Tales of Gloom
Dog (Bob the) – Part One
He's getting an old boy now, ten and a half in a breed that rarely gets to ten. You may remember him as the Greater Purbeck Snack Hyena, the stories of the Sh!tty Stick Scenario, the Sky Raisin Rug Blockade, the Pandemic PCSO Confusion, the Salty Scream Situation and many more. Danger Dog still has the ability to raise hell though and make us worry.
Late September and I really should be back at school? Nope, it’s Malta Classic time instead, however a few weeks earlier when I should have been finalising car shipping, spares, carnet and all the minutiae of competing abroad, Bob the Ultimate Omnivore Dog ate something in the woods. What he ate is still subject to conjecture. It could have been some meaty funghi, any combination of animal/human excrement, something dead and rotting, poison bait or even discarded drugs. He's about 93 in his breed dog years, so we were not surprised that he was a bit 'off' the next day. Then he went really downhill, panting, excess drinking, not eating, tremors, hypothermia, finally catatonic (and he hates anything to do with cats). Saturday night, nearly midnight, it was time to call the emergency vets, fire up the Defender, lift his 40kgs into the car and drive at the maximum legal speed to the surgery. He got to stay overnight, had IVs, ultrasounds, pretty veterinary nurses, many drugs and a whopping big bill for us. We nearly lost him.
Poorly boy
Getting better and nursed by his biggest fan
However fate dropped him in the ordure again, when well again, he had a newly developed arthritis injection, 99.99% safe, only one adverse reaction in 100,000………. so back to the vets, overnight stays, IV’s, pretty veterinary nurses I was getting to know on first name basis and we nearly lost him again. During the next few weeks it was obvious that his failing eyesight was getting worse. The vets were considering building a new annexe on the fees but they suggested it was likely he now had SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome), a canine disease which leads to sudden and irreversible blindness possibly caused by autoimmune inflammation within the retina and absolutely nothing, nada, nichts, rien to do with an adverse reaction to the totally safe arthritis injection.
His world has shrunk alarmingly, outside walks on lead only, banging his way round the house by nose touch, getting stuck in corners and when he wakes up he has no clue where he is, who we are, or when he was fed last. Other than that his other senses have taken over, he can smell biskuts inside the tin now and hear squirrels in trees two gardens over or it’s just his Dogzheimers. He used to get a biskut in a rubber bone when we went out to keep him occupied, now he doesn’t eat it until we return, just in case we never come back and he's got supplies or so he says. So now I’m an official Seeing-Eye Human and life goes on.
Dog (Bob the) – Part One
He's getting an old boy now, ten and a half in a breed that rarely gets to ten. You may remember him as the Greater Purbeck Snack Hyena, the stories of the Sh!tty Stick Scenario, the Sky Raisin Rug Blockade, the Pandemic PCSO Confusion, the Salty Scream Situation and many more. Danger Dog still has the ability to raise hell though and make us worry.
Late September and I really should be back at school? Nope, it’s Malta Classic time instead, however a few weeks earlier when I should have been finalising car shipping, spares, carnet and all the minutiae of competing abroad, Bob the Ultimate Omnivore Dog ate something in the woods. What he ate is still subject to conjecture. It could have been some meaty funghi, any combination of animal/human excrement, something dead and rotting, poison bait or even discarded drugs. He's about 93 in his breed dog years, so we were not surprised that he was a bit 'off' the next day. Then he went really downhill, panting, excess drinking, not eating, tremors, hypothermia, finally catatonic (and he hates anything to do with cats). Saturday night, nearly midnight, it was time to call the emergency vets, fire up the Defender, lift his 40kgs into the car and drive at the maximum legal speed to the surgery. He got to stay overnight, had IVs, ultrasounds, pretty veterinary nurses, many drugs and a whopping big bill for us. We nearly lost him.
Poorly boy
Getting better and nursed by his biggest fan
However fate dropped him in the ordure again, when well again, he had a newly developed arthritis injection, 99.99% safe, only one adverse reaction in 100,000………. so back to the vets, overnight stays, IV’s, pretty veterinary nurses I was getting to know on first name basis and we nearly lost him again. During the next few weeks it was obvious that his failing eyesight was getting worse. The vets were considering building a new annexe on the fees but they suggested it was likely he now had SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome), a canine disease which leads to sudden and irreversible blindness possibly caused by autoimmune inflammation within the retina and absolutely nothing, nada, nichts, rien to do with an adverse reaction to the totally safe arthritis injection.
His world has shrunk alarmingly, outside walks on lead only, banging his way round the house by nose touch, getting stuck in corners and when he wakes up he has no clue where he is, who we are, or when he was fed last. Other than that his other senses have taken over, he can smell biskuts inside the tin now and hear squirrels in trees two gardens over or it’s just his Dogzheimers. He used to get a biskut in a rubber bone when we went out to keep him occupied, now he doesn’t eat it until we return, just in case we never come back and he's got supplies or so he says. So now I’m an official Seeing-Eye Human and life goes on.
