Well, I don’t know what they put in Horace’s medicine

I don’t know what drugs we have for Horace, however he has really started tucking into his food (relatively speaking). So much so that he’s gone from being a little scrap of a puppy into a little stocky pup. Admittedly, I don’t know for certain it’s the drugs. We also changed his food at the same time and also I hold him when he is eating so he can’t get distracted or skip through his food and that focusses him on eating. I also just give him a few biscuits to start, so that sort of builds up his excitement, and then add the rest. And another change is that I hold the bowl to his head, so he doesn’t have to put his head down.  He will only drink from his water if the bowl is full, so I wonder if he has problems looking down, or if that makes his head feel funny. When we go back to the vet on Monday I wonder if they will notice he’s a bit chunkier!

We’ve been investigating how to make DIY puppy training pads, as we know now that Horace will probably not go outside. We’re very lucky that he likes to go on his training pads. We’ve learned that dogs with Horace’s condition are almost always impossible to train. However Horace is excellent at going on the training pads. I wonder if that’s what he used when he was in the rescue place so that is all he’s ever known. While the cost of Horaces pills is just pennies, we’ve realized that the cost of the training pads is starting to add up. So we’re thinking about lower cost alternatives. Something the others won’t think is a big game.

I’d seen a figure on a vet’s training website that said that most dogs like Horace don’t live past 2 years old (when I was researching Horace’s condition I was looking at university websites with training material for vets as it was about as reliable as it was going to be – but likewise, it wasn’t dressed up as nicely as it could be. It describes pups like Horace as being retarded – which I guess he is, but ‘eternal puppy’ sounds so much better! I hope that the trainee vets learn to dress it up a bit when they are talking with clients). Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this and what I don’t know is the % that die because their condition worsens and the % that are put to sleep because their owners can’t cope.  Horace is great as an ‘eternal puppy’ and his little quirks are funny and fun to watch. However, I really don’t think it would be the same if he was a bigger dog, and even as he is, I am not sure everyone would want to or be able to cope with him.

He’s shown no signs of deteriorating since he’s come to us, and I think a lot of the poorly puppies do show real signs of deterioration quickly which is why they die so early, but Horace was born the way he is, so hopefully he’ll have many long and happy years being a little bit of a special Horace.

We had our first tea outside last night this year. Not sure if that’s earlier or later than previous years, but nice all the same. Feels like summer is here!