Anyone who follows this blog knows that I have always loved the sunrises over the valley. I have shared them often with you, the photo above is todays sunrise and I promised more in one of my recent posts, I hadn’t forgotten.
At this time of year the winds can whip up quickly in the valleys, but despite their ferocity at times I have always loved laying in bed with my beloved husband and Welshies and listen to them whooshing around the house. and more than anything I love to hear the rain hitting the drawn down shutters. I lay in bed with all my blessings around me and I listen to that rain and I feel safe, and blessed to have shelter. It is a small thing to some, but living here listening to that calming sound has made me understand that it’s not a small thing, it’s the thing that people search for: a home, safety, love.
This week we were reminded again, to live in the here and now. Harley has been a little off colour over the past few weeks, and I noticed he was drinking more, and he had some accidents in the house. On Friday he literally wet himself in front of us, so I took him to the vet on Saturday morning. The outcome was that they wanted to test him for ‘Cushings’ disease. Of course I had already looked up possibilities of what could be wrong with him, and I knew that this possible outcome was not good. Harley is nine now, and I want him to live forever (tears in my eyes now.)
We booked the test for today, and we cried all day on Saturday, and I just kept saying my mantra ‘here and now, here and now’ over and over again.
I joined numerous Facebook groups to ask for advice. The outpouring of support from those sites, and our wonder Welsh Terrier Fan Club site was overwhelming. In these difficult times it was a joy to know that people are still good people, it appears thats especially where our beloved animals are concerned.
Our vet is a lovely vet, but he is an agricultural vet primarily and after much discussion, taking into account that many people who have had to deal with this disease advised to have his urine tested in a lab and a culture grown, that we are moving to Ireland in ten weeks approx, the complexity of dealing with the disease (if he has it) and the complexity of diagnosis (get it wrong and give him the meds with terrible side effects and it could kill him), and that he would have to be monitored we decided not to go ahead with the test. We feel that for now we have made the right choice. It would appear that Harley does too, as he has stopped drinking as much and has perked right up.
So that will be something to keep my eye on, because we have approximately forty days before we have to leave this house, and there is still so much to do.
A bientot.
Rosie
Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com 
So sorry to hear that you are having to deal with a possible Cushing’s diagnosis for Harley at the same time with all the stress of packing and moving. That’s hard for everyone. You do have the right outlook in treasuring every good moment (and those gorgeous country sunrises!).
Our Cairn terrier was diagnosed with Cushing’s when she was about 12 1/2, and lived happily to 15 with properly calibrated doses of Vetoryl. It was expensive, about 100 euros a month, but she was just like her old self once we had the dosage right.
As you know, it’s very important to monitor the amount of medication in the first weeks and months to be sure it is enough to reduce or eliminate symptoms, but not too much.
Sounds as if you have already tapped into a good network for advice on FB. At the risk of giving you information overload, you may also want to have a look at some of the natural supplements mentioned in this good short article: https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/natural-solutions-for-cushings-disease/.
If your vet concurs, starting Harley on some natural supplements and/or stress relieving supplements like melatonin may be helpful for him until you are resettled in Ireland and can see a vet for testing and monitoring there. Best wishes to you all.
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Oh Ellen, thank you thats really useful. You have probably picked up that meds are not always the way for me, and I have been reading a lot of people use supplements which I was going to look into. I am not convinced re Cushings, and am leaning more to possibly Addisons, as he gets cold easily now. I am also pretty sure it is a urine infection, our vet said not, but many have told me that really we need to ask for it to be sent to a lab for a culture. He isn’t drinking as much, and hasn’t urinated in the house now for just under a week. Those on the Cushings site have steered me toward getting his urine checked again, because as they say symptoms of Cushings don’t ‘come and go.’ I will read hat you have sent me, and we are going to keep an eye on it. Thank you so much. ❤️
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[…] am surrounded by sleeping Welshies and RD snoring away, and after our scare last weekend I have again been reminded to only ever live in the here and […]
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