• Is your dog Fat
• Getting Ready for Crufts
• Obedience and other essential training issues

We’ll also be bringing you a report on a new website/blog called Scottish Terrier Health Network. This Network is dedicated to looking into the health and well being of our Scotties, but lets wait till we hear from them.

Oh and we’ll also be celebrating Bobby & Finlay’s 10th birthdays on 14th February!

Don’t forget, if you want to contribute just get in touch.

Finlay

Some good news at last. The tumour appears to have shrunk! Not a lot, but I’ll accept the fact that it’s diminished a bit. We’re going to keep Fin on the Metacam but take him of the medication that was keeping his stomach calm – my Vets are confident that the Metacam shouldn’t cause Fin too much stomach upset and that his period of vomiting and diarrhoea coincided with an outbreak of a similar virus in our area early December.

He’s due for his Cushing’s ACTH Stim test at the end of February, so I’ll have the vets perform a scan whilst he’s with them for a few hours – just to see if more progress has or is being made.

So for the time being, I can rest a little easier.

My intention was to show Finlay first. However, during a grooming session with a very close friend, it was decided that Bobby had the better coat and so he would be shown first.

Unfortunately that caused me a problem. I’d chosen the name “Sparhawk Sapphire Knight” for Finlay. He’d been entered into his first show. But now, with the suggested change of dog, that meant Bobby would steal Fin’s name.

I’d always chosen their names with care. They reflected their character. However, they weren’t to know and so Bobby officially became Sparhawk Sapphire Knight.

My aim at the very beginning was to get my Scottie qualified for Crufts. I thought this would take several years and so I was prepared for the hard work involved in preparing Bobby for this. Ring Craft classes were had (with both of them), but nothing prepares you for the first time of entering that show-ring with your Scottie. Despite attending lots of shows as a visitor, and watching the routine – that all goes out the window when you’re there with your dog.

I was advised to get into the ring as near to the last as possible. This would give me the opportunity to watch, more closely, what was being done in the show-ring.

We came through, unscathed, not winning anything – but it was enjoyable. It was at that point, when the adrenalin had receded, that it finally dawned on me, that all the preparation for that particular show, the grooming, keeping Bobby’s coat in good condition, had to continue on a relentless path every week from now on!

Oh well, it gave us the chance to bond even more. Bobby came to love being on the grooming table – not so sure now that we’ve been away from the showring for many many years – he would be very compliant, and even fall asleep during it all.

We carried on, got qualified for Crufts, won several Rosettes, but nothing of any significance, and overall enjoyed ourselves.

Bobby went on to Obedience training – you can read more about that elsewhere within these pages.

If you want the best seat in the house . . . move the dog

(Author Unknown)

We’ve been cartooned!

Here’s hoping that my two boys, particularly Finlay, manage to reach their 10th birthday on 14th February 2013. Keep your fingers and paws crossed, please.

Just wanted to highlight this fabulous website. Their range of products is A-MA-ZING. My wish-list grows by the day. Only trouble is not sure if I have enough friends to send it to!

Don’t worry if you’re not a Scottie lover, McCartneysdogs.com cater for ALL breeds – its just that our particular link leads you directly to the scotties.

This is a website we highly recommend, so go on, take a jump and visit McCartneysdogs.com today – you’ll be impressed.

Canine Cancers and Apocaps

This month’s article is all about the dreaded cancers that our beloved Scottie dogs are most susceptible to. We might concentrate a little too much on Bladder Cancer’s, or TCC, as this is what our beloved Finlay is currently being treated for.

But to start with, here’s a list of cancers that Scotties are appear to be more at risk with when compared to other breeds.

• bladder cancer and other transitional cell carcinomas of the lower urinary tract;
• malignant melanoma;
• gastric carcinoma;
• squamous cell carcinoma of the skin;
• lymphosarcoma and nasal carcinoma.

 Other cancers that are known to commonly affect Scotties include

• mast cell sarcoma and
• hemangiosarcoma.

It is well known in Scottie circles that our beloved Scotties are 20 times more likely to get bladder cancer than other breeds and the most common kind of bladder cancer is, as already mentioned, transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, or TCC. Sadly this is more common in females, with a ratio of 2:1 (females : males)

Because my beloved Finlay is also suffering from Cushings, we’ve had to chose carefully which medication he should be given. Unfortunately Finlay also has a sensitive stomach, so the first choice of medication was ruled out as the side effects could lead to gastric ulcers and to combat this, additional medication would be required to help with that problem. So, the 2^nd option of using Metacam was chosen as this would be less severe on the gastric side of things. This is not only a pain-killer, but an anti-inflammatory. It is also a NSAID (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). We’re hoping that it will allows the cancer cells to kill themselves.

We had hoped to try out Apocaps, but having spoken at length with our Vets, it was decided to stay with Metacam for the time being to see if the tumour shows signs of diminishing.

Since writing the above Finlay suffered a serious bout of vomiting and diarrhea. His urine appeared to be more blood than urine, and his poos ….. well, it was just blood being expelled. After an immediate consultation with our wonderful Vets, Finlay was given medication to calm his stomach and a further consultation was carried out two days later. Here it was decided to keep him off the Metacam for a week to allow his stomach to calm down. We have since been back to the Vets and Fin’s been given additional medication for his stomach and been put back on the Metacam. He has a further appointment in 3 weeks time for a check up and will be having a scan to check the growth of the tumour in his bladder – we’ll report on those findings next month.

Canine Cancers and Apocaps – is this the way forward? As we now cannot conduct a trial for the time being – it would be great to hear from anyone whose Scottie has benefitted from taking these.

This month we’ve promised you a report on Canine Cancers and Apocaps. We’re trialling the Apocaps ourselves with Finlay, so we also hope to bring you a “hands-on” separate report on this. Regular visitors will know that not only does Finlay have Cushings, but he has recently been diagnosed with Bladder Cancer, so this trial is a “work-in-progress” for us. We hope that Finlay will be with us long enough to play an active role in this.

Our featured website section will alway cover two websites in any one month. Currently we are featuring Cafepress.co.uk. We spent hours trawling through their amazing site. We’ve bought several items which you’ll get to see over the forthcoming weeks. Following hot on the heels of CafePress, is the lovely Audrey’s Adventures. We’re still deciding how best to profile this website, but by the time the 15th of the month arrives, we’ll have sorted everything out – so watch this space …… it really is worth waiting for.

If you’re one of the few not familiar with “Raising Duncan” this will be your chance to make amends. We don’t want to spoil the fun, but we’ll introduce you to an adorable little Scottie called Duncan and what he encounters on a regular basis. We’ll then leave it up to you whether you continue watching over him. Also we’ll be Highlighting some of our Pinterest “pins”. Again if you’re not familiar with this site, here you will find out just what its all about. Our final “highlight” is our very own Sparhawk Scotties. Some of you may already be more than familiar with the antics of these Scotties, but if not, please take a peek at some of the stuff they get up to.

We really hope you enjoy this months array of articles, posts and blogs. And, don’t forget, if you’ve got something you’d like to add, please let us know and we’ll fit it into the appropriate section.