As some of you may be aware, the world news is terrifying me, so I thought I would try and read a sensible newspaper over breakfast to put things better into perspective.
My plans were duly thwarted.
I didn’t stand a chance really. I don’t know why I bothered.
Pepper has been “funny” as in funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha, all day. Her tummy rumbled and off she went to the garden.
I dragged her out for her walk (she wanted to stay near the house watching me do the dog walk with Ted) so I walked the track boundary and, while I was fixing fence wire, all the horses and ponies came up to talk and say they were hungry. I looked at their field and decided they could all be moved to better grazing.
With open gates, they followed me up the hill to the main exit. Then I put headcollars on Haakon and Iacs and told the rest to follow, which they all duly did with nobody going “off-piste”.
This is the nicest field now and it will hopefully do them all until the proper grass starts to come in.
I don’t think the old men (Haakon and Iacs) look that good – ie, a bit scrawny in the back end – so hopefully this was a wise move and, as the spring grass arrives, they will start putting more weight back on.
And so Pepper spent her afternoon shivering, making horrid noises and then a long sleep in front of my little shed fire, while I cried my way through “The Help” and made another sheep. When Pepper woke up, she said she wanted her tea now, so we are back to the beginning again. *** sigh *** I am none the wiser with this little dog and her tummy.
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Frances you are certainly not alone is feeling terrified by world news these day. I know I am, and hard not to let it overshadow all the good. I hope you can get to the bottom of Pepper’s troubles.
Poor Pepper. I once had a collie who turned out to be intolerant of anything with beef in it, which included most biscuits, manufactured pet food and treats.
Once I got him on a home prepped diet of offal, minced anything-other-than-beef, vegetables and homemade biscuits* he was absolutely fine.
* poor man’s hot water crust pastry, basically flour, boiling water & lard with a tablespoon of cod liver oil because he adored the taste. mixed up by hand wearing rubber gloves, pulled into little balls and baked. Sort of like “hard tack’ but for canines. And a lot cheaper than Bonio, Shapes and whatever else was available at the time.
The horses look really happy in the new field. I wonder what the heck is up with Pepper. However, Monster definitely was trying to do a really positive thing by not letting you read the news. I think ‘horrifying’ sums it up. If world news keeps this cycle up (and I can’t see how it’s going to change in the foreseeable future) you might have enough sheep made so every tourist exiting the various ships will have an adorable little woolen sheep to take back to wherever they are from. To realize that not everyone sees the value in nature, in its plants, its animals is mind boggling to me. Monster ,definitely, has the right idea. If he is so brilliant to cover the news, maybe he needs to be consulted over Pepper’s tummy.
Our fox terrier had similar problems to Pepper, tummy rumbling, sickness and generally miserable at times. Have a great vet who finally got to the bottom of it, with similar diagnosis to you, food intolerance which over time had caused a chronic gut inflammation, seen on gastroscopy . Treated by course of low dose steroids and then on strict diet , no treats, chews or anything as these could cause symptoms. Thankfully dog loves his food and we give probiotic as well, but it took about 3 months to get rid of the symptoms. So hopefully with time Pepper will get over it. Ps chicken is one of the most common allergens for dogs
What probiotics do you give.
Purina forte flora for dogs, really has made a difference once sachet daily sprinkled on food
Thank you. I will talk to my vet first (recommended)
Monster in the second photo has just the right attitude toward the news.