I’m sure everyone will be thrilled to know that my naughty little Kim is very much back to her normal self. Frankly, she’s really pissed off, and is taking her anger out with fits of sullen sulking, beating up the other dogs whenever possibly, and generally making herself an absolute nuisance.

The Comfy Collar, though wonderful, is no match for a flexible and lithe little dog like Kim. So she is now wearing a plastic cone collar, which has not gone down well (and is her main instrument in beating up the other dogs).

She’s still lead-walking, for about 20mins in the morning and 40mins on an evening. This does just burns off the extra energy, as she’s still full of herself when she gets home.

Kim has also taken it upon herself to remove her own stitches, a battle which we are fighting with tooth and nail but sadly losing. Trick one (and believe me, Kim planned this one) was to wait until all the Kim-savvy people had left the house, and then put on her most melodramatic sad-Lurcher act for my sister. Sister caved within minutes, took off the plastic cone, and Kim was victorious. Trick Two is the rub-along. No cone removal necessary, just a good rubbing spot where she can have a wriggle.

So far we’ve lost 3 stitches, but the wound is holding without any issues at all on 2 of the missing and is reasonably well on the 3rd. The third missing stitch section is the bit I’m a bit worried about as it looks a something of a mess, but I think she’s just pulled the scab off the top which makes it look worse. I’ve had a very close look and the line isn’t breaking open so fingers crossed this doesn’t put her back.

A little bit more detail after yesterday’s super brief post. Apologies to anyone who might be squeamish about the photos.

Kim has had a lump to the left of her spine for several months now. We’ve been keeping a close eye on it, but the general note had been “no change”. We (being the vet and me and family) were reluctant to go in and remove it unless absolutely necessary as Kim has a heart murmur, which is really not ideal for general anesthetic, especially when the length of the operation was going to be unknown.

However. We have noticed that the lump has seemed a bit larger in the past couple of days, although I have to say it’s very difficult to tell as we see her day-in day-out, and it’s hard to judge if it’s grown at all. The vet had a much better view on things, having not seen Kim for 2 weeks, and immediately called us to request permission to put her under GA and take the lump out because it looked substantially bigger. Well, of course we gave the go-ahead. Cue me being hopelessly worried all day at work, unable to concentrate, mindlessly panicking, etc etc. Finally escaped at 4pm and flew back over the Huddersfield, although we had already had the phone call by then to say she was fine, coming around and (best of all) had eaten some lunch.

She has nine (9!) stitches in her side, and is feeling very sorry for herself. The vet nurses, because they love Kim and think she’s special, have let her take home one of their Comfy Collars, which is brilliant. She’s restricted to lead walking, absolutely no jumping and stairs are out of the equation as well.

Training (and competing) is out of the question at the moment. The stitches are right on her right lumbar region, which is one of the main bits that dogs use to run and jump with. I have no idea when she’ll be able to come and play again; her stitches are tentatively due to come out in 10 days time, but I would imagine at least a few weeks after that before she is fully healed and regaining full use of that area.

I’ll update after her post-op checkup on Friday.