The Dog (and Cat) Blog: Thursday, November 13, 2014

When our Timba became suddenly absent from our family, he left a huge hole - one we knew could never be filled by another dog or dogs. But we missed having a German Shepherd so much, we decided it was time we considered sharing our home with a dog who could be a companion to Bryn; an older dog who needed a good home where he/she would be loved and cuddled and exercised and fed all the right food and adored.

We found Athos on the Battersea website and we couldn't stand the idea of him spending his last months or years in a dog rescue home no matter how well he's treated there. Athos is 11 1/2 years old, and he grew up with a Romanian family. Unfortunately their two year old son developed an allergy to dogs, so poor Athos was relegated to the back yard for an entire year before Battersea brought him to England. He joined our family on the 29th of September, 2014.

Athos who often crosses his front legs, as if posing. Very elegant.

Athos is the most affectionate, cuddly dog we've ever met. He loves to lay his head in our laps, and if he isn't stroked immediately, he nudges - hard. He can take any amount of hugs at any time, and he loves his food. For the first few days after his arrival, he was asking for affection pretty constantly, which is understandable. But within a week he began to feel a lot more secure in his new home, and he was demanding affection less often, although he still loves a cuddle whenever they're on offer.

Athos is a perfect companion for Bryn - two old boys enjoying their retirement in style. They get on extremely well - as if they've known each other all their lives. Our cats, however, are not so enamoured of Athos because he's very curious about them, and very playful and affectionate. The cats misinterpret Athos' exuberance and tend to stay away. Cricket did find out what Athos would do if she hung around - she got a thorough licking all over her face and head until Athos backed off a little, enough for Cricket to make a dignified escape.

Athos chewing on a raw bone - num num num.

Athos came to us with health issues, one of which we've since found a solution for (colitis) and the other is currently being controlled with medication (mild hip dysplasia symptoms). But we we were told in detail about these issues before we got him, thanks to one of Battersea's vets, so we knew what to expect.

We don't know from where in Romania Athos came, but it's possible he'd never seen the sea, so we took him to the beach here on the East Coast of England, where he had a wonderful time chasing and biting at the waves, ducking his head under water for a tennis ball, and playing with every dog he encountered along the way. We'll be taking him there often, when we're not taking he and Bryn to the woods, or open fields, or country lanes for walks.

Athos and Bryn in the back of our car.

We are very grateful to Battersea for allowing us to adopt Athos - we couldn't have asked for a better dog to help us recover somewhat from Timba's death, and to be a brother to our Bryn. And we're hoping that with all the love and affection and attention he gets with us, his life will be extended and it will be a longer before he leaves to join Timba.

Thank you so much Battersea.

It is only now that I am able to post this without getting too sad...

On the 12th of July 2013, after a very short period of illness, our beloved Timba was put to sleep due to a very rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 12 years old. For over a year we have been recovering from the shock, as it was only one month between diagnosis and euthanasia. Until he developed a deep hole in his paw, we thought he was fit and healthy and likely to live for at least another one or two years if we continued to love and care for him as we were doing. We miss Timba terribly, and always will. He was a loving, clever and loyal friend, and of course irreplaceable.

Timba started his life with us as a puppy, and grew up alongside Bryn, our Golden Retriever.

(Apologies for this grainy photo - taken with an old digital camera within days of his arrival in our home.)

His tail eventually grew, but with a hook to the left rather than straight. He loved any food beginning with the letter "C" - cake, cheese, chips (or "crisps" as they're called in the UK), chicken...while he was young and had not learned his manners we had to watch him around food. My daughter had a birthday party, and for reasons I can't remember, she had two cakes. One we put on the table outside on the deck, but it only stayed there briefly as Timba thought it had been put there especially for him and ate the entire thing. None of the kids standing around stopped him - they thought it was hilarious. We referred to Timba as "The Cake-Eater" for the rest of his life.

In 2004, we moved to the UK, and rather than put Bryn and Timba into quarantine (Doggie Jail) for six months in the UK, we left them in New Zealand with a friend of ours, who cared for them for the quarantine period (7 months all up) and we arranged for them to be shipped over as soon as they got clearance. So for a total of 7 months we were dog-less, which was awful. The day we picked our two boys up from Heathrow was one of the happiest days of my life. Both were extremely excited to see us, but after about five minutes of leaping about and licking (the dogs, I mean - not us), they settled down and seemed to be saying, "Okay, now that that's over, what shall we do now?" It never ceases to amaze me how dogs (and other animals) live in the moment - it was as if we'd just been out for a couple of hours and they were pleased to see us home again.

Moving our Dogs to the UK (2005)

Because I'm wary of vaccinating humans or animals, Bryn had been vaccinated only once as a puppy by his breeder but never again since, and Timba had never been vaccinated before at any time. Of course, to meet the animal export requirements, both Bryn and Timba had to be vaccinated with all of the standard vaccinations, and all at once.

And then the health problems started...

While the boys were still in New Zealand during the quarantine period, their caretaker told me that Timba wasn't keen on the dog food she was feeding them (and her own dog) and was finding it hard to get him to eat any kind of dog food. She eventually found a food he would eat, although he remained unenthusiastic. It was also about this time that the caretaker noticed Timba had developed an eye problem. This turned out to be Pannus:

"Pannus, or a chronic superficial keratitis is a slowly progressive non-painful inflammatory disease of the dog's cornea (front of the eye). This is a bilateral disease (affects both eyes) seen most often in German Shepherds, Greyhounds, and Siberian Huskies but which can occur in other breeds as well."

Timba before the Pannus

Timba in 2012 when the Pannus was at its worst.

Timba had Pannus in both eyes. In the UK, we took him to a canine eye specialist who said we had to apply some very expensive ointment to both eyes twice daily for the rest of his life, or he would lose his sight over time. Timba was amazingly tolerant regarding the ointment - we'd call him over, tell him "eyes", and he'd immediately sit perfectly still, head up, so we could apply the ointment in each eye without any struggle whatsoever. It was as if he knew we were trying to help him, and he gave us full cooperation. Pannus is supposed to be "hereditary" according to some experts, and incurable.

Pannus Reversed

We kept up the ointment regime for a year or so, but due to the hassle to very patient Timba (who never objected but we knew the ointment stung) and the high cost, we decided we needed to find other ways to preserve Timba's eyesight. Over time we treated him with various electro-magnetic or scalar field devices (I'll explain another time), and Timba never lost his eyesight. Not only that, the opaque orange-peel look to his eyes eventually disappeared, and his eyes looked close to normal within a year of starting the EM treatments. Towards the end of his life, we think his eyesight had actually improved as he could once again locate tennis balls without relying on his nose.

Timba receiving an MRT treatment.

Immobility Reversed

Timba and Bryn both showed signs of immobility around 2007 - Bryn had quite suddenly shown symptoms of advanced arthritis and Timba had hip dysplasia. It was evident that pretty soon, neither dog would be able to get into the car, or even move around easily. Bryn had to "rock" from a sitting position in order to stand.

They also smelled like "old" dogs, yet Bryn was only eight years old, and Timba a year and a half younger. Timba was still very unenthusiastic about his food, even when given the "best quality" commercial food and we were still finding it difficult to coax him to eat - adding tuna to his dog food seemed to be the only way to persuade him.

In November 2007, we changed their diet from commercially-made dog food to a more natural diet of raw meat and slightly cooked vegetables, grains (small amounts) with their usual additional mineral and vitamin supplements (which they'd been having all along.) Within six months, both dogs became completely mobile again, showing no sign of pain or discomfort at all. Both could once again leap into the back of our station wagon (estate) car, run and walk for miles without any ill effects. And Timba became the "greedy" one out of the two - he suddenly developed much enthusiasm for his food, eating it all up and looking around for more. It had been a long time since we'd seen him enjoy his dinner so much, and it was a delight to witness.

A couple of years later, Timba began to show discomfort from his hip dysplasia, so we took him to a vet for acupuncture treatments, which he loved. He'd fall asleep during treatments - they seemed to relax him so much, and the treatments definitely stopped the pain, or at least most of it. Acupuncture doesn't work quickly for every dog. We later tried it on Bryn for his arthritis but it didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. (Now it's 2014, and he's just finished a course of laser treatment on his arthritic joints which were very successful. He currently appears pain-free.)

Cancer

In June of 2013 I noticed blood on the floor after Timba had walked across it, and traced it to one of his feet, which had a very deep hole in one of the pads. Thinking he'd injured it somehow, I cleaned it and covered it with a bandage. A day or so later he developed a second hole, then a third hole on the top of his foot. We took him to a vet who really had no idea what was causing the problem, and gave us antibiotics, manuka honey, etc. to give to him. No healing occurred whatsoever. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. Timba was also very breathless, panting a lot more than usual not just after exercise but at rest as well. He was uncomfortable lying on his side, and tried to sleep lying with his head on or between his paws. After a couple more visits to the vet, we decided we needed another opinion and took him to another branch of our veterinary centre and asked the vet who had given Timba the acupuncture years before. After examination, she told us that Timba had a very rare form of cancer which begins in the foot, but effects the lungs, stomach, etc. His stomach was full of blood (which was why he didn't want to lie on his side; if he did the weight moved and made him feel sick and put pressure on his lungs and other organs). Timba was dying. We released Timba from his misery on Friday, the 12th of July, and our misery began. But we're coming to terms with his loss over time, and we are very thankful to have had so many wonderful years with our boy, and we have so many happy memories of Timba both in the UK and in New Zealand. We miss you, Timbs - hope you're getting cake and chicken wherever you are.