My ‘ruff’ reality- July 2023 ?

^{‘The poorly pup saga. ‘}

The last two weeks have not been fun for Clover… which means that they have also not been fun for me. Clover has been poorly. First of all she had anal gland issues. Not the first time it has happened, won’t be the last I expect. I’ve done a whole separate post on the joys of anal glands which you can find HERE. It’s not a pretty post- but it’s honest.

So I’ve spent the last few weeks changing my bedding constantly, looking at her bottom every 10 minutes to check its not swollen or weeping and frantically googling how to help dogs during their difficult anal gland times. Clover has left stains on virtually every material piece of furniture in the house, including the carpets, and so neither of us have been particularly happy girls. Obviously I have been totally overridden with concern about her, and I’m sure she’s very uncomfortable but I’VE NOT BEEN HAVING A GOOD TIME.

Anyway, the anal gland saga has ended (or, at least, improved) and just as I thought I could stop worrying about her, we then moved onto to severe diarrhoea instead. Not we- Clover. It’s my own fault really…I took her to her favourite lakes at the weekend. The lakes we go to often and never have any issues. She paddles in the lake, swims if it’s warm and drinks the water. It’s a lovely afternoon for both of us- or it was. Apparently I should have looked into my crystal ball because this weekend the water did not agree with Clover one bit. So she was basically pooing water for a whole day straight. More things for me to stress about- yay! I don’t know which part about this I have enjoyed more, trying to clear up the watery mess or getting up every 5 minutes to let Clover outside because she’s crying at the back door. Given that this has directly followed the anal gland issues, putting us into week three of non-stop issues, it has been a testing time for us both.

Being the seasoned dog owner that I am, I did the usual- starved her for 24 hours and then went off to the shop to spend half my monthly wages on chicken and rice. Which I then have to cook. So Sunday meal prep also incorporated Clover’s bad belly meal prep. White rice and plain chicken breast both boiled for around 15 minutes. It’s working- it normally does. I feed her small amounts of bland chicken and rice and gradually her poop get firms and she becomes happier. However, there is a small downside to this. Clover’s teeth are not entirely straight and, given the shape of her face and her jaw, she really struggles to eat the rice. It just falls out her mouth and goes all over the floor. So, really she just has plain boiled chicken with maybe the odd grain of rice if she can manage it. She won’t bother to even try and lap up the rice afterwards and so it just stays on the floor- until she stands in it and treads it round the house. So I’ve been finding rice everywhere for the last few days, which is great… you know, on top of everything else.

I appreciate that being poorly is not ideal for Clover, but she’s not the one whose been having to do ten times the amount of house work, expend money and engage in food prep whilst we get both issues sorted. She could have timed it a bit better really. Given me a break type of thing. Instead just sits looking all cute and pathetic and then I pander to her more.

Also, just to clarify, if Clover is very poorly we go to the vets straight away. I am not a monster. I just find the vet bills hard to stomach (although not as hard to stomach as Clover now apparently finds the lake water), and if I can help her and fix the problem at home then I will. It seems crazy to pay over £100 a time to be prescribed tablets when a lot of issues will go away naturally with a bit of love and care. There have been times when I have called the vet immediately, and other times I try a fix at home first and if it doesn’t work then we go to the vets. But if we went to the vets every time she was poorly, I’d have had to re-mortgage the house- twice.

Anyway, we’re pretty much out of the woods now on both fronts (no vets involved- hooray!), so I’m sat wondering what Clover’s next issue will be. She doesn’t get poorly THAT often, but when she does it’s a bloody nightmare and an added stress into daily life. I definitely didn’t expect to get this worried, tired and stressed every time Clover is ill… but looks like this is my life now. Something to consider folks.

I can tell Clover is feeling better because she’s got the energy of the Tasmanian devil again. At least when she was poorly she wants to sleep more… not that I’d ever in a million years wish for her to be poorly… but it has been nice to have a bit of peace (you know, in between changing bedsheets, scrubbing carpets and cooking gourmet meals!). It’s a good thing she’s cute…

Evidence of the nasty mean lake in question below…

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