A Facebook memory tells me that a year ago Loki was starting with Gillian at Paws For Fitness in Caernarfon. Wow, and look at him now! I still believe that after his second collapse in September that something moved to a slightly less precarious position, that along with his ongoing treatment and the change of medication gave Loki his life back. A non dog person seeing him would not consider that he had any problems now, he just looks a little untidy, but of course we see it.
When Loki started on the steroids last September he was getting 25mg a day, he altered so quickly on them, it seriously was a lifeline. Now he gets a quarter of one of these tablets every other day, I really think that is the baseline. He's well, and the dose is no longer dangerously high for long term use. He is still extremely hungry, he even eats a carrot at bedtime now, previous to this, like his father, he never did eat any vegetables. The only negative aspect to the steroids is that they have damaged his coat quality. He now has a poor coat, well when you compare it to what he did have anyway, it's dry and coarse, and he seems to constantly be moulting. Ah well looking at the bigger picture, it's nothing to worry about really is it.
Every day, we do appreciate how lucky we are to still have Loki here with us. I've said numerous times that had the second collapse happened any day but Sunday then it's likely we would have rushed to the vets and called it a day - scary thought. Sadly a lot of Loki's siblings have already gone, a bitch to cancer, a brother died in his sleep overnight, another brother died about a year ago, and one other bitch was also struggling with her mobility early on, I don't know if they were able to help her. Two health tested parents, both who lived to a reasonably good age, but something in the genetics just didn't seem to work, it proves that no matter how much you try and get it right, it doesn't always work out for all the progeny.
