Thank you for all the comments yesterday, you really helped me to think this through. After lots of reading, including your helpful comments, I do not think I will be taking any of the dogs for their annual boosters next year. They are all covered until January 2016 which gives me plenty of time to check with the kennels if they can still stay there when we need them too. I have been informed on good authority that as they were vaccinated and we showed proof of this on their first stays, this will not be a problem.
If by any chance that changes it will not be the end of the world. Lovely Hubby will be giving up his 'day job' not long after that and if we do go away anywhere there will be so many animals to look after here on our smallholding that farm sitters, either professional, friends or family, will be the only option anyway.
Suky is a bit better this morning, as she ate no breakfast yesterday, refusing to eat at all and then ate her tea and brought it all back up immediately afterwards last night we decided to weigh her this morning. She had gone from 12.1kgs on Friday evening to 11.6kg this morning. I thought that while her tummy was so empty this morning I would reduce her ration of dog food and start her on her diet to lose this excess weight. She ate her breakfast this morning and kept it down and even trotted happily around the field with Lovely Hubby and the other dogs and Ginger, when she got back she didn't even attempt to eat Mavis's leftovers, so I think it has worked with the smaller measure of food filling her up enough.
Her poor little knee is still puffy and swollen where the vet manipulated it, and I am very cross about this .... we knew it was a problem and we have always taken great care not to exacerbate it and then along comes someone who makes it ten times worse just to prove a point. If at all possible I will not be letting her have an operation. If it suddenly 'goes' on her or gets worse in any way of course I would get her veterinary help immediately, but I am not prepared to put a dog, especially a Pug through a general anesthetic and an operation that involves shaving part of her shin bone unless it is absolutely and totally necessary.
Suky updates, including weight loss will be ongoing :-)
Meanwhile, outside on this not peaceful Bank Holiday weekend we have had the constant churning of a cement mixer as the retaining wall has been going up, layer by layer.
Rosy inspecting the work at close of play at 7pm last night.
This morning the guys are all back, two welders and two brickies. The mesh gets inserted on to the uprights that are inbetween the layers of blocks and welded into place. Then the front wall will be bricked up a few layers higher and once this has set, concrete will be poured between the blocks.
Once this has set another few layers of blocks will go on top and concrete poured into the gap, and this is repeated over and over until the retaining wall is the right height and can be topped off. The back of the wall will then be infilled with a lot of the earth that was removed before it was built.
So one thing we are not having is a quiet and restful holiday weekend, although we are braving the rain this afternoon, leaving the builders to their own devices and taking ourselves off to look around Plas Cadnant, highly recommended by our neighbor Mary and somewhere we tried to get to when we holidayed on Anglesey earlier in the year, but it was closed on the day we visited.
As it's called the 'Hidden Gardens' we are just hoping they are not too well hidden ;-)
Sue xx
