Dingy

7.7C with a very bright morning and some cloud later in the afternoon. Light breeze.

A different sort of a day today.

Maeve the Deerhound has been occasionally giving a little cry when she gets up from lying on her side. Maeve sleeps lying on her side. We have gone over her paws and legs searching for possible cuts or injuries. No sign.

The last couple of mornings there were more insistent cries. I phoned the vet this morning and got an appointment. Maeve had a very thorough examination. I had no idea a dog's legs could be stretched so far or lifted so high! She was bent this way, then that way, then upwards! Not a squeak was uttered. The vet pronounced that he thinks she has pain in her back. He felt tension near her neck. I was beginning to feel tense myself.

A painkilling injection was administered and I was given a bottle of liquid painkiller for me to give her orally the next two mornings and then we have an appointment to go back on Thursday afternoon. Normal feeding (she is off her food a bit so I went to the Coop on the way home for chicken pieces for her) and short walks only.

Poor Maeve. She is sticking to me like glue and not lying on her side. Sometimes she isn't lying down at all. Hopefully the painkiller will reduce any inflammation and relieve any pain so she can rest.

On the way back from the vet's I drove to the car park at Westhaven. I got out and walked along towards the Fishermen's huts. I took a few shots looking out to sea. The tide was out a bit. I liked this one of the little dingy moored at the outer edge of the channel through the rocks. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and it was crisp and clear with hardly a breath of breeze.

I'd rather have been standing there with my pal leaning against my leg, looking up and bumping me with her head. Today there was no one padding along behind me the way a Maeve does. It really wasn't the same.