Nursing skills

Django went out for a walk today with his girlfriend Nuka and by all accounts they spent an hour or so bombing around in the woods. I wasn't totally surprised when he came home with a bit of a limp; Pointers are prone to straining their feet because of their arched toes and he is always doing it and bouncing back to normal the next day.  He took himself off to bed and I thought no more of it.

A couple of hours later when he came outside to sit in the sun with me I noticed he was licking his leg a lot, and his hair was pink instead of white, hmm.  On closer inspection it was bloody and he had a nasty cut in the top of his leg, quite deep and the first thing that sprang into my mind was "stitches".   This thought was quickly followed by "it's Saturday"... why do animals always injure themselves at a weekend, as soon as the emergency phone number for the vet kicks in? In fact it's a bonus that this time it's not a bank holiday weekend.

As it happens, I had been recommended and purchased some Vetrap to wrap round my crutch handles, so I washed the cut gently and dressed it with a 'cosmetic removal pad' (always handy) and bandaged it up.

So on Monday I will have to decide whether it is bad enough to need to go to the vet for stitches, or whether my motherly love and attention will aid it in healing itself.   Knowing that the vet = stitches, anti-biotics, dressing, an appointment for a checkup, more anti-biotics and dressing = emptying my bank account, I'm going to aim for the latter option first and see how it gets on.... besides I'd have to find someone to give me a lift to the vet's.

Of course my caring-mother-self will feel guilty for not rushing him off for immediate professional attention, but I think I can live with that.