Pip is not amused!

On Friday we noticed Pip had a bit of a sore patch just under her ear and by last night it had turned into quite a nasty abscess. It was first brought to our attention by Hugo when we spotted him licking her ear and we thought 'ah, how sweet, he loves her' - should know him better by now shouldn't we?! Anyway, the inevitable trip to the V.E.T. took place this evening and Toby and I took both Hugo and Pip along - more worming tablets are just about due and we wanted to get them both weighed as they have both grown.

Come and play Pip!

As we went into the surgery the first thing Hugo did was to jump up and put his feet on the reception desk - unfortunately  the resident cat was sitting on the other side and Hugo was very interested in all the spitting and hissing and wide eyes going on there! We were quite early so had to wait for a while and we were really pleased how they both behaved, especially as smaller dogs were barking at them. Pip was a bit jumpy though so she probably knew something nasty was going to happen. 

A lady with one of the small dogs came out of one of the surgery doors looking rather anxious and they took her dog downstairs "It's always a bad sign when they take them down there" she said. The dog was soon returned though - he'd had a dew claw removed and they promised her he'd only made a small yelp when it was removed (if you believe that you'll believe anything).

We have cut this collar down now - it was
a bit big!

Then it was our turn so we all crammed into the little surgery. The nice nurse had a look at Pip's ear and decided she had to shave some of the hair off so she could see it better - Pip had other ideas!! She wriggled and squirmed and, even after a muzzle had been put on her (she wasn't biting or snapping but the nurse thought it might be safer) we couldn't hold her still enough to get more than a snippet of hair from her. The nurse then called the vet in and he had a look at her and said what a lovely puppy she was - he also commented on Hugo's lovely temperament so we liked him! Then those dreaded words 'We'll just pop her downstairs and clean it up for her!"

We trooped back into the waiting room and the nurse took her through the door while we went to the counter to pay. There was a lot of scrabbling sounds coming from behind the door and we could see Pip, backed right up as far as her collar would allow, four feet firmly planted with the nurse trying to get her to move - she was NOT going down those stairs. Toby had to take her in the end and then we sat and waited for her return. Don't know how they did it (and don't particularly want to) but she came back with a shaved ear and had been given  antibiotics and steroid injections. She has to take antibiotics for a week and we have to go back next Monday for a check up. We mustn't let Hugo lick it because THAT is what caused the infection from probably just a small scratch - wouldn't be at all surprised if he'd made that small scratch (or bite) in the first place.


When we got home Pip kept trying to scratch her ear so we resorted to putting the collar on her - this is the one Hugo had after his op. but it was so big on her we have had to cut it down. Hugo kept lying on the floor in front of her and pawing up at her face in the collar to try and make her play - she was not a happy bunny. She is very sleepy now so think the injections are having an affect.

Forgot to say - Pip is 25.9kg (just over four stone) and Hugo is 41.1kg (six and a half stone) so both filling out nicely.