Friday 28 June 2019

Sheba's World


Sheba's Best and worst moments....


Having sheba with us for 3 years has been like a rollercoaster. Many many good times, but also some times where we think we Agh! Sheba became our family from the minute she arrived on the 1st April 2016 at 11pm and she has fitted in so so well. The first night she kept going to the door expecting her family to come back for her, the next day she was plodding around with Arthur trying to keep up with an 11 month old puppy! When sheba arrived she wasn't eating hardly and was only taking small pieces of food from the hand. we soon changed this and put her on a diet suitable for her age and needs. Sheba is incredibly stubborn and wont eat anything she doesn't like as we find carrots and peas everywhere that she spits them out!

One of Sheba's naughtiest moments is about 4 months after we had her, Me and Jen had gone out to dinner with some friends and came home around 10pm. We had Arthur and Sheba waiting for us as per usual, tails wagging and crying like we had left them for 3 days! Then we noticed a blood trail from our stairs to the sofa, leading into my bag that I had left on the sofa. I ran to the sofa and opened my bag and there was our little hamster who was very much dead, and Sheba standing there looking as proud as anything that she had a catch for her new mum!!!! We were absolutely devastated at the fact of losing our beautiful hamster but we couldn't blame sheba, as she was only using her natural hunting instinct to try and please us. Safe to say our hamsters are now high up and out of Shebas reach!!

As mentioned in our previous posts, Sheba has to visit the vets quite a lot. We find this incredibly distressing , but is made so much easier by the fantastic treatment we get from all the staff there. Our vet Laura, who I've mentioned previously, is what we term an angel in scrubs and constantly reassures us when Sheba is left in the care of the vets. Sheba can go to the vets at 9am and act like a little dying duck barely responding and have us all worried and concerned. We can then bring her home at 9.30am and she is full of beans and playing! Therefore we have come to the conclusion that Sheba loves her vet family so much she acts like a monster to stay there for cuddles with them all!

Sheba has been an amazing dog from day 1, and our only wish is that we had her from a puppy. No one knows the true age of Sheba other than that she was chipped in 2005 and she was already an adult dog then. She is like our little mystery dog and really enjoys keeping us busy! She has the best and busiest life going all over Great Britain from numerous beaches, to lakes and walks and boat rides. She takes everything in her stride and adores the attention she receives. If she was human she would definitely be one of those stuck up old ladies with her nose in the air, bossing her little servants around! She truly is the luckiest dog and the love she has around her is never ending! When she's not at the vets she is causing mayhem, walking with the family or trying to steal food from the bin! Her main loves in life are sitting in her pram with the wind in her face licking ice cream off my fingers. We really couldn't love her any more if we tried!









Today in the life of Sheba...

A Sheba Day....


Usually we would do a typical day in the life of Sheba, but just recently there hasn't been a typical day and every day has been very different! Today is the best day she has had in a very long time, so we are making every second count!

Sheba has gone 2 days seizure free if she doesn't have any for the rest of the day and we are so so incredibly happy! Seeing her run through the long grass in the sunshine completes me and seeing her tail wagging with happiness makes all the tears and the appointments worth while!

Last night she awoke 3 times and had 3 drinks in the night.  She was awake this morning when I got home at 7am and was very excited for cuddles under the duvet! We had a workman coming at 9am so we had a little cuddle then we got up for some breakfast. Sheba absolutely loves her food and will eat anything except vegetables! She had some bran flakes and warm milk with her fresh water. She also stole some of my toast and sat looking starving whilst Arthur ate his breakfast too.


After breakfast we do shebas medications and she is so good she will sit and wait for them all and absolutely loves her Oralade which helps the nutrients in her body. Arthur however will run away and hide even though he's not the one having the medicine! As the sun is shining today we have been in the garden cutting the grass and Sheba has been lay out in the garden sunbathing. With her age and her fur being shaved I always put suncream on her just incase her little skin burns.

After the mammoth task of cutting the grass and Sheba having a mooch after our tortoise Cedric (she likes to sniff his bum until he's made to hide under the bushes) we decided we would go to the museum and let Arthur and Sheba have a good sniff around the sensory garden. We absolutely love going because it gets all their senses working and it's such a beautiful place to be. It was nice and quiet so Arthur got to run off his lead and Sheba tootled behind in her own time.

After such a busy morning they have some lunch of turkey and salmon mixed with some freshly steamed rice and it's their nap time. This means I finally get to tidy up all their toys and get some laundry done! Usually all of shebas jumpers and their 4 beds!


Sheba and arthur have their dinner about 7pm which will usually be chicken mixed with rice and vegetables which is hilarious watching sheba spit out all her carrots. It really is like having a naughty toddler! They will then take themselves up to bed about 10pm and will sleep through till 7am with Arthur at my feet and Sheba sharing my pillow! Jen understands she will always take a backseat when it comes to Sheba!!!! :-)

This is a good day and these happen more than the bad days. A good day is when sheba doesn't have to go to the vets and appears pain free! We like these days a lot and make the most of them as tomorrow could be completely different!







Thursday 27 June 2019

When is the right time?



Getting the timing right... 

Getting the time right is a task we do on a daily basis without thinking too hard about it. Sometimes we are early, sometimes we are late. But when its your dogs life in the balance, this time has to be the precise moment, not too early but also not too late. We have been in conversation with our vet Laura, who is mentioned in a lot of our blogs, about Sheba's life and when the right time is, but unfortunately that answer is never going to be a simple straightforward one. Laura has known us for a few years now, looking after our other pets Arthur, Cedric and some of our hamsters also. She is the only person other than Jen that I trust with Sheba and we feel that is so important as she's involved in so many of her life decisions, care and treatments.

Today Sheba's day started not that great and she found basic tasks such as walking and drinking a huge effort. After taking her to the vets and seeing Laura, who agreed with Sheba not being her usual self, we decided bloods would be a sensible option. People who know me know I despise taking tablets and in my whole 26 years of life I've not taken any tablets. Sheba however is on 10 tablets and medications which worries me a lot. I like to treat her as naturally as possible to ensure the medication contraindications are minimalised.

 

The most important thing to myself and Jen is giving Sheba a dignified, pain free death as possible. It will never be an easy decision but we would never keep her alive for our own selfish benefit. I can say when she does eventually pass that we tried everything possible for her,
and she was the most loved dog in the world.  After receiving her blood results back today and having a noticeable decline, we are still not going to give up on this beautiful girl and going to see how far we can take her with the medications. If Sheba was consistently unwell and was deteriorating each day, the decision would be so easy. However Sheba is like day and night on an hourly basis and this afternoon she has gone back to the dog we know and love, running around the garden and chasing her brother Arthur.

Moving forward with Sheba we are now going to stop her anti-convulsant medication and try her on a new boosting medication to see if we can maintain the quality of her life. As mentioned previously when Sheba is well, she truly has the best dog life in the world. Knowing we have the full support of our vet and knowing they are there when Sheba needs fluids or just to reassure us makes us feel so much better and we are so incredibly lucky. Tomorrow is a new day and we are hoping Sheba will have the best weekend in the sunshine!...






Wednesday 26 June 2019

Sheba Dramatics


Sheba dramatics of the day!




As mentioned in our first blog, Sheba is susceptible to Seizures and they have been becoming more frequent as the time goes on. Sheba is currently on 10 different medications and she absolutely rattles! I keep a detailed record of all her medications, Heart rate, respiratory rate and other observations so we can notice differences in her presentations.

Today I went into our vets to get Sheba's anti-sickness medication ordered. I left her in the car for approximately 3 minutes and in this time she had managed to climb onto the front seat and was in mid seizure when I got back to the car. She appeared unresponsive and floppy so I quickly picked her up and ran back into the vets with her. She was seen immediately by one of the vets and she came round quite quickly as per usual. This however does not make it any easier in the slightest and by the time we had gotten home, she has already had another seizure in the car and I was ready to have a breakdown! Sheba takes everything in her stride and came home as if nothing has happened, ready for her breakfast after her busy morning!


Luckily we have had a more settled afternoon with her falling asleep with me and both having a small but very well deserved nap. She sleeps right next to me in bed and usually falls asleep with me singing to her. Yes she is incredibly spoilt and is treated like a new born baby, but we really don't know how long we have left with her, therefore making every day count.





Tuesday 25 June 2019

Shebas likes and dislikes

Sheba's main loves in life!


Anybody who knows sheba will know that she will certainly show you how she's feeling. Whether that is a good or bad mood, she certainly isn't shy in showing this. We have quickly got to learn her likes and dislikes and her little funny ways and these are what we love about her the most!




Since she was not really taken for walks with her previous owner and now that we take her for miles and miles of walks, as soon as she hears the word mentioned she cries with excitement which I can only say makes my heart swell with joy. She absolutely loves being outside and even though she has her pram and k9 sport sack, the feel of the air on her face is so refreshing for her.

Sheba loves Disney music! when Sheba has been poorly in recent months we have started to play her Disney music which has really calmed her down. singing to her or playing colours of the wind and a whole new world make her relax and fall asleep gently and we have found this music therapy has helped with her seizures to relax and calm her after each one.


 We are absolutely in love with the fact that the


 vets play this music to Sheba also and sing to her 
, we can leave her there knowing that she is loved and cared for just as much as she is at home.




She absolutely loves chocolate. We have learnt this the hard way. Where there is chocolate there is a sheba. We assumed sheba has hearing and sight difficulties but I could open a chocolate bar downstairs and she will come running from upstairs to find this! Over Easter she hunted out of a closed cupboard 12 creme eggs with her naughty brother and demolished the lot. Much to ours and our vets amusement sheba was not phased by this and even after being vomit induced she still tried to eat an Easter egg when we got home the same day!!!

Sheba adores me! I cannot be out of the room for 5 seconds before she comes running and looking around for me. The feeling is definitely mutual and I think we both have some sort of separation anxiety from each other! After being her main carer whilst jen is working away a lot, we do spend a lot of time together and truly have the best bond a dog and owner could possibly have.

Sheba loves her brother Arthur so much and is incredibly protective over him. Not too long ago Arthur was poorly with a 24 hour sickness bug, Sheba did not leave his side and lay next to him all day. When we are out and a dog barks at Arthur she will stand Infront of him and sometimes bark back, which is hilarious when it's a huge rottweiler and she has no fear!






Monday 24 June 2019

Welcome to the world of Sheba


The life of Sheba... :-)

The background of Sheba and where we are today!


So we have decided to set up a blog for our beautiful 16 year old Jack Russell; Sheba. we want to record all the amazing things she does to make us smile and laugh on a daily basis, but also the times we have to leave her at the vets and make tough decisions regarding her little life.

So firstly a little bit about how Sheba ended up in our family. We saw an advert on Facebook saying a dog free to a good home; which will later come back to haunt us as there is definitely nothing free about this dog!!! We already had Arthur who was 11 months old at the time and it wasn't an easy decision. We thought this beautiful elderly dog could end up in very incapable hands, so at 11pm on April 1st 2016, little Sheba was dropped off to us and she instantly became our family. From day 1 me and Sheba have had the best bond imaginable and now we are almost inseparable 3 years later. People laugh at us and say where there is a Rebecca there's a Sheba not too far behind!

We quickly got to learn that Sheba hadn't been mistreated but more over loved and had been fed sweets and foods not really suitable for a dog by an elderly gentleman who had dementia and had tried his best for her. Straight away we started her on a more appropriate diet and got her walking up to 3 miles per day. These were the early days and since then her health has declined and she now can walk up to about 3 or 4 miles per week. we are both participating in a charity walk in September which is 6 miles, this will be an incredible achievement for Sheba!


Sheba is a little monster dog who likes to keep us on our toes! She has Kidney disease,
abnormalities in her abdomen, thyroid issues, and just recently started to have seizures amongst many more undetected  conditions. Does this stop Sheba from doing anything she likes? it certainly does not! She is the rule setter in our home and what she wants, she gets.

As this is the first post we can not leave out the people who allow us to have Sheba at home with us comfortably. Our vet Laura, there really are no words that describe how much this girl means to our family. She has given us something that no amount of money could ever buy, a dog who is in minimal pain and is managing incredibly well. She has given Sheba back a life that she's possibly never had before and for us that means the absolute world. The diagnostics, the treatments, the comforting words, the ups and the downs, the numerous phone calls and appointments, we are consistently greeted with top class care which makes our life so much happier. The vet team as  a whole have taken Sheba's care to a whole new level. We are there so often all the staff are now Sheba's 'Aunties' and she absolutely adores each and everyone of them. Not to mention the fusses and cuddles she gets from her favourite Aunties.. Aunty Rachel and Aunty Danni! Rachel and Danni not only provide Sheba with amazing care and attention but they have been an incredible emotional support when I'm flapping about Sheba, and now I don't see them as a client care co-ordinator, but as a friend. We will never be able to thank them all enough for their hard work each and every day.



This picture is very significant to us as the first picture is on the first day we had Sheba and the second picture is a few weeks ago. We can tell in her eyes how happy she is and what a different dog she has become. We try to give her the best life possible and right up until the end she will always be the centre of our lives.



Sheba's World

Sheba's Best and worst moments.... Having sheba with us for 3 years has been like a rollercoaster. Many many good times, but also so...