It's not unknown for us every now and then!

Both are very well this morning which is great news.

Thank you, Fran. It was good to have the support here when things were looking a bit dubious. I'll post updates from time to time.

Mike

Thanks, Patty. Yes, Poppy is, in herself, pretty much back to normal this morning but minus the drain! There's no sign of it whatsoever so we'll be scrutinising Rosie's little piles for signs of what happened to it!!! Fortunately the vet was amused…

Thank you, K Rass & Shelley, for your kind responses.

Will do, Vicki, thanks! ;)

Meanwhile our attention has shifted to Poppy, our Dane bitch, who woke up today with an abscess on one of her anal glands. Very uncomfortable for her and a temp of 106. Now lanced and she has two drains in until Thursday but she's a little happier now…

At last, some real progress!

Rosie is putting on weight and improving day by day.

While no clear diagnosis has been forthcoming she is responding to the drugs often prescribed for IPSID and similar conditions and so we are hoping the progress continues, though she may have to be on them for an extended period if not permanently.

Here's a link to one reference I found online which appears most relevant to her:

http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:Zro42h38DOYJ:www.2ndchance.info/inflambowel.htm+basenji+%22metronidazole%22&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Mike

Is that also why I've always done my own thing?!

"As I stopped to take in my familiar view across to the rounded green hills on the other
side of the valley, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a small black, brown and
white streak carving out an arc through the rippling green shag-pile carpet which
stretched out and fell away in front of me. Did Basenjis ever run in
straight lines, I wondered?"

They are very different, aren't they?

I don't do giving up! Will take a look at Animal Health products; thanks!

Patty, Rosie (& Bing) had a bug last year which gave them diarrhoea as a result of which they both lost weight. Rosie pretty much recovered and put back on most of her weight after a course of antbiotics. Bing didn't but because of his other problems (hypoparathyroidism) he eventually had to be put to sleep.

Rosie's current weight loss began not long after we lost Bing, prompting us to wonder whether his loss was affecting her.

She is now thinner than she ever was last year: our vet has a suspicion she might have a tumour though her white blood cell count was normal.

So we persist, ever vigilant for signs she might have had enough but she continues to eat though switching her likes with the wind!

Umm.. Yes, thanks for the puppy suggestion but I think I'll stick to giving her food she likes!

She ate her biggest meal for a while last night (muesli + raw beef mince). So while we might be succeeding for now in keeping her eating, what we really want to see is some weight going on & so far we're not. Not an encouraging sign really. But we'll keep on while she's keeping on…

Thank you!:)

Thanks, Vicki.

I'd love to know how you do get on with Natural Instinct. Do you feed the chicken wings raw, as a Daney friend of ours does? In fact she feeds whole raw chickens to them (after they've been killed of course!!!)

Thanks Patty. No I won't say who sent me! ;)

Yes, Patty, I'm actually giving her Osmonds' Vigoro (because it has useful supplements) + Aloe Vera with a syringe. I have the 'Gutrite' but that seemed to put her off. Her favourite new food is Skinners Muesli which she used to have. I would be interested in the food you saw at Crufts. We also saw some on one of the Crufts programmes called Natural Instinct which is entirely raw - meat + veg. I know from the past that raw foods are best so may try that.

On the basis that she is eating & 'performing' better the vet is keeping her on steroids to see whether she can now put on weight. She is certainly more like her old self while still thin.

Your suggestion re frank is a good one so I might contact him.

Mike

No, not scary at all - it made me think and you could yet be right so I appreciate your concern and advice. we will be talking to our vet in the morning so we'll ask about an ultrasound check.

Thank you!

Well, Rosie's had her Sunday roast - beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, green beans, sprouts & parsnips! Not only did she eat the biggest meal in many a day but, had there been a pattern on her bowl, that would have gone too!

So, guess what her next meal will be tonight!

Well, of course, I'm well used to dealing with finicky eaters, having learned a lot from our first Great Dane puppy 35 years ago! There may be an element of that but we never had a problem with her or Bing, our late male Basenji, in their first eight or nine years! But it's roast beef today for her! And potatoes - you're right: now's not the time to be too restrictive…

No, I don't think so. But she's not thin despite eating well, she just doesn't eat much.
Earlier she ate less than half what she should and tonight nothing at all. I'm considering feeding her 'Healthy Instinct' featured on the Crufts programme today which contains raw meat, bones and vegetables, with no cereals, to see if that helps.

Interestingly, Shelley, I've said to Jenny that next time she cooks a roast (tomorrow!) we should give a mini-version to Rosie. Are potatoes OK? I've always thought they weren't good for dogs. Proof of the pudding I guess.

Our vet has not pinpointed anything after all the tests and has just said she'll need to be on steroids for a while but hints that there may not be a long term answer. But if I can only get her to sustain a healthier appetite I feel we could yet turn a corner. But then I have always worked on a 'where there's life there's hope' basis.

She was bred by Barbara Williams of Leigh near Manchester.

When she goes off something it can happen that she gets interested again after a week or two, meanwhile she will be into something else. Just now, for example, she begged me for a piece of the flapjack I was eating. When offered to her she nearly had my hand off!

Strange to think that a few years ago her late breeder (not that far from you) told us off for letting her get too fat!