A few unconnected thoughts of the day.
- Pippa, the doctor's wife caught me stealing flowers the other day! In her best Lady Bracknell voice she demanded to know what I was doing lurking behind the old shed on the small building plot behind our cottage with a pair of secateurs in my hand but seemed satisfied with my honest explanation.
- I took William to the vets last night for a review of his itchy / dry skin. Unfortunately neither the George Clooney or the young Russell Crowe vet were on duty so we had to settle for the rosy faced Irish vet who seemed stumped with his symptoms. She promised to discuss the case with a small animal vet expert and asked me to get a sample of William's skin with some selotape as she couldn't find any. She asked me if William was a stressed dog then took the question right back when he started to examine her ears for wax as she bent down to check his anal glands! I told her that I would ask blog readers if they have any ideas?
- I hand washed our old patchwork quilt and hung it over the field gate to dry this morning. A woman ambler knocked on the door and offered me £40 for it. I told her to get knotted
- Our most junior Flower Show Committee member Cameron called around to discuss the design for this year's publicity posters. I cant believe that he's sitting his GCEs for it only seems like yesterday that he was walking to the primary school in the village. Funny how quickly kids grow up...he gave me an informed lecture of how to obtain sponsorship from local businesses!
- Winnie is constipated today following her egg stealing of yesterday....I noted this morning that there has been much grunting and groaning at toilet time. It all sounded like a bad porn video!
- I've eaten too much boiled beetroot on weightwatchers because my pee is ever so slightly purple!
- I am now off to bed as I'm on nights tonight. The Prof gets home after I go to work so ..I've left him a quiche in the fridge for his tea.
Our dog had terrible itchy, dry, flaking skin. Since putting her on a grain free diet it has gone. We also give her evening primrose oil and oily fish. Don't know if that will help? I order large bags of dog food online from Bitba or Zooplus because grain free is quite expensive but I'm usually getting a 12 or 13kg bag for £38 and free delivery. Our vet was talking about testing her for allergies etc but there is no need now. This is the second dog I've had with food allergies. The previous dog had very itchy ears and bleeding nail beds. Once we changed her diet, the symptoms disappeared. Best of luck x
ReplyDeleteJohn, I should have added that our dog can't tolerate rice either. When we put her on gluten free, her problems still persisted. Cutting out the rice did the trick!
ReplyDeleteYou're a good husband John.
ReplyDeleteAbby, the dainty pitbull (a Staffordshire, actually) has consumed and destroyed the tags, and the wee gift box they came in... prolly around the time Winnie was stealing eggs. She is now vomiting and crapping papier mache. On the other hand, my daughter has knit a new fanny rag for Winnie. Boiled beetroot? How dire...
All terrier breeds, in my experience, have a tendency toward dry, flaky, itchy skin and hot spots. All of mine get B vitamins and the occasional treat of liver or tuna in oil mixed in their food; it does help.
Ours have sardines in oil twice a week. They love it!
DeleteFishy burps are pretty horrible!!
DeleteYour 'nothing' sounds like a lot if 'something.' =)
ReplyDeleteThe stacked stone wall is beautiful. Such craftsmanship.
ReplyDeleteFor a day when nothing happened it seems a lot did (except for poor Winnie of course).
ReplyDeleteour Molly had terrible allergies and her skin was awful. If you read this blog post of mine you will see what Molly was allergic too and maybe you could make sure that William is not eating some of these. Brewer's Yeast is one of the worst allergens and is in a lot of things. Molly's skin got so bad she was red raw and developed Cushing's Disease and as you know we ended up having to put her to sleep as she was in that much pain.
ReplyDeletehttp://thatbritishwoman.blogspot.ca/2010/02/another-recipe-and-update-on-molly.html
Allergies can come on at any time of life in both animals and humans, there is no rhyme nor reason to it. I am a perfect example of this!! Good luck.
we had a gun dog that was afraid of the guns. terrible skin problems. Saw an Australian Vet one time and he told us to slowly change his diet over to James Wellbeloved. and cod liver oil. but that gave him seriously bad breath. after about 3 months his skin was better.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago I saw a brass plaque for sale in a shop in Washington, DC: "On this site, in 1887, nothing happened."
ReplyDeletesorry here is the link to the one he scoffed and then chased everyone elses bowls for
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wellbeloved.com/products/dog-food/grain-free/grain-free-lamb-and-vegetables-senior
no more cone of shame after changing to this
Sol this is interesting. Our dog was allergic to James Wellbeloved Lamb and Rice but we hadn't realised that it was rice that she was allergic to. I notice that it's the grain free you have suggested. I've put our dog on to Purizon and A Taste of the Wild and she's fine now. Still itchy when she runs through long grass in summer and it really allergic to midges. Thanks for this.
Deletehe wouldnt eat any of the other flavours. this one smelt more we found so maybe that was it. Bakers complete made him crazy and ripped all of his fur out when we were trying all different things. but this one was really good and all the other dogs took to it. makes it much easier and no stealing of prohibited foods. maybe they will send you a sample? you can but ask
DeleteCould the itchy skin be due to allegories? I have noticed a lot of new shampoos for this for our four legged friends. I'll take a gander while I'm out today. That is a beautiful quilt!
ReplyDeletewhat a gorgeous patchwork quilt. How did you wash it ?
ReplyDeleteHow many vets does your small village have?
ReplyDeleteIts a large practice of 7 or so in a market town inland
DeleteTry giving him a teaspoon of coconut oil with his food and also pot coconut oil on the area of dry dkin.
ReplyDeleteTry giving him a teaspoon of coconut oil with his food and also pot coconut oil on the area of dry dkin.
ReplyDeleteWe gave vitamin E to a dog who had "hot spots' and cleared them up. Best thing for a healthy dry skin and dull hair...a little bacon grease over their dog food.
ReplyDeleteI love your quilt.
June 4th, 1973 was much like any other summer’s day in Peterborough and Ralph Mellish, a file clerk at an insurance company, was on his way to work as usual when - nothing happened! Scarcely able to believe his eyes, Ralph Mellish looked down, but one glance confirmed his suspicions: behind a bush, on the side of the road, there was no severed arm, no dismembered trunk of a man in his late fifties, no head in a bag – nothing, not a sausage! For Ralph Mellish this was not to be the start of any trail of events which would not, in no time at all, involve him in neither a tangled knot of suspicion nor any web of lies, which would - had he been not uninvolved - surely have led him to no other place than the Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey. But it was not to be!
ReplyDeleteRalph Mellish reached his office in ...[name] Street, Peterborough, at 9.05 a.m.., exactly the same time he usually got in.
ENID: Morning, Mr. Mellish.
MELLISH: Morning, Enid.
Enid, a sharp-eyed, clever young girl, who had been with the firm for only four weeks, couldn't help noticing the complete absence of tiny, but telltale blood stains on Mr. Mellish's clothing. Nor did she notice anything strange in Mr Mellish’s behaviour that whole morning, nor the next morning nor at any time before or since the entire period she worked with that firm.
MELLISH: Have the new paper clips arrived, Enid?
ENID: Yes, they are over there, Mr Mellish.
MELLISH: Oh.
But for the lack of any untoward circumstances for this young secretary to notice and the total non-involvement of Mr. Mellish in anything illegal, the full weight of the law would have ensured that Ralph, Aldous Mellish would have ended up like all who challenge the fundamental laws of our society: in an iron coffin with spikes on the inside!
From a Monty Python Sketch
DeleteI hope you cut and pasted that!
DeleteDo you have to steal flowers? i would so happy to give you some roses from my garden.
ReplyDeleteRe. William, what do you feed him? My dog Finley has to eat a grain-free, high quality diet otherwise he itches 24/7. Might be worth trying a raw diet with him (as in raw meat)? :-)
ReplyDeleteRather a lot for a 'nothing happened' kind of day I would say John.
ReplyDeleteAs to that skin complaint - Tess gets itchy skin every year as soon as spring and the graww growing comes round. She has had various pills and potions for it and nothing seems to do any good so I have stopped taking her and forking out money for nothing. It also seems to affect in between her toes too and she scratches and licks a lot. It seems to pass off as the Summer progresses.
Love that old quilt - presumably you mean a 'rambler' offered you money for it - on the other hand we get plentyof 'amblers' round here who are not going fast enough to be called ramblers - so maybe it is the same with you.
Sorry John - obviously I mean grass not graww!
ReplyDeleteTry giving Tess a Benadryl over the counter antihistamine. It help The Square Ones in spring.
DeleteSince my weenie, Sister developed diabetes, I have had to prepare her meals since she won't eat the diabetic dog food. Venison and chicken, ground flax seed, chia and barley, rice, oat bran and quinoa. It is a pain, but I love her like my child. Some purists now are feeding their dogs raw meat, but I am afraid to do that. Though eliminating all the stuff they put in dog food should eventually find an answer for you. Did you know they grind up feathers to put in animal feed as fillers. I don't trust any corporations anymore.
ReplyDeleteI am seriously considering overdosing on beetroot just to have purple pee.
ReplyDeleteI give Rosie 2k mg a day of fish oil for dry skin. Doesn't completely fix the problem, but keeps it under control.
ReplyDeleteNice of the ambler to offer to buy the quilt rather than helping herself, eh?
Fish oil seems to be a common denominator here......i need to look into this me thinks
DeleteOur vet said evening primrose oil for skin problems. We give our dog this but also tinned sardines and bits of fresh salmon. Both dogs have really shiny coats now.
DeleteThats one thing i have tried without sucess...thanks shiela
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your sufgestions , i shall read them all when i have enough time....off to work
ReplyDeleteCod liver or other fish oils mixed into his food... You never did tell that ambler to get knotted? Love your field gate and the wall's so neat. xx
ReplyDeleteYou hand washed that quilt? How on earth did you lift it out of the water?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts, too!
DeleteIt doesn't take much beetroot to make the pee lovely and purple, and not only the pee, by the way. Can look as if the kidneys are bleeding badly. Good fun and very healthy, apparently.
ReplyDeleteMay the dog constipation remedies not be followed by dog diarrhoea on the duvet stories.
Neem oil is great for dogs with skin issues .
ReplyDeleteHarper had skin problems after we moved to Florida. I think the heat, humidity, and vegetation bothered him. My vet said that skin problems are very common in Florida. He advised frequent baths with a mild shampoo and prescribed an antihistamine. Harper was particularly uncomfortable before his death, as nothing seemed to help his skin. How I miss my boy. The skin allergies didn't kill him. He couldn't walk. His beautiful long legs gave out.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Nothing here today, either, except Franklin barks at something every now and again.
I've heard that oatmeal baths help the skin condition a lot.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would be stressed if I was as well taken care of as your dogs
ReplyDeleteWell, it isn't everyday that someone tries to low ball you an offer on one of your quilts, is it?
ReplyDeleteI love cooked beetroot and roasted ones too. Rhubarb will turn your pee pink, just a useless bit of information on a nothing happened day, a bit early though!
ReplyDeleteMy friends feed their dogs "A Taste of the Wild" which has perked up their old bulldog something amazing! It cleared up her dry and crusty nose problems very quickly. Or so I have been reliably assured.
ReplyDeleteYes, that pee problem is one of the routine ill effects of eating beetroot. Sometimes other things turn purple too!
ReplyDeleteIf I ever see you with secateurs, I'll know not to believe the honest answer! Great blog.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, i have an itchy dog too. She's been bad all her life. I managed it well for years with careful raw/home-made food, but in the last couple of years I had to give in and she is now on 5mg of cortisone a day. In the end, I have had to choose between a longer life of scratching or a shorter life of comfort for her. I do feed rice so after reading the comments here, I might try cutting that out. For her dry skin/coat, I found a supplement called Omega Magic has been great. Not sure if you can get it there or not but surely there is something like it.
ReplyDelete