Tag Archives: Patterdale terrier

Frozen Fingers

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Not great photos today. It was too bloomin’ cold and my fingers felt like they had frozen off.  I am currently sitting at my desk playing soothing music while I thaw out – my feet are on a hot water bottle and I have one on my lap.

Anyway, this morning produced a lovely surprise – everyone was together.  Even Madge is coming out of her shell, which is something I never thought I would see.

Gussie is rather taken with Maggie – he is ginormous now, possibly the biggest of all the sheep.  Quite the heffasheep.

Maggie spends a lot of her time in the hill field with Gussie and Dahlia which is fine – as long as they turn up for breakfast so I know they are alright and not lying somewhere upside down in the 30 acre field.

And Lambie remains, well just Lambie really.

We had a sprinkling of snow this morning with a few snow/hail showers all day.

In the afternoon I went into my shed to finish a sheep while watching a Hallmark Christmas film (my determination to find some Christmas spirit and inspiration).  Pepper was having a non-eating day and quickly learned that, if she made sick noises by the door, I would let her outside and then, free at last, she could run off hunting, probably looking for more carrion to eat.  Wee turd.  I am not pleased with her one bit.

Doing the afternoon chores afterwards (I now start at 3pm as it is dark by 4), I fed the ducks/hens, put them to bed and then poo-picked the Shetland ponies’ track.  Newt nearly had the wheelbarrow over (I would’ve happily throttled him if he’d succeeded) and I honestly think my fingers have never been so cold.  I am going to find my freezer-food gloves for tomorrow. I never want to feel like that again. I felt sick with the pain.  Once finished, I went to bed to huddle and warm up.  Monster came to annoy while Ted whined on about “what time is tea?”  Pepper sensibly stayed away.

Oh yes, Pepper said she could only eat cat food for tea. Give me strength.

Only Problems

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I am trying to feed up Pepper and get some weight on her.

Due to her one day on/one day off meal regime, Pepper is losing weight and I don’t like that.  The problem is that she is always on the look out for a delicious-to-her rotting corpses and then she gets a tummy-ache and won’t eat for 24 hours while doing room-clearing farts.  Prepared for this regular outcome, I dose up with pre/pro biotics, kaolin (if required) and slippery elm to try and get her tummy working again. So I have decided to double Pepper’s food on the days she does eat, so she is not missing out.  I am also adding salmon oil for weight gain.  I can’t think of anything else to do that would help her.  All suggestions welcome.

The others are disgusted with Pepper and can only see total injustice in this set up.

Haakon is going along but I would not say anything is better.  He spent this morning lying down in the sunshine and I hope he got a good deep sleep.

I have deliberated to just about anyone who will listen whether to bring him inside or around the house but I have to consider the following:

The Pros:
He would be inside, warm and dry.

Cons:
He would be unhappy and stressed = potential colic.
He would need a stable companion.
Haakon doesn’t like hay much and struggles (old age/teeth) eating it and I really want to keep him eating.  He gets two feeds from me each day even in his field just to keep all things going along.
He is doing ok at the moment pottering where he feels he can, eating and drinking. I leave a strategically placed bucket of water for him close by.  I also scatter little carrots around his field so he can find nice surprises.  He only goes as far as feels he wants to.
His friends are close by and join him during the day.
If it gets colder then he can wear a heavier rug.

As it is going to rain overnight, I put a light rainsheet on.

And he is such a helpful old thing.

To town tomorrow to get Farriers Formula and biotin for feet and maybe some nummy food too.

Physiotherapy

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I chucked the old horses and ponies back out into their old field.  They were not impressed.

But, as I told them, you don’t need all that grass for the foreseeable.  I am saving it for the winter storms as it is the ideal field for exactly that purpose.

That went down like a lead balloon.

But I left them all mooching around the gate looking whistfully back at their ex-field full of grass, while surveying the shorter grass around them.

Tough.  Last seen, they were miles away just vanishing over the horizon so they must be finding something to eat.

And then Uwe Abendroth from Central Equine Physiotherapy paid us a visit.  He is our local visiting animal physiotherapist from Stirling.  We’ve used him a few times on the horses in previous years.

This time it was Monster and Pepper’s turn.  Monster has become increasingly stiff in his gait (front legs) which is probably old age but it couldn’t hurt him to have some help.  As Monster was not very cooperative and kept trying to leave, Uwe put the Pulse Electromagnetic Therapy mat (PEMF) under the bed while I lightly scattered some catnip to keep Monster in place so he could get the full benefit of his treatment.  It seemed to work.

And then it was Pepper’s turn.  She was very taken with Uwe.  Her second best friend as she loves our farrier, Stephen, most.

What a good girl Pepper was having ultrasound therapy on her poorly right front shoulder that has been bothering her for a while now.  The one that makes her three legged at times.

 

And then I asked Pepper to sit in the bed, newly vacated by Monster and she had some magical Pulse Electromagnetic Therapy as well.

Uwe could definitely feel something was going on with Pepper’s shoulder and hopefully these treatments will help her and she won’t be travelling on three legs and I will stop worrying. That would be nice.

Here are Uwe’s details – I would highly recommend.

Uwe Abendroth details