Readers of this blog might remember that last week I told the sorry tale of our boxer dog Toad's tail here http://patnurseblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/another-choice-lost-animal-suffers.html.
He duly went for his trip yesterday to the vet but it wasn't good news.
You may recall how I told of how when we came back from a trip to the North East, Toad, who couldn't have his tail docked at birth because of a new law preventing it, had whacked it on something and it has bled profusely since.
The vet examined him and the good news is that he is very fit and well enough to have the operation but the good medic astounded us because she said she would only remove about an inch which isn't going to do any good. He would still have about a metre circumference swinging with each wag and he is bound to knock it again. I guess that would mean another trip to the vet, another £100, another bit chopped off, and yet more suffering for Toad.
We have reluctantly, for now, decided against having it docked on medical grounds although we might seek a second opinion. Ironically, the vet was more interested in trying to persuade us to have his manly bits chopped off to "quieten him down". We love his character and wouldn't want to change it, but it does seem bizzare that the law says we can't dock his tail but we can castrate him.