November 1999

Jemima was referred to the Queen Mother Veterinary Hospital in South Mimms. It is a teaching hospital of the finest kind – one where the people who work there are very obviously deeply committed to the welfare of animals such that you feel safe as soon as you walk through the door. Arriving in the car park was a little like attending the first day of school. You weren’t quite sure what would happen but was aware that what was coming would have a positive effect on your life although in this case it was Jemimas life we were talking about.

Christine and I waited in reception until we were called and then went through to a consultancy room. Jemima was her happy bouncy self although we made sure we gave her a good walk the day before such that she would be a little lame and the problem would be as evident as possible. The consultant read Jemimas notes and asked questions about history, symptoms and behaviour before examining her. The consultant very quickly made the same synopsis as previous vets and spoke about the atopic condition that Jemima had. She also noted that Jemima seemed to be growing a new pad on the worst affected toe and this not being quite right was giving Jemima some trouble. The consultant suggested we would need to operate to remove the new growth and in addition to solve the issue of the main sore on the underside of her right toe that she may need to remove all the connective tissue between Jemimas toes. This would of course affect her swimming ability but nothing else. This would solve her current set of problems of course but not deal with the prime cause which was still unknown. For that we needed another appointment with a certain Dr Ross Bond. I cannot recall whether he was found on the spur of the moment or had been put on standy or whether we made an appointment to come back another day but regardless he was an expert on dog skin conditions.

In the session with Dr Bond, the type of softly spoken Scot whom one took a liking to straight away, he explained all the possible causes and courses of action which primarily included checking whether it was dietary related or allergy related. We were to check off the dietary cause first and this involved feeding Jemima on Coley, Chicken and Rice and nothing else for two straight weeks.