Tuesday 3 April 2018

Dixie Dog - eleven weeks on.

lying on her cushion
We have now had Dixie for eleven weeks today, and it has been a right roller coaster ride for her.


She came into heat with in a few days of us getting her, and this has added a few issues into her settling in period. We have not really had her long enough to know what is normal for her but we have had some huge improvements.

She is no more than happy to go to people when out of the house, sometimes too happy and keen but loves the attention from people now, when we got her she would not go near any strangers and would back away warily.


she loves to snuggle


She is still more than happy to meet and greet other dogs but as of yet does not play with other dogs.













her stitches

We have had her at the vets a few times as she up until now has been a really bad eater and no matter what we were putting in front of her she was eating less than a 1/6th of a tin of meat in a day and will not touch biscuits at all. Even when the vet tried feeding her cold meat she was not interested. We did worry a bit as she had a bit of a cough along with the lack of appetite and that was how Lilly's cancer started. The vet diagnosed a bit of swelling in her top gums and thought this was not helping so we agreed to have her teeth cleaned to prevent any issues this might create in the future. As this required a general anaesthetic our vet suggested we spay her at the same time, save the risk of two separate GA's. She did not come out of the anaesthetic to well, vomited and had to be given fluids before we were allowed her home. Was not keen to stand or walk at all. The vet did offer to keep her overnight but he thought she would recover better at home. Hubby sat down the stairs with her all night as she took herself off to her bed and did not want to move. Cant really blame her having had major surgery.  She chewed out three of her stitches and had the remaining stitch taken out and her wound checked on Monday 26th, eleven days after her operation. All is well and it has healed beautifully.






trying to hide



We took her back to the vet on Wednesday 21st with a list of symptoms including lethargy, she seemed disinterested in everything around her, her appetite was non existent, she was very restless and would not settle at all. If we took her put for a walk then she would just plod along at our heels showing no interest in her surroundings at all. She almost seemed depressed.








Her bed was being dug at and anything she could find to pick up, hair brushes, inhalers, carrots, soft toys, socks, etc she takes them away and hides them. We were finding all sorts under our pillows or under the sewing table, in amongst the teddies on the stairs and she was taking dog treats and biscuits and stashing them as well. We could not help but notice she was spending a lot of time digging at her bed, trying to make it "right" but never really succeeding. The vet look at the list of and expressed fluid from her teats and told us he thought she was having a phantom pregnancy at that the hormones would pass.





luggy scratches from Bob


Another massive improvement we have seen is her behaviour when other people come into the house. Bob was in on Wednesday  and she did give a few barks when he came into the house, but she very quickly settled down. She happily sat next to him on the couch and gave a few low growls but was more than happy for him to scratch her ears and stroke her.











half on the couch half on the window sill 



She also loves to lie half on the back of the couch and half on the windowsill watching the world go by. When we first got her she barked and barked at people going by but now she does the odd low growl but nothing more.












Last week when we had her out for a walk in Irvine is the first time we have seen her running off and playing. Really enjoying her walk and getting more out of it than just a plod round where ever we take her.





She is even starting to play in the house. Will chase a ball and take it back to her bed this week. Interacts really well in playing mode with either DH or myself, just not the two of us together, that still seems to intimidate her.

1 comment:

  1. Poor little baby! So sorry to hear that she felt so poorly, wish her the best!

    ReplyDelete

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