This gallery contains 18 photos.
We were warned for the best part of a week, it was from Russia and it was going to hit Saturday night. Road gritters started gritting the roads mid week and Heathrow cancelled one third of their flights in advance. … Continue reading
The past week has seen two celebrations at Aspley Guise. Gill had a birthday and, quite rightly, became queen for a day, and dear old Daisy the dog had a birthday – her 15th.
Gill’s birthday involved champagne, a fantastic meal out at The Birch restaurant, presents from all over the world and a good old-fashioned hangover the next day.
Daisy’s birthday involved a cake with candles, doggie treats, presents from all the doggie shops we know of and a hangover the next day due to a late night when the whole team were visiting friends in Ispwich.
Daisy received a new winter coat from Jean and I which, unlike her current one, doesn’t need to removed by it pulling over her head (she bites anyone who tries to take off her current coat) and a new basket for her to sleep in from Gill, Andre, Josh and Jordan.
In dog years Daisy is, depending on the formula used, either 90 and 105. Not a bad effort for an old lady and she continues to battle on despite her heart condition, poor vision and lack of hearing. The heart specialist in Italy described her as “il cane di miracolo” and she continues to defy the odds and lead a happy and relatively healthy life. The difference between now and a couple of years ago is that her pace of life is much slower.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The girls usually have a haircut every 6 to 8 weeks. The last time they were groomed was in Siena at the end of October – 10 weeks ago. Jean had given them the occasional trim along the way but they were pretty shaggy so their first groom in the UK was quite extreme. Poppie survived relatively unscathed but poor old Daisy ended up with the Bichon equivalent of a number 1.
The only redeeming feature is that her coat will grow back – and in an English winter quite quickly we hope.
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In every trip there is a point where you just need to slow down. For these two kiwis it was after a few days of driving and nights of staying in hotels, packing and unpacking the car, shuffling dogs and … Continue reading
Winter means warm clothes. That means both us and the girls. So when we made the last visit to our dog groomer in Siena we did some winter coat shopping for the girls. The buying criteria was two-fold. Firstly, warmth for the girls on cold winter days and secondly, out-right cuteness.
In Troyes it was cold enough for the girls’ coats to be used and after a walk in the brisk 4 degree temperature we all adjourned to the bar for drinks.
Villa Greta has a resident family of cats that live a little further along the property. Four cats and a kitten to be precise. You get the impression that they usually spend quite a bit of time at the villa entertaining the guests and generally doing what cats do best.
Poppie spots a cat
With the arrival of our girls everything has changed.
The moment a cat comes down looking for some attention, or their dinner, Poppie goes onto full alert. After 5 weeks you think there would be some kind of truce but no, one cat sitting on the steps outside the gate is still more than enough to wind Poppie up. Daisy, as you would expect, is a little more circumspect about the whole thing.
Every time we arrive back at Villa Greta we are met by Daisy and Poppie. They are so pleased to see us and it doesn’t matter how many times we come and go we always get the same rapturous welcome. For those of you who don’t know them Daisy, being nearly 15 years old, is the slower one. Poppie is the one with her favourite toy in her mouth.
You can always tell when the girls feel at home. They start barking at everyone walking past and go nuts when anyone visits. Based on this, as of last Wednesday Villa Greta became “our place”. For the next few weeks anyway.
With space at a premium on the drive to Positano, we had to find room for the girls in amongst the vast quantity of luggage we had filled the car with. Daisy travelled in style in the back seat on a stack of blankets and pillows which raised her to around window height. Great for her as she had a view of every person, car or bike we passed, but bad for us as she barked at every person, car or bike we passed.
Poppie travelled in the front on the knee of the lucky passenger. Poppie has eaten well in Italy and her current weight of 7.2kgs does, after a few kilometers become quite heavy. This necessitated regular stops to allow the poor passenger to regain some degree of feeling in their lower legs.
Oh the glamour of travel.
Morning in the cottage means chores – dishes, bed making, vacuuming, all the usual stuff. Recently the girls have started watching this happen from the safety of the couch. Neither Jean nor I can make a move without two sets of eyes tracking us.
If we show any sign of deviating from the routine, all hell breaks loose.
Poppie was sitting on Jean’s knee this morning as the sun was streaming in through the window. For Poppie this is about as good as it gets.
Our girl has shown a steady recovery over the last week. She’s gone from not being able to walk without falling over to something close to her usual waddle. She is still wobbly and when she tries to shake herself ends up flat on her stomach with legs splayed.
Her revised heart medicine has also kicked in and, touchwood, she hasn’t had a seizure in over a week. Mind you with Jean and I running around after her every need there hasn’t been a lot of stress on her heart anyway.
One thing that has fully returned is Daisy’s attitude. She’s almost back to her cantakerous old self, and seems ready to take on the world, or more likely, other dogs, children, anyone who dares to come near the cottage, anyone who looks at the cottage, anyone who comes near the car, you get the idea.
The movie started out as some footage to show the team at our Italian vet clinic her improvement over the last week but it got a bit out of hand. We have nothing else much to do, really.
It’s Friday evening and Daisy has had her ECG and there’s more wrong with her heart than right. Having said that, the cardiologist has altered her medicine to best suit her condition so there’s a bit of life in the old dog yet.
Pictures of Daisy's big heart at work
When we arrived back at our vet, Julia had talked to the cardiologist and apparently he agreed that Daisy was a medical miracle.
Her inability to walk without falling over has been diagnosed as Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome and not anything to do with her heart. It means a loss of balance and co-ordination – a lot like a big night out on the town by the sound of it.
Best Google it for details but it’s something that just needs to work it’s way through her system with some assistance from medication. Some drugs that they usually prescribe for this syndrome would be bad for her heart so they’re off the list. That means there’s no quick fix and she will gradually improve over the next month or so.
Until she recovers she will need to be carried everywhere – and I mean everywhere. For up to a month?
The more observant of you may have noticed that there have been very few posts over the last few days. That’s because we have been busy looking after Daisy. She is not well and it seems her old age is catching up with her.
Last week she had two seizures in the space of 24 hours where she collapsed and did her best impersonation of a dead dog. Both times she recovered, picked herself up and soldiered on in her own unique way but it gave us a huge fright and she was off to the vet in record time.
Daisy has a heart problem and takes medication to manage it. Julia our vet thinks the medication needs to be changed so Daisy has had a thorough check-up, X-rays and now is booked in for an ECG this afternoon at a cardiologist in Florence. (We didn’t know there were dog cardiologists but apparently there are.)
Sick Daisy and friend
To complicate things in the last 24 hours she has started to fall down a lot when walking (or even just standing) which meant another rushed trip to the vet and further discussions in a mix of English and Italian and occasional arm waving.
It seems that the falling down is probably not related to her heart and is something else – most likely a neurological infection that is affecting her balance. The catch 22 is that we can’t treat the infection until we know what state her heart is in as that will affect the medication used to fight the infection. So we are waiting for the ECG to be done this afternoon. It is a long wait.
Daisy of course doesn’t know all this medical stuff and just thinks life is miserable. She has to be carried everywhere as she has given up walking. And her favourite treats and even Jean’s famous roast chicken dinner won’t cheer her up. Right now she is asleep in the bed next to me with her head buried as far under the pillows as possible.
If I were her I would do the same.
Gentle readers, I have just updated our photo album with all the latest shots used on the blog and a bunch more. Click here to see them.
