(no subject)
God, I'm getting so boring in my domesticity.
Matilda is doing well! I had been watching her spay incision, and two days ago it began to seriously disturb me. I called the vet, and they recommended that we bring her in, but also that we use an elizabethan collar, otherwise known as a cone collar. Well. That did not go well. Matilda is very easily scared, and when scared exhibits behavior that makes me suspect she was abused to some extent in a previous home. Also, we live in a townhouse, so things tend to be on the cramped side. The poor thing was catching her collar on things, which scared her, which caused her to cower away frantically, which caused her to catch the collar on something ELSE...and you get the picture.
So, I slept with her. When we put the collar on for good (the earlier time had just been to try and adjust her to it) she cowered to the front door and froze. It was too much for me. So I made up a bed on the floor and carried her over to it, and we snuggled in for the night. I could actually feel her relaxing as I cuddled up next to her and stroked her. I'm pretty sure neither of us slept much that night, but we slept a lot more than we would have otherwise.
When I took her to the vet the next day she recommended we put a tshirt on her to cover up the scar. CleverTASTIC! She doesn't much like the shirt (she chewed up the first one, though it was my fault for dressing her in one I liked), but it's certainly preferable to the cone.
Holy shit, I have become BORING.
Anyway, so interesting observations:
Matilda is doing well! I had been watching her spay incision, and two days ago it began to seriously disturb me. I called the vet, and they recommended that we bring her in, but also that we use an elizabethan collar, otherwise known as a cone collar. Well. That did not go well. Matilda is very easily scared, and when scared exhibits behavior that makes me suspect she was abused to some extent in a previous home. Also, we live in a townhouse, so things tend to be on the cramped side. The poor thing was catching her collar on things, which scared her, which caused her to cower away frantically, which caused her to catch the collar on something ELSE...and you get the picture.
So, I slept with her. When we put the collar on for good (the earlier time had just been to try and adjust her to it) she cowered to the front door and froze. It was too much for me. So I made up a bed on the floor and carried her over to it, and we snuggled in for the night. I could actually feel her relaxing as I cuddled up next to her and stroked her. I'm pretty sure neither of us slept much that night, but we slept a lot more than we would have otherwise.
When I took her to the vet the next day she recommended we put a tshirt on her to cover up the scar. CleverTASTIC! She doesn't much like the shirt (she chewed up the first one, though it was my fault for dressing her in one I liked), but it's certainly preferable to the cone.
Holy shit, I have become BORING.
Anyway, so interesting observations:
- I've begun to wonder if she's an Australian Kelpie. She certainly looks similar to a cattle dog, but doesn't have the coloring or the wideness. Interestingly, she's got the white paws and white splotch on her chest that are characteristic of a dingo (though her fur is much smoother than many pf the dingo pictures available online). This page particularly makes me think--click on the second picture.
- So I may be crazy, but her nipples? Look a little bigger and more...wrinkled than a normal dog's. I'm kind of wondering if she's had puppies. There are also a few behavior things that cause me to wonder this, but they're most likely irrelevant.
- So her spay incision. I swear, it looks like a continuance of an older scar. But the vet we took her to spayed her--which they would not have done if she'd already had a spay scar. Does this mean at some point she had a doggie cesarean? I honestly have no idea what to think. I will get pictures up soon, if that helps in armchair diagnosis.