Sun, grass and sores

Hilda's latest favourite past time is to rub herself upside down on the short brown grass until she's bleeding! She's been doing his now for about 3 weeks and is a series of healed, creamed and bleeding sores all around her neck and shoulders. This time of year often sees an increase in skin problems, some of it's allergies to the grass, some of it is scratching from being so hot and if your dog only ever suffers problems in the Summer it can usually be kept under control by treating each sore spot as it arises. I do know that many people give anti histamines during the Summer but unless your dog is really suffering I do worry about that. Bathe each sore spot with salt water, pat dry and then apply sudocrem - if you see the area has healed or is starting to heal after 48 hours than this will work for your dog, if the areas start to spread and you find that you can pull chunks of fur out like you were plucking a chicken then a short course of anti biotics may help as this is a sign that the area has become infected. I know that many vets love to prescribe steroids for skin problems and I can't stress enough that this really should be a last case resort because long term use of steroids can lead to other problems, one of the dogs we recently rehomed has just suffered a bout of pancreaitis which the vet has presumed is due to the long term use of steroids.

Food can be a great contributor to skin problems, anything with a lot of colouring or a protein level of more than 24% is a definite no for dogs with sensitive skin, feed something along the lines of James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange or Burns as these foods tend to have less fillers (ie: crap off the abatoire floor), for some dogs feeding a fish based food such as James Wellbeloved White fish and rice or Burns Fish and Potato is helpful, but be wary of allergy test - they will simply tell you your dog is allergic to pollen and dust mites - neither of which you can do anything about and are usually a total waste of time, effort and money.

Malaseb is another vet fave, I just noticed that's being sold at £20 a bottle!!!! The big problem I have with baths as a treatment for skin is the simple fact that bathing dries the skin, makes it flaky which makes it itchy - try not to over bath your dog it can often prove to be counter productive and for what it's worth Medichems Sporal D shampoo (available from http://www.reggies-den.co.uk/) is just as good, if not better.

I think one of the main issues is the fact that vets not only feel the need to make money out of every dog that walks through the door (especially the pedigrees) but also that they have to be seen to be doing something. You really don't always need the pills and potions they prescribe, salt water, sudocrem and decent diet is often all you need to get you through the summer and an anti histamine reserved for really bad days or for dogs with a genuine allergy to pollen.

Earth, here I come ... with a thump

Monday morning, my pet Bristolian, as she became fondly known, is back in Bristol, the alarm sounded again this morning and there's dogs to feed and shite to clear ... my 48 hour holiday is officially over!!! To be fair I had 12 hours more than last year as I stayed over night this year, thanks so much to Peter and Bev and Dawn who made that possible, especially Peter who's recovering from surgery and probably could have done without my problems this weekend! Dizzy coped very well on his own and did tell me that Jason was an absolute star - thanks to them too for allowing me to disappear for a couple of days, it was just what the doctor ordered.

It is strange though being back in surroundings that were normal for you when you were 17 but not quite so normal aged 43, when someone asks if you've seen their husband/boyfriend/friend and they are described as fat, bald and tattooed - it narrows it down to most of the men on the site as most of the people there are in their 40s now.

We spent Saturday catching up with old friends, Ali from our scooter club was having her hen do at Camber and they looked like they were having a fantastic time, complete with cardboard Elvis. We spent most of the evening in the Soul room and even entered the dancing competition, we didn't win (or come anywhere near winning) but i did get further than Debbie, dressing up as we would have done all those years ago - complete with false eyelashes was the funniest thing I've done in a long time, our chalet was stroon with make up and clothes just as it would have been back in 1982 when were there for the first time on holiday with our parents. Camber Sands formed a very special friendship and all these years later we are still good friends, Godmothers to each others eldest daughters and despite the miles between us have remained increadibly good friends over the years. Our annual pilgrimage to Camber Sands scooter rally looks like it's going to be a regular event so that leave 364 days until my next day off.

Midhurst 2 Bristol 0

The Bristolian landed safely and my living room now resembles a teenagers bedroom! I've just popped into the office whilst she's in the shower (she'll be in there for hours) to get things up todate before we head off to Camber Sands tomorrow. Thanks to everyone that sent Mabel get well wishes, she has proved to be a real mystery - despite still being increadibly pale, all her blood tests have come back normal. She has eaten today though and seems a lot perkier so we have absolutely no idea what is wrong with her, time will tell no doubt, but for today she's fine and currently fast asleep on the sofa bed making the most of it being empty no doubt.

Good news and Bad News all in the space of an hour

Today sees the launch of the annual calendar competition. You have 20 days to get your photos in so pop yourself along to the competition web site and get snapping!

Do you remember Claire? Here's a little reminder

Well I had a little visiter this morning .... Guess who this is ...

Can you beleive it's the same dog????????????? Sadly the visit was breif as I was on my way out to the vet with Mabel who's not been very well, nothing I can put my finger on but she's lost a lot of weight recently and her appetite over the past few days has been zero. Her colour is appaulling and she's taken to hiding in the corner so they've taken some bloods and the vet has warned me to be prepared for the worst, keep your fingers crossed but she is 9½ - of course I'll keep you posted.

So back to work as I eagerly await the arrival of the whirlwind that is called Debbie.

Alls good in the Bulldog Hood

Depite it being another roasting hot day, I did actually manage to spend the entire day where I should be. No word from my beloved daughter as to the outcome of yesterdays debarcle and I'm sure she won't appreciate the fact that I had to work late last night and start extra early this morning to make up the time spent yesterday trying to sort out her love life. I've actually got a weekend away coming up though which I'm starting to get quite excited about. If you remember the fun my friend Debbie and I had at Camber Sands scooter rally last year, well we're doing it again and this time I get to stay out overnight. Debbie lands on me tomorrow afternoon and she's already warned me that she has 10 pairs of shoes in her suitcase - my goodness, I don't even OWN 10 pairs of shoes. It means, however, that I miss the breed council meeting - the first time in three years, do you think I'll be in trouble?

can I come out now?

Excuse the blank post, I was trying to be clever and write this post via the blackberry but it didn't work LOL. The intention for today was to get the adoption packs out and up to date but my daughters "domestic" issue came to head this morning so I was taken out the office for the rest of the day. I've sat in the kitchen working through the paperwork for the past few hours trying to make up for lost time but I really need to go to bed now and abandon the paperwork and trade it in for some sleep - night all

The Wicked Witch of the West is Meeeeelllllllllltttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg

The office thermometer is registering 35 degrees! It's cooler outside than it is in here and it's the usual Monday morning mayhem. It's not uncommon for me to continue to process orders whilst talking on the phone, but a call this morning stopped me dead in my tracks - someones bulldog died suddenly on Saturday and she just didn't know how to cope, we offer bereavement counselling because we understand what it's like when everyone around you is trying to convince you it was "just a dog". The sudden death wasn't even anything to do with the heat, he was just sick but the poor little mite choked, you can imagine how much they are beating themselves up - what if we'd done this, what if we'd done that but at the end of the day when it's time it's time. The best piece of advice I was ever given is one that I regularly pass on - and that is to remember that there was entire lifetime ahead of that last awful day - try not to dwell on the end but celebrate the life, remember all the things that made you laugh - there's plenty of them and I bet that every now and again, you'll hear the tippy tap of the toe nails on the laminate or catch a glimpse of him sneaking onto the sofa out the corner of your eye - they never really leave us but it is so so hard to let go and accept what happened without the awful need to put the clock back just to that moment and try and do things differently. Just for those few minutes it didn't matter how uncomfortable I was as I really do feel like I'm melting and sometimes I wonder how I manage to come off the phone and carry on processing the orders like it never happened knowing that they put the phone down and the awful pain is still there. Hug your bulldog ....