Didz's Sixteenth Summer

29/11/2024

We've now finished our challenge, we're calling it 20 miles (over 29 days). You might've seen a clip where didz has a little bit of a limp - he's absolutely fine, he's been checked out and has been resting ever since. His Librela is working well. His 6 weeks of antibiotics worked well and his kidney food has been a gamechanger. He'd lost a lot of weight, and has gained muscle and strength again from his gentle walks over the past month.

I hope you know I would have stopped at mile 1, if he had needed to. Didz has been the leader of this. Not once have I had to tempt or encourage him. We mooched. Mooching is what he does, and what he will do for as long as he is physically able!

He's asking to go out for a mooch right now in fact 😂 it's cold and dark!

Got my first real taste of internet hate today on a clip of him where I realised he'd got a limp at the end of our last walk. Doesn't feel good. Please, for the love of dog, if you see anything you don't like on the internet remember there's a real person with real feelings behind it! There is absolutely no need. Nothing achieved by it either, apart from me now just feeling sick and awful for no reason.

So this is all now friends only. People are asshats.

19/10/2024

wonder boy
Sometimes I just have a lil cry about how special he is

18/10/2024

wise..so wise he can eat his way through very finely snipped bits of chicken and tiny kibbles and avoid the 'palatable' antibiotic tablet...

04/10/2024

£££££££😭. (He's worth it!)
We have now confirmed that he has stage 2 kidney disease, and [something] nephritis (inflammation of kidneys). He's got antibiotics coming in the post, and some lovely new food being delivered tomorrow. I hope he likes it because oh my gosh it's so much more expensive 🫰 (he's worth it!)
He also has an extreme case of cuteness disease it's a problem 😍
Speaking of kidneys, we are raising funds for Kidney Research UK in memory of my Grandad and my Uncle Neil who passed away aged just 26 of kidney disease. Click here to donate! https://keith-davison2.muchloved.com/

30/09/2024

His mobility 💕💕💕

19/09/2024

None of the children in my life will believe Didz is A Little Bit Bluey.
But it's true! His mum was half Australian Cattle Dog!

19/09/2024

2nd Librela injection today!

I've been worried a lot this past month. There were some skin patches that didn't smell good (now cleared up). There were nights with the most horrendously stinky p*e, I was convinced his kidneys were giving up. But no - today, other than the occasional old man tremor, he's fine.

He's still enjoying his food and millions of treats, and has gained a bit of healthy weight in fact ✅
Interested in life, walks, smells ✅
Not incontinent ✅ (as in, it's not trickling out of him, needing to go more often doesn't count)
Not coughing all the time, or panting when he shouldn't be, not refusing to get up ✅

he's still going. Didz's sixteenth (seventeenth) "Indian summer"!

19/09/2024

stealing myrtle's bed

19/09/2024

he doesn't see the fuss about the new shower tbh

17/09/2024

a little lunchtime snoof aboot

31/08/2024

Shotgun

24/08/2024

The wind and rain and cold are creeping in. Pumpkin spice lattes are back in the shops. Didz's sixteenth (seventeenth) summer is coming to an end... 🍂🍁🌰🍄🍃🥮🍁🍂
The vague plan... was actually to let him go in the autumn. But:

1. he still loves life and hanging out with his people
2. He's not getting up through the night for a wee at the moment, or having problems with urgency like he was
3. He's still engaged, active, interested
4. While he has bad teeth and the occasional cough/acid reflux, he only actually has arthritis in one hip, and no neurological problems
5. He still loves his food and treats

So we are keeping on keeping on - and we had a visit to the vets this morning to try a monthly medication for arthritis called Librela. Hopefully this will keep him comfy and as active as he is for a bit longer!

19/08/2024

A week with Rupert, Humphrey and Winston 🥰

03/08/2024