Saga of Saffy's Paw

Saffy doing what she does best - running

Saffy, our English Springer Spaniel, was lively happy dog, just over a year old, and as crazy and active as most springers. One evening in early July I noticed she was limping but I couldn't see anything wrong with her paw or leg. The next morning she was still limping so I made an appointment with the vet.

Saffy was a great favourite with the vets and nurses at this practice and they always made a big fuss of her so there was no problem taking her or for the vet inspecting her paw. The diagnosis was a seed had worked its way in and was embedded. An operation to remove it was necessary. I took her back the following day for surgery and picked her up in the late afternoon.

Once she had completely recovered from the anaesthetic, about 24 hours after the operation, she was back to her old lively self.

I was told I had to keep the dressing on her paw dry so bought a special boot from the vet in a very smart silver and black. She hated it. Every time she went in the garden, she pulled it off and abandoned it. I always found it again and replaced it. Finally, she decided to get rid of it once and for all. When I wasn't looking, she pulled it off again and then tore it to pieces! She knew what she'd done, she stood there with a big doggy grin! After that she had to make do with plastic bags held on by an elastic band.

Saffy poses for the camera

In spite of being given a seven day course of antibiotics following the surgery, Saffy's paw was still very sore. I took her back to the vet who prescribed more antibiotics. The infection continued unabated. By the middle of August, it was worse and the vet used a scalpel to lance the paw and allow the pus to drain. Poor Saffy was so big and brave. The vet lanced her paw without even sedating her and commented that she wouldn't have done that with many dogs. Saffy just licked the vet's face, she seemed to know that the vet was trying to help her. When the antiseptic was pumped in, she was good, patient and uncomplaining.

She told me I had to use a syringe to pump antiseptic into the wound. As it happened, this was just before an official holiday weekend and I was going to visit a friend who used to be a nurse. She did all the syringing, also hot poultices to try to draw the infection. We did it regularly morning and evening for five days.

None of this helped. The infection continued. By the end of September, after yet another course of antibiotics I was getting very worried and upset. Saffy, a dog who could run continuously for hours, was reduced to walking for maybe 30 yards then lying down to have a rest. Instead of chasing her ball, she was carrying it so nobody could throw it because she didn't want to run.

Back at the vet's, I insisted on an x-ray. The results, they said, showed nothing and that Saffy was 'putting it on' and playing for sympathy. My reaction was, what a load of rubbish. It was obvious that the paw was still infected. At my next visit, I insisted on a second opinion and a referral to a specialist. The vet told me that it would be very expensive (unfortunately, Saffy wasn't insured then but she is now!). My answer was "What am I supposed to do, let her carry on suffering?" They thought I was mad and that Saffy was play acting.

English Springer Spaniel, UK Photographic Print
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We were lucky that there was an orthopedic specialist vet, Mr Mac, just 7 miles away. If he hadn't been able to see us, the other closest one was over 100 miles away. We had to wait a month for an appointment and we finally saw him in November.

When we went I took the x-ray that had been done at the end of September, the one that our regular vet had said showed there was nothing wrong. Mr Mac pointed out tiny little white spots on it and said that showed there was still infection. The problem was that paws have so many bones and tendons, it is difficult to operate there and not something to be undertaken lightly. He said he would operate and take a closer look, though.

Saffy in the scrub

Saffy stayed there for surgery that day. I had a phone call in the afternoon to say we could pick her up at 6pm which we did. Her paw was heavily dressed and the vet had prescribed a 10 day course of antibiotics. Later that evening Mr Mac phoned to tell me exactly what he had found. He said there was necrotized tissue alongside the bone. He had cleaned it all out and given her an injection of strong antibiotic.

From the following day, when she had recovered fully from the anaesthetic, she was much more like her old self. Over the previous few weeks she had become depressed and snappy, quite out of character for her. Within a week she wasn't lying down for a rest on walks and was running again. Within two weeks she was completely back to normal, able to run for hours, chasing balls, birds and cats. Best of all, she was her usual cheerful happy self.

The next time we visited my friend, just before we were going to bed, Saffy lay down in front of the kitchen door and waved her paw at my friend. She absolutely insisted it had to be looked at and inspected. My friend looked at it carefully, told Saffy it was fine and so Saffy jumped up and was totally happy.

Springer Spaniel, Scotland Photographic Print
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Saffy running again, no ill effects from the injured paw

As a postscript, some months later I heard somebody on the radio talking about gangrene and necrotized tissue. It was then that I realised that if Mr Mac hadn't resolved the problem when he did, Saffy could have lost her leg and maybe even her life.

I have never forgiven the first vet for their ignorance and negligence and now we no longer go there even for anything as simple as a booster injection. I feel that they are more interested in the money made from animals than in their welfare. Luckily Mr Mac also has a normal practice as well as being a specialist and that's where we go now. At that practice all the vets put the welfare of the animals above financial considerations.

Take this story as a warning. If your pet appears sick to you, insist that your vet treats it or refers you to a specialist. Don't let it go on as long as I did just because I thought I could trust the vet. If I had trusted my own instincts more, Saffy could have been saved months of needless suffering.

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English Springer Spaniel Dog Photographic Print
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There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie -
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find - it's your own affair -
But . . . you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone - wherever it goes - for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve.
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long-
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?