Big Al's Spot (& Annie too)

Well having had Tazzie less than a couple of days we had to take her to the vet about her eyes, unfortunately Tazzie had a bit of a turn and started to walk into doors and walls and we had to go to the vet sooner than planned.

Having got to the vets Taz was nearly her old self again, but the vet diagnosed her as having Hunters Syndrome which basically means she can't focus her pupils to compensate for the light levels of rooms, which sort of explains her sore red eyes and wanting to stay out of brightly lit rooms. Its a brain problem acerbated by Taz being very overweight 23kg on the vets scales.

The unusual behavior of walking into walls and doors was diagnosed as being an insulinoma in her pancreas, which after an expensive blood tests appears to be benign. The basic premise is that the insulinoma is almost the opposite of diabetes, instead of having too little insulin the tumor in Taz creates too much insulin after she has had something to eat, then her blood sugar goes too low and she has a funny turn.

Why now?

Because we had started Taz on a raw food diet (same a what Turbo gets to eat) without access to kibble (biscuit based dry food with high levels of carbohydrate ), two hours after eating her first meal of the day Tazzie started to have low blood sugar, it was never picked up before as she could always get a few mouthfuls of kibble.

So now she starts of with something quite small and 90 minutes later we get her to eat something more, leave it longer and she has to have honey rubbed on her gums to bring her round. From our findings so far, pork would also tend to led to her getting low blood sugar sooner than other meats, but touch wood (so far) Taz is no longer getting her funny turns. Having access to a bone also seems to be keeping her more occupied with her food than normal.

Exercise

Taz is really getting into the exercise lark with her walks getting longer and longer and a good deal quicker too. Even had her starting to have a go at playing with Turbos football and barking just like he does. Its early days yet, but I definitely think she is starting to get a waist, having been completely barrel shaped before.

Tazzie hiding under the table on a requistioned pillow

Tazzie and Turbo mooching in the field

This is what I have to deal with anytime we get near a puddle

Just took the dogs out for a constitutional and Tazzie was not very happy about having to go in the snow. Turbo loves it though, biting it out of the air, much like the flies who still try to hibernate in our house, even though Turbo has declared our home a fly free zone.

As per usual I've mislaid my Camera once again and I don't think this snow is going to lay on the ground for very long, not after the torrential rain we've had here all day.

We went a visiting the relatives and managed to get a look at our two new nieces who are growing up really fast, Annas sisters have both had two girls each so far and no boys.

Anyway having brought Turbo with us, he got on fine with Taz who is a bit of an older lady and she really does sound like a little Tazmanian Devil, if a bit slower than than them.

Taz is a black and white Staffordshire Bull Terrier and she is very food orientated and very overweight. As Annas mum is going on holiday and Taz would have to go into kennels we have agreed to take her until Christmas to try and start to get her weight down. Having Turbo to run after might also get her up to a trot rather than the slow walk she does these days.

Well not literally, but the version of Tristana on my computer has crashed and burned, it just doesn't want to load up anymore. Not that you can't reload it up again, but then I would loose all my feeds, from friends and sites that I stupidly haven't bookmarked.

So if your out there and know how to salvage the situation, give me a shout, please.

I swear he hasn't been watching Sooty and Sweep, but Turbo is "Sweep" reincarnate.

Our best mate Simon gave Turbo a squeaky donut after demolishing his other squeaky toys, and ever since it has never been far away. All you need to do is with some enthusiasm ask Turbo "Where is it...?" and you are never far from receiving a pink donut in your lap for you to play tug of war with him.

If he is bored or he thinks we are not paying him enough attention out comes the donut and Turbo does the best impression of Sweep that I know, it is as if he was talking to you and answering back. Its pretty comical, but not exactly welcome at 3am in the morning.

So if you are ever visiting expect a "welcome to my house, will you play with me dance" from Turbo and a lot of noise from his donut, not unkeeping with "The Sooty Show" TV programme.