Since Paige arrived in June, I've been watching her with other dogs. She's very friendly - too friendly really, boogering off to say hello has been an issue - but her body language has been lovely.
A few months back I decided to see if I could bring her on a bit, reward the right things, a bit of gentle guidance here and there, with the goal of her becoming my second teaching dog.
Opi is my main girl - when it comes to working with aggressive dogs, scared dogs, people etc she's fab; her body language is beautiful, and she can read other dogs wonderfully and calm them down - just the other week she was set upon by a fearsome Jack Russell and despite this little thing hanging off her neck, she remained calm and used her body to calm little Poppy down. Poppy wasn't her friend by any means - but she did stop attacking so her owner was able to grab her. That's the mark of a brill teacher in my eyes.
Paige isn't that skilled - yet - but she is well on the way. Today she had her first session - a little viszla girl, fear-aggressive like Poppy but nowhere near as bad, just a bit of lunging and barking when dogs get too close. Paige came into the lesson halfway through; I wanted to work Molly with Opi first to get her back into the swing of it (we've been unable to meet due to weather for 2 weeks). Paige is the 'next step' - she's a fair bit more springy than Opi so more of a 'trigger' for a scared dog.
What I've been working on is her not losing her springiness, but toning it down a bit around other dogs - and I must say, she's come on so, so well. The only times she bounced today were when she was tied up - I tend to start that way so I can walk the owners through the exercise first - and then when I specifically asked her to do it. The rest of the time, she was perfectly calm and controlled, paid great attention to me and only overstepped Molly's boundaries once - and backed away when she was then told off.
This is a milestone for Paige - her self control used to be shocking, and certainly with River she is not above retaliating if she's told off.
I am so, so proud of my girl and forsee a very helpful future for her and the dogs she will help :) Depending on how she is with being bathed I may consider putting her forward as a PAT dog (Pets as Therapy) - however as bathing is a requirement before every visit that is kind of a big point (and is why Remy is not a PAT dog).
Monday, 13 December 2010
Friday, 3 December 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
The gang in the snow
A little snow-type fun! Saffi apparently LOVES snow. She's an odd little lab - normally it takes me a heck of a lot of messing around and bum-smacking (her favourite thing) to get her excited enough to do zoomies. But no, not yesterday - one foot in the snow and off she zoomed!
Saturday, 27 November 2010
More fun at Liverpool
This seems to be becoming a regular slot in my life now. Not 6 weeks since we were last there, me and Soli have been back to Liverpool, this time with Remy in tow (well, with everyone, but Remy was off to the vet as well).
Soli was in to have her 'orrible lump removed; good thing too. Turns out, it had dropped from its normal position as it had outgrown its blood supply; once fallen, it had squished into a ball and was going necrotic. Still, all gone now; as is the smaller lump it had fallen on top of. Now we just have to endure a week of lead-walks only - not fun with such a stressy dog as Soli; because she can't run, she can't release as much stress as usual so gets gradually more wound up as the walk progresses.
Remy finally, finally had his referral for his lethargy/lung problems.
So far, we're none the wiser; we are waiting on the result of his lung wash to look for nasties. He does have significant inflammation, but the cause as yet is not known. He also has some intriguing nodules, but these appear to be normal tissue, if abnormally shaped: the ordinarily horseshoe-shaped tracheal rings in his windpipe appear to be sticking in at the ends on one or two rings.
Blood tests were all normal though, which is good in a way - although we are no nearer to solving the lethargy, if it traspires that his lungs aren't to blame, his liver enzyme count is normal (when I first took him to my vet it was triple the normal value). So that's something.
For now, he's on a long, strong course of wormer granules to rule out longworm or other parasites; if that doesn't work we'll try steroids.
Given that it's taken me 4 years to get 8kg off him - and he's still 3/4kgs overweight - I am not thrilled with the prospect of steroids. But, if they help him then so be it. Hopefully it won't become an issue.
One last thing to note: get your pets insured! Remy's issues have so far cost me £69 for his excess; had it not been for insurance, he would have so far cost me over £1400. His little 7-hour stay at the specialist on Tuesday accounts for over £1000 of that! Likewise Soli and her many issues would have cost me many thousands by now. Just the 15-minute operation on wednesday cost £707 - granted, it is high due to being done by a specialist, but given her heart condition that was a necessity.
well, nothing else to report from this trip: we are there again for Soli's next heart check in January. Hopefully not again before then!
Soli was in to have her 'orrible lump removed; good thing too. Turns out, it had dropped from its normal position as it had outgrown its blood supply; once fallen, it had squished into a ball and was going necrotic. Still, all gone now; as is the smaller lump it had fallen on top of. Now we just have to endure a week of lead-walks only - not fun with such a stressy dog as Soli; because she can't run, she can't release as much stress as usual so gets gradually more wound up as the walk progresses.
Remy finally, finally had his referral for his lethargy/lung problems.
So far, we're none the wiser; we are waiting on the result of his lung wash to look for nasties. He does have significant inflammation, but the cause as yet is not known. He also has some intriguing nodules, but these appear to be normal tissue, if abnormally shaped: the ordinarily horseshoe-shaped tracheal rings in his windpipe appear to be sticking in at the ends on one or two rings.
Blood tests were all normal though, which is good in a way - although we are no nearer to solving the lethargy, if it traspires that his lungs aren't to blame, his liver enzyme count is normal (when I first took him to my vet it was triple the normal value). So that's something.
For now, he's on a long, strong course of wormer granules to rule out longworm or other parasites; if that doesn't work we'll try steroids.
Given that it's taken me 4 years to get 8kg off him - and he's still 3/4kgs overweight - I am not thrilled with the prospect of steroids. But, if they help him then so be it. Hopefully it won't become an issue.
One last thing to note: get your pets insured! Remy's issues have so far cost me £69 for his excess; had it not been for insurance, he would have so far cost me over £1400. His little 7-hour stay at the specialist on Tuesday accounts for over £1000 of that! Likewise Soli and her many issues would have cost me many thousands by now. Just the 15-minute operation on wednesday cost £707 - granted, it is high due to being done by a specialist, but given her heart condition that was a necessity.
well, nothing else to report from this trip: we are there again for Soli's next heart check in January. Hopefully not again before then!
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Off we go again!
Yes, it's that time yet again - Liverpool here we come!
After months of Soli-problems, which are of course still ongoing, my Remy-problem is finally getting some attention.
Remy, as I think I mentioned in his little blog post, has mild bronchial disease. Around 3 or 4 months ago, he was supposed to get a referral for a bronchoscopy, to identify the little nasties at work, and a large plate x-ray - the size of a dobermann chest (long and deep) means that regular vets' x-rays can't always capture everything they need to.
As soon as I requested a referral, the excuses began from my vets: 'we've been trying to call you on both phone to find out where you wanted to go', 'liverpool aren't sending us the forms', 'we can't do it till Remy's balance is cleared by the insurance' - then 'we can't do it until every penny of your balance is paid for all the dogs'.
Now, I've had no missed calls and no messages; I can understand them wanting to ask me where as normally, they would use Cambridge but they know Remy has seen the referral vet at Liverpool for his free heart scan (it was the lovely Jo who picked up on his lung issues); a 5 minute phonecall got the forms faxed straight through, but it then took 3 days to get my vets to get off their arse (and speaking to a new vet who is actually helpful) to get them to fax them back; Remy's balance was cleared in full but in the following month they didn't sort the forms, so some built up again (hence the other balance issue); cleared that sharpish then the forms issue started up again. That was when the 5 minute phonecall happened, and half a dozen between the two vets to get mine doing something and keep liverpool informed.
All in all, what took my vets nearly 3 months to acheive nothing, I got sorted out in about 30 minutes on the phone. Sigh. A lot of it was helped by the new vet, she's fab! And southern like me - she talks so fast she runs out of breath!
Still, all sorted now. Remy's in at 9.30, and Soli's in at 11.30 to have a lump looked at.
The lump in question first appeared in summer 2008 - it's been steadily growing, but stable, since then. A coulpe of weeks ago, it rather randomly 'fell off' - it has been in situ behind her left shoulder all the time but is now a full 6" below that, sitting on top of another smaller lump she's had most of her life. I am going for surgery - I don't particularly want to, given her age, stress levels and heart condition, but it really is hurting her, it's starting to stay in the malformed shape it is now which is making it worse, it'll be a 10-minute surgery and if liverpool are doing it, I should be able to get an update on her DCM.
That's all copable-with. It's just the 4am rise on Wednesday to walk the others that's going to kill me.
After months of Soli-problems, which are of course still ongoing, my Remy-problem is finally getting some attention.
Remy, as I think I mentioned in his little blog post, has mild bronchial disease. Around 3 or 4 months ago, he was supposed to get a referral for a bronchoscopy, to identify the little nasties at work, and a large plate x-ray - the size of a dobermann chest (long and deep) means that regular vets' x-rays can't always capture everything they need to.
As soon as I requested a referral, the excuses began from my vets: 'we've been trying to call you on both phone to find out where you wanted to go', 'liverpool aren't sending us the forms', 'we can't do it till Remy's balance is cleared by the insurance' - then 'we can't do it until every penny of your balance is paid for all the dogs'.
Now, I've had no missed calls and no messages; I can understand them wanting to ask me where as normally, they would use Cambridge but they know Remy has seen the referral vet at Liverpool for his free heart scan (it was the lovely Jo who picked up on his lung issues); a 5 minute phonecall got the forms faxed straight through, but it then took 3 days to get my vets to get off their arse (and speaking to a new vet who is actually helpful) to get them to fax them back; Remy's balance was cleared in full but in the following month they didn't sort the forms, so some built up again (hence the other balance issue); cleared that sharpish then the forms issue started up again. That was when the 5 minute phonecall happened, and half a dozen between the two vets to get mine doing something and keep liverpool informed.
All in all, what took my vets nearly 3 months to acheive nothing, I got sorted out in about 30 minutes on the phone. Sigh. A lot of it was helped by the new vet, she's fab! And southern like me - she talks so fast she runs out of breath!
Still, all sorted now. Remy's in at 9.30, and Soli's in at 11.30 to have a lump looked at.
The lump in question first appeared in summer 2008 - it's been steadily growing, but stable, since then. A coulpe of weeks ago, it rather randomly 'fell off' - it has been in situ behind her left shoulder all the time but is now a full 6" below that, sitting on top of another smaller lump she's had most of her life. I am going for surgery - I don't particularly want to, given her age, stress levels and heart condition, but it really is hurting her, it's starting to stay in the malformed shape it is now which is making it worse, it'll be a 10-minute surgery and if liverpool are doing it, I should be able to get an update on her DCM.
That's all copable-with. It's just the 4am rise on Wednesday to walk the others that's going to kill me.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Fleabag & Fishface: The Shop Years!
Coming soon!
I am overjoyed to announce that within the next few weeks, my new online pet shop will be going live - selling only high-quality, high-welfare items, such as:
Cages that are actually big enough for hamsters!
Collars that don't harm your dog!
Training aids that don't frighten your dog!
Phobia aids!
Tanks that are actually big enough for the fish they hold!
Spotted the theme yet? Yep, that's right: only the good stuff. So, so many shops sell anything and everything to make a quick quid; I will only be selling good-welfare items. So you won't find any of these:
Choke chains (they have that name for a reason!)
Pet corrector sprays/spray collars
Shock collars
Anti-bark collars (seriously, all you have to do is work out why the dog barks and you can stop it humanely)
Teeny-tiny hamster/mouse/gerbil cages
Dog foods jam-packed with e-numbers that send the dogs loopy!
So on and so forth.
Any cages will be sold according to guidelines from the relevant pet societies/rescues. An example:
The Southern Hamster Club states that a syrian hamster (the big one) should have a minimum of 75cm x 40cm x 40cm (29.5" x 15.75" x 15.75"). So, any cages that fall below this size (or equivalent, going by volume) will not be sold by f&f for syrian hamsters.
Likewise I'll be doing pages for the non-sold items so that if someone looks for them, they'll find an explanation detailing exactly why these things should be avoided.
f&f should be live in the next 2-3 weeks.
Here goes nothing!
I am overjoyed to announce that within the next few weeks, my new online pet shop will be going live - selling only high-quality, high-welfare items, such as:
Cages that are actually big enough for hamsters!
Collars that don't harm your dog!
Training aids that don't frighten your dog!
Phobia aids!
Tanks that are actually big enough for the fish they hold!
Spotted the theme yet? Yep, that's right: only the good stuff. So, so many shops sell anything and everything to make a quick quid; I will only be selling good-welfare items. So you won't find any of these:
Choke chains (they have that name for a reason!)
Pet corrector sprays/spray collars
Shock collars
Anti-bark collars (seriously, all you have to do is work out why the dog barks and you can stop it humanely)
Teeny-tiny hamster/mouse/gerbil cages
Dog foods jam-packed with e-numbers that send the dogs loopy!
So on and so forth.
Any cages will be sold according to guidelines from the relevant pet societies/rescues. An example:
The Southern Hamster Club states that a syrian hamster (the big one) should have a minimum of 75cm x 40cm x 40cm (29.5" x 15.75" x 15.75"). So, any cages that fall below this size (or equivalent, going by volume) will not be sold by f&f for syrian hamsters.
Likewise I'll be doing pages for the non-sold items so that if someone looks for them, they'll find an explanation detailing exactly why these things should be avoided.
f&f should be live in the next 2-3 weeks.
Here goes nothing!
Soli: An Update
I have realised how horrendously behind I am in my updates!
Three weeks ago Soli was booked in quickly at the Liverpool hospital. I rang them on the Wednesday to tell them that she'd started to breath a little heavier in the evenings; Jo called me back to tell me they wanted to see her on Thursday!
Luckily it was doable so we were very soon back with our friends over there. They are always happy to see Soli, even if she doesn't feel the same... but we are always welcomed, and Jo knows me well enough now to know she can tell me every detail of the procedures and results, complete with medical jargon. Which is just how I like it, no matter the emotional implications of it.
Anyhoo, Soli is not - as yet - in heart failure as Jo had feared. Her heart is only marginally worse than last time; she is having more premature beats (like a sutter or hiccup in the heartbeat; on the ECG it looks like a double-beat or a beat-and-a-bit. Well, a bit-and-a-beat, technically). Based on that Jo wasn't worried.
However, she called me again on the following Monday to tell me that although Soli's other blood results were fine (in all she had an ECG; echo (ultrasound); blood tests; and full chest x-ray, side and above, which was clear), one - a hormone which indicates damage to the heart muscle cells - was exceptionally high. I cannot recall what the hormone is, or the units (it did shock me a bit), but I can tell you that where a normal, undamaged heart would have a value of around 900, Soli's was at the time 2900.
To translate: heart failure is now imminent. And given that, unlike other breeds with the same disease, dobes are affected much worse by DCM, that means that when she does go into heart failure, my time left with her will be limited: other breeds can have 6 months, even up to 2 years, in heart failure; dobes have, on average, 6 weeks.
On top of that, her right elbow has swollen in the last few days; I noticed this after she started favouring that leg. Now, Soli does have raging osteoarthritis in most of her limb joints, and the worst in her right elbow; but the swelling starts at the bottom of the joint and goes down the long bones 3-4". This is, potentially, a sign of osteosarcoma, an absolutely vicious bone cancer which dobes are very prone to.
With luck it's just the arthritis - hers is always spreading, and quickly - if not, this could be the 4th OS scare I've had with this dog. Sigh.
Three weeks ago Soli was booked in quickly at the Liverpool hospital. I rang them on the Wednesday to tell them that she'd started to breath a little heavier in the evenings; Jo called me back to tell me they wanted to see her on Thursday!
Luckily it was doable so we were very soon back with our friends over there. They are always happy to see Soli, even if she doesn't feel the same... but we are always welcomed, and Jo knows me well enough now to know she can tell me every detail of the procedures and results, complete with medical jargon. Which is just how I like it, no matter the emotional implications of it.
Anyhoo, Soli is not - as yet - in heart failure as Jo had feared. Her heart is only marginally worse than last time; she is having more premature beats (like a sutter or hiccup in the heartbeat; on the ECG it looks like a double-beat or a beat-and-a-bit. Well, a bit-and-a-beat, technically). Based on that Jo wasn't worried.
However, she called me again on the following Monday to tell me that although Soli's other blood results were fine (in all she had an ECG; echo (ultrasound); blood tests; and full chest x-ray, side and above, which was clear), one - a hormone which indicates damage to the heart muscle cells - was exceptionally high. I cannot recall what the hormone is, or the units (it did shock me a bit), but I can tell you that where a normal, undamaged heart would have a value of around 900, Soli's was at the time 2900.
To translate: heart failure is now imminent. And given that, unlike other breeds with the same disease, dobes are affected much worse by DCM, that means that when she does go into heart failure, my time left with her will be limited: other breeds can have 6 months, even up to 2 years, in heart failure; dobes have, on average, 6 weeks.
On top of that, her right elbow has swollen in the last few days; I noticed this after she started favouring that leg. Now, Soli does have raging osteoarthritis in most of her limb joints, and the worst in her right elbow; but the swelling starts at the bottom of the joint and goes down the long bones 3-4". This is, potentially, a sign of osteosarcoma, an absolutely vicious bone cancer which dobes are very prone to.
With luck it's just the arthritis - hers is always spreading, and quickly - if not, this could be the 4th OS scare I've had with this dog. Sigh.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Soli's Holter Test
Wednesday and yesterday, me and Soli went on a little trip back to the university vet teaching hospital at Leahurst in Wirral. I have duly documented the fitting process for the monitor she had to wear, which was kept on for 24 hours.
Soli was diagnosed with DCM - dilated cardiomyopathy - last friday and was confirmed eligible for inclusion in a study into the disease in dobes that's running at the moment. The study is looking into the effectiveness of pimobendan (Vetmedin) on treating occult DCM (that is, early stage, non-symptomatic as yet) in dobes. Vetmedin is used a lot for treating symptomatic DCM but not much is known about how well it works at Soli's stage of it, simply because DCM isn't generally detected until it's quite advanced. The scan last week was to pick up any signs of it.
To get her into the study, she had to undergo the holter test to get a 24-hour ECG of her heart. We'll be back again in a month to repeat that, then 6-monthly after that.
First step was to shave three little patches for the sensors, which were then stuck on:
These were stuck in place with strips of elastoplast (which later become one whole strip around her body, as everything slipped and we had to go back for re-bandaging), the wires were organised and taped together and then bandaged over:
A walking harness was put on during the bandaging, this was used to secure the monitor itself.
Starting the test:
And securing the monitor:
Ready to go!
Thus followed 24 hours of diary-keeping, exploring and general holiday-type stuff. We had chips on the beach (no pics, forgot my camera. Miffed!), got lost in a nature reserve (the last time I allow Soli to choose the route), frightened a poodle (sigh), got many weird looks and had cake on the bench outside the vet for lunch the next day before everything was taken off again.
We now wait for the results and for the first lot of drugs (or placebo) to come through and everything to begin properly.
DCM is an evil disease - it will kill her - which is why I am willing to include her in the study: her being in it may help another dobe and his/her family someday to beat back DCM for longer than they might be able to at the moment and that, for me, is the most important thing. Soli's time is limited anyway - her joints are progressing at a terrible speed so it may actually be them that calls it a day for her before her heart does - so I would like to help others if I can. She won't know the difference and once she starts to show symptoms, her role in the study will be over anyway so then she can go on the vetmedin for sure.
We are back in one month to have the ultrasound echo, blood tests and holter all done again, then all done yet again every 6 months after that.
Soli was diagnosed with DCM - dilated cardiomyopathy - last friday and was confirmed eligible for inclusion in a study into the disease in dobes that's running at the moment. The study is looking into the effectiveness of pimobendan (Vetmedin) on treating occult DCM (that is, early stage, non-symptomatic as yet) in dobes. Vetmedin is used a lot for treating symptomatic DCM but not much is known about how well it works at Soli's stage of it, simply because DCM isn't generally detected until it's quite advanced. The scan last week was to pick up any signs of it.
To get her into the study, she had to undergo the holter test to get a 24-hour ECG of her heart. We'll be back again in a month to repeat that, then 6-monthly after that.
First step was to shave three little patches for the sensors, which were then stuck on:
These were stuck in place with strips of elastoplast (which later become one whole strip around her body, as everything slipped and we had to go back for re-bandaging), the wires were organised and taped together and then bandaged over:
A walking harness was put on during the bandaging, this was used to secure the monitor itself.
Starting the test:
And securing the monitor:
Ready to go!
Thus followed 24 hours of diary-keeping, exploring and general holiday-type stuff. We had chips on the beach (no pics, forgot my camera. Miffed!), got lost in a nature reserve (the last time I allow Soli to choose the route), frightened a poodle (sigh), got many weird looks and had cake on the bench outside the vet for lunch the next day before everything was taken off again.
We now wait for the results and for the first lot of drugs (or placebo) to come through and everything to begin properly.
DCM is an evil disease - it will kill her - which is why I am willing to include her in the study: her being in it may help another dobe and his/her family someday to beat back DCM for longer than they might be able to at the moment and that, for me, is the most important thing. Soli's time is limited anyway - her joints are progressing at a terrible speed so it may actually be them that calls it a day for her before her heart does - so I would like to help others if I can. She won't know the difference and once she starts to show symptoms, her role in the study will be over anyway so then she can go on the vetmedin for sure.
We are back in one month to have the ultrasound echo, blood tests and holter all done again, then all done yet again every 6 months after that.
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Soli's Heart
Greetings from the Wirral!
Following the unexpected (and very unwelcome) news that Soli is suffering from occult DCM, we are once again in Merseyside for her Holter test.
Pictures will follow - in all my infinite wisdom, I remembered to check my camera for the SD card, and then fetch it from my card reader when I wasn't there. What I did not do was pick up the card reader itself so although I have been documenting the fitting process and will take more photos tomorrow, I cannot remove them from said camera. Sigh.
The girl herself is sound asleep next to me. She's knackered, bless her; she's had more exercise today than in the last week! It's been bittersweet - I've been wanting a little trip away from everyone with her for a while, whilst she still can; but I can see that she is getting older now, and her joints are getting worse by the day.
She's now on trocoxil - a very potent painkiller (to the tune of one tablet once a month) and one of the best - and tramadol on top of that. Okay, the tramadol is mainly to cover whatever is wrong with one foot (she seems to be reacting to something, it is VERY sore), but even with all that in the arsenal, she was still getting stiff after an hour's exploration.
This from the dog who would easily walk 3 or 4 hours plus just last year. As I said in my last post - it doesn't matter what we do to combat her heart disease, or whether she gets the drug or the placebo and so on... those joints will be the death of her.
Following the unexpected (and very unwelcome) news that Soli is suffering from occult DCM, we are once again in Merseyside for her Holter test.
Pictures will follow - in all my infinite wisdom, I remembered to check my camera for the SD card, and then fetch it from my card reader when I wasn't there. What I did not do was pick up the card reader itself so although I have been documenting the fitting process and will take more photos tomorrow, I cannot remove them from said camera. Sigh.
The girl herself is sound asleep next to me. She's knackered, bless her; she's had more exercise today than in the last week! It's been bittersweet - I've been wanting a little trip away from everyone with her for a while, whilst she still can; but I can see that she is getting older now, and her joints are getting worse by the day.
She's now on trocoxil - a very potent painkiller (to the tune of one tablet once a month) and one of the best - and tramadol on top of that. Okay, the tramadol is mainly to cover whatever is wrong with one foot (she seems to be reacting to something, it is VERY sore), but even with all that in the arsenal, she was still getting stiff after an hour's exploration.
This from the dog who would easily walk 3 or 4 hours plus just last year. As I said in my last post - it doesn't matter what we do to combat her heart disease, or whether she gets the drug or the placebo and so on... those joints will be the death of her.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Back from Liverpool
We went to Liverpool for the PROTECT scans on Friday - the result are a bit of a mixed bag, unfortunately.
Remy - the main concern and one both me and the cardio vet thought would have heart problems - has a perfect heart. He also, however, has pulmonary hypertension: for those who aren't geeks like me, that's increased blood pressure in the lungs. Casue unknown at this stage; cardio suggests gettnig a chest x-ray to look for lung disease. Googling has not made me happy...
Paige has an ever-so-slightly rounded heart, and low contractility (contractions of the heart are slower than expected); so no problems at present but one to watch in the future as that may develop into DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy - enlarged heart).
Soli - the bad news :( Soli has occult DCM. In english - she is at the very early stages of DCM; preclinical so no symptoms at all at this stage. Exactly what the PROTECT study is looking at.
So next week, me and Her Grumpness are off back to Liverpool. We go in on one day; Soli gets fitted with a holter vest - basically like a body-warmer with sensors - which she will wear for 24 hours to get a complete picture of her heart condition, rhythms, any misbeats and so on. On day 2 we go back to have it removed then come home, and the results will be in a day or two later.
At this stage it looks likely that she'll be entered into the study - I have already given consent - in which case, she'll receive either pimobendan (retail name Vetmedin, a very good treatment for late-stage DCM but the study is looking at its effectiveness on occult DCM) or a placebo.
I've been asked if I would just go elsewhere to guarantee she'd get the drug - i.e. duck out of the study - but a friend; but as much as I am tempted, I will not. I know Soli is on borrowed time anyway; her joints are progressing that fast. But I have to do the whole 'greater good' thing: the more information the vets have about treating occult DCM, the greater the chances of helping other dobes like Soli. And with her pedigree as well, the greater the chances of identifying the genetic cause which could one day lead to genetic screening, gene therapy - or even eradication of this horribly disease.
Is all that worth risking my girl, my baby, my heart dog, getting a placebo?
Yes.
Remy - the main concern and one both me and the cardio vet thought would have heart problems - has a perfect heart. He also, however, has pulmonary hypertension: for those who aren't geeks like me, that's increased blood pressure in the lungs. Casue unknown at this stage; cardio suggests gettnig a chest x-ray to look for lung disease. Googling has not made me happy...
Paige has an ever-so-slightly rounded heart, and low contractility (contractions of the heart are slower than expected); so no problems at present but one to watch in the future as that may develop into DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy - enlarged heart).
Soli - the bad news :( Soli has occult DCM. In english - she is at the very early stages of DCM; preclinical so no symptoms at all at this stage. Exactly what the PROTECT study is looking at.
So next week, me and Her Grumpness are off back to Liverpool. We go in on one day; Soli gets fitted with a holter vest - basically like a body-warmer with sensors - which she will wear for 24 hours to get a complete picture of her heart condition, rhythms, any misbeats and so on. On day 2 we go back to have it removed then come home, and the results will be in a day or two later.
At this stage it looks likely that she'll be entered into the study - I have already given consent - in which case, she'll receive either pimobendan (retail name Vetmedin, a very good treatment for late-stage DCM but the study is looking at its effectiveness on occult DCM) or a placebo.
I've been asked if I would just go elsewhere to guarantee she'd get the drug - i.e. duck out of the study - but a friend; but as much as I am tempted, I will not. I know Soli is on borrowed time anyway; her joints are progressing that fast. But I have to do the whole 'greater good' thing: the more information the vets have about treating occult DCM, the greater the chances of helping other dobes like Soli. And with her pedigree as well, the greater the chances of identifying the genetic cause which could one day lead to genetic screening, gene therapy - or even eradication of this horribly disease.
Is all that worth risking my girl, my baby, my heart dog, getting a placebo?
Yes.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Pictures
Pictures will be added and updated soon; with Paige now in the mix, my picture up top is a smidge out of date!
Watch this space...
Watch this space...
The Dogs: Paige
Paige is another little foster who won't be leaving again. Honestly, me and dobes are a doomed combination!
I got an email a few weeks back about a small dobe bitch, chocolate and tan, needing a home due to terminal illness - could I foster? Silly question. Paige - then Xena - landed here on Friday June 18th, after a nice long trip to Chatteris in Cambridgeshire.
Small is right - Paige stands 22.5" to the shoulder (dobe bitches start at 25/26" generally), small in stature and a dinky frame too. She's around 4-6 years old - the owner reckoned 5/6 but her teeth etc suggest a bit younger. When I get the microchip and vet information through I'll be able to work it out with more accuracy.
Paige is an odd little thing: size aside, it's very unusual to see a dobe older than 3 years still with tail intact - the docking ban came into effect in April 2007 and undocked dobes prior to then were very rare.
She also has charming little forward-flopping ears - she resembles a giant Manchester Terrier (see here - http://dogbreedswiki.com/images/dogst/ManchesterTerrier2.jpg)! She's also rather plump at the moment, and needs spaying, but this is all being addressed. SHe's also now tattooed as all my dogs are - she didn't half scream, I do hate having it done but it's all over quickly and is an effective, permanent ID.
She's fitted in beautifully, and is soft as butter - with luck from Monday I'll be starting agility training with her. Just the basics for now; working her on the sidelines to develop her self control around other dogs (at present she has precisely zilch), but later on she'll join the beginner's class, once River has worked through it.
I was also able to pop her onto Remy and Soli's heart scan appointment for this Friday as she's within the age range they are recruiting. Many thanks to the staff at Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital for allowing me to add her on!
I got an email a few weeks back about a small dobe bitch, chocolate and tan, needing a home due to terminal illness - could I foster? Silly question. Paige - then Xena - landed here on Friday June 18th, after a nice long trip to Chatteris in Cambridgeshire.
Small is right - Paige stands 22.5" to the shoulder (dobe bitches start at 25/26" generally), small in stature and a dinky frame too. She's around 4-6 years old - the owner reckoned 5/6 but her teeth etc suggest a bit younger. When I get the microchip and vet information through I'll be able to work it out with more accuracy.
Paige is an odd little thing: size aside, it's very unusual to see a dobe older than 3 years still with tail intact - the docking ban came into effect in April 2007 and undocked dobes prior to then were very rare.
She also has charming little forward-flopping ears - she resembles a giant Manchester Terrier (see here - http://dogbreedswiki.com/images/dogst/ManchesterTerrier2.jpg)! She's also rather plump at the moment, and needs spaying, but this is all being addressed. SHe's also now tattooed as all my dogs are - she didn't half scream, I do hate having it done but it's all over quickly and is an effective, permanent ID.
She's fitted in beautifully, and is soft as butter - with luck from Monday I'll be starting agility training with her. Just the basics for now; working her on the sidelines to develop her self control around other dogs (at present she has precisely zilch), but later on she'll join the beginner's class, once River has worked through it.
I was also able to pop her onto Remy and Soli's heart scan appointment for this Friday as she's within the age range they are recruiting. Many thanks to the staff at Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital for allowing me to add her on!
Saturday, 19 June 2010
The PROTECT Study
I think a note on this is important.
The PROTECT study is an extensive, long-term study on the effectiveness of treating dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dobermanns. This disease - swelling of the heart - is a major issue; it's been estimated that as many as 50% of all males die from it and a significant chunk of the females too (males are much worse affected though, if the stats are anything to go by).
The study is looking at how effective pimobendan (trade name Vetmedin) is at treating occult DCM; that is, DCM that as yet has shown no outward symptoms. It's a sneaky disease - once a dog is showing signs it's usually quite far along and the dog doesn't have much time left.
Under the study, dobes aged between 5-9 (the other age ranges have the numbers they need now) are being scanned free of charge at one of two teaching hospitals to determine if they are in the early stages of DCM. If they are, then they are entered into a double-blind study (so an affected dog would be given either Vetmedin or a placebo, but no-one knows which) and monitored. If not, well, at least we know their heart is healthy. The hospitals do sometimes do repeat scans on unaffected dogs too - Soli is going for her second next month.
It's well worth looking into - DCM in dobes appears to have a strong genetic element so the more that can be learned the better (to that end, any information about the dog's parents, siblings etc that is know is collected - although if nothing is known the dog can still be scanned).
As I've said, Soli has been scanned once, in Jan '08 - although her heart was fine, the hospital run blood tests as part of the study and that was how we first became aware of a thyroid issue with her. Luckily despite that - and her other medical issues now - they are still happy to scan her again.
So on the 9th July, me, Soli, Remy and Paige are all off to Liverpool! Remy is now in the age range - back in '08 he was a few months too young.
I urge anyone who has or knows of a dobe (or dobes), 5-9 years old inclusive, to give the PROTECT peeps a call; leave your details and they'll get back to you very quickly. It's worth it - every dobe helps, and every dobe could potentially benefit from the findings of the study one day.
The number to call is 01344 742 574.
The PROTECT study is an extensive, long-term study on the effectiveness of treating dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dobermanns. This disease - swelling of the heart - is a major issue; it's been estimated that as many as 50% of all males die from it and a significant chunk of the females too (males are much worse affected though, if the stats are anything to go by).
The study is looking at how effective pimobendan (trade name Vetmedin) is at treating occult DCM; that is, DCM that as yet has shown no outward symptoms. It's a sneaky disease - once a dog is showing signs it's usually quite far along and the dog doesn't have much time left.
Under the study, dobes aged between 5-9 (the other age ranges have the numbers they need now) are being scanned free of charge at one of two teaching hospitals to determine if they are in the early stages of DCM. If they are, then they are entered into a double-blind study (so an affected dog would be given either Vetmedin or a placebo, but no-one knows which) and monitored. If not, well, at least we know their heart is healthy. The hospitals do sometimes do repeat scans on unaffected dogs too - Soli is going for her second next month.
It's well worth looking into - DCM in dobes appears to have a strong genetic element so the more that can be learned the better (to that end, any information about the dog's parents, siblings etc that is know is collected - although if nothing is known the dog can still be scanned).
As I've said, Soli has been scanned once, in Jan '08 - although her heart was fine, the hospital run blood tests as part of the study and that was how we first became aware of a thyroid issue with her. Luckily despite that - and her other medical issues now - they are still happy to scan her again.
So on the 9th July, me, Soli, Remy and Paige are all off to Liverpool! Remy is now in the age range - back in '08 he was a few months too young.
I urge anyone who has or knows of a dobe (or dobes), 5-9 years old inclusive, to give the PROTECT peeps a call; leave your details and they'll get back to you very quickly. It's worth it - every dobe helps, and every dobe could potentially benefit from the findings of the study one day.
The number to call is 01344 742 574.
Monday, 7 June 2010
They've Gone!
Poor Mr Monkey chin has lost his, ahem, 'assets'. He's looking rather sorry for himself but hopefully, this will be the start of a brighter future for him!
In other news, my attempts to give my miserable single male mice some friends - the babies were split today - have failed in 3 of the 4 miseries. They are too dang violent. The 4th is nice though - poor lad was nearly killed, the others beat him up that badly - and he now has 9 new friends!
In other news, my attempts to give my miserable single male mice some friends - the babies were split today - have failed in 3 of the 4 miseries. They are too dang violent. The 4th is nice though - poor lad was nearly killed, the others beat him up that badly - and he now has 9 new friends!
The Dogs: Saffi
My most recent addition. Saffi got here on May 1st under the name of Becky - not the right name for her at all.
I got a phonecall that day from a pet sitter I know, asking if I knew anywhere that could take a lab immediately - she was being neglected, ignored in favour of the owner's own lab (relationship breakup and Saffi was the ex's dog) and the sitter felt it was urgent to get her out sharpish. I said I could foster her here so I went straight round to pick her up.
She was a bit underweight and not happy where she was - we took her round the block and when we got back, her tail flopped and she just kind of 'sank' :-( and glued herself to my leg.
When I got her home, my housemate took one look and fell for her - so I agreed to a one month trial period, the sole condition being that the housemate had to get off her backside and start doing her fair share of housework. She didn't, just as I'd expected, and other issues surfaced too - jealousy over anyone else fussing 'her' dog, encouraging Saff to run or play footy knowing she had bad legs, or walking Saff after being at work all day then shutting herself in her room for the rest of the evening and ignoring poor Saffi.
So last Saturday was the month end, I told housemate that Saffi would be staying but would not be her dog and why... and so I have my fifth dog (btw if anyone's wondering, the two dobes I took on have moved on - not my choice, long and unpleasant story).
What little info there is on her tattoo tells me that Saffi will be 6 in August, she was tattooed as a pup but no details were ever registered - breeder or owner. The last people got her from a rescue last year, and last October she had a litter by c-section and was spayed at the same time :-( She's not been walked much - 5 weeks on and we're just now at the point of walking 20-30 minutes twice a day without serious lameness afterwards, but her back and front left legs are still very sore - getting up is difficult for her. I'm looking into hydrotherapy and a chiropractor visit for her to try and help her.
She's a lovely girl though - she slotted in perfectly here with my lot, even with grumpy Soli, she's very demanding of her fuss and typically greedy for a lab but she is very well behaved and obedient, fab all round.
I got a phonecall that day from a pet sitter I know, asking if I knew anywhere that could take a lab immediately - she was being neglected, ignored in favour of the owner's own lab (relationship breakup and Saffi was the ex's dog) and the sitter felt it was urgent to get her out sharpish. I said I could foster her here so I went straight round to pick her up.
She was a bit underweight and not happy where she was - we took her round the block and when we got back, her tail flopped and she just kind of 'sank' :-( and glued herself to my leg.
When I got her home, my housemate took one look and fell for her - so I agreed to a one month trial period, the sole condition being that the housemate had to get off her backside and start doing her fair share of housework. She didn't, just as I'd expected, and other issues surfaced too - jealousy over anyone else fussing 'her' dog, encouraging Saff to run or play footy knowing she had bad legs, or walking Saff after being at work all day then shutting herself in her room for the rest of the evening and ignoring poor Saffi.
So last Saturday was the month end, I told housemate that Saffi would be staying but would not be her dog and why... and so I have my fifth dog (btw if anyone's wondering, the two dobes I took on have moved on - not my choice, long and unpleasant story).
What little info there is on her tattoo tells me that Saffi will be 6 in August, she was tattooed as a pup but no details were ever registered - breeder or owner. The last people got her from a rescue last year, and last October she had a litter by c-section and was spayed at the same time :-( She's not been walked much - 5 weeks on and we're just now at the point of walking 20-30 minutes twice a day without serious lameness afterwards, but her back and front left legs are still very sore - getting up is difficult for her. I'm looking into hydrotherapy and a chiropractor visit for her to try and help her.
She's a lovely girl though - she slotted in perfectly here with my lot, even with grumpy Soli, she's very demanding of her fuss and typically greedy for a lab but she is very well behaved and obedient, fab all round.
The Dogs: River
River's story is pretty short, really.
I stupidly browsed a freead site this time in 07; I spotted a dog that looked rather a lot like Opi. That's pretty much the history - I contacted the owner to suggest Dogpages, we got talking and I ended up bringing River (then Bella, but she's far too stroppy for that name) home. She's 50/50 lab X collie but takes after the collie side - very intense, focused, obsessive.
The owner couldn't keep Riv as her daughter was undergoing serious treatment for cancer - Riv was not only an infection risk but had bad separation anxiety when I got her so couldn't be left behind while her owner went to the daughter's.
That issue is sorted now, and agility is on the cards starting tonight.
I stupidly browsed a freead site this time in 07; I spotted a dog that looked rather a lot like Opi. That's pretty much the history - I contacted the owner to suggest Dogpages, we got talking and I ended up bringing River (then Bella, but she's far too stroppy for that name) home. She's 50/50 lab X collie but takes after the collie side - very intense, focused, obsessive.
The owner couldn't keep Riv as her daughter was undergoing serious treatment for cancer - Riv was not only an infection risk but had bad separation anxiety when I got her so couldn't be left behind while her owner went to the daughter's.
That issue is sorted now, and agility is on the cards starting tonight.
The Dogs: Soli
I'll keep this fairly short; Soli will get her own lengthy article at some point.
Soli is a brilliant example of what not to do when getting a puppy: don't go for a working breed you know nothing about (especially when you know nothing about dogs at all); don't go for the noisiest, bolshiest pup in the litter; don't not bother to train said pup; don't see her be frightened of other pups once and abandon all socialisation of any kind; don't waste money on a behaviourist who knows naff-all.
All these don'ts were ignored with Soli: at 4 weeks old, in a litter of 16, she barked and barked and that is why her old owner picked her, on a whim, when the boyfriend was picking his pup (who was also terrified of other dogs, like their parents, as it turned out - bad breeding at work, ladies and gents).
One or two puppy classes and a scared pup later and all socialisation was abandoned except with the brother - literally. When Soli came to me in Dec 06, she had never met children, was scared of strangers, all dogs to an extreme, and reacted to just about every noise (she still does to an extent).
The owner went on a Jan Fennel course - waste of time and money - she learned nothing helpful and Soli was still a pain in the bum.
At 5.5 years old, her owner's hours increased so Soli was put on Dogpages for rehoming. In 5 months, not one person stepped forward; it took 5 months before I could offer a home but I watched all the while, desperately wanting a red dobe bitch.
She came home and the fun began: extreme aggression displays to frighten off other dogs, on or off lead; severe guarding of sofas, beds and stolen things (had it not been for my thick fleece jacket she would have given me a nasty bite once over a stolen glove); nervousness, so on and so forth.
It took about 2 1/2 years all told to really get to grips with it; there are still niggling issues and always will be, her fear is too ingrained (and too genetic also) to fully solve but she's fine as she is. She's a medical nightmare - to date she is incontinent (from her spay at 2 years old, but the meds work), has hypothyroidism, osteoarthritis caused by bony degenerative disease, a peculiar irritation/inflammation issue on one leg bone, a wonky pelvis (which caused a lot of the initial aggression), and at present is healing from a nasty tear on her leg caused by... wait for it... no, not a dog fight...
...a bush. Sigh. That little episode has so far cost me over £200 - the initial knockout and staples, then the restapling after she pulled some out, then the re-restapling after she caught some on my car seat.
She's also just had samples taken of a HUGE lump in her abdomen - she's plastered in fatty lumps, dozens of them, but this one is tucked inside the bottom of her ribcage and very hard to feel so I've only just found it. It looks fatty but we're checking to be sure.
All in all, blumming heck what a dog! She's also just had a major grump at Saffi for the horrendous crime of touching her while she was asleep (this is a big issue of hers, because of her joint problems she is perpetually worried that a dog will touch her and hurt her when she's lying down). Fun.
Soli is a brilliant example of what not to do when getting a puppy: don't go for a working breed you know nothing about (especially when you know nothing about dogs at all); don't go for the noisiest, bolshiest pup in the litter; don't not bother to train said pup; don't see her be frightened of other pups once and abandon all socialisation of any kind; don't waste money on a behaviourist who knows naff-all.
All these don'ts were ignored with Soli: at 4 weeks old, in a litter of 16, she barked and barked and that is why her old owner picked her, on a whim, when the boyfriend was picking his pup (who was also terrified of other dogs, like their parents, as it turned out - bad breeding at work, ladies and gents).
One or two puppy classes and a scared pup later and all socialisation was abandoned except with the brother - literally. When Soli came to me in Dec 06, she had never met children, was scared of strangers, all dogs to an extreme, and reacted to just about every noise (she still does to an extent).
The owner went on a Jan Fennel course - waste of time and money - she learned nothing helpful and Soli was still a pain in the bum.
At 5.5 years old, her owner's hours increased so Soli was put on Dogpages for rehoming. In 5 months, not one person stepped forward; it took 5 months before I could offer a home but I watched all the while, desperately wanting a red dobe bitch.
She came home and the fun began: extreme aggression displays to frighten off other dogs, on or off lead; severe guarding of sofas, beds and stolen things (had it not been for my thick fleece jacket she would have given me a nasty bite once over a stolen glove); nervousness, so on and so forth.
It took about 2 1/2 years all told to really get to grips with it; there are still niggling issues and always will be, her fear is too ingrained (and too genetic also) to fully solve but she's fine as she is. She's a medical nightmare - to date she is incontinent (from her spay at 2 years old, but the meds work), has hypothyroidism, osteoarthritis caused by bony degenerative disease, a peculiar irritation/inflammation issue on one leg bone, a wonky pelvis (which caused a lot of the initial aggression), and at present is healing from a nasty tear on her leg caused by... wait for it... no, not a dog fight...
...a bush. Sigh. That little episode has so far cost me over £200 - the initial knockout and staples, then the restapling after she pulled some out, then the re-restapling after she caught some on my car seat.
She's also just had samples taken of a HUGE lump in her abdomen - she's plastered in fatty lumps, dozens of them, but this one is tucked inside the bottom of her ribcage and very hard to feel so I've only just found it. It looks fatty but we're checking to be sure.
All in all, blumming heck what a dog! She's also just had a major grump at Saffi for the horrendous crime of touching her while she was asleep (this is a big issue of hers, because of her joint problems she is perpetually worried that a dog will touch her and hurt her when she's lying down). Fun.
The Dogs: Opi
Dog number 2. Opi - a rottweiler X collie - came home as an 8 week old "purebred rottweiler" from an accidental litter. The accidental part I can believe - the 'breeder' was idiot enough to have an in-season rott bitch wandering around his farm with his male dogs. But purebred? Nosiree! She's at least half rott though, and I suspect 3/4.
She arrived as a companion for Remy when he was 5 1/2 months old - they still love each other very much at 7 years old (Opi is turning 7 on the 17th) and I can't kennel them separately or Remy goes into a severe depression. Yes, dogs get it too.
Opiis my 'trick' dog - she loves to learn tricks and has the best rollover ever - although it can be a tad violent if I ask her to do it as she's running towards me. She really launches herself (literally) into it, it's like something out of an action movie. It would work well with an explosion sequence behind her I think!
She's done a bit of agility but not much; she didn't listen to me 'wait' cue once and ran up the seesaw thinking it was the dog walk and since then, she'll only do a few jumps before she gets worried and refuses to continue. She does, though, love to do heelwork so I'll be starting competitive obedience training with her soon.
She arrived as a companion for Remy when he was 5 1/2 months old - they still love each other very much at 7 years old (Opi is turning 7 on the 17th) and I can't kennel them separately or Remy goes into a severe depression. Yes, dogs get it too.
Opiis my 'trick' dog - she loves to learn tricks and has the best rollover ever - although it can be a tad violent if I ask her to do it as she's running towards me. She really launches herself (literally) into it, it's like something out of an action movie. It would work well with an explosion sequence behind her I think!
She's done a bit of agility but not much; she didn't listen to me 'wait' cue once and ran up the seesaw thinking it was the dog walk and since then, she'll only do a few jumps before she gets worried and refuses to continue. She does, though, love to do heelwork so I'll be starting competitive obedience training with her soon.
The Dogs: Remy
And so to the dogs.
Remy was my first dog. He's a dobermann, but not as we know it: Remy is a fawn, or Isabella, to use the correct term. Genetically, he's a diluted brown/chocolate/red (choose your preference - I prefer redhead myself, it sums them up well). He's badly bred; his sire was a fawn also, and his dam a blue.
Four words: NEVER BREED FROM DILUTES. The result is Remy; he started to lose his hair at less than 2 years old and now, at nearly 7, he's almost entirely bald. He has colour dilute alopecia - very common in the blues and fawns, it's a genetic problem exacerbated by poor breeding. He also has terrible problems with pimples on his back, again due to breeding. Anyone who deliberately breeds for these colours is not breeding in the interest of the dogs: mark my words, they are breeding for the money.
That said, his temperament is fab; he's loving, soppy, everything a dobe should be. He is, however, the laziest dog I have ever met in my life, and there the typical dobe nature ends! They should be like Soli: boundless energy, always ready for the next adventure. Remy... well, to put it simply, Remy can't be bothered.
There is a medical issue at play as well; although what it is, we have yet to figure out. He has symptoms of Cushing's disease - his hair loss is increasing now (he's started to lose his fluffy undercoat (which blacks and reds don't have), which he never has before); hair regrowth is very slow - I had to shave a patch on April 12th after he got bitten, and it's still obvious now. His weight is almost impossible to shift - he's been overweight for years now, and what a normal dog could lose in months it's taken my 3 years to get off him (and 2/3 of that went back on in 2 weeks of slightly increased rations to try and curb his insane appetite - another symptom); he drinks too much; he is badly lethargic. But all tests so far say no to Cushing's.
He has hypothyroidism; we are seeing if an increased dose of his meds helps before the next diagnostic attempts but so far, no joy. Next will maybe be x-rays to check for sinister things; possibly a referral to a vet college to scan his adrenal glands (I know of someone whose dog has gone through everything the same as Remy, all negative results, only to have a massive, inoperable tumour on her adrenal gland causing Cushing's). Maybe an ultrasound. We shall see.
In his more healthy past Remy was doing quite well at agility - but following bad trainers, and then a shoulder injury in Nov 06 that took 6 months to get over (and the weight gain from that is still our battle today), it's something he's unlikely to do again. He now has a touch of arthritis in that shoulder, and a hint of hip dysplasia and arthritis in his left hip.
Remy was my first dog. He's a dobermann, but not as we know it: Remy is a fawn, or Isabella, to use the correct term. Genetically, he's a diluted brown/chocolate/red (choose your preference - I prefer redhead myself, it sums them up well). He's badly bred; his sire was a fawn also, and his dam a blue.
Four words: NEVER BREED FROM DILUTES. The result is Remy; he started to lose his hair at less than 2 years old and now, at nearly 7, he's almost entirely bald. He has colour dilute alopecia - very common in the blues and fawns, it's a genetic problem exacerbated by poor breeding. He also has terrible problems with pimples on his back, again due to breeding. Anyone who deliberately breeds for these colours is not breeding in the interest of the dogs: mark my words, they are breeding for the money.
That said, his temperament is fab; he's loving, soppy, everything a dobe should be. He is, however, the laziest dog I have ever met in my life, and there the typical dobe nature ends! They should be like Soli: boundless energy, always ready for the next adventure. Remy... well, to put it simply, Remy can't be bothered.
There is a medical issue at play as well; although what it is, we have yet to figure out. He has symptoms of Cushing's disease - his hair loss is increasing now (he's started to lose his fluffy undercoat (which blacks and reds don't have), which he never has before); hair regrowth is very slow - I had to shave a patch on April 12th after he got bitten, and it's still obvious now. His weight is almost impossible to shift - he's been overweight for years now, and what a normal dog could lose in months it's taken my 3 years to get off him (and 2/3 of that went back on in 2 weeks of slightly increased rations to try and curb his insane appetite - another symptom); he drinks too much; he is badly lethargic. But all tests so far say no to Cushing's.
He has hypothyroidism; we are seeing if an increased dose of his meds helps before the next diagnostic attempts but so far, no joy. Next will maybe be x-rays to check for sinister things; possibly a referral to a vet college to scan his adrenal glands (I know of someone whose dog has gone through everything the same as Remy, all negative results, only to have a massive, inoperable tumour on her adrenal gland causing Cushing's). Maybe an ultrasound. We shall see.
In his more healthy past Remy was doing quite well at agility - but following bad trainers, and then a shoulder injury in Nov 06 that took 6 months to get over (and the weight gain from that is still our battle today), it's something he's unlikely to do again. He now has a touch of arthritis in that shoulder, and a hint of hip dysplasia and arthritis in his left hip.
The mice
In June last year, I took on 38 mice from the RSPCA who had been stuck for a month or so with no interest. The day they came home, there were 5 babies and one very obviously pregnant doe.
The next morning, there were 11 more babies.
12 of the 15 adults were boys; these have been the best of the bunch, very sweet, never fighting with each other as boys tend to do (male mice are an aggressive bunch generally).
I duly split the older babies up as needed, and did the same when the new ones were old enough; things were fine. Then the fun started.
I had a couple of escapees; mice are sods for this, to put it nicely. Scarily smart for such tiny things.
Then one evening, my worst, most persistent escapee broke out of his cage at the very same time that my girls - in the tank below - broke out of theirs. He went in with them for the evening and 3 weeks later, babies galore!
All those litters were grown and split up as before; sadly a lot of the babies were killed - one mum had a terrible mammary lump which caused her to kill, and another was obsessively grandmothering the babies by moving them out of the nest so they starved. I built the girls a 6ft cage at the other end of the house to prevent further mishaps, and things were fine. Then the fun started.
No, that wasn't a typo; it was the start of deja vu.
One of the younger males, at a couple of months old, disappeared from his cage one night. I set humane traps - by this point, the younger lads had proven that they had inherited the Escapee Genius Gene (the EGG) and I'd had to buy some traps as every fortification I did was beaten. I didn't find him for 3 weeks; he'd either gone out the dog flap (by this point, the boys were living in my lean-to where the flap is open 24/7) or ventured into the rat cage to meet an untimely end.
No such luck. I walked past the girls' cage and noticed one of them had another horrendous lump. Again, no such luck: 'she' had two lumps, and they were indeed horrendous. There was my missing male, happy as Larry living with my then 25 females. Yikes.
That was a month ago; the last 2 of the 37 babies (less 5, having been eaten by another lump-festooned angry girl - there's a real genetic lump issue with this lot of mice sadly) are now two weeks old, and the older ones - 29 now (one male was moved last week) - are to be split up today, to keep some single boys company who have fallen out violently with each other (as I said, they are aggressive little gits, male mice).
I suspect at least one more litter on the way; annoyingly, one of the younger girls has shown evidence of that pesky EGG and has repeatedly gotten out of the 6ft cage (I still cannot work out how), and found her way across the house, through 4 rooms, past 5 dogs, 2 rats, 2 chinchillas, and 7 degus, into the boys' room and to the shelf 3 feet off the floor, to meet up with another EGG possessing boy and be mated.
ARG.
Fortifications on the boys' room and the girls' cage will begin shortly: I will be entirely rebuilding the boys' setup, to go from 'random boot-fair bought cage setups' to 'fitted cage complex' much like I've done with the chins and goos.
And no more mice once the last ones go!!
The next morning, there were 11 more babies.
12 of the 15 adults were boys; these have been the best of the bunch, very sweet, never fighting with each other as boys tend to do (male mice are an aggressive bunch generally).
I duly split the older babies up as needed, and did the same when the new ones were old enough; things were fine. Then the fun started.
I had a couple of escapees; mice are sods for this, to put it nicely. Scarily smart for such tiny things.
Then one evening, my worst, most persistent escapee broke out of his cage at the very same time that my girls - in the tank below - broke out of theirs. He went in with them for the evening and 3 weeks later, babies galore!
All those litters were grown and split up as before; sadly a lot of the babies were killed - one mum had a terrible mammary lump which caused her to kill, and another was obsessively grandmothering the babies by moving them out of the nest so they starved. I built the girls a 6ft cage at the other end of the house to prevent further mishaps, and things were fine. Then the fun started.
No, that wasn't a typo; it was the start of deja vu.
One of the younger males, at a couple of months old, disappeared from his cage one night. I set humane traps - by this point, the younger lads had proven that they had inherited the Escapee Genius Gene (the EGG) and I'd had to buy some traps as every fortification I did was beaten. I didn't find him for 3 weeks; he'd either gone out the dog flap (by this point, the boys were living in my lean-to where the flap is open 24/7) or ventured into the rat cage to meet an untimely end.
No such luck. I walked past the girls' cage and noticed one of them had another horrendous lump. Again, no such luck: 'she' had two lumps, and they were indeed horrendous. There was my missing male, happy as Larry living with my then 25 females. Yikes.
That was a month ago; the last 2 of the 37 babies (less 5, having been eaten by another lump-festooned angry girl - there's a real genetic lump issue with this lot of mice sadly) are now two weeks old, and the older ones - 29 now (one male was moved last week) - are to be split up today, to keep some single boys company who have fallen out violently with each other (as I said, they are aggressive little gits, male mice).
I suspect at least one more litter on the way; annoyingly, one of the younger girls has shown evidence of that pesky EGG and has repeatedly gotten out of the 6ft cage (I still cannot work out how), and found her way across the house, through 4 rooms, past 5 dogs, 2 rats, 2 chinchillas, and 7 degus, into the boys' room and to the shelf 3 feet off the floor, to meet up with another EGG possessing boy and be mated.
ARG.
Fortifications on the boys' room and the girls' cage will begin shortly: I will be entirely rebuilding the boys' setup, to go from 'random boot-fair bought cage setups' to 'fitted cage complex' much like I've done with the chins and goos.
And no more mice once the last ones go!!
The rats
A nice quick post.
I've had something like 70 rats in the last 11 years, but I am now down to my last two - and I won't be getting any more. They are not the animals they used to be - the vast majority have been horrendously overbred and are so prone to health problems and personality problems that I can't go through it any more.
That said, my last two girls are very sweet, if a bit wonky.
Seren is a Pets at Home special, bought as company for Freya, a tiny girl from the adoption section with a permentent head tilt following an ear infection. I lost her earlier this year to respiratory problem (by far the biggest killer of pet rats IMO and an absolute swine to treat), but Seren marches on.
She's a husky, or roan - light grey on top with a white belly and nose. She's very sweet - she used to lick a lot but as she's gotten older she does it less. She's horribly thin but eats plenty, she has always been that way; but age is catching up with her. She's nearly 2.5 years old now - a great age for a pet shop rat these days. She has neurological problems; if I were to pick her up on my hand without supporting her back legs, she would let them dangle over the edges of my hand. If I were to do the knuckle test - where the toes are bent under to test the animal's reflex to put them flat again - she would leave them there. She has feeling in them - just not the right responses. She is almost totally blind, and deaf; she obsessively hoardes her food for no reason. She knows absolutely no fear at all - and I don't mean she's brave. I'm talking literally - she does not know the concept of fear.
Kismet is another pet shop rat, and proof of what happens when rats are bred commercially. With no handling as a pup, she is still fearful of being picked up. She'll take treats, but that's it. Kiz is around 2 now, and a bit plump; but age is catching up with her two. I suspect senility may be setting its claws into her.
Kiz is a himilayan dumbo: cream body with brown nose, ears and bum and ears on the side of her head. She was an adorable baby and is still adorable now - himis and huskies are my favourite rat breeds by far, and the dumbos have certainly made their mark on me too!
Kix gets annoyed with Seren's food hoarding and buries the bowl to try and stop her; they have handbag, old-lady spats most evenings now. But they are happy.
I've had something like 70 rats in the last 11 years, but I am now down to my last two - and I won't be getting any more. They are not the animals they used to be - the vast majority have been horrendously overbred and are so prone to health problems and personality problems that I can't go through it any more.
That said, my last two girls are very sweet, if a bit wonky.
Seren is a Pets at Home special, bought as company for Freya, a tiny girl from the adoption section with a permentent head tilt following an ear infection. I lost her earlier this year to respiratory problem (by far the biggest killer of pet rats IMO and an absolute swine to treat), but Seren marches on.
She's a husky, or roan - light grey on top with a white belly and nose. She's very sweet - she used to lick a lot but as she's gotten older she does it less. She's horribly thin but eats plenty, she has always been that way; but age is catching up with her. She's nearly 2.5 years old now - a great age for a pet shop rat these days. She has neurological problems; if I were to pick her up on my hand without supporting her back legs, she would let them dangle over the edges of my hand. If I were to do the knuckle test - where the toes are bent under to test the animal's reflex to put them flat again - she would leave them there. She has feeling in them - just not the right responses. She is almost totally blind, and deaf; she obsessively hoardes her food for no reason. She knows absolutely no fear at all - and I don't mean she's brave. I'm talking literally - she does not know the concept of fear.
Kismet is another pet shop rat, and proof of what happens when rats are bred commercially. With no handling as a pup, she is still fearful of being picked up. She'll take treats, but that's it. Kiz is around 2 now, and a bit plump; but age is catching up with her two. I suspect senility may be setting its claws into her.
Kiz is a himilayan dumbo: cream body with brown nose, ears and bum and ears on the side of her head. She was an adorable baby and is still adorable now - himis and huskies are my favourite rat breeds by far, and the dumbos have certainly made their mark on me too!
Kix gets annoyed with Seren's food hoarding and buries the bowl to try and stop her; they have handbag, old-lady spats most evenings now. But they are happy.
The degus
I have 7 degus at the moment (long may it stay that way!).
The girls are Bandit and Lemur, two sisters, both a year old this month, from a local hobby rescuer near me. I adopted them as company for my original girl, Toothy - and Pets at home adoptee - but she was sadly killed when the cage door broke and she got out while I was looking after a rather feisty little jack russel/whippet. Who continues to drive me bananas. I miss Toothy muchly - she taught B&L a lot about being brave and friendly, sadly they have now retreated to being scared again so I am having to work doubly hard to win their trust (repeated escaping by Lemur and me having to catch her has not helped that though).
These two will hopefully soon be joined by Hazel and Squirt, mother and daughter again from the same hobby rescuer who asked me if I could take them. Hazel is 8 months old; Squirt was from an unplanned litter and is now 3 months and ridiculously cute. The introduction is taking time - without Toothy to maintain order, Lemur is being a bolshy little madam to Hazel - but we will get there.
Then there are the boys. I got wind of these when I was looking for company for Toothy - a friend of my housemate's apparently had '2 girls and a boy' together (ARG) and said I could have the girls. He then got stroppy when I refused the boy (I didn't want to try and introduce boys together - I've tried before years ago and still have the scar), talking about him dying of depression from loneliness (it does happen, folks, really - keep your degus in pairs at least!). I relented and took the trio - to discover that all three were boys.
The oldest, Bear, is a sweet old fellow, with quite a grizzled coat (hence the name) - he is Lion's dad and sadly has a full cataract. This is caused by diabetes - very easy for them to develop as a degu cannot digest sugar properly. He'd been fed badly in a previous home (not the last one). Bear is of unknown age - he's an older goo, that's all I know. Lion and Tiger, an unrelated boy, are both around 8/9 months and both in good health luckily. They are feisty lads - they were in a small transport cage for a couple of hours yesterday while I completed their new cage and they were scrapping within a minute. But now they have mucho space they are happy.
The girls are Bandit and Lemur, two sisters, both a year old this month, from a local hobby rescuer near me. I adopted them as company for my original girl, Toothy - and Pets at home adoptee - but she was sadly killed when the cage door broke and she got out while I was looking after a rather feisty little jack russel/whippet. Who continues to drive me bananas. I miss Toothy muchly - she taught B&L a lot about being brave and friendly, sadly they have now retreated to being scared again so I am having to work doubly hard to win their trust (repeated escaping by Lemur and me having to catch her has not helped that though).
These two will hopefully soon be joined by Hazel and Squirt, mother and daughter again from the same hobby rescuer who asked me if I could take them. Hazel is 8 months old; Squirt was from an unplanned litter and is now 3 months and ridiculously cute. The introduction is taking time - without Toothy to maintain order, Lemur is being a bolshy little madam to Hazel - but we will get there.
Then there are the boys. I got wind of these when I was looking for company for Toothy - a friend of my housemate's apparently had '2 girls and a boy' together (ARG) and said I could have the girls. He then got stroppy when I refused the boy (I didn't want to try and introduce boys together - I've tried before years ago and still have the scar), talking about him dying of depression from loneliness (it does happen, folks, really - keep your degus in pairs at least!). I relented and took the trio - to discover that all three were boys.
The oldest, Bear, is a sweet old fellow, with quite a grizzled coat (hence the name) - he is Lion's dad and sadly has a full cataract. This is caused by diabetes - very easy for them to develop as a degu cannot digest sugar properly. He'd been fed badly in a previous home (not the last one). Bear is of unknown age - he's an older goo, that's all I know. Lion and Tiger, an unrelated boy, are both around 8/9 months and both in good health luckily. They are feisty lads - they were in a small transport cage for a couple of hours yesterday while I completed their new cage and they were scrapping within a minute. But now they have mucho space they are happy.
The chinchillas
At present, I have two chins in my life: Spank, a standard, and Monkey, a beige, 2 year old brothers.
I found these guys at my local Pets at Home - a little sign stickied above the chins there said '2 males for rehoming out back, ready in a week' or words to that effect. Unfortunately I had my new housemate with me - her favourite animals are chinchillas. What do you know? A week later...
They are lovely boys, they really are - very inquisitive and they love their treats. Sadly their brotherly love did not last; shortly after I got my first degu girls, Monkey decided he did not like Spank anymore and attacked him rather badly. Poor Spank had a bald back and still has a lot of scars and a ghole in his ears. They've been separate since, and Monkey has today gone in to be castrated in the hopes of calming his aggression a touch so I can find him a new friend. Spank has been a darling all the way through - he never so much as squeaked a word against his brother to defend himself, just hid or took the attack without moving. At the moment he's living with two of my degu girls (the other two are being introduced at the mo, they are newish), but he will get a new friend too soon.
Both boys - and all my goos - live in a newly custom-built, fitted cage at the end of my kitchen - floor to ceiling, four cages all of roughly 4ft x 4ft x 22". The build was inspired by Lemur, my irritating, infuriating, lovely little escapee goo who insisted on sitting on top of the old cages where I couldn't get her. Her escapades have cost her half a tail so far so for her safety and my sanity, the Chingoo Mansion was created. Pictures will follow!
But I digress. At present, all is calm; once Monkey's hormones are in check I will be on the lookout for a new friend, assuming he still hates his brother (as he most likely will). In the meantime, I have offered to start fostering some chin boys for a nearby rescue; I have a large cage spare so I can help out some chins in need, and I might just find the ideal companions for S&M in the process.
I found these guys at my local Pets at Home - a little sign stickied above the chins there said '2 males for rehoming out back, ready in a week' or words to that effect. Unfortunately I had my new housemate with me - her favourite animals are chinchillas. What do you know? A week later...
They are lovely boys, they really are - very inquisitive and they love their treats. Sadly their brotherly love did not last; shortly after I got my first degu girls, Monkey decided he did not like Spank anymore and attacked him rather badly. Poor Spank had a bald back and still has a lot of scars and a ghole in his ears. They've been separate since, and Monkey has today gone in to be castrated in the hopes of calming his aggression a touch so I can find him a new friend. Spank has been a darling all the way through - he never so much as squeaked a word against his brother to defend himself, just hid or took the attack without moving. At the moment he's living with two of my degu girls (the other two are being introduced at the mo, they are newish), but he will get a new friend too soon.
Both boys - and all my goos - live in a newly custom-built, fitted cage at the end of my kitchen - floor to ceiling, four cages all of roughly 4ft x 4ft x 22". The build was inspired by Lemur, my irritating, infuriating, lovely little escapee goo who insisted on sitting on top of the old cages where I couldn't get her. Her escapades have cost her half a tail so far so for her safety and my sanity, the Chingoo Mansion was created. Pictures will follow!
But I digress. At present, all is calm; once Monkey's hormones are in check I will be on the lookout for a new friend, assuming he still hates his brother (as he most likely will). In the meantime, I have offered to start fostering some chin boys for a nearby rescue; I have a large cage spare so I can help out some chins in need, and I might just find the ideal companions for S&M in the process.
A little about me and mine
An important post, I suppose.
I'll get the little bits out of the way first: I love dogs first and foremost, but I also have chinchillas (two brothers, Spank and Monkey *ahem*), degus (4 girls (Lemur, Bandit, Hazel and Squirt) and 3 boys (Lion, Tiger and Bear), rats (2 girls, Seren and Kismet), mice (60 odd, and no, I will not be typing names!) and goldfish (52 of, outside). All of these except the rats and half a dozen of the goldfish are rescued/rehomed - I see no need to support breeders when these animals are looking for homes.
On to the main stuff then. I am a practising, qualified canine behaviourist, specialising in dog-to-dog aggression. I was pointed in the direction of this fulfilling work by my experiences with my own dogs; it started with Remy, my first dog, back in 2003. He got me into training - I had my first clicker before I had him! - and I started agility with him. My second dog, Opi, taught me a lot about socialising a nervous pup, and about learning to read a dog's boundaries for frustration and worry in training sessions.
My third dog, Soli - the big one - has been the driving force behind me becoming a behaviourist and moving into my specialist area. I'll be writing a little blog on each dog, but Soli will be getting her own full article - there's a lot to tell about her, a lot to share, and a lot of lessons to teach that will - I hope, and pray - save many people and dogs from going through what she and I have been through in the last 3 years. Long story short, for now; she came to me in Dec 06, with severe fear aggression to all other dogs and severe resource guarding (beds, sofas, stolen things, chews) to me. She's tried to bite me many times, with no warning. She is now a true dobe - soppy, loving, if still a bit antsy, but the aggression is gone. She is testament to the power of positive reinforcement and she is why I do what I do today.
Dog number 4 - a smidge unplanned - is River. She's taught me about the obsessive collie trait (she's half collie), and about working with a very high-drive, highly focused, reactive dog.
And dog number 5, my darling Saffi, who has been with me just 5 weeks. She was another neglect case, and reminds me how with no planning or intent, a dog can come into your life in a moment, steal your heart and never leave again. Much as River did!
So that's my lot. I shall add blogs for each of them as I go, maybe today, maybe tomorrow; and of course Soli will have her article. A website perhaps. There's just too much to put in a blog for her.
I'll get the little bits out of the way first: I love dogs first and foremost, but I also have chinchillas (two brothers, Spank and Monkey *ahem*), degus (4 girls (Lemur, Bandit, Hazel and Squirt) and 3 boys (Lion, Tiger and Bear), rats (2 girls, Seren and Kismet), mice (60 odd, and no, I will not be typing names!) and goldfish (52 of, outside). All of these except the rats and half a dozen of the goldfish are rescued/rehomed - I see no need to support breeders when these animals are looking for homes.
On to the main stuff then. I am a practising, qualified canine behaviourist, specialising in dog-to-dog aggression. I was pointed in the direction of this fulfilling work by my experiences with my own dogs; it started with Remy, my first dog, back in 2003. He got me into training - I had my first clicker before I had him! - and I started agility with him. My second dog, Opi, taught me a lot about socialising a nervous pup, and about learning to read a dog's boundaries for frustration and worry in training sessions.
My third dog, Soli - the big one - has been the driving force behind me becoming a behaviourist and moving into my specialist area. I'll be writing a little blog on each dog, but Soli will be getting her own full article - there's a lot to tell about her, a lot to share, and a lot of lessons to teach that will - I hope, and pray - save many people and dogs from going through what she and I have been through in the last 3 years. Long story short, for now; she came to me in Dec 06, with severe fear aggression to all other dogs and severe resource guarding (beds, sofas, stolen things, chews) to me. She's tried to bite me many times, with no warning. She is now a true dobe - soppy, loving, if still a bit antsy, but the aggression is gone. She is testament to the power of positive reinforcement and she is why I do what I do today.
Dog number 4 - a smidge unplanned - is River. She's taught me about the obsessive collie trait (she's half collie), and about working with a very high-drive, highly focused, reactive dog.
And dog number 5, my darling Saffi, who has been with me just 5 weeks. She was another neglect case, and reminds me how with no planning or intent, a dog can come into your life in a moment, steal your heart and never leave again. Much as River did!
So that's my lot. I shall add blogs for each of them as I go, maybe today, maybe tomorrow; and of course Soli will have her article. A website perhaps. There's just too much to put in a blog for her.
Welcome!
Good morning, and welcome to the Fleabag and Fishface blog - your stop for articles and info on pets, breeds, products and so on; as well as random blogs on my own menagerie!
I'll be adding articles weekly on pet species, and dog breeds; this week's chosen breed is the dobermann, my own breed of choice and heart and will be published very shortly.
Each week I will add articles from experience people in the different pets out there, and all being well, I'll be adding snippets from rescues and breeders too to give the best possible write-up of the pros and cons of each pet or breed.
Watch this space for new things!
I'll be adding articles weekly on pet species, and dog breeds; this week's chosen breed is the dobermann, my own breed of choice and heart and will be published very shortly.
Each week I will add articles from experience people in the different pets out there, and all being well, I'll be adding snippets from rescues and breeders too to give the best possible write-up of the pros and cons of each pet or breed.
Watch this space for new things!
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