Yesterday I was putting together a storage unit for wee Jordan. It was from Ikea (what a fantastic retail operation that is) so was flat-packed and required assembly. Daisy clearly got bored with watching me exercise my limited carpentry skills and decided that Jordan’s beanbag chair was an ideal place for a snooze. So in amongst the chaos that follows a house move Daisy became an oasis of peace and tranquility.
Also an excuse for another cute dog photo.
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.
It’s easy to tell if the girls are feeling at home. The more couch they take up, the happier they are. Now we just need to figure out where the humans sit.
This gallery contains 3 photos.
A brief post in praise of the French motorway network. We have become expert users over the last few days and are impressed by the quality of the roads and the general lack of traffic. The rest stops are frequent … Continue reading
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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.
Over the last week or so Daisy’s coughing has got worse so it was time for a visit to a vet. The team at Eden Roc Hotel had kindly offered to arrange for a vet to call if needed and on Monday we decided it was needed.
We’ve never had a house call from a vet before but all was arranged and at 9:15 on Monday morning the wonderful Dott. Antonio Apuzzo called at Villa Greta. His english was good and his understanding of Daisy and her heart condition was even better.
He explained that in terms of the medication she was on, there were no additional pills she could take so it came down to adjusting her current medication to best treat her symptoms. He asked us to visit his practice in the village of Sant’Agata in the commune of Massa Lubrense where he would arrange for a cardiologist to visit and conduct an ECG on Daisy. Based on the results of this, her medication could be adjusted. It was decided that Wednesday morning at 11 was the time.
We had no idea what the house call would cost and Jean had walked to the village Monday morning to take out additional cash as we figured a house call could be expensive. The bill was only €30 and as he left he gave us his mobile number to call if Daisy got worse between Monday and Wednesday. What more could we want.
Wednesday morning we set out for Sant’Agata. This small town is only 15kms from Positano but the windy road meant a drive of 35 minutes. The village is located right on the spine of the Amalfi Peninsular so as you drive there you see alternatively views along the Amalfi Coast to Praiano and beyond to Salerno in the south, and across the bay of Naples to Napoli, Vesuvius and beyond in the north. It is the most spectacular drive to a vet we have ever had.
And on the way you pass the Grand Hotel Nastro Azzuro – an impressive hotel with a great view of the bay of Naples and named after Italian beer! This is my kind of place.
The village itself is delightful and at 11am, it was in full swing with the fish monger busy, the greengrocer inundated with locals and that general bustle of a busy Italian village.
We arrived promptly, ten minutes late, and met the cardiologist Dott. Antonella Sergio. Once again she had an immediate understanding of Daisy’s condition. You also get the feeling that the respect Italians inherently have for the aged in the community also extends to dogs. Once Daisy’s age was explained (nearly 15 years old – close to 90 in human years) she was treated with the greatest respect.
Despite that, she still managed to have a seizure on the table in the middle of the ECG which prompted even more care, a supply of oxygen to ensure she recovered and a modified ECG so she could stand rather than be forced to lie down.
The upshot of the ECG – her condition is a little worse than it was 3 months ago. But we now have a new pill regime and the addition of a cortisone spray to help with her coughing. We also now understand how to alter the balance of her medication depending on the symptoms she displays.
As we left, Dott. Apuzzo reiterated that we should call him if Daisy gets worse – although he joked that he hoped he didn’t hear from us.
Thank you Dott. Antonio and Dott. Antonella. We hope we don’t have to call either.
We then retired to the patisserie across the road and had a celebratory cake and cappuccino or two. We vowed to return to Sant’Agata and explore it further. There are also some great photographs to be taken on the drive there and back but this trip I didn’t take my camera. It was business after all – well as close as we get to business these days.
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.
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?
La dolce far niente 