Recovery

It took almost six months to recover from the hip replacement surgery.

For the first month I was not allowed to go for any walks. Nor was climbing stairs allowed. Every night mum made up a bed on the floor in the living room, and I slept beside her on my own bed.

Sometimes, if the weather was warm, she would take me round to the back garden and we would sit in the fresh air for a while.

The vet came to see me regularly. The first time he gave mum some cream to rub on my skin because it was sore where my fur had been shaved off. Not long after we came home, he came to the house and took the metal clips out of my skin. It was scary, but it wasn't painful. It was also nice to have them gone.

After a few weeks, we made the long journey back to the hospital where I had the operation. I really thought mum was going to leave me there again and became very upset, but she stayed with me.

I was only there for a few hours this time. I was taken in to the dark room again then later mum took me home. It was a very tiring day, and as you can see from the photograph, I fell asleep.

Next day dad carried me up the steps at the front of the house and I was taken for a very short walk, just to the end of the road, then carried back down the steps. It was a long time since I had walked even that short a distance, and it tired me.

Life carried on that way for a long time, my walks being increased a little each day. Mum took me to the vet every week for check ups, but I felt much better now and didn't want to go. Still, mum took me anyway!

Soon she was able to take me as far as the field. To begin with I did not want to go in there. Memories of the attack flooded my mind, what if that dog was there again!

Mum was very patient and eventually I went in a short way. In the distance some of my friends were playing around. One of them saw me and came running towards me, but mum stopped him before he got too close. Then he seemed to sense something was wrong and came up to me very gently and sniffed me. My other friends came to say hello too, but they were all very quiet.

Mum let me lie down and just watch them play. They kept coming over and lying down beside me for a short time, then they would go off and play again.

Soon we returned home, but every day after that we went to the field to meet my friends.

Gradually, after a long time, I was allowed off the lead to play for short periods. This was more like it! It felt good to be free again, but mum would not let me run for long.

As my strength grew, so my exercise increased until I could again run and play freely. It felt good to run knowing there would be no pain as a result. An added bonus was there were no more trips to the vet!

We didn't see anything of the dog which had attacked me for a long time. Then, when mum and I were in the field alone one day, it came through a gap in the hedge, and it was not on a lead!

I froze but mum put my lead on and stepped in front of me. The dog started to run at us and as it did so, mum put her arm out straight to the side and stood on tiptoe. She flapped her arm up and down and made a lunge forward.

The dog stopped and looked, but started forward again. Keeping me behind her, mum kicked out at it as he reached us. It yelped and stepped back, then lunged again. This time mum must have kicked it really hard because it turned and ran away, yelping as it went.

Then it came back in with its owner who had it on the lead. The man started to shout at mum, but she yelled back at him and eventually he went away, dragging the dog with him.

From that day to this, we never saw that thing again. We saw the owner, but he had a different dog. We still stayed away!

By this time I was six years old and loving life. My circle of friends grew, mum and dad took me to different places for walks and it seemed nothing could spoil things.

For another year all went well, I had developed IBS, but that was under control.

Then one day, after a game with my friends, my other hip felt a bit sore. Over a short period of time it slowly got worse until I couldn't play without being in a lot of pain.

Trips to the vet were a regular occurrence for a few weeks, but soon we made that long trip to the hospital.

I was to have another hip replacement.