Thursday, July 23, 2020
My nine-year-old Border Collie, Miles, has an appointment today to consult with a surgical specialist. That veterinarian has x-rays of a calcification that’s causing intense leg pain. The referring veterinarian said she’d never seen a calcification like this one impacting Miles. So, today, we’ll learn if his condition may be fixable.
If it’s a condition destined to be chronic, and Miles can handle pain reducers that don’t destroy other parts of his body, he’ll have a softer life. He won’t again run with the horses or participate in other extreme exercises. An intense athlete, he’ll be unhappy. Otherwise, my concern is that his sore leg might be unrepairable and gradually could worsen.
His other “condition” is his heavy, coarse coat. Don’t get me wrong, he’s beautiful, a “blue” Border Collie with the “dilute gene”. But his coat grasps and lodges field debris, like cheatgrass seeds and sticks. After months of closure due to CoronaVirus, pet groomers are slammed and not until mid-September could Miles have a coat-reducing session. So I’ll tackle the work, and today a set of dog clippers with blades is arriving. I’ve never groomed a complex coat like his, but it couldn’t look more awful than now–in moth-eaten condition after random scissor-hackings to find and eliminate unwanteds from the forest.
Dear Readers: Please root for an easy repair to his pain, and clipping by steady hands. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 