Heidi

I changed my mind! After lengthy discussions I made an appointment to see Sue Armstrong up in Wetherby (who just “happened” to have a cancellation the very next morning) as being the vet who was originally recommended by Barbara & has a respected knowledge of treating cancer homeopathically. We are also able to get the CV247 there without having to order it in by mail (something I disliked doing, especially when it’s meant to be kept refrigerated.)

I wasn’t disappointed. The waiting room was welcoming, as was everyone we encountered; the shelves were stocked with good quality dog & cat food (no Hills in sight – hurrah!), & other beneficial goodies.

Long story short, we both felt that Heidi is now in the right hands & our confidence just grows & grows. We are back in a team all working to the same end but, most importantly, from the same hymn sheet.

The plussing that we started with Brendan is being continued & Heidi had the Carcinosin remedy on Friday (this time 4 doses in 12 hours). She was great about being given the remedy, even though, as I realise now, I didn’t explain to her what it was or what it was doing. Mental note not to be so rude next time.

Today we have found her to be very clingy (was on my lap at one point, which is unheard of) & wherever I go & she can follow, she’ll not be far away from my leg. I got up at 4am after I was woken with a cup of tea with the words, “I made you a cup of tea to help you sleep”!! For the first time in ages she needed to go out for a wee & pretty urgently. Meg had been unsettled most of the night which hadn’t helped. Heidi’s appeared more hungry today too & has found it difficult to settle down to sleep, even though I’ve been in the front room with them both for most of the day.

Her eyes this evening are pink / red tinged, again this is unusual. It’s now just gone 10pm & she’s under my desk, seemingly deeply asleep on her side, but I’m sure that the second I move she’ll be up & following me. While I was cooking supper this evening I turned around to see her doing a play bow & it appeared she’d been in that position for a while. Her expression was one of anxiety rather than playfulness but I could have been mistaken. I called her to me to break it. Could it be her way of getting comfortable if her anal glands are blocked? I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this (with their dog I mean).

Meg has been behaving differently this evening too; she’s also been cuddly but has also had the odd grumble at H – not in itself unusual but H’s response has been to first back off & do frantic eye-slides to get Meg to ease up, but she’s then followed it with an almost imperceptible rumble.

We return to the vet on Monday for a full homeopathic consult & to discuss where we go from here. Sue is keen to simplify Heidi’s regime. It would be good to have a smaller box of tricks on the side which will reduce the time it takes to  prepare her meal.

I hope we can take them both for a lovely walk somewhere tomorrow & get Meg to run off some of her energies. Her new regime of short, daily, on-lead walks & a longer run around at the weekend appears to suit her very well. We are getting far fewer outbursts from her & she spends most of her day (more frequently, all of it) without her muzzle. Hurrah!

If there is any change in HRH tomorrow, I’ll write more, otherwise it will be Monday evening.

R & H.

PS Just had to “bounce” on the floor to rouse Heidi to go out for a walk! We went out, she was obviously busting as she only just made it out of the door, & her coordination appeared a bit dodgy; first she tripped over a twig which was blown out a tree, then she nearly walked headlong into a bollard. I have no recollection of her ever giving up on a walk & turning around to come home half way but that was what she did. Her metronome tail was in its usual rhythm with her walking & she appeared to be ok in all other senses but she headed for home at the trot. I don’t know what influence Meg’s decision to stay home had on her, but it’s never really bothered her too much in the past (she just walks a little closer to my leg so she doesn’t get lost). Hope she’s brighter in the morning.

We’ve moved house!

After separating earlier this year Chris & I realised that sharing a house was no longer tenable for anyone. The day after Paws in the Park  Mekuti was packed up, put it in the back of the van & the girls & I moved up to West Yorkshire. They have been so good, Meg especially as she is generally poor with any kind of change, let alone something like a move. She is great wearing her muzzle (there are youngsters around & plenty of things to eat besides). We may have sussed out the bin raiding – the kitchen is now resplendent with a “dog proof” bin. A Google search revealed a bin by Superhuman which has a lock on it & has no bag sticking out over the edge for Meg to suck inside her muzzle to pull the bin over. Not as pricey as the Brabantia & so far so good!

We went to see Heidi’s new vet – a homeopathic vet who is a Leeds 2 minutes away (7 minutes to the rest of us). It’s always difficult going to a new vet & re-establishing a relationship, especially when there is a tough act to follow. It was pointed out to me gently that I need to consider that my expectations & prejudices may affect how the new vet communicates or interacts with me. The prejudice comes from having had several bad experiences with male vets – I must add that I have also had good experiences with male vets too, one to be exact. The relationship with Barbara felt very much like being a part of a team there to do what was right for Heidi & that was based on intuition; if something felt wrong we didn’t do it, even if logic said otherwise.

It will be good to work with someone different, especially now we are no longer fighting fires with Heidi. Her health is generally good (except for a minor episode a couple of weeks ago when her front leg was uncomfortable & she became very clingy for a couple of days, but soon forgot about it when we went out into the fields for a leg stretch). It will be interesting to see where the journey takes us with Brendan.

Last week we started “plussing” where a remedy is diluted further which increases its potency. She had 6 doses of Pulsatilla in an hour last Friday evening which will be repeated next week. She has been even more clingy since & her bark has changed. It’s been a bit of a comedy bark to date & always raises a smile, but she has been slipping in a real “woof” occasionally. The other curious thing is that she & Meg swapped personalities yesterday – Meg was tapping our leg for attention & got under our feet, Heidi took over Meg’s bed under my desk & had a period of picking things up in her mouth & wandering around with them. Demetri took them for a walk yesterday & Heidi noodled off & was reluctant to return while Meg stayed really close.

The 3 of us had a lovely snooze on the sofa last night – I was in a collie sandwich & it felt so good to see them so settled. That said, Meg’s t-shirt was in the wash after a dip in the river & she had episodes of whittering. I gave up waiting for it to dry & put it back on her slightly damp & she settled back to sleep really quickly.

I’m still counting my blessings – Heidi is so strong & vibrant & appears to be very happy here, as am I.

We return to the vet on Thursday for blood tests to see how the thyroid is doing & establish what needs tweaking remedy / medication-wise.

I’m sorry if anyone has left a comment & has been awaiting a response. Unfortunatley, the blog has been inundated with thousands of spam messages & it’s too time consuming to clear them down. If anyone knows how I can stop them would you mail me privately via the Mekuti website.

Happy day.

R, M & H

What a great weekend we’ve had & both of the girls were angels.

We arrived late on Friday so had to put the tents up in the near dark, but friends came along & helped us. The tide was in so both Meg & Heidi went for a paddle – Meg’s idea of paddling is swimming out as far as she can & waiting like a submarine (surfaced!) for someone to throw a pebble or stick. Both dogs slept in their crates in the van for the first time ever & they were good as gold – I think the sea air & calm atmosphere helped.

The weekend involved lots of sea, short walks & sleeping for the dogs. This worked for everyone as Meg’s eye wasn’t too good when I left Mid Wales so a bit of rest was called for. The weather was pretty warm on Saturday so we were grateful for the reflective sheeting over the front of the van which kept the girls lovely & cool. I’m very conscious of temperature as HRH has a habit of getting too warm, but this weekend we had the opposit problem.

Heidi inadvertantly went swimming. She has been carefully avoiding it since we’ve known her but always has opportunities to do so if it’s safe. When Meg is in the water, Heidi will stand up to her wrists & stare at Meg or bark delightedly. Over the weekend she went in deeper & deeper Until she was up to her tummy; Meg turned to chase a pebble & Heidi accidentally turned the wrong way & was suddenly out of her depth. Her face showed initial panic but then she moved her legs & got back to ankle deep in no time! She turned around & went back to tummy depth immediately but avoiding swimming again steadfastly. The waters were about as safe as you can get & it was quite warm on the full tide. The difficulty came later as I discovered that Heidi’s coat holds water, unlike Meg’s which lets it drip all over the upholsteryfirst. Heidi started to shiver after I’d rubbed her down gently with a towel & I was unable to tell whether it was cold or just the shakes after a rub down. I put her into her full fleece body suit anyway & tucked her up in the crate (it was quite overcast so there was little danger of her overheating) & did 5 minutes TTouch on her ears which is good for warming a chilled body through. It took about an hour for her to return completely to normal, but she was good throughout.

If pride is acceptable, that is what I felt about both dogs at the weekend. They were both so well behaved, Meg didn’t eat anyone, Heidi didn’t mug anyone – a habit she developed on one of her trips to Leeds when she sees another dog she’ll run up to them, spin around in circles in front of their noses & then when they are completely dizzy she barks at them & runs off! They were so quiet when in their crates (Meg used to get really cranky if she was left in it, but is so much more settled with Heidi in the adjacent crate) & happily went wherever we went.

I invested in a plug in cool box which meant I was able to keep both Heidi’s medication & our wine cool for the whole time. She was fed tinned food (either Lilly’s Kitchen or Butcher’s) over the weekend & as testimony to the health of her gut the sudden change form natural to tinned had no effect on her tummy at all. 

Overall, the camping experience for Heidi was a good one. She’s now deeply asleep on the sofa & awaiting her photos (a few camera problems so when Demetri has sent his through I’ll post them up). If any of you have an elderly dog & you are considering camping, with appropriate items (like comfy bed, something to warm, something to cool, plenty of treats!!) & lots of resting opportunities it can be a great time for everyone. We were fortunate in camping somewhere I know well so knew there were plenty of vets available if required, plus I had my usual armoury of homeopathic remedies, but this is always worth checking out before you go & ensuring you know how to get to them if necessary.

Enjoy the sunshine today.

R, M & H

What a star! Heidi bounces her way from one day to the next, greeting everything & everyone with equal enthusiasm (sometimes from behind my legs, but she’s keen to move forward with gentle encouragement nonetheless).

Her various wounds have now healed & the fur is regrowing on her tummy. She had a small amount of swelling after the op, but that has all gone, leaving only one area on her side which was there before & hasn’t changed significantly recently.

Today she is going on her first camping trip! We’re off to Pembrokeshire to introduce her to the delights of the sea & mountain. It’s the first time I’ve felt truly confident that she could handle this kind of excursion & she’ll have many people to look out for her.

Things have been a little topsy-turvy for both Meg & Heidi recently due to changes at home. All endeavours have been made to maintain a reasonable routine & I’ve been amazed at how well they have both coped, especially Meg who is prone to stressing. After 3 months today has produced the first physical signs that she’s struggling a little in that she has conjunctivitis in one eye. When I realised I offered up my gratitude that I still had my eye remedy recipe somewhere safe & the herbs to make it with (1/4 cup boiled water, 1/2 tsp salt, 10 drops each hypericum, calendula & Goldenseal, bathe eye 2 – 3 x daily). Meg isn’t the best at going to the vet & it would also have added to her stress. She’s a natural kinda gal & does best with herbs as opposed to conventional meds (but would get them if they made a difference).

It occurred to me how liberating herbs & homeopathy are. At a time when sypmtoms appear & when you are in tune with your instincts it’s possible to minimise the stress for both your companion & yourself by treating non-serious ailments at home. A proviso – I’m talking about runny eyes / tummy, simple cuts & bruises, bad breath, lameness & so on; anything more serious or which doesn’t respond to your loving in a short period of time gets dealt with by a professional.

Meg got stung by wasps the other day & was pretty sore. A few doses of Apis Mel & she was back to her normal self again with no loss of confidence. I now keep a pot in my rucksack for walks.

I hope to get some pictures of HRH whilst away which I’ll post on my return (I’ll show the cats too who are staying home with Chris – they’ll be mighty jealous…).

Happy hols.

R & H x

Heidi’s op went well & her recovery from the aneasthetic was nothing short of miraculous; there was a little trembling & some whittering but she calmed down so quickly & has not looked back since. Yet again, Barbara’s needlework is very impressive & H has an extremely neat scar along her tummy. 3  lumps were removed; the large one, a smaller one developing behind it & a lymph node. We should get the results of the biopsies next week.

She has just had her post-op check & Barbara is delighted with her progress. She has been given permission to start walking alittle further than around the garden, but is already looking keen to get moving. Apparently the skin along her sides looked a little bruised which was possibly from the weight & movement of the big lump, so it must have been pretty uncomfortable for her. I cannot imagine the freedom she must now be beginning to experience.

R x

I cannot believe it’s so long since I last wrote anything. I’m really sorry to those of you who have been concerned that something may have happened to Heidi – I assure you she is full of beans & raring to go!

The operation to remove the growth on her mammary gland is booked for this Friday. Her heart is strong (although the murmur is still detectable) & she is in a totally different place to where she was before the last op, as am I. I no longer wait with baited breath for her bark first thing in the morning, wondering if she’s made it through the night, but I do still relish the sound of it when it slips out from her joyous little body while she waits for someone to come down to see her in the morning.

I have been taking some time out of work to reassess my journey. Many issues have raised their heads in the last month or so & one of them was about trust. I watched Heidi that day; her trust is implicit. If there is something she’s unsure of she runs to me & always has from last November. If I need to do something for her, after I’ve explained it she will let me do anything & will come over when called at the vets, even though she’s feeling a bit wobbly about it she trusts me to keep her away from danger. The level of her trust is immense. Her history is one of broken trust & here she is offering it to me freely & unstintingly, unconditionally. It is never forced, although sometimes she takes a millisecond to consider it, she always comes forward. If my little collie can trust in such a way & live with the consequences of it being abused (in the past) why should I give a second thought to who I can & cannot trust? For today, I trust. If tomorrow that is broken, so be it. I’m going to avoid wasting time worrying about what might be & focus on what is.

I give you all my assurance that if there is any change in Heidi’s health, I will write it on the blog. When she was going through traumas before I found it really helpful to just write it all down, but when things are going well it’s harder to write; “Heidi’s really fit & bouncy. Watched a snail today.” could get a little monotonous! No news is good news here.

Travel well.

R & H x

We saw Barbara today to check Heidi’s thyroid levels are what they should be. Her pulse was a steady 95 (now NORMAL!!), her heart sounded strong, although the murmur is still there & her thyroid levels are just outside what they should be. Hurrah!! Instead of upping the Soloxine we are seeing whether we can illicit a change by adding more kelp to her diet.

On the flip side of this her mammary lump is quite large now & is very tight in the skin. Barbara’s instinct is to remove it as it would be a relatively straightforward operation to do & Heidi is much stronger now & far better able to deal with it. We will wait a few weeks to get her thyroid in the right range & then work on really boosting her up for another op. Some may question why we didn’t remove it when the thyroid was done, but I still believe that she had enough to deal with after that one procedure without adding to her discomfort & trauma. She really is a different dog now.

Is the CV247 working? This is a complete unknown. A thorough check of her thyroid area revealed no lumps, bumps or swellings (i.e. no return of the original cancer) so on this basis something within her regime is working & I ain’t going to change any of it!

While we were waiting for the results we had a lovely game with a little squeaky ducky. Heidi was barking & grinning like she was the happiest dog in the world. I couldn’t help grinning either; when she first came to us her mouth / eye coordination was rubbish (she can’t see much detail) but she was really trying to catch ducky & even incorporated Meg’s technique of using her front legs to funnel the duck into her mouth (sometimes with success). She then showed me that she could fetch too, but made sure I didn’t get it afterwoards by running around me at a rate of knotts tossing a look over her shoulder at me that said “catch me if you can”!

Raise a glass to Heidi & a wonderful veterinary team at Oakwood. Thank you.

R x

Dear Heidi. She now has cystitis. How can one endure so much going on with her system & yet remain so bright & vital, filled with love for each day & those she encounters on her journey through life.

I was looking back through her (many) photos & was struck by the changes in her eyes. In her early pictures she looks slightly vacant, or resigned to her fate. At this stage I felt that she may make it to Christmas. Then over Christmas she started to twinkle at us & you can see her whole face relaxing. Her facial expression is somewhat different in that she now clearly smiles, sometimes even grinning at us & you can see it both in her mouth but especially in her eyes. She’s one cheeky girl!

Thank you world for sending Heidi to us.

R x

We had a wonderful day trip at Easter to Pembrokeshire to drop off my old van – Greenacres Rescue are going to make good use of it & it looked as though it would be well loved too! It was just so amazing to be able to show them Heidi. Who’d have thought she’d get this far? Both Sarah & Mikey remarked on how bright her eyes are & how strong she is (they were more discreet about her weight but she was a little scrap when they last saw her!!).

A few days prior to this I’d been remembering her energy when she arrived here last November. I’d spent some time with her giving her healing & TTouch & then went over to Meg to give her some loving & her strength was such that I had to take a step back from her. Heidi had so little at the time that the contrast was quite overwhelming. After remembering this, I went to kiss Heidi on the top of her head & she really pushed her head up into my face, almost as though she was saying, “That was then, this is now. Look at how strong I am now.” Since this day she has found ways to demonstrate her new found strength to us – a cock of the head with a jink from side to side, running full pelt around the well or doing her little foot tapping dance she does when she’s excited. You cannot imagine the joy I feel when I see her & feel her now.

The raw diet is being eaten with gusto & we are now very gradually cutting back the portions. We are unable to change it to 1 meal a day as she has supplements needed for 3 so she’ll just get less. Poor girl has gone from being slightly less than bothered about food to being obsessed. Our 13 year old Dyson packed up last week & she has been doing a great job of picking through the fluff for us!

We went for a lovely walk in Pembs, up the valley from Nevern towards the Llwyngwair Manor. It was the longest walk she’d had for a while & loved paddling in the mud & sniffing the flowers. On the return we took Meg down to the river (she’s part duck) & the 2 of them had the best time ever! I have some lovely pictures in the new camera but have yet to work out how to transfer them. Heidi & Meg were really sparkling (pretty wet too) – I hope I can share them soon along with the video.

Heidi’s lump is still pretty large, but it doesn’t appear to be bothering her. I was giving it far more attention than was healthy so have decided to not bother with it unless it starts to bother Heidi. If the lump wasn’t there you really wouldn’t feel there was anything amiss – she’s lively, bonny & bright & just so full of life. Who could ask for more?

R & H x

http://www.mekuti.co.uk/books.htm

Isn’t hindsight wonderful? I’d noticed HRH spending more time than usual licking her bum from either last week or the week before. It suddenly occurred to me last night that she’s not been spayed… Heidi’s in season! Again, she’s taking it all in her stride & not being tarty with the cat as Meg is usually (then it’s the postman, but that’s another story).

I re-read my copy of “Natural Nutrition for Dogs & Cats” by Kymythy Schultze last night. One of its joys is that it can be read from cover to cover within an hour & it has so much useful & relevant information. There is one section I’d like to quote here which confirmed my thoughts on the CV247 diet:-

“In 1997, oncologists from Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine published diet recommendations to help combat … cancer. Their recommendations suggest excluding lactate- & glucose-containing fluids, because cancer cells thrive on sugars & create lactate as a waste product. Lactate poisons the animal by depleting its energy, thus weakening it. The study recommends limiting sugars & simple carbohydrates. The researchers concluded that a diet relatively high in fat & low in simple carbohydrates resulted in a longer survival time for cancer victims.”

“Of note is the fact that cancer cells cannot utilise fat, which is an excellent natural energy source for dogs & cats. They also found that omega-3 fatty acids reduce lactate levels & have the ability to reduce or eliminate metastatic disease. Since heat & hydrogenation destroy these essential fatty acids, raw foods are a good source of these vital nutrients.”

“Sugar comes in many forms. Many processed & even “natural” foods contain sugars. Grain & dairy products are biologically inappropriate sources of sugar for dogs & cats. The study also recommends feeding protein that is highly biodegradable. The body cannot utilize nutrients if it can’t easily break down the food within the body.”

from “Natural Nutrition for Dogs & Cats” by Kymythy Schultze (my dog nutrition bible!)

Kymythy recommends only feeding one meal a day as dogs are not designed to have food nearly constantly in the gut, but as HRH is on 3 meals we need to consider this change carefully. I changed her breakfast this morning from her usual mix of everything plus her supplements to a small amount of porridge (which will be phased out) to which I added a little of her meat ration & 1/2 the liver to cook slightly in the heat from the porridge. A finely whizzed carrot was mixed in with her supplements & my love was poured in with it. It is beginning to feel better, but still needs a fair amount of tweaking. I had to ask Chris to check she was eating it & was amazed when he said the bowl was empty & she was trying to remove the pattern!

This is completely by-the-by but life would be so much easier if both the dogs ate the same food. We tried to work out how many hens we’d need to keep if we started to “build” our own organic food as it is so expensive. When we got to 36 as a rolling number we realised it would be a little uncontrollable plus we’d be up to our necks in chicken pooh! We’ll find a way – after all we live in the midst of rural Wales surrounded by farms…

R & H x