poor Sing

For the first time today, in nearly 2 years of struggling to get poor Sing to walk normal; I finally felt relief that he is now properly look after by a reasonably good vet. And yes, I am moving away from my vet after 9 years to a better Veterinary. Although the distance to travel is further and not so easy to get to but I had enough with my vet, I cannot bare to take any of my dogs to him anymore!

Great thanks to Ann who highly recommend her vet to me. I took Sing to see the new vet and she has confirmed what Colin and I thought it was ...

For those who do not know what happened, here is the summary ...

It all happened in October 2009, the Thursday night before Shrewsbury Agility Show weekend. I was playing ball with Sing in the lounge that night while eating my dinner (our usual routine), he suddenly yelp in pain. I was shocked. He is a very tough boy, nothing could get him to scream unless he is extremely in pain, so I was concern. That night, he was unable to walk up the stairs or jump up onto the settee and our bed. There were no vet appointment on Friday and he was looking ok, so I carried on what I've already planned. To drive up to Shrewsbury on Friday night to stay in the Travel Lodge with the dogs. Sing didn't compete that weekend of course. I took him to see my vet on Monday. He was prescribed with pain killer. That time, the vet and I thought he must somehow strain his shoulder. We then have him look by a physio Ray Tent at a show, he did the flicking treatment and told me that he can carry on working after 5 days. Of course, I did. I did Dash 'n' Splash with him 5 days later. It was a 3-day event, on the last day, he slipped on the platform and I immediately see that he is not right and stop there and then. We were back to the vet and more physio ... it has been on and off for a few months and everyone thought it's his shoulder/joint problem. Then, in April 2010, I realised his paw beginning to change shape. I alert my vet, he said there is nothing to worry about, because he is in pain, so he tried to compensate the way he is walking, so he is developing a funny walking pattern and created an extra pad. I am no professional and I am not happy with the explanation BUT what can I do? I keep a close eye on that paw and I tried to massage the paw, hopefully it won't get spread out too much. Then in May 2010, Colin and I noticed he licks his paw more than ever and we sometimes see puss coming out through the pad. I told the vet, he gave him anti-biotic for that. He was on anti-biotic for a long time but there is no improvement on the paw. Sing is limping most of the time, surely there is something wrong with the paw. After a few months on anti-bioctic, the vet gave me a tube of Fuciderm Gel, it sounded like I will apply the gel on him whenever it is sore and basically is almost everyday. Anyway, it's been on going until we went to Scotland on holiday. Sing had to rush to the emergency vet because his paw was very poorly. I had a word with the vet and he said there is nothing wrong on Sing's shoulder/joint, it is the paw and he believe that there is a foreign object (grass seed highly possible) has been living in the pad for months or even a year. This is why he is constantly infected. He suggested I took him to my vet to have him x-ray and operated on it. I have been discussed this with Colin and both of us agreed that we will find another vet to look at Sing's paw instead of going back to my vet which we think he will just gave him more anti-biotic. Of course, I lost my mum and there were a lot of other sad things going on until just now.

Anyway, I am very happy to see a good vet with good knowledge and Sing will be treated and well look after by her. He is schedule to go in on Friday morning to have an x-ray then operation to get the pad sorted. After that, he will need another operation on the "extra pad", but we are doing one at a time. I am so happy that he gets treated properly and correctly and hopefully no more limp from my special boy.

 this is his paw today

Over The Bridge

It has been very sad over here in the last few weeks. Mum is now reunited with my dad and my brother over the Rainbow Bridge. She has been poorly for quite sometimes, every since I lost my beloved brother nearly three years ago. She wasn't coping. Eventhough she was living with us after my brother passed away but she wasn't happy, so we have to send her back to where she really belongs. She then suffered a few strokes and survived until early this year; she had 3-5 strokes within 2 months and left her paralysed. I visited her in March and she was stable then. Her condition was up and down, I knew deeply that she wasn't happy to be alive suffering from losing her beloved son. It was heartbreaking to see her suffering physically and mostly, mentally. I couldn't get her to talk to me but she will answer to my eldest nephew who looks just like my brother. We sometimes think that she must have mistaken Boy as Patrick. 

I was on the phone to my cousin two days before she passed away. None of us were expecting to loose her that soon. I was awake by a phone call from my nephew back home to break me the saddest news. Everything was a blur since. 

The thing that hit me most is to realise that she passed way the same day as my dad, both in Lunar Calendar and English calendar but 30 years apart. The chance of clashing in both Lunar Calendar and English Calendar is so slim and it happened! The journey to Malaysia was getting all of a rush and blur. 

When I returned to UK, I was violently sick for a few days. I know it's the stressed. I am nobody's child! 

I wasn't interested in Agility; walking the dogs has become a "duty" instead of something I really enjoy to be with the dogs. The dogs didn't understand the change in me, they all tried to be closed to me and demanding play but I just felt frustrated. Last week, I gradually feel a little better and the dogs were so happy to have the old mummy back. 

I am slowly recover and regain my energy. Hopefully we will back to routine very soon. 

Thanks to all my friends and family who email/sending cards/flowers. I really appreciate your support in this difficult time. 

 the most devoting mum in the world, sadly missed.

passed way on 10th September 2011

dad passed away on 10th September 1981. He was a wonderful father who I aodred.

 my beloved brother who lost his battle with liver cancer on 10th December 2008. 

He was the BEST man in the world!

R.I.P mum, dad & brother

you are sadly missed 

xxx

Sonic - 6 months already!

This blog has been neglected .. it has been very stressful and sad for the last couple of weeks, this is one of the reason that I haven't finish posting our Scottish holiday and the Agility news.

Sonic turned 6 months on Monday, he is not an easy puppy but we all love him to bits. He loves to play and work, he does not do cuddles. He always carry a toy around and demanding me to play. If I ignore him, he will come and tell me off; first, he will gently using his nose to poke me, if I still ignore him, he will pull my trouser, if I still ignore him, hmmm ... he will "bite" me! He did get his way though!

I am very happy with how he progresses, we do a little bit here and there, mainly some foundation work towards agility. He is a fast learner just like his daddy. I started to put some jumps in the garden with poles on the ground this week. I think its a bout time I strengthen his "working ahead/work away" from me. It didn't take me any effort to get him to work away from me. I set up four jumps in a straightline and he is happily chase after his tennis ball, he even do the run back (just like the Flyball). After two days of running up and down the 4 jumps, he tried very hard to take every jumps. If Agility didn't work out for us, I guess we can do Flyball. We are beginning to introduce "dead" toy at the end of the 4th jump and he is doing well so far.

I also set up a jump-tunnel-jump sequence with him and he absolutely love it. Our major problem now is the WAIT! He has no patient, just like me. He is so excited all the time when he knew something is going to happen. He just can't content himself, he just wanted to go go go all the time. We are working hard on that!

Such a happy boy!

Bonnie Scotland - Day Out ... finding Nessie

We had a day-out to the most famous and beautiful Loch Ness. The scenery around Loch Ness is just plain beautiful. I don't think I will be able to explain that in words. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy all day, so photographs are not the best.

And, we determine to find Nessie ...

Colin is leading the pack ... through Urquhart Bay Wood

LOOK! What did the boys found!

Nessie Sizzle?

Nessie Sing?

 Nessie Sonic?

Miss Nessie?

 RUN!!!! Nessie is coming!!!!

Bonnie Scotland - Day Out ... Nairn

We had a few Day-Out when we were holidaying in Scotland ... our first Day-Out was to Nairn. Nairn is about 18 miles from Burghead, where we camp. Compare to Burghead, Nairn is a big town. We didn't wonder very far, we took the dogs down to the beach and we don't fancy tie the dogs outside and walk into the museum or shops, so we will go to anywhere WITH the dogs or allow dogs.

 Nairn fishwife statue

 The KNIGHTs Shelties @ Nairn

 Sonic and Scara having fun on the beach

 handsome Saturn enjoys the cold breeze

 Sing and his shadow ...

 my leggy boy :)

Bonnie Scotland - hobble holiday ... Burghead

I desperately need another holiday! We've only been back from Scotland three weeks ago and I am stressed already! Not just that, I am agility-out! But I am an agility addict. What can I do?

I am missing my relaxing time in Scotland. That was one very peaceful and relaxing holiday. We were supposed to stay at Burghead for a week then move on to Ben Nevis but we were too lazy and fell in love with the tranquillity in Burghead and didn't want to move on. At the end, we spend two weeks at Burghead Beach Holiday Park.

We were so lucky to have a pitch so close to the forest. We were about 50 yards into the forest and down to the beach. We were like living in the heaven. The shelties love it and we love it. To be honest, I wish we could stay there forever. We even looked into a few static caravans but they are just too expensive that we cannot afford.

We spent most of our time walking in the forest (try not to get lost) and running on the beach. The shelties were absolutely mad. They love the sea a bit too much. Sonic and Sing always lead us to the beach the minute we let them go off the lead. For those who knows Sonic that does not like puddles, let alone sea; he now is another great swimmer just like his daddy Sing. He loved the chase the seagulls and oyster catchers ...

We had so much fun playing frisbee on the beach every evening ... when the tie is high in the afternoon, all of them apart from Seagull when swimming in the sea.

Why hobble holiday? Well, Colin's sore toe didn't get better (his toe is still very sore at the time of posting this), he can't walk so he has to hobble along. For a change, I am leading the pack at this holiday and have him tag along slowly with Seagull ... he enjoyed his book, sunbathing on the beach and he caught a sea urchin!

to be continued ...