MY IZZIE I wasn’t looking for another dog - and then I met Izzie. I work in the vet unit and she came through our doors on Feb 23 last year, a black cross-Beardie stray with a coat so neglected that we had to tackle it straight away; it was lucky we had Collette’s grooming experience at our service. We were all very impressed at Izzie’s patience over the several hours that it took to remove 20% of her body weight in matted hair – the tangles in her coat were so dense that nothing could get it in so she didn’t have a single flea, and nothing could get out so she couldn’t defecate properly. Her newly released body was now moving with a freedom denied to her for some time by her rigid armour of hair, and although her wobbly legs did improve they remained stiff – we called it her ‘zombie walk’ as she moved by splaying her front legs out like a new-born foal! As soon as her seven days stray time were up, I brought my other dogs in to meet her and that evening she came home with me for the first time. She immediately made herself at home in MY place on the sofa! She was soon turfed off only to claim the armchair instead, the favourite place of one of my other dogs who, happily for family peace, surrendered it without a fuss – maybe she realised that this new waif needed it more. Unfortunately, Izzie had caught kennel cough at the dogs’ home and at the same time started bleeding and Agnieszka, our vet, suspected that she had ovarian cysts. In addition, a blood test showed that she was suffering from kidney problems. She stopped eating and I had to syringe feed her but she would only take so much before stubbornly deciding she just had to go to the toilet at that moment! 1 6 N O RT H E R N TA I L S W I N T E R 2 0 1 6
Northern Tails, Feb 2016
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