CHRISTMAS
COMES EARLY FOR ECCLES AND GUNNER
Tuesday,
November 6th saw the arrival of our
Christmas specials - I know still another
six weeks to go - but six weeks to some
of these cases can mean the difference
between life and death.
We
are thrilled to say that Eccles has
bucked up no end but Gunner is a bit of a
poor old bloke having lived all his life
in a shed which we were told you wouldn't
even put your lawn mower in. His
back and neck are very bad and he has no
muscle at all on his rear end and is very
wobbly. We have put him straight
onto Rimadil an anti inflamatory pain
killer and I think today he seems a bit
straighter. He is very timid and
this new life must seem unreal to
him. All his life in a shed and
paddock. He is a very old 10, my 12
and 14 1/2 year olds look younger.
He is going to be xrayed to see what we
are dealing with. He also has a
tumour in his testicle, unfortunately
neither of them were neutered and are
booked in today. Hopefully
with the help of pain killers and lots of
TLC they will see their days out,
always warm and never hungry.
We
will keep you updated on these boys'
progress.
 
Eccles and
Paris making themselves
comfortable on our bed and Kentee
and Gunner getting themselves
better acquainted!
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Unfortunately
these celebrations are marred by the non
arrival of Sparky who was to be our third
Christmas special going to share his life
with Alison, John and the gang. We
asked the vet in the U.K. to check these
dogs were fit to travel. Upon
examination it was discovered that Sparky
had kidney failure and arthritis was
racking his body - he was 12 and there
was no alternative than to put him to
sleep straight away. The only plus
to this is the fact that this poor little
mite didn't have to die suffering in a
cold kennel with no-one bothering about
him.
Rest
In Peace Sparky, your suffering is no
more.
 
ECCLES
THE FRAUD
Well
Eccles has been here for six weeks now
and has settled in remarkably quickly. He
has adapted to his new life so much so
that nothing less than the sofa or our
bed will do to lay his weary head!!! His
skin condition is nearly a thing of the
past and castration – hey he didn’t
even miss them.
For
those of you old enough to remember that
Hollies hit song back in the 60’s
namely Jennifer Eccles, well Eccles is
now quite often referred to as Jennifer
– this is nothing to do with the
castration!!!! He is very much a people’s
dog and adores Malcolm in fact up until
about a week ago he was very much Mal’s
shadow but as his confidence has grown he
will now allow him out of his sight. He
enjoys his walks and has already become a
firm favourite with our sponsors, gaining
two sponsor mums already. He eats up well
and seems very content.
We
will update you on his progress
periodically throughout the year.
GUNNER
A SADDER STORY
Our
poor Gunner, unlike Eccles, his life or
lack of life has left this dog in a very
poor state. Like his travelling partner
Eccles he was to be castrated, teeth done
etc but when Peter our vet met him he
knew he was far too poorly for any of
this. His arthritis is so bad in his back
that an anaesthetic could leave him worse
than he is now, even lead to paralysis. A
blood test also revealed that his kidneys
are not very good and he has a
respiratory infection. The tumour in his
testicle with be monitored monthly and if
it becomes too enlarged then we will have
to take a risk and knock him out to
remove it. These are health problems
which we are keeping under control by
means of modern day drugs and he does
seem a lot more pain free since they all
kicked in and he does enjoy the fact that
his pills are wrapped in the finest beef
to make them more palatable, in fact the
clever old boy knows if he spits them out
he gets even more beef.
What
we cannot help with medication is the
sheer fear he has of everyday life.
Having spent his life is a cold wet shed
with just a bit of paddock to go out in
only probably even seeing a couple of
people and the occasional greyhound
– we find such a sadness in the face
of this. dog. His expression is vacant
and his eyes tell a story of total
deprivation of life. The fact that he
never even raced means that he has never
been anywhere but in this shed area and
indeed has never known warmth or
affection. Even after six weeks with us
is we approach him too quickly he will
run away and if he meets anyone whilst
out he just backs off and shakes. When
people come round he finds sanctuary out
in the back garden.
His
heath conditions have been manifested
purely due to neglect you cannot even
blame his arthritic body on to a racing
career – it would have been kinder
to let this dog go than to subject him to
a living hell. We cannot imagine what
goes on in his little head now all we
know is that we love him dearly and will
care for him and keep him warm and as
pain free as it possible for whatever
time he has left.
He
loves his little walks and he now gives a
little waggy tail when we come back from
somewhere, not always but this is
progress – he has also played with a
toy and rolled on his back – he
doesn’t always do it but the joy we
feel when he does is the reason that Mal,
Alison and myself do what we do.
Progress
reports to follow.
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