Little Gifts

How exciting for you both! I was wondering how she was going!

Pathetic isn't it. Stussy is my heart girl and I spent the entire day having sneaky snobs in fear that she wouldn't come out of anaesthetic or that her temp would rise so high she would have a seizure and die. I just knew in my gut that something was not right. She is so rarely unwell I realised I would totally fall apart if something happened to my naughty chunky monkey prematurely. She gives so much to me it seems that she deserves nothing less than a long and terribly spoilt life. Even if we both lived to 100 I still wouldn't be sick of her. Things seem to have gone well tonight. There has been no increase in swelling or redness at all, which also means a lot less heat and discomfort for her. We still have to get what is already there to minimise and disappear but no increase is an improvement on the last couple of nights. Our next challenge will be bed and seeing if we both get an acceptable night's sleep. I have my fingers and toes crossed that we have seen the last of the shakes and that I don't wake up every hour checking she's still breathing. It's hard being a mum!

So things have not gone well for poor Stuss. Last night her ears were about 10 times thicker than normal and were a dark crimson colour and her legs and feet were so grotesquely swollen it reminded me of shar pei fever (which other breeds can get I found out today!). Plus she had the shakies, her appetite has decreased and two nights in a row she has wet on the lounge room floor (never even did that as a pup). She spent the day at the vet being sedated to have a whole heap of tests done, including a biopsy, bloods and xrays. They think she now has vasculitis and she is on cortisone so we will see how things go overnight. She has to go back to have comparative bloods tomorrow morning because there is something in the two lots of tests they ran today that has indicated cancer/tumours, which could be the cause of the vasculitis. The xrays didn't show anything. I'm assuming it will be another sleepless night for me and so far this week I've spent around $1000 for what started out as a potential bug bite. Anyone else had a dog with vasculitis? What were the symptoms? How quick did it respond to treatment? Is it a forever health issue or once it is resolved is that it?

Is she going to get some yabbies from the dam?

So last night about 10pm Stussy ends up with huge weals all down her side and on the outside of her legs. She shook and couldn't settle all night (no sleep for either of us) so back to my regular vet this morning for another check and steroid injection. I could've given her one of the anti-histamine tablets the vet on Sunday gave me 'just in case' but guess what, my sister and I turned the house upside down twice and the little yellow bottle is nowhere to be found. My vet reckons it is possible she got bitten last night a second time - hence new reaction in a different location. I am going to check the yard to see if there is maybe a wasp nest near where she likes to toilet. And given there is a human measles epidemic I did ask the vet could she have picked up a virus (no) but didn't want him to realise how dumb I was so didn't actually mention the word measles, just thought it!

Apparently they can run a test to do that and had the allergy been life threatening then I definitely would've done it. I suspect it was a common garden bug just flying around at night while she was out having a pee and they collided. Not her first allergic response to a bug bite either, but obviously if she is developing a more intense response then I need to get on top of that and maybe get her an epi-pen!

No idea what caused it but the most likely scenario is something bit her while she was having a quick pee after dinner because dinner is the same as what she eats regularly (the other dogs ate it too) and she definitely didn't spend any time after dinner wandering around the yard, up the mischief in the bushes. Once she saw me settled on the couch she was straight up for cuddles and we were there for over an hour, with me scratching her head and face before I felt the lumps rising. There is one head lump bigger and redder than the rest so now I'm thinking that could be the bite mark given both ears ended up being the same (I originally thought it was an ear bite). The vet gave me some tabs to keep on hand if it ever happens again. We still have swelling and some heat but obviously she is not uncomfortable after the injection but if it is still raised and hot tomorrow I will take her to my vet in case she needs a steroid injection too. Previous bite/allergic responses have not lasted this long.

Poor Stussy woke in the early hours of the morning hot and itchy. Her poor ears were about three times their normal size. So we went off to the vet for a very expensive injection. And of course in my rush I forgot my house keys and my sister wasn't home so I had to frighten the daylights out of my parents to get the spare set. Things have settled right down since the shot so that's the most important thing. She enjoyed her outing too! And while I was at the vet the vet nurse was chatting away to me about a variety of things (no other needy pets waiting) and she fosters for a local guinea pig rescue group so it looks like I will be making some guinea pig goodies! I'm a bit excited about that! I like trying new things!

I rang and they said I could bring her in but if it has not gotten any worse in the last half an hour then close monitoring is also an option. Apart from shaking her red ear and some spots appearing on one front leg (same side as her ear) things have not changed from when I first posted. Heat also seems to be dissipating. I'd say it was a bite to that ear. I have family here for dinner (typical) and she hoovered the kitchen floor while it was all being served up and ran to the table in case anything got accidentally dropped so obviously she is not feeling overly icky. We will go back to lying together on the lounge so we can continue that 'close monitoring'. Sometimes I hate that staffords are so tough - I'm never quite sure how serious things really are with her as she is rarely sick and never shows any signs of pain or discomfort.

I should add it seems like an allergic rash. She may have been bitten by something (although she has been inside for the past 1.5 hours and lying on me). She had her normal Black Hawk kibble and a couple of chicken necks for dinner. She had the same chicken necks last night without issue.

I was just patting Stussy and thought her head felt a bit lumpy. I looked and it seems she has a rash developing. Her eyes are looking a little red and her ears are hot too. So I did an all over check and her inner thighs are quite heavily rashed too. So what to do - after hours vet or monitor? I know there is human medicine I can give her if needed but of course I can't remember what it is or dosage rates. She does not seem uncomfortable in any way, breathing is fine, happily wanting to snooze on my lap as usual. Thoughts please knowledgeable people?????

That last photo just cracks me up! And look at all the drool in the second pic! He is probably wondering to himself why you have been holding out on all the good stuff for all these years. He couldn't be happier unless he was a judge on Masterchef!

What a wonderful outcome for a deserving boy! Congratulations on your collective efforts to give him the life he deserves! Well done!

My heart is breaking for you. Big characters leave big holes. Wherever she is now she will be making the most of it. XXX

I'm glad I asked - I just felt the face wasn't quite right for a beagle!

Excuse my ignorance - these are beagles, right? I only ask because I have recently made coats for three beagles and I'd be happy to ask the owners if they were from your kennel. One female (Gypsy) lives with a younger family on the Sunshine coast with a bully-pei cross and the other two are also girls (Ruby and Bella) who live with an older couple, I'm assuming somewhere Brisbane Southside. I'm very sorry about your experiences in the floods. I worked on them from the disaster recovery side and was also part of doing assessments and payments under the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal so know first hand how devastating they were for so many people.

I had no idea about those suicide rates and they make me love my vet and her vet staff even more. Perhaps those of us who have vets we cherish could do more random acts of kindness. I know in the past we have given our vet and her staff free tickets to Dreamworld and Big Brother, paintings made by our dogs, thank you cards and laminated educational material for the waiting room. I often have roses in my garden so I'm going to start making up bunches for them. And since I make dog coats I might make some for their dogs or the dogs who have to stay overnight at the vets. I also grow oranges, lemons and mangoes so that is another thing I can give them. They always go the extra mile for our dogs (and us) and I want them to know I appreciate the wonderful people they are. Maybe little thank you's from their regular clients might make up for some of the heartache and stress that goes with their jobs? Everyone likes to know they are appreciated and matter. I would be gutted to lose such wonderful people from my life.

Absolutely ludicrous and yet again the one to suffer is an innocent dog. Oh and rate payers.

Have a look at this idea: http://www.conni.com.au/shop/Conni+Critters+Pet+Pads+-+washable+waterproof+absorbent/-2.html I had an elderly incontinent SBT and put her in kids nappies (I just bought the same weight), cutting a cross for the tail and putting them on so the tabs were on her back and not her belly. They worked well and she never had any skin problems from a wet nappy. If you look through general you will find several other threads about this issue that might give you other useful advice as you can buy belly bands for boy dogs who dribble, pants, etc. Plus there will be advice about treating the issue medically.

We just did this in another thread recently. Our most used but least destroyed toy is a JW Hollee Mollee filled with fleece fabric remnants and stuffing (rather than food). I have a snow maker and I used to buy her a stuffed toy from the op shops once a month to destroy but with the ball she makes a confined mess, I pick it all up and stuff it back in the ball and it is all nice and tidy again! Plus we are recycling! I should add my SBT is very rough on all toys but I've found the JW toys to stimulate her and last that little bit longer. They have lots of noisy stuff which she loves - squeakers, crunchy plastic, that kind of thing and they have legs and bright colours and a range of shapes too so they have become faves in this house.

Steve if I remember rightly the story for Izzy did not end well and the RSPCA was behind that sad part of it. The latest news story is not written well. I can't tell if it is the mother or the daughter who already had a 10 year ban in place. The Daily Telegraph story makes it sound like it was the daughter. Makes me sick to think that means we have second generation puppy farmers and animal abusers in this country. I want to shake these people and tell them to all stop being so f*cking lazy and get real jobs and make an honest living like the rest of us. And how do the courts actually get money off losers like this? Do they put them on payment plans for 30 years where they pay back something pissy like $20 a week? People like this should have to sell their properties to clear their debts and start all over again. That might actually make them feel some kind of loss and make up for the lives they have destroyed. No bluddy Centrelink benefits either. Most of them probably never put in a tax return to show what they have made through sitting on their arses either. Makes me so angry.

I love how these two are true outdoorsy dogs!

I kept thinking of all the tail hairs he was leaving behind the poor Roomba.

I have friends and family who are vegans - some for animal based reasons and the others for health reasons. I was a vegetarian for many years simply because I didn't really like the taste of meat. I know some people who don't eat any other vegetable other than potato and have heavy red meat diets. I think the reasons people eat what they do or don't are quite varied and can't really be pidgeon holed. They certainly shouldn't be ridiculed or abused for their choices.

I did a home check on a couple who were successfully using a shallow plastic tray (like from an auto shop) lined with only newspaper for a similar reason. They picked up the wet paper every morning and gave the tray a wash in their bathtub and put it on the verandah to dry during the day. I saw it while it was inside and there was no smell. Very cheap option. You could probably just wash it in the tub and leave it there to drain/dry if it wasn't in the way.