Sunday 29 June 2008

Lovely Lily

I know some gardeners aren't keen on dogs, but I am. I have a beautiful Border Collie called Lily, and last week, while I was building the Hampton Court garden, I got a phone call from a neighbour to say Lily had swallowed a stick while being walked. To cut a very long and distressing story short, a stick measuring around 8 inches went down her throat, pierced her oesaphagus and (it was initially thought) entered her lung.

The reason for this additional post today is that after writing the first one, all jokey and upbeat, I suddenly felt disloyal. Isn't that stupid? So I thought I'd share this with you. She's going to be OK I think. She's had two operations, one to remove the stick and one to patch up the internal damage it had done. She's alert and drinking and eating small amounts, and I'm hoping to have her home some time next week. The moral of this story is 1) don't throw sticks for dogs and 2) there are more important things in life than winning flower shows

6 comments:

VP said...

I feel bad now having decided to read your posts in order of posting and commented on the one below, I come to this one and I see it's much more important. I hope Lily's recovery is a speedy one.

Catherine said...

Thanks for your kind words. Hopefully she'll be back with us some time this week.

Garden State Kate said...

I do hope she'll be home and recovered soon.

Terra said...

Oh what a lovely dog; I hope she is up and running around by now.

Unknown said...

Lily's adorable! I hope she's perfectly all right by now.

Catherine said...

Kate, Terra and Hanak: thanks so much for your concern. She's doing really well now and I'll be writing a post just for her soon.