Felicity Jane

Felicity Jane is our fox terrier.  When we lived at Jimboomba we had a few snake issues.  We all know that snakes are going to be around when you live on a rural property, our issue was that the cats would bring them inside the house, Dot was the main offender, she would sneak them in and let them go.  Nothing venomous made it into the house, but a snakes a snake. The final straw was when Elvis was getting his face lift and we all trudged home from the hospital very emotional and tired, to collapse on a mattress on the floor in front of the tv.  There was bird feathers all over the lounge room, someone of the feline variety had plucked a bird and eaten the good bits (this was a common occurance), we had to vacuum the feathers before we could relax, when i lifted the foam mattress up, there was a snake coiled up underneath it.  My eldest was 10 at the time and i made him kill it while i stood on the back of the lounge.  Mother of the year.

The decision was made to get a dog who could intercept the snake catcher before she made it into the loungeroom and who could also find the rats/bilbys/mice/bearded dragons/hares/possums/sugar gliders/birds the cat would also hide in the house.  Yes Dot was  a talented critter catcher, and she only had one eye, i cant blame her all the time though, i did have 7 cats.

Flick (for short) was purchased from Gympie, she was delivered to us as an 8 week old pup and found her first dead bilby (which was bigger than her) at about 9 weeks of age.  Excellent, she knew her job. She found the bilby in the boys wardrobe, one of the cats obviously lost interest when it stopped moving.

Over the 6 years we have had her, she has become Piper (my other dog) best friend and he is her beanbag (yes she sits on top of him), she has saved me on at least 2 occasions from a Brown snake and a Red Belly Black and has caught many more that hadnt the intent to scare the shit out of me.  On the occasion of the Red Belly, which crawled out from the vege patch i was weeding (this is the only thing i grow in my vege patch), Flick was bitten, more than once, needless to say the snake had its head chopped with a shovel and was proudly displayed by the kids, especially our kiwi friends whose son we  almost had to tackle to stop him getting too close to the snake before it lost its head.  Kiwis just dont understand the lethal part of our critters, i would move to NZ for this reason.  Anywho, Flick took a visit to the vet where she was treated for snakebite and is still with us today. 

I recently considered pet insurance for our critter catcher, and then forgot about it.  2 weeks later on the day of Queen Adelaides wedding, she injured her leg.  Of course seeing as we were busy bride/bridesmaiding it, i gave her some pain meds and put her to bed.  When the hangover subsided the next day i took her to the emergency centre for xrays: lateral antebarchiocarpal subluxation (ruptured ligament in her wrist).  Any wonder it was pointing the wrong way.  Mother of the year.  Poor Flick.  $6000 to fix it.  All i could think was that money could make for a nice holiday. 

So surgery is not an option, i could buy James' first car for this, she is going to live in a splint for 12 weeks and then we will reassess.  If nothing has been achieved we then need to make a decision. 

I have decided and was willing to do it from day one, to take her leg off.  She is a firey terrier and would get back to normal life, killing snakes and chasing the horse in no time. My Vet tells me i am being dramatic and give the splint a shot. Really, 12 weeks of dragging her to work with me (yes i have a dog crate next to my desk as Flick is a classroom dog also), making sure it doesnt get wet, that she doesnt run around etc.  who could be bothered?  Take the leg off, 10 days stitches out, back to normal.  Mother of the year.  My eldest son said he would rather put her to sleep than her lose a leg and it made me wonder if faced with the same decision with my kids/husband, would i say take the leg off ?  Probably not, just being dramatic. When i asked my son would he prefer to be without one leg or not be here, he opted for the latter, and that is sad.  I guess we take our limbs for granted and cant see our life being normal with such a change.

So the debate continues amongst the family and Flick is 2 weeks into her splinting exercise.  I left her with the boys for one day to look after her and she swam in the dam.  It is going to be a long 12 weeks.