Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login

Pets, in sickness and in health

February 27th 2009 11:29
german shepherd dog


I have had some bad luck with dogs.

Murphy the German shepherd, a big, arrogant, obstinate dog who was incredibly handsome and knew it, had sensitive skin. All his life we tried to find out what caused him to lose hair, scratch constantly and suffer regular ear infections, but our money bought little except the knowledge that there are two general categories of skin allergies: food and environment.

If your pet has the first, you have some hope of discovering, by a process of elimination, what it is they are allergic to. If it is the second, it could be anything from your perfume to the fibres in your sofa, and pins in haystacks will be easy to find by comparison.

Murphy, of course, had the second.

german sheperd dog
Gentle Jumbo

The story of Jumbo, another German shepherd, was told in an earlier Zoomies post (link). Jumbo was even bigger than Murphy but he was a gentle giant. He had lived all his life outdoors as a guard dog, but it was probably a good thing he was never called upon to protect his patch of property from an intruder because I doubt he would have known what to do.

Jumbo was dumped by his owner when he got too old to even look like a guard dog, and I adopted him, aged 13.

Gentle Jumbo got to see the inside of a home, along with its warmth and comfortable sleeping places, for the first time. And promptly developed severe skin allergies to something in the environment in my flat.

dog dogs greyhound greyhounds pet pets brindle
Scratchy

Scratchy is a greyhound of aristocratic breeding. Well, any greyhound bred from a famous Australian racing mother and a famous Irish racing father, with the semen from the latter introduced to the former after being frozen and flown, probably first class, between the two countries, surely qualifies as aristocratic.

Scratchy (yes, he has a sister named Itchy, for those who watch The Simpsons) was one of a litter of eight and he was both larger than average and slower than average. Scratchy was retired early and came to live with us and, I am pleased to report, two years later, there is no sign of a skin allergy.

Instead, he has epilepsy, and watching the violence of his periodic seizures is every bit as distressing as watching first Murphy and then Jumbo try to deal with permanent skin irritations.

So, you see, I have had some bad luck with dogs.

But nothing is perfect and taking responsibility for a pet means exactly that, in sickness and in health.

It might have been cheaper, and it might have been easier, living with Murphy and Jumbo and Scratchy if they had been perfectly healthy dogs, but it wouldn't have been better. It was (is, in Scratchy's case) a privilege living with these beautiful animals, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

40
Vote
Add To: del.icio.us Digg Furl Spurl.net StumbleUpon Yahoo


   
subscribe to this blog 


   

   


Recent Posts:
      The chaser 
      Larry’s Diary: In the shadow of Scratchy 
      Twinkle toes and the guilt trip 
      He who shall be named … 
      Missing him 
      Farewell Scratchy 
      Letter to the editor 
      Ready, set, breakfast 
      Patting thin air 
      Culled kangaroos and pet food 
      When irresistible forces meet sleeping objects 
      Speedy Gonfluffball 
      Dogs that go thump in the night 
      Welcome home 
      Dear Sophie 
      Poor Scratchy 
      Fair's fare 
      You have to laugh 
      Scratchy’s missed feast 
      Watch dog 
Comments
3 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Janet Collins

February 27th 2009 14:25
I don't have a dog. But I can really feel for you anyway..

Comment by HoundChef

February 27th 2009 19:00
I'm so sorry for your loss of your German Shepherds, we had one with skin allegies too, what a bothersome thing fo the hounds. But what a joy to have them. Scratchy is just greyt, seisures and all. You're so right, a pet is like a marriage, in sickness and in health. They help make our lives. You're a good hound parent.
Janice

Comment by Chris Champion

February 27th 2009 22:07
Hi Janet and Janice, thank you for your nice words.

We just got back from an early morning walk with the dogs. Met people and other dogs; talked to a group setting up a farmer's market; Scratchy and Daisy had a zoomie in a secluded spot near a disused railway track.

Everyone had a great time and, for a while, allergies and epilepsy seemed irrelevant

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
4 Posts
1 Posts
1 Posts
232 Posts dating from May 2008
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0

Chris Champion's Blogs

10887 Vote(s)
754 Comment(s)
121 Post(s)
4300 Vote(s)
33 Comment(s)
39 Post(s)
5376 Vote(s)
193 Comment(s)
72 Post(s)
3728 Vote(s)
204 Comment(s)
44 Post(s)
24357 Vote(s)
1001 Comment(s)
301 Post(s)
Moderated by Chris Champion
Copyright © 2012 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]