This just doesn’t seem to be Kat’s year for taking walks. A few days ago we were out walking when two dogs charged up from nowhere and tried to attack her. She was fine, but a bit traumatized. I haven’t walked her down that block since.
Last night we set off for our walk. We walked about five block and all was good – or as good as it gets walking Kat. She walks, then stops dead to smell a post, eat some grass, fill a poop bag, whatever. It is a process. She finally gets up to speed and, since we have doubled back, we are one long block and two short blocks from home. Kat stops and yipes – sharp and loud.
I looked down and Kat is holding one paw up in the air. I looked around and I saw a spiked seed pod on the sidewalk but nothing else. I crouched down and tried to have a look. There was nothing obvious so I tried to feel around between the pads of her hairy little foot but could not find anything. I stood up to see if she would put her paw down and walk on it. She tried but she couldn’t do it.
I decided that I had to carry Kat home. Picking her up was not the most graceful thing I have ever done. Carrying a fifteen kilogram dog three blocks was not going to happen. I carried her about six feet before I set her down and tried to catch my breath, while digging in my walking bag for my cell phone. Fortunately, Dan was home, answered the call and agreed to come and meet up with us.
Once again, I picked up Kat and tried to do my part in meeting up with Dan. I made it another six feet before crouching down and letting Kat slide out of my arms. When Dan got to us, we were both looking pretty pathetic.
Dan checked Kat over and convinced her to try to stand on the grass by the sidewalk. She decided that she could limp home beside him, stopping a couple of times to eat more grass.
When we got home, I got out a pair of tweezers and had a better look at Kat’s food. I did find a sizeable sharp splinter that I removed but she was still limping. Dan had another look and decided she most have twisted her paw when she stepped on the splinter.
Kat still had a bit of a limp this morning but she has been doing fairly well. She has been bouncing out to the gate to check out every passerby. It seems she will be fine but I think it is best if we skip our walk today.
