Geriatric Vestibular Disease

On 20th October 2012, HC noticed that Jack had an abnormal head tilt to the right. He seemed to suffer a loss of balance, and stumbled to his right frequently, much like a ‘drunken’ man.

The vet said Jack has a slight left ear infection, but ruled that out as the cause of his head tilt. He said that it is a common brain disease in older dogs, and it may or may not resolve on its own. There is also no medication for such disease.

HC is not overly anxious about Jack’s vestibular disease, as he shows no sign of discomfort and is eating well. He does not have the other symptoms of a vestibular disease such as jerky movements of the eye, vomiting or nausea. HC is hoping that his condition will heal on its own within the next few weeks. She does not like the idea of putting him on general anaesthetics unnecessarily to have a CT scan.

It has been 11 days since the onset of the head tilt, and Jack is doing better. He doesn’t stumble as often and the head tilt is less frequent. Let's hope he will recover fully from it.

We have a house guest for the next two weeks.

I-tam was adopted by HC's friend earlier this year. Read his story here.

His owners is going on a 2 weeks' Europe holiday and naturally asked HC's help to dogsit him during this period.

I-tam has always been infatuated with me since day one. He was so excited to be staying with us, and I don't see any sign of depression or anxiety over the fact that his owners are not around hahaha...

He stares at me the entire day! I can't stand it!

(HC : Joey barked and nipped at I-tam so many times, but I-tam seems oblivious to the fact that Joey dislikes him.

if you noticed, I-tam is wearing a belly band cos he marks around my house. He doesn't mark around his own house, so I think it is because of my dogs' scent that he marks here. Even though he is wearing a belly band, he has to be confined in the play pen when I am out, as he drinks my dogs' pee! weird dog haha)



Above pic is only PART of what the owners brought over. They brought two beds, drinking bowl/bottle, and loads of accessories like hair brush, toothbrush, deodoriser, shampoo, disinfectant etc. The ultimate item is a HAIR DRYER!
HC was worried and asked if the owners are planning to leave I-tam here for good! For my sanity, I hope he goes back after 2 weeks.

Since this is our house, we had to stake a claim on I-tam's bed!

Me and my loyal subject.

Below is a very reluctant pic from both of us. I was giving I-tam the evil eye, and I-tam was naturally worried. Immediately after the picture was taken, I-tam jumped out of the bed to let me have on my own.

He is allowed to use his own bed only when I decide to sit on own (pink) king's throne!

It's been two days of intense shadowing. I am counting the days till he goes home!

 

In the office

HC has been extremely busy at work; and I didn't get to play fetch in the park as often as I wished.(HC : Joey's idea of playing fetch at the park is to demand for a new squeaky ball EVEYTIME he steps into the park. It is really expensive to bring him there nowadays! So I have resorted to letting him play fetch near my place and luckily, he is satisfied with used balls there. He is also getting physically older, so a ten minute of fetch game is usually enough for him.

It is true that my recent work demands had increased, and my dogs didn't get as long walks as they would have liked. On a recent Sunday that I needed to go to office to work, I decided to bring them along - it's like an 'adventure' for them!.

Dogs have super memory. The last time I brought them to my office was 5-6 years ago. This time, when I opened the main entrance to my office level, Jack ran all the way down the hallway and went into the last room. I had to recall him back as my room is in the middle of the hallway. It was much later that I realised that my previous room was the last room that Jack went. Amazing that Jack can still remembered which room I used to occupy after so long)

We behaved very well in her office, and laid quietly on the floor while HC was busy at her computer.

A little photo before we leave.

This morning, instead of leaving us at home after our breakfast, she took out our collars and asked us to 'follow her'. She said that she's leaving for a little holiday, and we are off to Scuba's place for a few days.

Us and our bag of necessities (shampoo, treats, balls and chew toys). The food has already been delivered a couple of days before.

Not too happy about leaving HC.

HC said she hoped Jack will be better behaved this time. The last holiday we had, Jack refused to let Scuba's caregiver put a leash on him, refused to go out for walks, refused showers, refused to do anything he was asked. The only thing he accepts is food!

New Love and Birthday Celebrations

We were not posting much as my HC has a new love....

She is always using this thing, and weird sounds comes out of it, disrupting our beauty sleep. Sometimes she laughed at it hysterically :(



Luckily, we were able to ply her away from her love for an evening to celebrate Scuba's birthday.

Attending the party were these 9 dogs (some appointed human representatives instead) .. the GR in the middle - Herbie is up in heaven, but I am sure he was there spiritually begging for food.

Can you recognise Jack and me? I was the JRT wearing red collar, and Jack is the middle JRT with black collar and big tag.

The place that we celebrated belongs to Scuba's great grandfather. They have a huge garden, and I went crazy playing balls for more than 2 hours!

Auntie V (Scuba's mum) made a huge cake for Scuba. I think there were yam, cream cheese, lamb, potato and some other unknown stuff. It really taste yummy!



Birthday boy gets the first bite.

After the night of partying and feasting, I was dead tired by the time I get home. 

Two days later, on Scuba's actual birthday, we had a quieter celebration. Actually, it wasn't much of a celebration to us as the fruit tart you see in front is for human consumption! Grrrr....

Happy 8th Birthday, Scuba.

Happy 13th Anniversary!

Yesterday's was Jack's 13th Anniversary with HC. Read the story here on how Jack came into HC's life 13 years ago. Since HC does not know when is Jack's exact birthday, she decided that the anniversary date shall be his birthday.

When HC first adopted Jack, the vet said Jack should be about 2-3 years. So that makes him 15-16 years old!

Oh my... I am 11 years old now. We are all getting old :( but luckily still very healthy and active.

Anyway, HC came back yesterday holding a plastic bag of food. However, we didn't give get to see it properly as HC said it was for Jack to share with his friends later on!

I was resting on the comfy seat while watching HC get ready to bring us to Scuba's place for Jack's anniversary celebration.





When we reached Scuba's place, Scuba's and Helios' mum gave Jack a surprise - a cake.
So Jack had two cakes this year (probably to make up for his lack of anniversary celebration last year)

The one on the left was the cake complimentary from Scuba's & Helios' mum. Seems that they have a thing for cakes in blue :)

HC also bought meatballs and cheese tartlets.



Our human godsister was happily singing a birthday song for Jack and grinning as she thought the cake was for her too.

hahaha. We told her the cake was meant for dogs, but since it is human grade, she can eat alittle of it.





The 'birthday' boy gets to have the first bite.

Later at night, a contented and happy Jack snooze in his bed.



HC : I cannot believe it has been 13 years since I first adopted Jack! It was an initially tough few months having him as he was a stubborn, aggressive dog who has no qualms about biting if he's not happy with you. My pride does not allow me to rehome him elsewhere, and I took the rough road to tame him through discipline, training and then love. I am glad we made it through.

Jack still isn't comfortable with too close contact with the other humans and dogs, but he's good enough for me. He has always protected me if he sensed I was in any danger. He's a small but tough dog.

I wish him great health for many more years to come.

Introducing friends

Last Saturday, HC asked Itam (my new MS friend) and his owners to meet with Happy. I was really pleased at the thought of them meeting, for a very selfish reason.

You see, I have alot of admirers and Itam is one of them. He loves me soooo much that it irritates the hell out of me. He would tail me incessantly, even when I am busy playing fetch. Many a times, I got fed up and nipped him. He would stopped for like 5 minutes than continued to harrass me.

So I was hoping Happy and Itam would hit it off well, and leave me alone with my ball!

The two MS meeting each other for the first time. They were polite and sniffed each other a while. Unfortunately, there's about it! They didn't fall in love!

*The lighter fur is Happy and the darker, smaller dog is Itam



Happy was happier asking for treats.



and pats on the head.





(HC : There was a moment when Happy showed who his friends were, and treated Itam as a outsider. It happened when Joey yelled and nipped at Itam. Out of pain/shock, Itam screamed alittle. Happy, upon seeing this, went up to Itam with his body rigid and growled at Itam. It's as if Happy was saying "Leave my friend alone!". Luckily, I was beside them and said "HEY!!".. and that tense moment went away. )


An obligatory group photo.
(Did u see how Itam irritated me even when we were posing!!! Arrrgggghhhh)



After an hour, HC decided to go home and unfortunately she invited Itam's owners back to her place to have dinner!

(HC : Joey played in Happy's garden for an hour, yet he seemed to have so much energy that day. When we were packing to go home, he held on to his ball and jumped into the car. When we reached the car park, he brought the ball down on his own, carried it all the way, took the lift and finally reached our apartment... never once did he leave the ball out of his sight.)

After the human had dinner, I played tug and fetch with Itam's owner. Of course, that irritating Itam never left me alone.

Even when I was resting beside HC's friend, Itam had to sit close by.

And what was Jack up to the entire night? He stole Itam's favorite orange bone and brought it to his bed to chew.

It was a really fun but tiring day. I really don't mind playing so much again, except without Itam, ok??? please?

Happy....

Auntie SK is away for a trip, and asked HC to visit her dog - Happy once in a while to make sure everything is alright.

Auntie SK has a house-sitter to take care of Happy and the plants, but she is still worried as the house-sitter is not an experienced dog handler/owner.

So we went with HC to make sure the house-sitter didn't murdered/lost Happy while the owner is away :)

We went to Happy's garden to chill out.

First, Happy has to mark the garden stool as 'his'..


Impolite Jack marked over Happy's mark.



Luckily I had some manners and decided to mark another stool.

After much marking, I started playing fetch. Happy was trying to chase me initially but he was tired soon after.

After 10 mins in the warm weather, I almost fainted and HC made all of us sat on the bench to pose for pictures.

Close up of Happy sitting on HC's lap. He's probably thinking of his mummy and granny. (and of course the table scraps that the granny gives haha)

I hope to be able to visit Happy soon, as I love his garden!

New Doggy Friend

A couple of months ago, HC's friend mentioned that he is interested in adopting a dog, preferably young and either a cairn terrier or a schnauzer breed.

Coincidentally, HC happened to chance upon a facebook's posting about a young couple who are looking to give away their dog to a good home.

On the viewing day itself, Jack and I were invited to visit the adopters and the dog. This is because HC's friend had never had dogs, and the adopters were worried about his inexperiences. So HC's friend roped in us to help to 'convince' the adopters that we could help him (the inexperienced new owner). HC's friend kept mentioning me as the 'search dog' (although I am already retrenched LOL), and how well-behaved and trained we are.

I guess our manners and HC's friend sincerity moved the adopters because they agreed within an hour of viewing even though they have other people keen to view the dog.

The dog was named 'hitam' as he was almost black as a puppy. (Hitam in malay means black). He was renamed 'I-Tam' by HC's friend later.

According to the first owner, I-tam has only been taken for walks 2-3x in his life. (he's 1.5 years old). He was mainly taken care by the couple's elderly mum - who finds it a struggle to take care of a young dog.

At first, HC's friend was worried that as the dog was not properly socialised, there may be troubles ahead. But their fears were unfounded, as I-tam proved to be very obedient and easy going.

I am happy to say that I-tam now gets at least 2 long walks daily, and on weekends, he gets to visit new doggy friend - us.

Ok, we are not as excited as I-tam. As some of you may know, we don't play with other dogs easily, and Jack is extremely grouchy towards strange dogs.

Even after 3-4 visits, we still have not warmed up to him.

Here's the proof.







I was sitting on I-tam owner's lap, and giving the owner kisses but I-tam has to come in-between us. Jack didn't like I-tam too and we both ganged up against him.

After almost 2 hours of trying to get us to play with him, he failed miserably and went to sleep.



Even though I don't like I-tam, I am glad he found an owner who is willing to spend time on him and showered him to lots of love.

HC is now trying to convince her friend to switch I-tam to raw food.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

We started the year with good news!

HC sent Jack and I for a comprehensive blood test.

The test results came up with good readings on our liver, kidney, red blood cells, white blood cells etc.. and a physical check comes with no adnormality too.

HC intended to let Jack and I go for a dental scaling as well. But kind Dr. Chua said it is not necessarily as there is not much tartar to clean for Jack's teeth (considering that Jack is now 14-15 years - that is good dental news). As for me, only two of my back teeth requires scaling. But HC decided to go ahead and let me have the dental scaling done now as I am still in good health. She didn't want to wait a few more years as I am already 10 years old now.

(HC : Jack has very good teeth with very little tartar as he keeps it in good condition by constanting gnawing on raw bones and dental chews daily. As for Joey, he does not gnaw as often as Jack, but he does get his raw bones once a month. However, he lost his upper back teeth a while back and he doesn't use that side of his mouth to gnaw bones, hence the build up in tartar.)

At the end of a long day (9a.m. to 3 p.m) we went home happy and exhausted, except for HC who spent more than $600 on us. hahaha

We were so happy to be home that we started playing with each other (HC : they hardly play together in this manner. Usually they let each other do their own thing at home)

We also bought some CNY plants.

Jack has been sniffing this plant for a while. HC thinks he might want to try to eat them one day.

Here's a sleepy Jack wishing all pups good health always.

And me (Joey) wishing all humans lots of prosperity. Huat!

*wink*

Retrenched

The economy must be bad....

even a dog gets retrenched :(

HC received this email from Singapore's Civil Defence - Search Platoon Team, where I have been a volunteer search and rescue dog for 8 years 10 months.

"This email is to inform you that the Saturday Volunteer Training Programme will cease. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your tremendous support for the past months/years. "

I have been doing this since I was 18 months old, and I am at a loss on what to do with my life.... now I can totally understand how the humans feel when they get retrenched. Though I am worse off as I got no retrenchment benefits. The Singapore Government should reward me with a nice steak at least, right?





(HC : I have mixed feelings when I received this email. One, I have been postponing Joey's retirement as he still has the drive despite his advancing age (he's 10). In fact, I am secretly proud that his stamina surpasses alot of younger dogs and reluctant to retire him as it is an admission to myself that he is aging. When I received this email - it is like the case of a woman waiting to break off with her boyfriend but was dumped by him before she could do so. hahaha.
On a brighter note, I now have my alternate Saturdays free!)


We'll miss the training sessions :(

Home-made Treats

HC bought a new oven recently, and decided to dig out her old cookbook from "Three Dog Bakery".



After looking through all the recipes, she decided to pick out "Howl-O-Ween Tricking Treats" because she has most of the ingredients (i.e. pumpkin and flour) and it was near to Halloween then.



As she knows we are not fussy dogs, she decided to tweat the recipe and add in ingredients we love.. such as slice cheddar cheese...

She mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl. (HC was so lazy that she didn't even use a measuring cup for all the ingredients!)


The end product does not even remotely resembles the pic on the recipe book - because she was too lazy to roll the dough!



But it tasted good nevertheless. (The uneven burnt stuff on the top are slice cheddar cheese).

She also purchased some duck liver recently and decided to dry it for us.





After a day of drying... this is the end product.

We had to wait for her command before eating the treats.

See how Jack's body was tilted away from me? He was worried that I might bite his head off. LOL

Remembering Willy

A few days ago, HC told us sadly that Willy has gone to 'the other side' - a place where we would like to believe is a better place than earth. It's a place where demise dogs would be free from pain and suffering, and where they would be waiting patiently for their owners to join them later.

Willy lived a miserable lonely existence in the first 12 years of his life. However in his last 3 years, his life was filled with love and care from his adopted family. If Willy could talk - he would have said to his adopted family - "thank you for your love and care, till we meet again."

The Revenge of the Clothes Peg

Jack has been acting weird since last Thursday ..

He looked scared (tail down, shivering), and hid underneath tables, bed, toilets. Even when there were visitors to the home, he used less than 50% of his usual barking energy and wasn't interested in the doggie cookies (That's a big deal for greedy dogs like us).

Miserable looking


When we visited Scuba, he slept next to Scuba which was very unusual as Jack does not like to have bodily contact with any dog.

He doesn't even move from the bed when HC was leaving Scuba's place.


Our human god-sister thought it was fun to join in.

Sherylyn pretending to sleep.




Remember the previous post when I said we secretly sleep on the leather sofa when HC is not at home?
Well, Jack doesn't care about respecting HC anymore and jumped on the leather sofa when HC was home. Of course he received stern warning from HC.

(HC : as much as I wanted Jack to be comfortable since he is ill, I decided to chase him away from the sofa as I believe in being consistent with my dogs)


After 3 days of seeing Jack in a miserable state, HC made an appointment with the vet on Sunday.

Before visiting the vet, HC did a quick body check on Jack - he seems to be ok in all parts of his body, except when HC tried to pry his mouth open.

Then, HC did some investigative work at home and remembered she threw away a broken clothes peg on the table.

It was then she remembered that on Thursday, our part-time cleaner came to do some household chores. The cleaner must have dropped the clothes peg on the floor, and Jack chewed it. (HC : Jack had destroyed a few clothes peg before this).

However, this particular clothes peg that HC bought is more 'springy' and HC suspected that it must have sprung hard against Jack's mouth while he was chewing it, and hurt his mouth badly.

HC talked about her suspicious with the vet, and the vet thought that it is highly possible as well.
Due to Jack's age, they decided not to put him on sedation to check the extent of his injuries. Instead strong painkillers and inflammation pills were prescribed, and HC will see if Jack starts eating hard treats and allow HC to pry open his mouth. If he does that, it means that his injury had healed.

However, the irony is that upon returning home from the vet, Jack seems to be his usual self - walking around HC to beg for treats - even BEFORE any medication was given to him!!!!

Latest updates : Jack IS DEFINITELY back! He barked very very loudly when HC came home last night and HC joked that she should not sent him to the vet to earn a few more days of peace... HAHAHA

After Jack's consultation with the vet, I thought we could go home but HC said that since we're here, might as well get my paws checked.

I had been limping since Sat, and HC found my rear left paw swollen and there is a black growth in-between my toes.

HC applied calendula oil on my hurt paw, and I seemed to be doing better and doesn't limp as much.

The yellowed paw is due to the calendula oil applied.


After applying calendula oil, I was told to stay at this position for 2 mins !!!


Anyway, the vet took a look at my paw, did a body check and found my left rear lymph nodes slightly swollen and painted 2 scenarios:

1. An inflammation - antibiotics will be prescribed for 2 weeks. Sometimes, inflammation may cause lymph nodes to be slightly swollen.

or it could be

2. A tumor. The vet said that if the swelling and growth did not improve after 2 weeks of antibiotics, then she may have to remove the growth to check for tumor. One of my toes may have to be removed as well!

Scenario 2 sounds bad. Losing a toe may affect my balance, and I may have to quit my Saturday job as a Search and Rescue Volunteer!

My paws are crossed that I won't have to remove my toe!