Bless her...     & you xxx 

     I will 

Happy Days!!! Pleased for you, and AJ

thank you...   it really is happy days 

Little AJ update...    (edit: just finished typing it...  it ain't that little! )

He's coming on leaps & bounds (quite literally)...  

he's bouncing up onto the sofa...    tearing around after the cat (though tis very sweet, he lets her eat out of his bowl, even though he is permanently starving hungry - side effect of the steroids).

Spoke to the uber vet this week...   we are erring on the side of caution in terms of reducing his steroid doses, cos if we do it too quickly he could have another flare up, and apparently its then really really hard to treat & sometimes they end up on steroids for life, so he is still on a pretty high dose...   we are reducing him from 3 tabs a day to 2 and half next week.

Now he is interacting with us more, its become more apparent the degree of muscle wastage that's happened (bony head, bony chest, little chicken legs)..    and we have now been given the all clear to start addressing this..     so whenever he wants a walk, he gets a walk   (luckily he loves his walks, cos otherwise it would have been hydrotherapy, which I know he would have hated...  he's been through enough at the vets recently, so we want to try & avoid this).

Today...  we are gonna start to trim off some of the dreadlocks he has forming (again, cos he was going through so much before, & cos he hates being groomed, we'd let it go...   but its time to start getting rid of the matted bits).

So...  all is good!    Not totally out of the woods yet..   but getting there!

Still very very happy!

We dodged a bullet with my parents dog last week too..       during his annual health check the vet found a lump on his mouth.    My parents lost a 9 month pup to a tumour on his nose 6 years ago, so this was a  terrifiying thing to find.   We were all "noooooo... not again".

The vet didn't hang around (cos she knew what we'd been through with Wilson)...    So Chuffers had the lump removed the next day... & they sent it to histology & got it fast tracked...  and the results came back the next day...   it was a benign tumour!

HAPPY DOGGY DAYS!

(oh & the kitteh is now speyed & fully vaccinated)

We have seemed to live at the vets recently 

 Ditty so happy AJ is doing so well  the poor darling has been through so much,good news about Chuffters your parents must have been so worried given Wilsons history,thank you for keeping us updated ..I feel I know AJ and Chufters through conversations we have had in the past about our dogs..two lovely dogs,take care

Treat for AJ and Chuffters >>>>>>

Awww Ditty, hadn't spotted this before So pleased to hear that the news is good and AJ is on the mend

Thank you Marge...    & yeah... my poor parents didn't sleep much for a few days.   The day they got the news it was benign they went to bed at 8pm that night... totally knackered (but very very happy)

AJ says thank you for the sausage (but I think he's eaten Chuff's as well )

  <----    for Hamish & Molly   xx

*BIG MASSIVE GRIN*

Ta Soops...    we still can't quite believe our luck.       MrD & I were talking the other night & we both admitted we'd both been thinking the unthinkable about AJ...   we were both at the stage of thinking if his quality of life could not be improved then perhaps it was time to do the kindest thing.

Then we got that call..     and we haven't stopped grinning & counting our blessings since.

Today we are cold...   but we really don't care!!!      WE HAVE OUR DOG BACK!!   

Good news all round!!

*imagines AJ in dreadlocks*

YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH

fantastic news 

thank you Clumsy 

look how much better he is...    despite the fact that he gets massive snow clinkers on his feet (that we have to defrost by wrapping our hands around them)...  he has been in & out messing around in the snow all day.. 

Totally different dog to the one I had three weeks ago

Great pic, good to see him bouncing about in the snow, Ditty.

Ta Yogi 

He's difficult to take photo's of...   he refuses to look at the camera! 

Typical male, never looks when you want him to.

   yeah that sums him up.

He's getting away with murder now though...    I can;'t see that I will ever be cross with him again    (I just blame any trouble he causes on the kids, or the cat )

Poor kitty. Has she recovered from her op now?

It's made me reading all this - I'm soooooo pleased for you - I can imagine the elation you're feeling and what a lovely, lovely doggy

yes....  in fact we were amazed...  it never really slowed her down.    She's had the stitches out now though... 

So she's all good to go outside now...    if Ickle is ever brave enough to let her!

I think its gonna be a gradual thing...  in the summer, when we have the doors open.

awww Scatts...     

I've cried loads over the past few weeks (happy tears)...   he does something pretty normal (like jumping on the sofa, or having a mad ten mins on the floor with MrD & I go all blubby & girly 

He limped a bit this morning....    not much,   but when he came in from the garden he carried a back leg for a few steps... 

and I am panicking a bit.

My rational sane mind tells me its nothing, it probably just cos its so cold.    If we'd reduced his meds recently then (as instructed by the uber vet) I would put his dose back up...   but we haven't reduced them since the first week of mega dose.

Part of me wants to ring the uber vet...   most of me says its over reacting.

Am just gonna keep my eye on him (not that I am ever not keeping my eye on him at the moment) and see.... 

Things are going so well...    I'm terrified we'll have a set back.

(I'm typing this in here...    cos I can't stop thinking about it, but I know I am over reacting)

My Dad's just popped in....  have sent AJ back with him to have a Chuffley playdate (indoors...  Chuffers is a big girls blouse & hates the snow )

Told Dad to watch AJ's back legs like a hawk 

Poor Ickle, it'll be like letting your kids go out of the garden to play, for the first time.

Yeah...  its hard with cats.    It was another reason I wouldn't have got one for me...  the risk factor.

I know so many people that have lost their cats on the roads.    Ickle is terrified she'll stray round the front & get run over.

Aww, it's not easy letting go - would Ickle consider keeping her as a house cat and only allowing her outside on a leash?

Ditty  Angus was on steroids for years every time we cut down he would have a set back,I had to make a decision in the end to keep him on them knowing it was not good long term,when he got very ill which was nothing to do with why he was on steroids,they told me at the hospital had he not taken the steroids for the length of time he did his life span would have been much shorter,it made me feel a bit better to hear that as I always felt guilty he was on them so long I did try other remedies and they did not work,perhaps AJ needs to be on them for a little bit longer.. if they help him get through his pain ..

oh yeah...   she already has the harness & the leash...  ideally that's what she'd want

problem is how we enforce that in the summer.     We have the back door open in the summer, so the dog can come & go to the garden at will...  and also cos we would roast otherwise....

I think we're just gonna have to play it by ear when the warmer weather gets here

yeah....  if it comes to him being on them for life then so be it Marge.   I think the dangers of being on steroids are if its a degenerative condition, then you keep having to up the dose as the condition gets worse, if its just keeping something at bay, then (from what the vet said) the only downside of being on a low therapeutic dose long term is the increase in appetite & thirst.

We are already being over cautious on bringing down the dosage.    He's on 3 tabs a day at the moment...   should have gone down to 2 1/2 a day last thurs, but we decided to give him another week on the 3.

I am in no rush to bring the dosage down...  not if that could reduce his chances of being one of the lucky dogs that ends up completely cured & off meds.

Hence my paranoia & panic.

He's just got back from my Dads...     have just had to defrost his snowball feet again (picture...  Ickle & I with our hands wrapped round his feet )...   but he seems alot better now...   bounded into the conservatory like a spring lamb...   waggy & happy looking.

Angus was on two a day for about 3 months then it was reduced to one a day I always knew steroids were wonderful in the short term and  it was not an easy decision to make ..hopefully AJ will not need them in the long term made me laugh imagining him in my minds eye bounding into your conservatory like a spring lamb wagging his tail ..God love him  

awwwww...   bless you Marge!   

You're my forum doggie soulmate 

All great news! How lovely to have him back to his old self

Re the cat :When I was a kid and we had kittens at home - the first few times we let them out we used to spread butter on their feet . God only knows why - does anyone else do that or has heard of it? When I've had cats of my own I've done the same - they've always stayed safe and returned home but  .............I'm not sure what the theory is behind it.

Ah, I understand the problem now.

You can tell I've never owned a cat, can't you?

I'll keep my fingers crossed that little kitty stays close to home and keeps safe.

I'd heard of doing that if you move house with a cat.. 

I assumed the theory behind it was that the cat would lick the butter off their paws, thus leaving a scent trail back to the house... 

I have no idea if there is any truth in it though 

Ickles campaigning for us to get a screen door, like they have in American homes... 

and has said we will have to just let the dog in & out all summer

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Awww, I understand the concern re the roads etc. but seems a little unfair to keep her in and not let her have a good run about outdoors if she wants to? Oh, and I couldn't bear having an indoor litter tray for a moment longer than absoluteley necessary

I've got the best of both worlds with my cat, she's agoraphobic I think, only goes out to do her business and is straight back in, other than when she's really, really, really adventurous and sits on the mat in the sunshine occasionally! She's a proper lap cat...anyone's lap will do. Think it's just the luck of the drawer to be honest, although she did have a bit of a fright the first time she went out and got stuck on top of a neighbour's oil tank, maybe that's why she doesn't venture out???

I won't keep her in if she is wanting to go out Soops...  

the weather & stuff has kinda made it easy for her to be in for now..   & she does seem content with this (she does like to make predator clicking noises at the birds through the window though).

Ickle has a mad bond going with her cat though...  its very very sweet...   Ickle is definitely her mother.    (she sleeps lying over Ickles neck! - I couldn't handle that myself!)

(& the litter tray is in Ickles room..   and is changed very very frequently - part of the initial agreement into her getting a cat)