Honestly, that's what it feels like at the moment. The last two and a half weeks have been like a medical drama. I find myself waiting for the House of the canine world to shed some light on Remy, it's getting that bizarre now - more on that in a moment.
It started on Oct 28th; that long walk in the woods, Soli's last. Paige dislocated her toe. No idea how; I just spotted her limping, and something stuck to her foot, or so it looked; on calling her over, her outermost left toe was stuck out at 45 degrees to the rest of her foot! Luckily just the faintest touch and it slid back in.
The to the 29th, that awful, awful day. First thing in the morning, Paige's toe was starting to swell a bit - to be expected after a dislocation, really. Then while I was in the bathroom, Tia fell down the stairs. No harm done, but a hint that her legs are starting to deteriorate. Stair gate is up now. An hour later, Soli hopped off the sofa, staggered into the hallway and died in my arms.
The next week saw Paige's toe get quite large and refuse to go down; a visit to the vet got her some pain relief and anti inflammatories. No joy.
Saffi's colitis had a little flare-up again; diarrhoea and blood, but luckily it settled down quickly enough.
On the 7th, I had blood taken from Paige and Remy to get their thyroids tested by Dr Dodds. Paige was fine, despite her balding ears; Remy, however, is an enigma. I shall explain presently.
Paige's toe continues to be a problem. Last week I enquired about getting her x-rayed and claiming direct from the insurance company (£120 isn't that much but when you've just paid £35 for painkillers, and just shy of £170 for a cremation, it is a lot of money). Communication between the receiptionist and the practice manager appears to be non-existant; yesterday I had to start the enquiry again with the one receptionist that I know will chase it up. So waiting to hear. Poor Paige, in the meantime, has a toe about half as big again as it should be and showing no signs of going down - foolish me thought perhaps a teensy, 10 minute off lead walk on flat grassy ground would be ok. She was calmer than usual too, but nope, it swelled again.
And Tia's back legs continue to deteriorate. Slowly, at least, although it has sped up (if that makes any sense) - she had been enjoying one or two 45 minute walks round the park a day, trips to the woods, and that 90 minute walk and only the latter caused her to be scuffing her feet a tiny bit in the evening; in the 2.5 weeks since, she is now scuffing her feet after two 20 minute walks or less. Old age is a bitch.
And now Remy, who is proving himself to be - after 6 years of symptoms - more so a medical mystery now than he ever has been. I will give him his own post; there's a fair bit to his medical story.
I begin to wonder at this stage if I am capable of gathering normal, healthy dogs! I seem to attract them - let's see, my dog-owning history; first dog (the family spaniel cross) died from osteosarcoma. Not too uncommon in large dogs - dobes are prone to it - but not exactly typical of a spaniel cross!
Then to my own dogs.
Remy, the puzzle dog, an endocrinological mystery.
Opi, so far one of the two normal ones, although she does have a heart murmur.
Soli - arrived with spay incontinence. Went on to develop severe osteoarthritis; hypothyroidism; several dozen lumps and bumps, one of which needed emergency surgery when it 'fell off' from its perch on her side and started to die; DCM; and her constant stress issues.
River - the other normal one, sort of. Although year before last, she did manage to put a finger-sized hole in her side and I have yet to figure out how she did it, on lead, on a pavement walk away from any buildings or finger-sized-hole making objects.
Saffi - severe and basically untreatable arthritis, save for hydrotherapy and painkillers. Weight issues and potentially, another hypothyroid dog.
Paige - DCM sufferer of the future, although hopefully it's a way off yet. And of course her current toe issue.
Raine - Stress, to be brief. I'll explain shortly.
And Tia, untreated arthritis/anal glands/chin infection/ear infection/partial deafness and weak back legs which are now starting to deteriorate faster.
Going back to Raine briefly... Arrived with a suspected food allergy causing severe enteritis; I now know this to be entirely stress-induced. Any tiny hint of an injury, or her anal glands filling up, an itchy ear, anything - and the stress of thinking that she will need to be handled to sort it out overwhelms her and makes her physically ill. Last month, she had a bout of it following breaking her dew claw - not a bad break by any means, didn't even require painkillers but because she knew I'd have to look at it, she got entertitis and needed careful feeding and medication for a week. She lost at least 1kg if not more. Then since Soli died, I thought she was down from losing her - nope, her glands were full. And the stress of knowing I'd need to sort them was sending her downhill again. Not as badly as the claw, for the simple reason that I hadn't realised what was wrong, so I wasn't looking for something; it's the looking that starts it. As soon as I twigged - the first overt sign being that she wouldn't sit, only lie down and was holding her tail away a bit at the base - she started to almost panic, and I had to keep her on lead when we got home to get it done with. That 30 second job took almost 15 minutes because she was so worried and I had to take it very, very slowly (the bandaging of the claw took considerably longer, even though I am adept at it, and that was before she got fully ill!).
So, it seems, I am unable to have 'normal' dogs. The future, while dobe-shaped, has a distinct aura of vet-bill to it as well I think!
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