20/09/2025
Patient story- Our Buzzer
Our Buzzer- Here at Beacon Vets we are privilged to meet and look after your beloved family members, when we asked one family if we could share their story, We enjoyed reading this one with a good cup of tea. We hope you enjoy this too on a raining day, get comfy and enjoy.
This is a potted history of the best decision myself & my wife ever made.
Some background – my wife had been keen for us to get a four-legged friend for a year or two but we waited until we would both have more time to spend with him / her. With some “gentle” persuading I finally agreed - I had always liked chocolate labradors so the decision was made to find “our little Buzzer”. (PS: The name comes from the fact that my nickname is / was Buzz & Lynn’s “gentle” persuading always involved the phrase “just imagine how nice it would be to have our own little Buzzer” – so the name stuck).
A friend of ours mentioned someone he knew in Bilsborough, a chap named Doug, who bred labradors & had just had a litter of 9 (5 black & four chocolate labradors). Buzzer was born on the 15th April 2016 & a few weeks later myself & Lynn went down to visit the litter & hopefully pick out our new family member. In actual fact, he picked us out 😊. As we walked into the enclosure with Mum & 9 little puppies this little chocolate fella ran straight up to me & started biting my shoe laces – he was the one! We immediately both gave him a big hug, told Doug that he was the one & he was given a bright green collar to signal he was ours. I can remember how excited myself & Lynn were on the way home – Lynn’s daughter, Kate, was staying at our house at the time with her little “staffie” K**e so we informed them we had made our choice & in a few weeks we would all have a new house mate.
The next few weeks seemed to pass very slowly, interspersed with quite a few visits to our new little friend, and finally 8 weeks after his birth we were able to bring him home on the 10th June 2016. Even on that first car journey home Buzzer just lay on Lynn’s lap gazing up at her so chilled & relaxed – he really did bond with us so quickly & so easily. He was, and still is, the most chilled, relaxed, placid, loyal friend you could possibly have. We were warned by a few people to avoid getting a chocolate labrador as they were well known for being a bit “bonkers” & hard work but Buzzer was the complete opposite. We both remember well a comment by an elder local when we took Buzzer for his first holiday to a cottage in Broad Campden in the Cotswolds in the August when he was only 4 months old. We were sat in the local pub (a pastime Buzzer still loves to this day just lying quietly watching everything going on, & obviously hoping for the odd snack that might come his way) & Buzzer was just lying at our feet watching everything when an old man walked passed, looked down & said “he old before his time that one, old before his time”.
Buzzer was actually born with the pedigree name of “Our Cracker Jack” but, for reasons stated above, he was renamed Buzzer. We quickly got Buzzer registered with our local vets in Garstang – The Beacon Veterinary Centre & Hetty, Buzzers vet for the past 9 years, quickly sorted out all his jabs, chips etc that were required. Throughout Buzzers life he has remained with The Beacon & Hetty has remained his one & only vet – they have always done everything they can for Buzzer in a professional but personal way and, as such, even though we have now moved further away we would not think of taking him anywhere else. The bond that has developed and the personal knowledge of Buzzers journey throughout his life is invaluable – all the staff at the Beacon have also always been very caring & professional & again they seem to have developed a real bond with our boy, in particular Sharon & Alison who currently work there. In some ways it would have been ideal if we hadn’t got to know everyone at the vets quite so well but, as you’ll see, Buzzer has had some challenges to face over the years ☹
The first 18 months went past in a blur – full of fun play fighting on the lounge floor or in bed, taking our boy for long walks by the local river or on the promenade either in Bispham or on the sands up at St Annes, playing with his best friend K**e. They were both quite “crafty” in their own way – when chasing a ball together K**e would always go hell for leather every time but Buzzer would pick & choose & when he was ready to “go for it” he would craftily take a significant head start ready for the next throw whilst K**e was returning the ball from the previous one. Likewise, Buzzer loved swimming in rivers (K**e less so) & Buzzer would launch himself in to retrieve a ball or a stick, swim back with it proudly in his mouth, only for K**e to pinch it off him waiting in the shallows 😊.
Buzzers first major setback occurred early December 2017 when he became lame in his front right leg. We took him to see Hetty and after a thorough investigation Hetty was fairly certain that Buzzer had what was described to us as Elbow Displacia – not as uncommon as you’d hope in labradors & other similar dogs. Buzzer has always had quite long legs &, even though we have managed his weight quite successfully, the running & jumping etc had obviously taken their toll! Hetty recommended we take Buzzer to Kentdale Veterinary Orthopaedics in Cumbria – a specialist vets that specialised in these sort of injuries. After a scan was taken to confirm the diagnosis (Hetty had been correct) we agreed with the lead vet at Kentdale that Buzzer would have an operation to address the issue. We were informed that it was quite a common complaint & that they had operated on numerous dogs previously with the same complaint who had made full recoveries – albeit outlining, as with any operation, there were risks. We quickly signed the necessary forms (we had, & still do, have pet insurance with Petplan who have been excellent throughout & this covered a good percentage of the initial costs – however we would not have hesitated even without insurance as you could not put a price on this lovely brown, furry best friend of ours – which he had now become). On the 18th December, just a week before Christmas, we dropped Buzzer off for his 2 night stay at Kentdale & went home with heavy hearts full of worry & concern. We got a call immediately after his operation to say that he had come through it okay & it had gone well (fingers crossed). What a relief!!! After a couple of nights of monitoring & recovery we were able to pick our boy up & bring him home. There followed a number of months taking things very slowly as Buzzer’s leg continued to heal & gather strength – there were numerous visits to The Beacon for follow up sessions with Hetty to monitor his recovery as well as return visits to Kentdale to check on progress. Part way through this process, as well as the additional medication Buzzer required to make him more comfortable he was given initial physiotherapy at Kentdale & then we went to a private physiotherapist, Donna, based at Myerscough college for continuing physio. We also signed Buzzer up for some Hydrotherapy sessions, also at Myerscough to help build up & retrain his muscles & to build back up his general stamina & fitness in a reduced weight bearing way. We continued with the physio & hydro for approximately 12 months as Buzzers recovery progressed well & eventually we were in a position to “get back to normal”.
For the next 5 years things progressed well, and much as they had done before Buzzer’s setback. We continued to pop in to The Beacon for regular checks as well as for the occasional ailments like ear / eye infections, regular jabs etc but in the main things were back to normal – swimming in rivers, beach & park walks, cottage holidays around the UK on our own & with friends etc etc. Throughout this period our love for our boy just grew & grew….and we know it was reciprocated in bucketfuls. Everyone who knew Buzzer all loved him & commented on what a lovely, gentle dog he was. We had a little Grand-daughter throughout this period (Sienna) & another arrived in 2018 (Penelope) – as little ones do, there was the occasional pull on an ear or tail but we never had a seconds worry that Buzzer would react in any way – he was just as gentle & laid back as always. One particular memory that still makes myself & Lynn smile (& our old neighbours) is during the Covid period. At that time we lived in a cul-de-sac where everyone knew each other quite well & during the period when the country was stepping outside their doors to give the NHS a round of applause every Thursday Buzzer would walk round each house getting lots of pats & cuddles believing everyone was outside clapping him 😊.
We had a few foreign holidays over this period and Lynn in particular was never keen on leaving our boy & would get quite upset about it – Buzzer himself hated it (he sulks if we leave him for half an hour to nip to the shops but is always there wagging his tail waiting for you when you return making a fuss). Our last “proper” holiday abroad was in August 2023 where we were away for 2.5 weeks – a long time to be without our mate. Kate, Lynn’s daughter, had kindly agreed to look after Buzzer at her house whilst we were away which lessened Lynn’s worry as Kate has known him from day 1 & he would be with his best mate K**e. Whilst away we had text’d Kate a few times checking on everything & things were all okay but towards the end we had a sixth sense that maybe something had happened as the messages back were fairly generic. On our return we found that Buzzer had become lame again on the same leg – Kate hadn’t wanted to worry us at the end of our holiday as there was nothing we could have done until we got home, Kate had already taken him to a vet before we arrived back. We obviously know our boy better than anyone & it was clear he needed to go back to the vets so we took Buzzer to see Hetty at The Beacon. After further investigation Hetty said that Buzzer would need to be re-referred to Kentdale as it looked like it was related to the old injury.
We arranged an appointment at Kentdale & we dropped Buzzer off with them for a scan & we were asked to come back in a couple of hours. We went to the lakes, had some lunch & discussed what we thought the prognosis would be – we assumed it might be another operation like the previous one which we didn’t really want to have to put him through but if that was what was required then so be it. We arrived back to see Emma, another lead vet at Kentdale, and after showing us pictures of the scan & a brief discussion on what had happened we were suddenly hit with options neither of us had ever contemplated! It turned out that the lameness was as a result of a large piece of arthritic bone that had snapped clean off & was causing Buzzer significant pain (he could not really put any weight on his front right leg which was extremely upsetting to see). Emma started off by saying that amputation would normally have been an option in circumstances like this but because Buzzer already had some arthritis in his front left leg (as well as obviously quite bad arthritis in his damaged right leg) then amputation wasn’t a viable option for Buzzer as it would just put too much pressure on his front left leg. She then went on to say that euthanasia was something we needed to consider, at which point we both stunned into silence & Lynn was visibly upset). Emma then went on to say that there was an operation they could try, to remove the splintered bone out of his leg but that there was no guarantee of success (or recovery) & that it would be expensive. It was an immediate no-brainer for Lynn & I – the money was irrelevant (our insurance only covered so much per year) but if there was a chance of Buzzer making a recovery & having some quality of life then we had to go for it. The operation was arranged quickly, we gave our boy one last hug & then drove home in silence leaving him in the hands of the experts. We rang up later that night to make sure he had settled okay & the following morning we received a call saying that the operation was complete, he had come through it okay but it was now a bit of a waiting game to see how things progressed. We were able to bring Buzzer home a couple of days later, burdened down with medication & clear instructions on what he could and couldn’t do. The 1st few days & weeks were particularly hard – we had no idea whether Buzzer’s leg would recover sufficiently, the vets at Kentdale had said it was 50/50 at best – we had to encourage him to hobble outside just for a wee or poo and it was heartbreaking to see how much pain he was obviously in & to watch him fall over when trying to c**k his leg for a wee (the vet had called him stoic & said he would try his best not to let us know just how much pain he was in). We went back for regular checkups at Kentdale & we obviously went back to The Beacon to see Hetty regularly over this period – within a month the vets at Kentdale were amazed to see how well he was recovering & I think they even told us they didn’t think he would ever fully recover. Hetty was also great through this period and she mentioned on numerous occasions she was surprised how well he was doing. We had some initial physiotherapy at Kentdale before signing off with them & we transferred his physio back to Donna at Myerscough. When Buzzer was ready we re-started his hydrotherapy sessions at Myerscough as well. He is now on 3 lots of medication a day (still to this day, nearly 2 years later) - he has Gabapentin & umove tablets twice a day with meals & paracetamol the same plus a tablet at midnight with some food. Whilst we are aware that being on this level of medication comes with its own risks it has given our Buzzer a new lease of life & a quality of life we never though he would have again 2 years ago. Buzzer has also started laser treatment once a week & he has a Librella injection with Hetty once every 4 / 5 weeks which seems to help. We still go for 2 walks a day which he looks forward to, we play “bally” every night with him at his request 😊, he still enjoys going to the pub (as do his owners!) & he seems just as happy, laid back & loving as he always has been. There are obviously consequences – he stays on his lead now for walks, we don’t let him do wild swimming any more, he doesn’t go up & down the stairs any more but he DOES have a quality of life that is the very least he deserves. For now foreign holidays are a thing of the past but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
In a world, and a country, that needs as many good things in it as possible at the moment we have been unbelievably fortunate to have the best thing ever in our lives…………Our Buzzer
