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Freddy’s strangely nice experience

I get a great many compliments about pets who just love coming to see us at the Clinic.

This might be because the nurses always have treats hidden under the reception desk. Or because we all make a big fuss of the pets and treat them gently once they have arrived

But, sadly, there are still those who feel unable to trust and love us completely.

Freddy is a cross bred dog who is not sure that anyone has a right to touch his paws. He came to his owner via the RSPCA as a young adult, so maybe he just had a tricky start, we don’t know.

So it was not easy for any of us when he came in from a walk with his paw bleeding.

He needed an emergency general anaesthetic to assess the injury and sort it out. It turned out to be a nasty wound to the central pad, which takes a lot of the pet’s weight when walking. These can be tricky to heal up, so we all had our fingers crossed that the stitches would hold.

Sadly, the cut got infected. Each time we needed to check it the poor soul had to wear a muzzle and have a couple of people to steady and calm him so that it was less stressful to complete the examination for all involved.

Placing a bandage just right so that it stays on, but is not too tight is a real skill. It’s easier when a pet is under anaesthetic, as obviously the pet feels no discomfort and is perfectly still.

But a conscious, nervous pet is a much more tricky model. Even a pet that is comfortable with us needs only to give one good kick at a critical moment and all the work up to that point is wasted, making the nurses have to start again.

Freddy did not find co-operating easy at all, but to heal that wound he ended up coming in for five bandage changes. And incredibly during that period of intense care he changed his mind about us. He seemed to start to understand that we loved him, and just wanted him to heal and feel better.

After two weeks of regular visits and bandage changes he was back to fighting fit. His owner wrote us a lovely note, thanking the nurses for their love and kindness, and describing it as a ‘strangely nice experience’! 

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