back home

Wow! What a week,

One minute, I was running around without a care in the world and the next, I couldn't breathe and had a horrible pain in my chest - worst thing was, I couldn't let anyone know!

I tried to make it obvious that I wan't well by walking to heel and not running and it seems to work. I ended up at the vets and I don't remember much after that.

When I woke up I was in the car with Dad (who was driving pretty fast) and then we met some more people who took me away and put me in a funny box which made my breathing better.


They did all kinds of things to try and work out why I wasn't well - they eventually found the stick lodged in my airway: I'd been trying to make it as obvious as possible, but nobody was taking the bait.

Once they took out the stick, I felt much better and now I'm back at home although I'm only allowed out for the toilet - I might be allowed out for a small walk next week.

The stick and my vet

I still don't quite understand how they removed this from my lung, but it was there and I have quite a few witnesses to prove it.


Eulanda (my vet) was pretty excited - and all the vet students kept coming to see me. I'm a bit of celeb: wonder if Hello! want the pictures.

Jake set free

We went to collect Jake today. He was quieter and slower than his normal, but is definitely showing improvement. He looks odd with rectangles of spotty skin where his brown and white coat should be; and he looks odd with his blue string vest in place to stop him scratching his wounds.


It was amazing to again see the stick that caused all the problems and also take a peek at the radiographs that chart his recovery. There seems to have been almost complete radiological resolution on both pa and lateral films which is very encouraging. The antibiotics will need to continue for a further 6 weeks and we will return for an outpatient appointment next week and a repeat bronchoscopy at some point.

And, the thankfully unimportant part - cost... his 6 days in hospital cost £2700! This is in addition to the £500 vets fee, a repeat prescription, the outpatient appointment and the repeat bronch. Thank goodness for pet insurance.

Bronchoscopic first

I'm not long off the phone to a very surprised vet. Eulanda, our Spannish born vet from the cardiopulmonary team performed Jake's bronchoscopy this morning. She seems pretty astonished at her findings and I'm struggling to visualise how she managed to extract a 25cm long stick from Jake's trachea.

Aparently, it was lying mid-trachea and extending down the right main bronchus and presumably entered the pleural cavity at some point in the lower lobe (causing his persistent air leak).

It looks like as well as his two pneumothoracies and surgical emphysema, he also has pneumomediastinum. He is going to be on some pretty hard core antibiotics to reduce the risk of infection and while they have found the cause of the problem, she remains prognostically cautious.

A chest drain in a dog!

I can't quite believe how interventional vets are! Jake has been in the vet hospital for less than 24 hours - he's in ICU (in an oxygen kennel), has a chest drain in situ, iv fluids and antibiotics running and they are talking about cardiopulmonary referal on Monday.

We are still none the wiser about the cause of his injuries, but he did have a collision with another dog yesterday. It seems crazy that running into another dog could cause the injuries that he's sustained, but in the absence of any other obvious cause, it seems the only reasonable conclusion.

The vets are very good at phoning on a regular basis, so we should find out more soon.

The spring's gone from our springer

It's now one week from Nathan's birth and I've not long returned from the Dick Vet hospital for small animals, Edinburgh.

We were on a walk with Jake when he just stopped running. He wouldn't do anything apart from walk next to us. When we got him home, he just stood in the kitchen and wouldn't even take treats - there was definitely something wrong.

Being 9pm, I needed to speak to the out of hours vet who agreed that he needed to be seen. Some radiographs and an anaesthetic later, we knew that he had bilateral pneumothoracies, sub cutaneous emphysema and aerophagia. The right pneumothorax didn't re-expand and hence the rather speedy trip to Roslin and the vet hospital. (I'm glad for a fast and safe car - and no cars on the road at midnight).

He's been admitted to the ICU (I can't quite believe that they have such amazing facilities for animals and very glad that we are insured). I've signed the consent for chest aspiration, chest drain and/or thoracotomy!

We'll wait for news tomorrow.

The new thing...

Well, she came back... looking different and sporting an addition they referred to as the bay-be. It didn't do much apart from make a significant amount of noise and demand a lot of attention... I hope it doesn't stay for long.

Mental note: I may have to think of ways to get more attention

The wanderer returns

Well, one of them is back... that's a start.

He returned at some ungodly hour looking a mixture of tired, overjoyed and scared. We sat around for a while and he shot upstairs to bed mumbling something about a brother.

The next three days were very odd. He'd be here one minute and then gone the next and wouldn't come back for hours. We'd go for 2 walks a day which is cool, but it's kind of odd not having Mum around... I wonder where she is.

Where've they gone?

I'm pretty confused really. They both went out this morning and haven't come back. Well, Dad came back for a quick walk at about 4pm, but then rushed off as if his life depended on it.

Still, I'm not too fussed, I've got the run of the place and have done the things I know they love... taking paper from the recycling bin and tearing it up before distributing it about the study...

No doubt they will return soon.

Things that go bump in the night

It has been very strange tonight!

Mum and Dad have been up most of the night and have been doing very odd things... Dad was hoovering at 3am, which it has to be said is not normal for the middle of the night.

Something must be going on, but I don't know what it is. To be honest, I wish they'd just go to bed and be quiet; that way, I might get some sleep.

First foot first

Being a dog, my typing skills are up to much; but I have stories that would make your hail curl and I'm sure you'll like to see pictures of me and find out what I get up to! <lick>