Viva Espania!

Viva Espania! Jax's team won! Pedro de Agua Espanols all over the land will be barking their joy at their home nation winning the football World Cup and triumphing over the disgraceful Dutch.

Carles Puyol - of Barcelona and Spain - Jax's favourite player, cos as he rightly points out, there is surely some SWD in him somewhere with a thatch like that!

Evidence!

The two bloodied seeds on the right were extracted from Jax's paws by our vet last weekend. They go right in. these two were buried so the vet had to dig around in each wound to find them. I've been frequently pulling seeds out of wounds which I can just see the tips of sticking out of the open wound. I've noticed the wounds which hold seeds for the vet to get ooze whereas wounds containing no seeds just bleed.

The three seeds on the left I pulled from his paws after his walk this morning. Before we had his paws shorn I would be pulling out 3-4 times as many per walk and they were a lot more difficult to see!

Short-lived relief?

Having had Jax's paws shorn yesterday we've now had our first day without a new incident in a week! Hoorraayy! I checked his paws last thing last night and no new seeds. I checked again this morning and again nothing. He's stopped limping too which is clearly a sign his current wounds are on the mend. But only short-lived relief I expect!

The vet told me that it really is down to the individual dog rather than the breed whether they suffer with seeds or not. She gave an example of two cockers from the same litter, one has never had an embedded seed and the other was like Jax, always getting them and ending up with her.

I spoke to our breeder yesterday too and she has never had any problems with her SWDs. So I'm inclined to agree with the vet. Individual dog and individual circumstances. Just sods law its us!

Grass seed hell continues

So, it was back to the vets on Saturday and two more extractions (again under sedation) and another vet's bill!

He's at the groomers again this morning to have his feet shawn. I can hear SWD purists cringe as I type, but there is no other option.

We've identified our garden itself is a big risk - semi wild, and even the mown areas are just mown rank grass, nit nice neat laid lawn! And we are surrounded, quite literally, by tall grasses. When I was removing as much tall grass species from the garden as possible yday, I was watching grass seeds being blown in to the garden from the adjacent field!

Grass seed hell

Well, following on from the last post, we're in grass seed hell! Jax is confined to the garden - no walks on the fen, no swimming - but I'm still pulling seed after seed from his paws. So the garden seems to be no better than the wilds around here.

The lanced abscess from Weds has healed OK, but he now has two open, oozing wounds on two paws and is limping badly - he's clearly in some discomfort as his all demeanor has changed, and he must be getting fed up of not getting beyond the garden gate.

We're back to the vet in the morning (just praying he doesn't need sedating and them to keep him in again - another £76!) and we're back to the groomer (only just been for a full clip) for her to take the hair on his paws down as short as possible.

So, I'm wondering what other SWD owners do? Or do you all have neatly manicured lawns and gardens, never go anywhere where there is any sign of tall grasses?

Talking to neighbours and other dog owners locally, no one else seems to be suffering as much as this. Most say they find the odd seed embedded, a few have never found any, and when I tell them about the now dozens I've pulled out of him - not just seeds lying in his coat, but actually stuck in his skin - they're horrified. A friend who came round today was shocked at the state of his paws.

Not a happy Jax and not a happy me right now.