If you have a problem with your Scottie please email me and it will be placed on the noticeboard for members to reply to (please state whether you want your  email address to appear on the notice) alternatively replies can come through merescotties.

email  David Kennerley    merescotties@aol.com

April 26th 2008

As I write this my heart is breaking as is my daughters, we were mum and sister to our wonderful Midge. We only had her for 12 days but the joy and love we felt for that little bundle of rags was second to none. Unfortunately she had a tumour no one could have known about. We will miss her dreadfully. Sandra Weir has been an angel from the time we got her until the the time she died. I had the great privileged to be with her at the end. I know she is safe now and although her life with us was short, we have had the best 12 days with her anyone could give us. Our introduction to STECS has been very sad, but we know there will be another Midge waiting for us. Thank you to Cath, Sandra for giving us this wonderful yet sad opportunity to STECS. We look forward to our next dog and our lovely Midge will always be with us.
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Message from STECS ONLINE
name: Pauline Box
email: boxeez@aol.com

message: I have just found your website and love it.  We lost our little scottie "Molly" on Tuesday and are still getting over the shock.  Please can you warn all of your members that if their little dogs have cystitis symptoms i.e. blood in urine to visit their vet and insist on an x-ray.  We found out too late - we had Molly at the vets almost weekly for three months where they were treating her for various ailments and only when I mentioned that scottie dogs are prone to bladder cancer did they do an x-ray.  They found a massive growth in her chest that was fast growing and attached to most of her major organs.  We did the hardest thing of all and let her go, I would not want this to happen to any other owner. We still have her little mate called Lulu with us but she is confused and lost as she cant understand why Molly is no longer around.  Can anyone offer any helpful tips to help Lulu get over the loss of her friend?

SOME ADVICE FOR OWNERS 

OF MORE THAN 1 SCOTTIE

When the sad time comes and 1 animal from the pack dies (this includes if you have dogs, cats and other pets together). Please let the surviving animals see the dead one (you can lay the animal in it's basket or wrap it in a blanket).

Just stand quiet and leave the animals to go and say their goodbyes. you will be amazed how they react, by doing this the surviving animal understands what has happened to its friend and will carry on with life. This eliminates the risk of the surviving animal going off its food and becoming depressed.

Please also allow the pet to grieve for its owner too if they die, do the same, allow the animal to see the body (undertakers do allow you to take a dog to the chapel of rest if the dog is upset and pining)              CATH MARCHBANK

How much do you love your pet? 

Enough to give it the best possible chance of returning home if they should ever go missing or get stolen. I am talking about getting pets collar tagged, micro-chipped or even tattooed.  Why is it so important these days to take these steps to protect them?  STECS has over the course of time been kind enough to feature the organisation doglost.co.uk to bring to our members attention the fact that a Scottie has gone missing.  Now increasingly it is can be observed on the dog lost site that all breeds of dogs are being stolen or are going missing and have no identification on them.  So often the police, dog wardens and animal charities are frustrated by the fact that without proper identification on the dogs the chances of a reunion with the owners in many cases can be very slim.  A dog turning up at a rescue kennel without proper identification has such a short time there before the kennel can legally put it up for re-homing if the owner does not turn up to claim it. If dogs could talk these measures would not be necessary.  An up to date tag, microchip, or tattoo is the only way they can talk. What ever the cost involved, its a small price to pay for peace of mind.

thanks to Cynthia Orrey for the above article

For missing Scotties see  doglost.co.uk 

Cherry pip warning - danger to dogs

I just wanted to let you know about our Labrador and her experience of cyanide poisoning a few weeks ago.

The cause was cherry pips from our tree which Tilli had chewed and eaten in our garden. We estimate the ground up pips were fermenting in her gut for about a week, by which time she had become lethargic, stopped eating and vomited copious amounts of phlegm.

Our vet first thought she had a heart condition as her heart rate was irregular. She was severely dehydrated and so an infusion was started but x-rays showed no abnormality with her heart. Our vet rang around and surfed the internet looking for answers. Finally the poison unit at Guys gave a diagnosis of cyanide poisoning, as it is found in ground up cherry pips. After receiving the antidote and spending the night at our vets, I am relieved to say Tilli made a full recovery and after a few weeks was back to her normal self. I thought your members should know of the potential risk.

Reproduced by permission of 

Jan West and Burns Pet Nutrition 

PS It would appear that cyanide is present in most fruit pips inc apple, pear, plum and peach - DK

STECS Member offers qualified and fully insured carpet and upholstery cleaning service

in the Widnes Runcorn area ring 0151 423 2419 

or 07961 995241 Alan Kirwan

AN IMPORTANT ARTICLE FROM MARGARET & GERRY MORRIS

Earlier last year we had a problem with our girl Fliss which turned out to be a very frightening and worrying experience, We had all been for a lovely walk one Sunday up on the coast at Hunstanton Norfolk , it had rained and we had taken refuge in a shelter for a few minutes we continued our walk and then returned home. Shortly after we got home we found Fliss lying outside under one of the bushes like a little dead thing, hardly breathing very hot and not moving. We rushed her to the vets and she was immediately put on a drip and given injections to try to help her breathing and temperature. She was on the the drip for three days and three night at the vets hospital. At first we could not get her to eat very much when we brought her home, but within 24 hrs she was suddenly back to her normal self, thank goodness. No cause for her condition was diagnosed and as you can imagine we watched her like hawks!!!

Three months later on the same walk we had cause to stop in the same shelter and the same thing happened again, and Fliss was again put back on the drip. Again no cause was found.. We started thinking what if she had picked up something on the walk, that she had licked or sniffed at, not that we were aware of her doing anything wrong at all. As you might guess we never go on that walk anymore and have no recurrence of what happened, thank goodness. We have some very good friends who live in Portsmouth who have a rescue boy called Barney and he went down in the same way as Fliss with all the same symptoms, and was given the same treatment as was Fliss and in a few days he was up and about just as though nothing had happened. Again no cause was found.

We asked our friends if the walks were anywhere that youngsters gathered at night and were possible drug taking areas, they replied yes , which coincided with our finding about the place we had stopped for shelter both times. We have concluded that if, when we were in these areas, there had been traces of Crystal or foil that had been used by drug users it would only take a lick and a couple of hours of time for a dog large or small to go down with the effect and without proper treatment we , or you would lose one of your little ones…….. What a hell of a world we live in.