MEET "THE" GIZMO March 2004 - present
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Gizmo was found on Mother's Day in 2004. We were on our way to my mother's house when my husband saw her trotting down the footpath, no owner no collar. Hubby was driving so he stopped the car. |
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I jumped out and started to call her but she was very frightened, and ran off. All in all I was following her round for 25 minutes, during which time I went into a shop and bought some Smako's. |
| When I came out I had lost her, got back in the car and drove down the road again and spotted her going down an alleyway. Here I was joined by another lady who helped me. Gizmo ran off and I lost her. The woman and I looked for her but couldn't;'t see her. |
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I was just about to give up, but just walked so I could see the front of the next house, and there she was eating the bread off the floor that was for the birds. She looked up and ran off, away from me, straight towards a man coming the other way. |
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I shouted and asked him to block her way, and he did, she turned and ran towards the other woman who also blocked her way. Now we had her trapped. She ran up a corner by someone's front door, and just sat there. |
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She was panting and very scared, we surrounded her and stopped her from escaping. I picked her up and she tried to bite me, but, as I found out later, her teeth were in such poor condition that it hurt her to bite hard. |
| I thanked the lady and man for their help, and took her back to the car. Here I sat in the back and offered her some Smako. She ate it and then the tail started to wag and she jumped all over me licking my face. |
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We reported her to the police, but said we would keep her for the 28 days, if no one claimed her we were going to keep her. If you look at the first picture you will see that she was in very poor condition, and in season. |
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As it was a Sunday, when we got her home first we had to shave off all the matted fur, then we gave her a warm bath, and dried her. She had no fur on her ears or hind legs and tail, her skin was black, we thought at first it was dirt, but it wouldn't wash off. We went to the pet shop and bought a collar, lead, coat and a high protein food for her. We waited for a phone call from the police to say that someone had reported a dog gone missing that fitted her description, luckily for us no one did, so she was ours. Vet visit. We went to Scotland, and her we booked her in to be spade and to have her teeth cleaned. Unfortunately the vet said he would rather not spay her so close to her finishing a season, but he did the dental and cleaned her teeth. We said that seeing as she would be back in a few months to be spayed we asked the vet to leave her teeth in, even if they appeared loose, to see if we could get the gums growing back. (Due to a very bad diet for a long time, her gums were black and extremely receded from her teeth.) Fine said the vet. We went to pick her up and he said that he would have pulled all her front teeth, he did "pull" one, it fell out we he opened her mouth, but as she was going back it would be good if we could get her gums to start to recover. |
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Gizmo fitted in really well, the only problem was that we were not used to such a small dog! She weighed 3kg when we found her, vets advice was around 4kg. She was eating about 50-70gm of food a day. |
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My shepherds were eating 500-600gm a day! She put on weight, the fur started to grow back on her ears, legs and tail. Then time for Scotland again, to get her spayed and for them to check on her teeth. |
| The babygrow on the right was to stop her chewing her stitches out. The vet told us that there had been a small problem when they got her out the vet cage to give her the anesthetic, she had a fit. |
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No not a medical fit, but she was snapping and going wild, (the terrier in her) they had to put her back in the cage to settle down. The next time they were prepared. She didn't stand a chance. |
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Gizmo was recovering really well, not only from her operations but from malnourishment, so in 2005 I decided to take her dog training, a new experience for me with such a small dog. She loved it!!
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The trainers would (and still do) make a big fuss of her, and she passed beginners first time and even came second. She went into Intermediate, worrying for me, as how do you teach such a little dog the retrieve! |
| We had a few months to work it out. Over winter on walks with Gizmo she was great, then the snow came. She didn't like it because in her long fur around her legs the snow collected in balls and turned to ice, making her very cold. |
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So we brought this suit, she was not impressed, it was the smallest we could get, but the legs were still to long and I had to cut them down. I think she wore it once! She did not like it one little bit and wouldn't run round in it. |
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So the coat went. So we brought this little twin set, a red jumper and a bomber jacket. She only wears the jumper in the snow or if it's very cold. Even so the snow still collects around her legs, as you can see on the right. |
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So I cut the fur on her legs, and she was fine. (Not that we get snow that often anyway) But she no longer jumps up us to pick her up because she's cold. She runs round with the rest. |
Gizmos training was going very well, not only did she pass Intermediate but she came first! Now she is in Advanced class. She still loves it, gets fuss off the trainers, and Monday nights when it's time to leave she runs round like a lunatic. She is a very easy dog to train, especially if you have treats. She is very treat oriented, and very clever, she learns fast and is eager to please.
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This was Gizmo, all fluffy with long hair, bit of a pain to brush her as if you hit a knot she would snarl and chew your hand. Luckily although her gums are recovering it has taken three years but she still can't bite very hard! So her fur was getting too long, so we decided to treat her to a professional groomer. A few minutes later and she was skinned! (see right) |
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| It's now early December 2007, All doggies doing well. I set off for work on Monday 10th December as usual. Half way through the morning I get a call to tell me that hubby is taking a Gizmo to the vet because she is losing blood from both ends. Vet gives medication and says if she can stay hydrated she can stay at home, if not she will have to go into the vets for fluid therapy. |
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I arrive home at around 4 pm. Gizmo not looking very well, but thankfully is drinking, but then she starts to bring back the water. We phone the vets they say to take her in, but we ask will she be monitored overnight? "No there is no nurse or vet on duty overnight, so she will be alone in a cage. If you want 24 hour care then you will have to take her to another vets that we have an arrangement with." That's where we are taking her then. |
Arrive at emergency vets, Gizmo is taken away for drip to be put in (by this time the poor dog has had dozens of needles, feels extremely ill, so she is not happy. We report to the reception, ask what happens now? “Gizmo will be put on a drip and monitored over night, a vet will appraise the situation in the morning, we will contact you after vet rounds at 8 am.” says the nurse.
By 10 am no phone call, I am at work, husband at home, gets fed up and telephones the vet, "Oh yes we are just getting her ready to transport back to your vet." "Has she been seen by a vet to check her stability for travel?" asks hubby. "No, we are just sending her back to your vet." After much pleading with the nurses, saying that it was not in the best interest of Gizmo to keep being passed backwards and forwards in her condition, they said they would get the vet to ring him. At this point my husband phoned me at work, unfortunately I was out of my office and he left a message saying what was going on. I left work immediately to go to the vets to find out what was happening. During which time the vet phoned my husband to say they had checked with the local vet and it would be best to leave Gizmo with them. During this time I myself arrived at the vet, was asked to take a seat and that the vet would be with me soon. During my wait a transport van arrived, a man came in and asked for Gizmo Davis to take back to the local vet, the nurse said "OK, I'll just go and fetch her." I stood up and said that Gizmo was not going anywhere, that I was waiting to see the vet to sort things out. Nurse and driver were both shocked, driver went and sat in his car, waiting. Ten minutes later I was called into a room to see the vet, she had Gizmo with her, looking very ill, but the drips had been removed. At this point I did not know that the vet had already agreed with my husband to keep Gizmo. The vet explained the fact that she had agreed to keep Gizmo. If this was the case then why had they removed her drip? Why was the transport man waiting outside? "Oh, is he?”. She called to a nurse and asked her to tell the driver there was no transport needed. I asked what the next step was. "I will now examine Gizmo and we will put her back on fluids and do some tests." "Does this mean that she was here on fluid therapy from 7 pm last night and you have not assessed her yet?" "Yes said the vet, we just usually monitor them and send them back to the referring vets for tests." I was not at all happy with this situation, they now have to reinsert the drip that they removed, even though they had already agreed to keep her. This is not very caring for the small dog, they would have shipped her between the 2 vets each evening and morning if we hadn’t stopped them! Check your vet is a “Veterinary Hospital”, if they’re not, ask them what they do if your pet has to stay overnight!
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Anyway, she was in the vets for 3 nights and four days, on drips constantly, lots of drugs, had a camera down her stomach, biopsies on stomach lining, bowels etc. On the Friday of that week we were able to bring her home. It took another 3-4 days before she was eating normally. She was on chicken for several days. When the results came back they were all clear, it seems she had a very bad gastro enteritis bug. |
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The following summer we took a great deal of care of our "little one". On the beach in Scotland if she got tired we would put her in her carry bag and carry her. She would let us know when she wanted to go down again.
In November 2008 we took her for the third dental, here they removed another 5 teeth, as her gums are still not supporting them very well.
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We are pleased to say that in January 2009 she is her old self, still biting crystal and having fun on walks.
More to follow. |
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