Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Dogs, Cats, Fish, Parrots, Horses, ALL Domestic Pets
Gwenoakes
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7325
Joined: 11 Aug 2007, 19:58

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Gwenoakes »

Try not to get too tied up with what happened Nation, Spreckly, not easy I know. {hug} Like I said we had the same problem, kept going back to how Lexi was/behaved and we really had to talk to ourselves very sternly because it was definitely passing on to Teddy.

People who can do that sort of thing to an animal want hanging up by their dangly bits, absolutely disgusting. I really feel for the owner and the dog.
User avatar
Spreckly
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5826
Joined: 26 Mar 2011, 14:21

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Spreckly »

Just a quick update on Angel, who has lived with us for four weeks.

Angel is doing really, really well. We go for walks, go to meet friends in the village, visiting my middle son and family on Saturday, and getting her used to the caravan, as we shall be going to a rally in a few days' time.

Toiletting - no problem with poos, and she has started to wee in the same place on the back yard, under the caravan! Still twelve hours between squatting, but it looks as if this is her norm. The acid test will come when we are away! As it will be under thirty six hours, I am not going to get into a state. There will be plenty of people to see as our van is on display to the public. So it will be another new experience for her.

I am boiling rainwater for her, rather than giving her water out of our filter jug.

Still undecided about obedience training. It won't be the same doing it on her own at home, and she would benefit from more confidence. She has only had the minimum of ringcraft training, so has not been taught to sit.

I do thank you all again for your advice. Wendy, I have put the information you kindly sent in my dog file.
User avatar
Spreckly
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5826
Joined: 26 Mar 2011, 14:21

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Spreckly »

Angel is still causing us concern. During the week, after a regular twelve hour toilet regime, she stopped urinating for forty eight hours. I was beside myself. She had been drinking, I had been moistening her kibble, so water was going in that way also. We rushed her through to see the vet on Wednesday teatime. Believe it or not, her bladder showed empty on the scan. The vet is convinced that she had been somewhere without us knowing, but as we had been with her in the garden, and our yard area was dry, under the caravan, all the cracks in the concrete, we knew she had not been anywhere.
No wet patches in the house either, but she is very good in the house.

A blood test was taken, and the bile acid result was raised, but the vet has said this would not account for her lack of wees. So tomorrow, fasting, we are taking her to have a bile acid stimulation test. It is rather scarey, and I will not relax until we know the outcome. Vet has told me not to worry - no comment. We took a urine sample in, and despite the fact that he said he would ring with the results, we've not heard from him, so I can only hopefully assume that the urine was normal, like the sample a few weeks since. She is eating quite a lot of grass, not being sick afterwards, like my other girls, who ate and were sick. So it is yet another waiting game.

Angel is well in herself, eating well, enjoys her walks, and is such a delight to us. The day after the vet visit, she wee'd three times!!
User avatar
albertajune
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5073
Joined: 02 Oct 2010, 15:39
Gender: Female
Location: Aldermaston, Berks.

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by albertajune »

I hope you soon get to relax with this little girl. Other than the wee bit, she seems to have settled in so well. If the vet isn't too worried and she doesn't seem unwell, you will have to maybe accept that this is how she is if the test come back as normal. )t'
Thanks for the update and do let us know the result of any tests. Hope all is alright.
I am now a widow and live with my memories.
User avatar
wendy
Moderator
Posts: 29794
Joined: 30 Apr 2007, 14:13
Location: Hertfordshire
Contact:

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by wendy »

I agree with June.
If she is well and the vet cannot find anything. Then....breathe :-D
While you are watching maybe she won't go until she desperately has to. Some are like that.
http://www.busheyk9.co.uk

If you can't be a good example........
you will just have to be a horrible warning
User avatar
Spreckly
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5826
Joined: 26 Mar 2011, 14:21

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Spreckly »

Got Angel's results this morning. The bile acid stimulation test is normal. Huge, huge relief. Thank you for all your replies, folks.
Gwenoakes
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7325
Joined: 11 Aug 2007, 19:58

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Gwenoakes »

Thats good, Spreckly. Now you can all relax and let nature take its course. )w(
Gwenoakes
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7325
Joined: 11 Aug 2007, 19:58

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Gwenoakes »

Just a quickie to say I hope everything is going well with Angel. {hug}
User avatar
Spreckly
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5826
Joined: 26 Mar 2011, 14:21

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Spreckly »

Thanks for your enquiry Gwen. Yes, Angel is going on fine. Toiletting, much the same, twice a day for each. Took her away in the caravan last weekend for an overnight stay, and apart from the usual, she was fine.
User avatar
Spreckly
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5826
Joined: 26 Mar 2011, 14:21

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Spreckly »

We returned yesterday evening from a four day trip away (part of this travelling). Angel, whose toiletting habits are unusual, had a whale of a time, though we had the same old problem. A tummy upset, and lack of "going" for twelve hours meant that for two nights we were on night patrol at 2 and 3 am. Dog and poo bag in one hand, and torch in the other. The first time was quite amusing, though not at the time.

OH had not put the lead in its usual place, and with a desperate dog, there we were looking all over the van for the jolly thing. I keep a spare in the car, but before OH returned with it, I found the normal one. OH cracked his head on a low part of the van, boy was he mad and in pain. After a dark walk round the field, we had to carry out a clean up job on Angel, while trying to be quiet, so as not to disturb our neighbours - caravans are quite noisy. We all eventually slept until a call of nature meant another walk round the field, but in daylight this time.

We did have an enjoyable time, and Angel made friends with several other dogs.
Gwenoakes
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7325
Joined: 11 Aug 2007, 19:58

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Gwenoakes »

Sorry, Spreckly but had to {rofwl} I am glad she got on with the other dogs too. )t'
Gwenoakes
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7325
Joined: 11 Aug 2007, 19:58

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Gwenoakes »

How is everything, Spreckly?

Have just thought about your previous post and the tummy upset she had. Do you think it could poss be the change of water?

I ask this because years ago when Clare was small we took her away in the caravan and I didnt take water from home and she had the most horrendous tummy upset, so much so that we had to cut our holiday short and come home. Now I know that animals are not the same as humans, but.........maybe a possibility.
User avatar
Spreckly
Legendary Laner
Posts: 5826
Joined: 26 Mar 2011, 14:21

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Spreckly »

Hello Gwen

Angel is doing fine, thank you. The tummy upset was prior to our caravan holiday, but she has a habit of drinking from the bird bath yike* and as she is so very quick, we have had to put barriers round it to prevent her. It hasn't rained for a few days, so she is back on bottled water, but when the rainwater was fresh, I was boiling and straining it for her. She still prefers to drink from the rainwater bucket!

We're off in the caravan in a short while, and hope that toiletting isn't too much of a pain. She is eating well at present. Her previous owner told us that she found it difficult to get any weight on her, and I can feel the bones in her spine.

There is a dog show in the village next month, which I do not wish to take part in, but the organiser thinks she would stand a chance in the prettiest dog class. We will see!

She seems to love labels, and has wrecked a duvet cover, ripping at the label. There must be something in them to attract.
Gwenoakes
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7325
Joined: 11 Aug 2007, 19:58

Re: Shetland Sheepdog - help, dog owners please

Post by Gwenoakes »

Glad she is doing OK.

We have a cat that will only drink out of a watering can that is filled up from the water butt or a pyrex bowl that I fill up from the water butt. Animals are very strange, arent they? Each one having their own little quirks, suppose they are like us humans if you think about it.

Just make sure you can find the lead, Spreckly, as I am sure it will save a lot of annoyance and sore head from your other half. )w(
Post Reply