Monday 16 July 2012

Caoimhe's Day Out



Some of Magic's blog  followers may have noticed that her younger sister Caoimhe hasn't been blogging or even turning up in the blog posts for a bit. I thought I would take over a post to just explain what has been happening with her this past few months. We had struggled a lot with what we thought was her bad behaviour - screaming at other dogs; attacking our cats; hyperactive on walks etc. After months of training, herbal remedies; Thunder shirts etc etc things were just deteriorating. Caoimhe was so fearful of everything even a leaf falling off a tree near her frightened her. She never rested, was always on the alert and so different to Magic in every way. We tried to remember when this all started as she was not at all like that when we first had her as a puppy - laid back, happy, playing with our cats...and then someone suggested it could be related to her vaccinations.



To cut a long story short, the timing seemed to fit and, as our usual vet was unable to help with this, we took Caoimhe to a holistic vet practice some miles away where as well as being trained in conventional veterinary medicine, they are trained in veterinary homeopathy. We saw a lovely American vet who after a 2 hour consultation prescribed one dose of a homeopathic remedy which has shown amazing results! Caoimhe is now 3 weeks on and has calmed down hugely, she walks well on lead (most of the time :-)) she will rest and snooze like the other dogs, she is better behaved around the cats who are now coming back into the house. It seems that Caoimhe must have suffered encephalitis from the live distemper vaccine (she was given this  as part of her vaccination programme at 8 and 10 weeks old) which has caused some damage to her brain and triggered the terrible fearfulness she suffered. Sadly she may never get back to the laid back happy dog she was as a pup but if we can get her more stable, less fearful and able to go out and about with the others it will be a huge step forward. At the suggestion of the vet we made a change from the routine we had been sticking to up till now and took Caoimhe for a day out to Castle Howard, a dog friendly stately home not too far from here, on her own, to see how she coped and all went well. Here are some more photos of her day out:


Castle Howard



Watching the Koi Carp


Balancing on the fountain's edge


A bit of furtling


Enjoying some strawberry milkshake


Caoimhe relaxed after an enjoyable day out.

13 comments:

  1. Oh Caoimhe... you poor darling. That's just awful. I'm so sorry to hear about this. I would never have expected to have happened to you.

    I dropped by to say hi but I also wanted to give you an award in http://www.mydogslove.me/2012/07/mischief-monday-procrastinating-with.html . We hope you could find the time to accommodate it.

    Huggies and Cheese,

    Haopee

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    1. Looks like someone's getting busy again. How are you? It's a Friday and I just dropped by to check if I've missed any Magical adventures.

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  2. Caoimhe, so lovely to see you enjoyed your day and to have the update here. You know how we feel about homeopathy, it's magical how it works in some cases and we've been like you, seen remarkable effects (and I was sceptical, but when its seen its hard to argue with). Most important thing is you're feeling better and who knows, you may be back to your pre-vac state one day, you're certainly in the best possible hands now you lovely poppet.

    xx

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  3. It was sad to hear about Caoimhe, but pleased she was ok on her outing, little steps its early days.
    Love from all of us down here its raining Shropshire.
    George xxx

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  4. Oh poor Caoimhe! I'm so sad to hear about her health issues. I am glad to hear that you have found something that works for her and hopefully can help restore her back to her somewhat normal self. Good luck!

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  5. caoimhe's so so lucky to have such wonderful support from you, she's bound to improve with that kind of love xxx

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  6. Sorry to hear about Caoimhe but its great she is on the right path now! Never new about Homeopathic remedies...I might have to give it a go on Sampson who seems to have developed a few problems of his own!

    Slobbers

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  7. Oh poor little girl! I hope everything goes smoothly from here on out.

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  8. So sorry to hear about Caoimhe's health issues, but I'm glad she was able to enjoy her outing!
    Stewey

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  9. Oh poor Caoimhe! I am so sorry and sad to hear that she had such a difficult time. I am glad things are working out and this is very important information too. Who would've known a vaccination could cause this. So happy to see her having such a nice walk!

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  10. Awww poor darling, such a shame. I'm glad you have found something to help her. She enjoyed her outing and bless you for giving her lots of loving care and I do hope she continues to improve.

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  11. Caoimhe, poor thing!! We have no idea how you're suffered.... You have a good support from your lovely family and friends. Hope everything is going well. We're happy to see you had a very plesant walky.

    Momo & Pinot xoxo

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  12. Caoimhe we are so pleased you are feeling so much happier now. Going out is so much fun and now you can enjoy yourself again.

    We saw a big black giant Schnauzer at Bolton Abbey on Tuesday and we have also seen a pair of Schnauzers just like you. One thing we have noticed is that there are lots of pairs of dogs (same breed) walking around Yorkshire.

    Be good and have a grrrrreat weekend.

    Molly, Taffy, Monty and Winnie

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