Tasty Tuesday - TLC & Treats for Ethel's Recovery & Caption & Speech Bubble it winner(s)!

Hello again everyone. I have some news for you today - last night, poor little Ethel hurt her leg to the point of limping. She was at first tearing around in the garden, jumping on Earl, over Earl, ext, all of her own accord. Then, with all fine, we came back inside and I served up their teas. They both finished and I prepared their food for the morning. I then went to sit back at the computer. A few minutes later I heard another bang and thump so I looked over into the kitchen (there is an archway without any doors from the kitchen where Ethel was to  the lounge where I was) and saw Ethel just standing there normally, looking up at the worktop and back at me. The mad little naughty one had jumped up hard onto the cupboard doors, where we always push her down and train to that is not acceptable. The crafty little dog she is!! She was simply standing there when I looked over, so assumed everything was normal, sighed, and sat back down at the computer. Seconds later, my mum went outside to collect some washing. Then she came back and noticed a slight limp in Ethel's front right leg as she came towards her. We all studied her and it wasn't too bad. My parents thought it was diving around with Earl that did it for her - and I explained the cupboard banging and how she probably just hurt her leg on that. She then went into her bed, and when she came out she was a lot worse. She could hardly put weight on the leg, and kept holding it up and out to the side. She winced and growled when it was touched or she jumped up on something in excitement. She was obviously in a lot of pain and kept hobbling back into her bed and collapsing down in a heap inside it, whining and being obviously unable to pale it anywhere without pain. 

We couldn't leave her in the pain, so we took her to the local emergency vets. She was in a lot of pain and was uncomfortable and unhappy. We took her in and the vet assessed her. She 'played' with her legs and compared them. She then suggested a strain, and that it was probably nothing more than that. Luckily, no obvious dislocation or fractures. She also gave Ethel a painkiller injection which seemed to work when we came home. So we took her home with the instructions to bring her back the next day if it was the same or worse the next day. She just wanted to sleep when we got home.

The next morning (this morning) we noticed it was no better, so decided to take her to our vets branch for further investigation. She had been in her bed. She then came out for the toilet, and she looked suddenly a lot better after a morning nap! The limp was almost completely gone, and she wasn't making any noises to suggest pain. She wasn't reaching it out either, and could put weight on it fairly easily. There was still a slight limp there, but to me, hardly even noticeable! So our girl is home now, with crate rest - at the most, sofa rest with me, but no walks or exercise for the next few days while it heals. She doesn't like it, but luckily, she is nice and occupied with her puppy Kong bone, her Antler Chews, and some extra TLC treats and sweets to help speed up her recovery!!! 

You may wonder how this post ties in with Tasty Tuesday, but it definitely does. Yummy nom-nom foods keep a resting puppy from going stir-crazy! Especially a crazy puppy going stir-crazy - a handful without exercise!! This is where stimulation comes in, and often, it involves food!! Nom-nom-nomming for a recovery through rest!

Just look at all those juicy Antlers!! And those Sprats stuffed in a Kong worked a treat too!

So I am glad to say Ethel seems to be recovering remarkably already, and her right-front leg was bothered by nothing more than a nasty strain which will heel nicely in time. 

Now sit back, relax in the knowledge that Ethel is happy, resting up and becoming better, and bask in our brand new Halloween blog decorations!! Hope you all like!

Now for some short info here and there:

What to do if your dog gets a strain or other problem

When your precious pet gets hurt, no matter how big or small a scale, its always a horrible and frightful experience. 

Our biggest piece of advice for you is to always go to your vets for help if you suspect anything is wrong - we were 100% prepared for the money sacrifice to visit the out-of-hours vet to get Ethel checked and out of pain as soon as possible, whether its a strain or another possible problem.

Just be aware that your dog could be in pain, on a small or large scale, or somewhere in-between - don't hassle your dog, and get straight to the point with getting to the vets. Your dog could turn if you hassle him/her, because, simply, the pain is just emotionally and physically overwhelming.

When it comes to strains individually, mad dogs/puppies or another animals, as well as humans, even if they're not mad (!) can strain parts of their bodies, legs, arms, etc. Just get a vet's opinion and advice and you shall be on your way to your pet's good recovery.

About mental stimulation and rest periods

If your pet has a physical problem that needs rest to heel and low impact, mental stimulation is key to happiness and a healthy recovery. Using foods in items such as specially bought Kongs or other toys can help a great deal and last for hours, and you can even make homemade fun, just ENSURE it is safe for your pet, and don't leave your pet unsupervised with any home-found entertainments as you never know what could occur when the item isn't especially made for that purpose.

Don't get frustrated about your pet's rest period. It needs to happen for a recovery, and your pet will be normal and up again before you have finished finding a new stimulation method!!

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We also have for you today, the winner(s) of the Caption & Speech Bubble it competition we ran here yesterday as part of Monday Mischief! I really enjoyed reading your replies and ideas however even though we only had 2 comments (I enjoyed them!!!), weirdly, for that post (typical - we needed them most then, hehe…), therefore I had to improvise. We have one for Earl, and one for Ethel, but we still need a caption. So I am leaving this open - anyone out there who can come up with a suitable caption for this scene, post it in the comments section below, and when we have one, we'll post it!

And finally, the completed picture with the winning speeches included! I hope you enjoy seeing it! And you above winners get a share of your winning caption, plus your own blog/site/microblog etc!

Well done to Earl's speech winner, Two French Bulldogs!
And to Ethel's speech winner, Hawkeye Browndog!

I put the Frenchies' speech for Earl in, well, Earl's, and then chose the best section from Hawk's idea in Ethel's, making a PAWfect and humorous short conversation between the two!

We had fun! Don't forget to post your caption ideas for the above scene!!! We still want them!

We're delighted to be participating in the Tasty Tuesday Blog Hop very kindly hosted by Sugar The Golden Retriever and Kol's Notes - thanks again, guys!