The Further Adventures of Frodo the Faller - update

If you're familiar with tales about Frodo the Faller you will know that he acquired his name from his habit of collapsing without warning (usually) and dancing while unconscious. The first time he did this his female servant, who was alone in the house at the time, apart from two other Dalmatians, was quite frightened. She had seen humans experiencing this but now here was her gentle, loving, devoted dog turned into a snarling, uncommunicative beast – the snapping jaws, the frothing mouth, the unseeing eyes, the frantic paddling paws were unrecognisable - but in the back of her mind she understood what was happening. After that first episode she took Frodo to see Nadia-the-Vet. By the time Nadia saw him he was completely recovered and wondering what all the fuss was about. Further episodes occurred and he started a mild drug régime for he was now officially diagnosed as idiopathically epileptic, undergoing tonic-clonic seizures. 
For eleven months Frodo was free of seizures and then they recurred; they happened every three to five weeks and he would have clusters of two to three in a 24 to 48-hour period. They were not prolonged – about one and a half minutes – and his recovery was swift but gradually his medication was increased to try and control them.

Eventually, we decided to try and find out if there was an underlying cause and took him to the Royal Veterinary College for tests. He had to stay overnight – that was a shock for the poor boy! Thankfully there was no evidence of anything untoward though they discovered a cyst, which might have been present from birth and not have caused any problems, and so we continued with the treatment. However, we were advised to have another MRI scan to see if the cyst had changed in any way so we travelled to Potter's Bar once more, this time taking Jenna along for company for the lad. Again, he stayed overnight and though the scan showed no change in the cyst, poor Frodo went into status epilepticus, a potentially fatal condition when fits either do not cease or follow each other in such rapid succession that the brain cannot cope and the individual dies. The mortality rate is high, around 20%. It happens to humans too. A seizure of longer than five minutes is considered an emergency. We are sure it was stress that caused this.

The neuro-surgeons were able to help Frodo and added another drug, so thereafter he was taking three drugs. We brought him home and drugged him as prescribed. He slept like a puppy or an old dog – that is, very soundly. During the intervening years Frodo has balanced so that he can go three to five weeks between seizures, occasionally as long as eight weeks. His fits are short, increasingly singular rather than clustering.

What causes a seizure? Frodo is fortunate in that there are no food or drug-related triggers. Some dogs, and cats, have seizures triggered by delays in drug administration or food to which they are intolerant. Others are affected by perfumes in hair spray or carpet shampoo, deodorant or soap. Yet more react to sudden changes in weather or the phases of the moon. Frodo reacts to stress. Now this is a problem when so many things in the course of a day can excite him. Breakfast! Walk! Doorbell! Janice moving out of eyesight! Car! Janice returning! Telephone! Supper! Visitors! Vet!

When he first started having fits, just before his third birthday, he was so aware that something unpleasant had happened that he was reluctant to return to the scene of the disturbance. This meant that I had to accompany him out to the garden and reassure him if one had occurred out there. If he had a seizure as he was getting into the car the next couple of occasions with the car would be cause for anxiety – for all of us! Fortunately, he seems less anxious these days, or perhaps better able to deal with stressful situations.

Seizures can occur at any time of day or night, and an animal may be awake and active or asleep. Many animals display particular behaviours before and after a seizure (pre-ictal and post-ictal) Pre-ictal conduct may involve restlessness, trembling, unresponsiveness to commands, biting or snapping at objects or persistent gnawing at paws. Post-ictal behaviour can include pacing, excessive thirst and/or hunger, confusion, ataxia, temporary loss of sight and hearing, when they may crash into walls or down stairs. These behaviours can continue for hours and are very distressing. Frodo tends to become very clinging when he's about to have a seizure. He also becomes rather clumsy. During the ictal (fit) stage he loses consciousness, thrashes his limbs, his neck and spine arch, his jaws open wide, he growls and salivates and urinates. Afterwards, he is dazed and then stumbles around for about twenty minutes. If it's daytime he'll have a long drink. At night he goes back to (a clean) bed.

A dog in a multi-dog household is potentially at great danger from his housemates. There are many instances of dogs being attacked and severely injured while they are having a fit. In Frodo's case each of the dogs reacts differently. Before he lost most of his sight and some of his hearing, Buddy showed every sign that he would attack if we were not there to check him. The late, great Dominie was concerned, gentle girl that she was. Jenna is usually frightened and wants to get away. Gus thinks he's playing and wants to join in but I have a feeling he may also be inclined to assault when he's a little older. A dog in the throes of a seizure looks aggressive but is unconscious and therefore unresponsive to the subtle dog language of his canine companions. Thus, if he continues to show apparent aggression he is likely to be set upon.

We rarely leave the dogs alone but have to be careful who goes where

Recently Frodo's pattern seems to be changing again. He has had two short fits a week apart and we expect another one imminently. At night I sleep with one ear open, ready to leap out of bed as soon as I hear the tell-tale scrabbling in Frodo's basket. I support his head and talk to him although I know he is lost to the world and cannot hear me. When he comes round I change his bedding and reassure him. Eventually, we all go back to sleep, thankful it was not worse and hoping there won't be more in the next couple of days.

So you think you know Dalmatians?

The curse of the Dalmatian is that it is instantly recognisable. I don't believe there is a child alive in the Western world who cannot correctly identify a Dalmatian – and even many in Asia, following the 'Dalmatian on a bicycle' clip.
                      
(I have mixed feelings about this – bike riding doesn't come high in a dog's natural life, but as the dog's tail is wagging, I assume he's relatively unfazed, but maybe he's using his tail for balance . . . I digress!) We have Walt Disney to thank for this breed's recognisability (Is that a word? If not it should be!) The film was adapted from Dodie Smith's book 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' which was possibly inspired by the birth of fifteen puppies to her own Dalmatian. (Now you know why we never bred from our Dalmatians – we ended up with more than enough cats when we bred our Burmese and they're a lot smaller than the dogs!)
The trouble is that the cartoon Dalmatians are impossibly cute and even in the remake, with real Dalmatians, (which caused a lot of anger and horror in the world of the Dalmatian breeder and exhibitor) they are portrayed as friendly, approachable bundles of fun – and they are, once they know you. Puppies, of course, are always delightful. An adult Dalmatian has centuries of breeding behind it as a guard dog, a protector of its people. These dogs were bred to run ahead to clear the roads of obstacles (people!) and to guard the carriages of their owners, running alongside to see off highwaymen. The most desirable dogs ran between the wheels of the carriages where, presumably, they were not easily seen. Imagine the shock to a robber when a spotted dog launched itself at him, barking and lunging.
A fit Dalmatian can run for hours. If the speed of the accompanying horse or bike increases the dogs maintain their cadence and simply lengthen their stride – they are a delight to see.
Anyway, along with the cries of delight from children, 'Look, look, Dalmatians!', come the inevitable comic remarks, 'Where are the other ninety-nine then?'
At the time of that question we had three Dalmatians - 101 minus 3 is . . . ?
'What d'you call him? Spot?'
I wonder why we never considered such an original name.
Added to this is the confusion of seeing a Dalmatian with brown spots (brown is correctly known as liver in Dalmatians, chocolate in Labradors, tan in Jack Russells, even brown in some breeds!) 'That's not a proper Dalmatian' was one confident comment. Another asked, 'Do they go brown as they get older?' in the same way, presumably, that some black clothes acquire a coppery sheen with age (or is that just mine?) Yet another onlooker wondered if puppies started off brown and gradually turned black.
Dalmatians are basically white dogs with the same potential problem that can afflict genetically white animals of any species – deafness! Responsible breeders are eliminating bi-laterally and uni-laterally deaf dogs from their programmes. Many more irresponsible breeders are not. Nonetheless, interested bystanders ask, 'Is blindness a problem?' Well, yes it is, for Buddy Liver Spots, whose sight has been deteriorating since he had meningitis three years ago – otherwise, no.
Having jumped these predictable hurdles there come the requests to stroke the dogs. Dalmatians are expected to show a degree of reserve but Dominie never understood this. She was a very big, extremely gentle girl who loved everyone, particularly children. Buddy, before his sight failed, was very fond of attention too but now sees only shapes and shadows and uses his limited vision in conjunction with his mouth to work out if the thing approaching is edible – this can be off-putting! (Did I mention that Dalmatians are very greedy, easily as gluttonous as Labradors though without their amazing siphoning speed? Our grandchildren have never forgotten the incident of the cake.)
By now, some two minutes into the encounter, it has become obvious to all but the blind and deaf that Frodo the Faller is not at all happy that strangers are approaching his people, especially his woman – me! (I suppose you could say I'm his bitch.) He takes 'a degree of reserve' into another realm. He is shouting for all he's worth, looking every inch the guard dog. At home he is as gentle as a lamb, a sweetheart with puppies and kittens and babies, allowing cats and dogs to share his food or even take it away from him. Out of doors his job is to defend. He will not attack – that is not his way. He will merely keep danger, in whatever form it appears, at bay. To this end he resists friendly gestures from dogs and humans alike.
Appointing himself as my protector made showing him an interesting exercise. As a pup he simply wore suspicion in his eyes. When he grew up he started to grumble softly when the judge 'went over' him. When we galloped (inelegantly, in my case) round the show ring he attempted to take lumps out of any dog he considered was moving too close to me. Neither he nor I enjoyed his show days and we stopped with some relief when he embarked on his falling career.
Trail bikes, motor bikes, quad bikes are all forbidden in the forest but it remains a favourite venue for them. One day, a youth on a trail bike roared past Barry as he ran with the dogs, nearly crashing into them. Frodo took great exception to this and accelerated after him, deaf to all commands to return. Eventually, Barry caught up with him. The youth's bike had broken down and he was on his knees in a ditch with Frodo preventing his escape. Every time he tried to move Frodo blocked him, barking fiercely but not touching him. It really was a case of, 'Call your dog off, mister, PLEASE.' It's noticeable now that any bikers take another path when they see us – word gets around.
So, if you see a Dalmatian you don't know, give him time and space to overcome his natural reticence or, in the case of Frodo, come to our house where he will welcome you as one of the family!

Camera Critters #107, Pet Pride Walking the dog

Our three younger grandchildren haven't any pets of  their own and enjoy playing with ours when they come to stay. Walking the dog is a favourite activity and Buddy is a good candidate. His eyesight is very poor and so he is always on a lead. It gives him confidence and there's no fear of him heading at speed in the wrong direction. He is a quiet and well-behaved old boy. Here it's Louis' turn to hold the lead. You can see from his face that it is a serious business!

Thank you so much to the organisers and hosts of these two memes. To see more please click on Camera Critters or Pet Pride.

Winston’s late January blog 2010

Winston here . . . p'rrrrr, p'rrrrr . . .

First of all I must wish you all a Happy New Year though it's not so very new now. It was very busy in the house at Christmas with lots of people coming and going and SIX dogs again. Still, they all entertained each other so that was all right. There was some nice bits and pieces of food and me and Monty got to try some. YUM!

Gus is ever so big now and me and Monty have to look twice to see which black dog we're staring at. The Humans keep saying he's going to be bigger than Jenna. I hope he don't get as big as Frodo and Buddy 'coz two big dogs in the house is quite enough, don'tcha know. We did have three for a while but Dominie didn't get in the way like they do.

You know, I often wonder about Humans. I mean, I know they can't see or hear as well as us cats – and dogs, too, I s'pose. They can't smell things like we can and they can't taste the air and they certainly can't leap as high as us or do yoga without lots of
years of practice. When you think about it the only bits us cats can't wash are the backs of our heads, under our chins and between our shoulder blades. (That's why it's good to have a cat friend.) Anyway, even though they're really quite backward compared to us cats, you'd think they'd do the simple things right, right?

Well, the other day, just after breakfast (raw chicken wings, yummy!) Mrs Human got out the tablets for the dogs. She does it every morning, has done for years. Frodo has to have special medicine to stop him falling down – he's got ecstasy, don'tcha know, that's why the Humans call him Frodo the Faller – and all the dogs have vitta mints to stop their legs and backs wearing out. Anyhow, she puts all Frodo's pills in an egg-cup and when there aren't none left at bedtime she can go to bed and so can we all 'coz Frodo don't need no more for that day. So, she got them all out, counted them like what she does every day and set out the three piles. Then she got out the peanut butter 'coz that's where she hides the pills – stoopid dogs don't know that but us cats can't be tricked like that. She always gives F t F his dose first, always, then it's Buddy's turn, then Jenna's and last of all Gus gets to lick the spoon. At any rate, she doled out the first pills and then said, 'OH' 'coz who was looking at her but Buddy. Now she was really defused and couldn't work out what had happened. Mr H wasn't no help - he just laughed but Mrs H said, 'I daren't give Frodo another dose in case he's already had his.' I thought, 'WHAT?' Still, there was a lot of dogs milling around 'coz Tia and Foxy was visiting for the weekend and Foxy's really greedy and quick so she has to be careful. The Humans decided to 'WAIT AND SEE' – humans do a lot of that, don'tcha know. It was soon ovbious that Buddy had had F t F's medicine 'coz he couldn't control his legs. Monty and me giggled but I don't think the dogs realised. Did you know that when cats sneeze they're really laughing? We sneezed quite a lot that day. Buddy slept a lot! We felt a bit bad though when F t F had a fit later on but it was very short and he was all right. Mrs H was a bit very cross with herself 'coz Frodo had gone NINE WEEKS without one and she said he might have gone longer if she hadn't mixed up the pills.

The next day Mr H kindly reminded Mrs H which dog was which but she wasn't very at all amused by his helpfulness. I must say, though, it was a bit very odd 'coz Buddy and Frodo look quite different. I mean, they've both got spots (should use 'Clearasil' like the younger Humans) but Buddy's are brown – what? Oh, all right, they're liver – and his eyes are blue now 'coz of his uveitis and Frodo's are brown and his spots are black, plus he's got a huge spot over his eye like a pirate's patch (I've heard the Humans say that about the pirate's patch – don't know what they mean, really, but I 'spect they do) She said the dogs usually always wait their turn and they know the routine and for some reason Buddy decided to go first but me and Monty think she's losing it (whatever it is) I mean, she's really old. Even her children are old. Even her grandchildren are old. They're all older than me and Monty so they must be old.

I think that's it for now. I'll see you again in a little while – I'd say a month but I don't know what months are. The Humans aren't all that good at time either – they're always saying they don't know where the time goes. You'd think they'd look after it when they keep saying they mustn't waste it.

TTFN

Shadow Shot Sunday #85 January 2010

It is cold in UK, even in the soft South, but on a day like this, when the sun shines in a perfect sky and the ground is iron hard, it is glorious to be outside.

There is always green in the forest, providing a pleasing foil for the browns and yellows of dead bracken, fallen leaves and grasses.

The colours look warm!

There was no wind to flay the skin and make eyes water.

I never tire of this walk - it changes all the time while remaining familiar.
It was exhilarating to breathe in the clean, sharp air - and to spot shadows all around!
Thank you to Tracy from 'Hey Harriet' for the hard work she puts into organising and hosting this enjoyable meme. To see more shadows please click on the blue.

Camera Critters #89, Pet Pride Fun in the snow!

My apologies for the strange formatting . . . it's driving me insane (not a difficult undertaking!!) A different interpretation of snow shoes

Gus: This is fun - let's play!

Frodo: Interesting sniffs - the snow adds a certain je ne sais quoi.

Jenna: You can pick up the ball, Gus - I don't mind.

Gus: Then what?

Gus: Frodo, I want to be as big as you one day.
Frodo: Dream on, little boy.

Gus: Wait for me, wait for me!

Frodo: I'll play with you.

Jenna: Come on then!

Gus: I'm coming too.

Buddy: Huh, kids!

Frodo and Buddy: Is there food?

Jenna: That's the way, Gus, but wait for it to be thrown first.

Gus: Look, look - I've got it!

Time to go home . . .

Frodo: With a single leap I make it into the car.

Buddy: I used to be able to do that.

Frodo: That's nice of you to help him, Janice.

Buddy: Ooh, oof, nearly there . . .

Jenna: Come on, Gus, Dalmatians in the back, Labradors in the front.

Gus: Hurry up, Jenna, I'm tired and I want to go home.

Jenna: I really enjoyed that walk. Thank you!

Gus: I had a good time too but now I'm so sleepy . . . z ... z ... z

Thank you to the organisers and hosts of Camera Critters and Pet Pride. We appreciate the trouble you take.

To see more critters and pets please click on the appropriate title.