Month: July 2025

Mal slept downstairs with Ellie again so that I could catch up on sleep! She seems a little more agreeable with the collar at night. We took her out for her walk and the field wasn’t enough, she wanted to walk further so we let her walk around the graveyard as well which is up to her 15 minutes.

After Ellie was sorted I caught the bus into Canterbury. I met the Red Hatters and we had lunch together in Spoons and then went on to The Marlowe theatre. We went to watch Cirque – the greatest show reimagined. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, it was very entertaining.

Canterbury was a little in chaos with roadworks everywhere, after the flooding in the heavy rains. This meant the bus timetable was really not a thing to follow as there were diversions and road closures. But I have to give our bus driver his due, yes he was very late but apologised to everyone!

Mal had another night downstairs with Ellie with her collar on.

 

At least I had a good nights sleep and Mal managed with Ellie with her collar on.

One of the most difficult days of the year, Torin’s birthday. We walked  Ellie  at 6 for her 10 minutes  and her first pain killer of the day. She seems to be getting a little more confident putting her bad leg down more.

I then went round to the grave with flowers and a memory stone, which coincidentally we sell in the shop, so I bought one.

 

We usually go away for Torin’s birthday but things have worked out differently this year and so we went out for lunch to The Bell, thinking Ellie would probably like the change of scene in their garden.  This was great until the rain started but they have an open sided marquee there, so we moved under it but the poor waitress had to walk through the rain to get to us! Of course, we toasted Torin in Guiness (family tradition).

I had cod mornay which was really good. The seagull seems to be resident, He is always there when we call in and if you leave any food, it is his!!

Ellie walked a little around the garden and then just lay down next to us.

W watched the Lionesses in the evening and yes…we won!

Another night with Ellie not wanting to sleep and nudging me to take her collar off! After her 6am short walk I got ready and then off to work. Mal in charge of her for the day.

A few people have visited the shop recently and commented on how clean and tidy it is. That is really nice to hear and that is what happens when you have a nice caring Manager.

The dog treat tin is one of a new design of “bought in goods” .

Mal suggested he would sleep downstairs with Ellie at night so that I could get some sleep.

Ellie talks to us now……….

I think she is getting fed up poor girl. We gave her a couple of very short walks to the field. She really didn’t want to go far.

I had a night downstairs with Ellie as I believed it would be cooler for her with her collar on. Eventually I got her to settle in front of the fan. Half an hour later, the storm started which set her off panting again. I didn’t get too much sleep again.

We took her for her little walk at 6am, after her first pain killer.

We take it in turns watching her during the day, compresses, tablets and ensuring she doesn’t pull the cling film looking cover off her wound. Mal went to the allotment and when he returned I went shopping.

 

 

Taking Ellie up to the bedroom for the night didn’t work too well, she was moving around and banging into things and again hated her soft cone around her neck. We had two fans on but even then she was panting a lot.

Then of course, compresses and tablets throughout the day.

A lot of the problem is the cling film looking cover over the wound that she is not allowed to touch. In theory, the wound heals quicker than bandaging or plastering it.

I think we all managed to get some sleep, even though Mal had to give Ellie a drink about 2am. But Ellie did settle.

She has her first of many tablets at 6 am, so Mal went off to the allotment early.

The appointment with Gracie at the vets was at midday. She was really nice, went through all the recovery procedures saying to take it slowly because of Ellie’s age. She took photographs of Ellie’s bruising and swollen hock to send to Andre, the surgeon and also made a video of her hobbling. If he says it is all OK then we just return for another check in a week. She also showed us how to do the physio on her leg.

In the evening we watched the Lioness’s , not the best game but they did manage to win on penalties.

Ellie became a little more mobile, trying to get herself into the garden, without Mal having to lift her.