On Tuesday morning we finally managed to get Hedda to the vets in Loughborough because her limp just wasn't getting any better. The vet did a thorough examination and took 2 x-rays, and the news wasn't very good. Although her right leg isn't broken, some time ago she must have pulled a ligament, and the bones since then have not been in alignment, causing her to limp. Cartilage has built up in that area [which could be scraped away in humans, the vet said], clearly visible on the x-rays - it's like osteo arthritis. I shall copy them in here when I receive them on CD.
The bad news was that the vet thought Hedda's condition would get worse, and that all we could do was alleviate the pain by giving her 10 drops of Metacam every morning and by adding Glucosamine to her food.
Catching Hedda out of the hut every morning and administering the drops of Metacam is not easy, but if it helps her to get about a bit better it's all to the good. She actually went with the crowd this morning, didn't stop in the pond. I think the attraction was John clearing two of the vegetable beds:
This small cut-out of the picture below shows that Hedda made it right to the top of the garden, brave girl!
After a while they all decided to run back to the big duck pond:
It didn't take long at the pond before they were on their way back up again. What surprised me in the afternoon was that 14 of them came to the frog pond [Hedda stayed behind, she's got enough sense to sit down and rest when she's had enough], but Captain and his 3 girls didn't dare go in. After a while all 14 went up to the shed where there was some food left - by the time I'd got the camera they were gone again. Captain and his 3 ran back to Hedda [I'm not sure if she'd been shouting for them] and the 10, unusually, stayed in the frog pond until I took them up to the shed at bedtime - which is half past 6 now!
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