Freya - Our Poorly Puppy

Saturday 17th January . . . my fame spreads

During the night that we spent on the lounge floor Granny massaged me and reassured me and cuddled up along the length of my body so that I slept quite well until 6am.  I got up and had an enormous drink before going up to Granny’s bed with her.   We slept right through until gone 9am and then I went through and spent time with Mum.

I was exceptionally good during my 24 hour starvation and took all of my medications although I do have to confess that Granny did disguise them in the tiniest morsel of food.  She simply isn’t prepared to begin battling me to get drugs down my throat as our relationship is one of love and tenderness.

I have enjoyed my small meals of boiled chicken and rice and have licked the bowl clean on every occasion.  Apart from popping through to the kitchen for food or medications or going out to the garden for the toilet, I have spent the day on my rug bed on the lounge floor.  It is very obvious that I am not well as I am so subdued and have spent absolutely no time in my chair or on the settee.

 

 

When Mum departed for an optician appointment and home, Granny took me for an outing to the Lower Leas.

I couldn’t believe how tame the pigeons were and they allowed me to get very close without flying off.  Perhaps they could sense my gentle nature and instinctively knew that I would not harm them.

 

In complete contrast to yesterday, the place was teeming with activity.  My first encounter was with a bottle carrying dog but we just crossed paths and didn’t actually socialise.

 

It was then a beautiful and gentle giant who exchanged the briefest pleasantries with me.

 

A trio of little cuties were next and I’m pretty sure I’ve met them before but I don’t think I’ve ever discovered their names.

Next was another larger dog who came up from the beach to say the briefest hello.  I’ve definitely seen him before but don’t yet know his name.

Eventually it was an encounter with a group of two dogs and two humans and this time the humans did stop for a chat with Granny.  Shay was a quiet girl who seemed to love her toy.  As ever, it was her I was interested in and not the toy.

 

Yako had a very different temperament and was much more boisterous.  She was playing an amazing game of allowing her human to lift her by pulling on the rubber ring she had clenched in her teeth.  I somehow think that I will not be playing that game myself . . . .     ;o)

 

I then had a close encounter of the canine kind when Billy gave me a kiss on meeting me.  It actually took me a bit by surprise.

There was yet another little cutie who stopped to look up at me in the sweetest manner.

I was intrigued by the stones forming the labyrinth which is apparently a ‘unicursal pathway’ which people should walk whilst meditating or praying.  I certainly know what my prayer would be . . . a cure for lymphangiectasia.

We met an elderly couple who were dog lovers themselves but without a dog at this stage in their lives.  They were very impressed by my impeccable behaviour and astounded by my story.  They said that they had a dog which was given poor prospects when young but then went on to live until almost thirteen and encouraged us to keep optimistic.

We couldn’t believe it when we were relatively close to the car when we met a young couple who greeted us by saying ‘Is this Freya?’  Apparently they had noticed Granny’s poster of my website in the car.  They were very interested to hear my story and wished me well.

I thoroughly enjoyed my outing today but was shattered by the time we got home.  I did have one genuine sprint along the promenade today but I wasn’t up to sustaining it for any time.  Poor Granny wasn’t too impressed with having to scoop my poop today as I did have a touch of diarrhoea and produced a really yukky mess . . . oops!

It’s been another very quiet evening on the lounge floor with a lovely roaring log fire to warm me.  I do intend to climb the stairs for bed tonight though as I don’t want Granny to do herself any damage by spending another night on the floor.

I’d better brave the horrid weather and go for my final pee before bed.  I suppose I should also issue a flood warning as my new medication has certainly increased the volume I’m producing.

Night all.  Sleep well.
I hope I’ll be up to typing a pupdate tomorrow.
xxx

Friday 16th January . . . the day I met a ridgeback

Sorry I didn’t get my blog written on Friday night.  I wasn’t feeling at all well.  It actually ended up with Granny deciding to sleep on the lounge floor alongside me as I was in so much pain that I couldn’t actually stand up for long.  As she can’t possibly carry me up to bed she set up a bed for herself made from the settee cushions and wrapped us both in a duvet.  I also had my little yellow blanket plus a hot water bottle as my front legs were cold and my paws were icy.

On the positive side today was the day when I actually achieved it and met another ridgeback.  It was brilliant as I’ve been searching for so long.  On the downside was the fact that I wasn’t feeling up to playing . . . grrr!

The day began with me taking my corticosteroid tablet nicely but then turning my nose up at breakfast time.  Granny let me make the decision about eating it and I decided not to.  It was not long until my appointment to see Colin at the local veterinary practice so that I spent the time in the lounge.  I surprised myself and Granny by being rather nervous about going in to the consultation with Colin.  He popped me on the scales and my weight has increased to 43.85kg but this is fluid for sure.  I then went through obediently but reluctantly to the consultation room.  My anxiety, pain and effusions were very obvious.  Colin gave me an injection to ease the pain and prescribed prilactone for me as the frusedale appears to have lost its efficacy just recently.  As he was concerned that I may have developed pancreatitis he recommended twenty-four hours of starvation and then frequent, small, bland meals.  I am to report back to him in ten days.  I’ve got my paws tightly crossed that I’ll be feeling much better by the time of my return.

Once we had finished with the vet, we headed off for our outing and chose to go to the Lower Leas.  We hadn’t gone very far before a trio of us dogs introduced ourselves to one another.  Our humans also spent some time communicating but the little one wearing the coat soon made his frustration and jealousy known and we all headed off in different directions.

 

It was very quiet with scarcely anyone else around so that Granny took some pictures of the various birds we saw.

 

It was when we had reached the toll house that we met a real little cutie called Nutmeg.  She was beautiful and our humans had a brief chat about the regulations for being on lead or off lead.  Luckily there didn't seem to be a toll to pay to walk along   ;o)

We then couldn’t believe our eyes when we spotted a ridgeback on the beach.  We’ve been looking to find a ridgeback playmate for months.  We headed off to introduce ourselves and spent some time with Gus and his human.  Gus is a youngster at only nine months old and is very handsome.

He also had heaps of energy but was just a bit too boisterous for me as I was far from feeling well.  I really do hope to meet him again when I’m feeling good.  I would love to have a real race alongside him and to be able to bounce around together.  Paws crossed.

I was exhausted by the time we got home and just flopped out on my rug bed in the lounge.  I did greet Mum, Elaine, Sasha and Kai when they arrived but was very quiet and spent the evening drifting in and out of sleep and just observing everyone’s activities but not joining in.  As I said previously, I couldn’t get up to bed so Granny slept with me which I really appreciated.

I certainly hoped that Saturday would prove to be a better day for me.   

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