A curve Ball

. Maddie, Meg and William

Maddie died suddenly this afternoon.
The vet said that she had been looking brighter and more comfortable all day and thought it had been a sudden cardiac event. I couldn't really speak to her on the phone but managed to tell her that I would pick her up immediately.
The sing song nurse was on duty, which was kind of unfortunate and I didn't trust myself to talk to her or to the vet, and picked Maddie up and left the surgery in silence.

We buried her on the field, and steve, the local gravedigger kindly and without any undue fuss came over and helped me dig her grave properly.

We shall miss our old girl..... Loyal and eager to please , she always lagged behind the others in everything she did, but had the spirit and a personality as big as a lion.
Below is a blog from last year: I think it remains a fitting tribute

http://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2009/09/maddieevening-stroll-and-new-plans.html

I'm the mother

I came home from work, had an hour and a half's sleep covered in three dogs then got up bleary eyed to face the rest of the day.
When I asked Chris if he had contacted the vets regarding Maddie, he replied,
"You're the mother, that's your job!"
In his way, he is correct.
I do assume the more motherly role between the two of us. When Chris or any of the animals is sick, it is me that does the caring, me that wipes the fevered brow and me that cleans up the piles of poo (or in Maddie's case no piles of poo)
The mother role, of course, is a little more complicated than just completing nursing duties with a little warmth and empathy (humm Chris seldom gets any empathy from me). I always think that it also encompasses those little thoughtful touches that makes home a little more , well, like home.
So I guess, it is those nurturing flourishes that make the difference.
The flowers in the vase in the kitchen; the cat being well fed and wormed and asleep on the spare bed, the old kilner jars on the sideboard being cleaned and filled with pulses,grains and flour and the garden borders all neat and well kept next to the cut lawn.
My own mother was not a warm motherly influence in our lives, she was too brittle and a little too bitter to be able to fulfil that kind of role. it was my grandmother who, I am sure provided us all with the ideal role model when it came to mothering.

Anyhow I must have got it from someone...as today, I slipped back into "being mom" and rang the vets to check up of old Maddie.

I caught Zoe, the senior vet partner when I rang, who gave me a brusque yet pragmatic outline of what was happening.
Maddie had passed a very small amount of poo, was still on the drip and and needed to stay at the surgery for at least another two days or so. According to the vet, she has a very narrow pelvic opening which doesn't help with colonic transit time and agreed with me ( and Nigel) that the recent hot spell might of pushed her into mild dehydration which complicated the issue.
The nurses were walking her regularly and letting her rest outside to encourage her to squat, they had realised that the old girl is fastidiously clean and would refuse to open her bowels in her kennel.
so it is another couple of days wait, and a couple of days worry......

update 2

Just about the start the final slog (dog walking, filling water feeders, feeding the troops and broody intensive care- ie each of the broody hens, Kate Winslet, Blanche and Lilly must be lifted off their nests, sprinkled with water to wake them up then fed and watered before, muttering loudly to themselves, they stalk back to their eggs)
Maddie still has not had a proper bowel result, but apparently is much brighter in herself. The vet has added liquid paraffin to her meals as well as continuing with her other laxatives.
She remains on an iv drip and will be reviewed tomorrow at 9am.
My obsession with her bowels continues.

Maddie update

The pre Birthday meal last night was a good idea because it diverted us from worrying about Maddie. I have just contacted the vets and spoke to an brusque, efficient and crisp vet nurse who informed me that Maddie had received two enemas yesterday with a smallish result. Today she will be having another enema but already does look a little brighter in herself ( she has eaten! a first meal since last Wednesday)
I suspect if the enemas do not work alongside the aperients, drip and exercise then surgery may be indicated, but I so hope not.
Thank god the "sing song" nurse was not on duty today, I could have bust her one after she informed me yesterday that Maddie ( who she referred to as HE) was really enjoying the company of several other sick dogs in the surgery holding room.
I have had run ins with this nurse before and cannot abide her platitudes.
Rather unkindly I told her " well that will be a first, she cannot stand other dogs!"

Having a sick animal to worry about is a dreadful experience and is one that only pet owners can understand fully. In the great scheme of things some would view Maddie's plight as unimportant but there is something quite overwhelming when a dog becomes ill.
Dogs show their emotions graphically when they are unwell, they become depressed easily and you can see the changes so clearly when they look at you with those big brown eyes.

Maddie has pulled on the emotions because of her blind loyalty and constant need to please and obey, there is something rather valiant about her which makes this health scare even more emotional for us. Kipling was so right when he wrote his poem The Power of the Dog......dog lovers always give their hearts to a dog to tear.

Thank you for asking about how she is doing..I will update the blog before I go to work this evening

hello?

I have only just realised that my cousin Carol looks like Lisa Minelli in SEX AND THE CITY2

LIVE well, LAUGH often LOVE much

From Left to right: My Brother Andrew, Sister in law Jayne, William with Brother in law Ned, Elder Sister Ann, Brother in law Tim and my twin sister Janet.

They all came around to celebrate our birthday......Chris organised a Chinese takeaway. the dogs ran amok...........it was a nice night
Thanks to Andrew and Jayne. for the saying.....it was printed on a kitchen hanger.......and we all got a copy..........I guess we all appreciate the meaning of it
x

Another trip to the vets

I wasn't happy with Maddie this morning.
No bowel movement and not eating.
So I rang the vets for another appointment, got one for 10.20 am and finally got in to see the vet at 11.20.
I asked her to review the xray which was taken on Thursday and she told me she didn't have to as she had reviewed the xray that afternoon and knew that Maddie was impacted with faeces along her entire colon.
I was a little taken back and showed it as when I specifically asked the nurse two days ago , if Maddie was "impacted" I was answered with an emphatic no, she was "just constipated". I questioned the use of one aperient then and was reassured that everything was on course, and as I explained today, if I was told that Maddie was so seriously constipated I would never have taken her home when I did.
Anyhow I was in no mood for apologies or detailed explanations, all I wanted to know what was our plan right now.
After examining Maddie , the vet put her on a drip and planned to sedate her to administer a high colonic enema. Surgery has not been ruled out and I signed the consent form in case some sort of "debulking" was indicated.
I feel I have lost my confidence with the practice, especially with the problems and misdiagnosis we had with Albert a year ago, and aim to register the dogs and cat with another practice once all this is over. Hey Ho
The family are all coming over later to celebrate mine and Janet's birthday which is on Tuesday.

ps Thanks to Kim over at Golden Pines for her email and sound advice!

Poo watch

When you know a pregnant woman, all that you see will be pregnant women everywhere you look. When you buy a new car...every other car on the road will be the very one that you have just bought.and when you are waiting for an old Scottish terrier to open her bowels...every poo you see will belong to every other animal BUT her.
Bless..the old girl has been dosed up with aperients and at least has been drinking ok....but as yet...there is not a poo to be seen.

The goose house arrived this morning, without any instructions I must say ! But it looks robust and solid to house even the most buxom of ganders. It is one of the nicest birthday pressies Chris has bought me since he bought me Finlay

This afternoon I have planted out the sweetcorn and pumpkin bed. They do look rather weedy at the moment don't they?