Monday, April 14, 2014

Meg's Muzzle Puzzle

Joan I thought I'd better explain to you and others about Meg and her muzzle.

Meg never wore a muzzle until late last year when her blood tests where all over the place, our vet asked if we had been feeding her different - we said no but we cannot regulate what she finds and eats outside so from that time we put the muzzle on - 

Now all the people we meet and walk with know that Meg is first and foremost a well loved part of our family, she unfortunately has epilepsy sad but not the end of the world, she is well and the epilepsy is well controlled, the seizures seem to have got less has she has aged and we are now lowering her drugs very slowly, now the drugs she has been on most of her life have side effects - dangerous ones that compromised the liver function and other organs, yet with careful feeding and adding certain herbs she has maintained reasonable health & fitness, one of the other bad side effects is a constant feeling of hunger, humans can be told this but a dog sees something to eat and gulps it down, Meg has always eaten horrible obnoxious objects whilst out on her walks and runs, she was also sick quite a few times a year - we put it down to this eating whilst out, we did our best to stop her but it's not easy to stop a dog as they tend to swallow things whole, anyway to cut this tale short the muzzle has been a blessing she has lost a bit of weight - So the chief rules for Meg are diet & drugs have to be kept constant changes can alter the balance, if we change something it is very slowly.

Meg on the beach last year - typical Spaniel nose down, tail up.

We do get the occasional look when we meet someone for the first time - I suppose they think fighter or mad dog, but we soon put them right about the muzzle and Meg well she is only really interested in putting her nose to the ground and tail in the air looking for the next good smell as all good spaniels do they want to work and that's what she does. Occasionally she finds a ball in the woods or grass so we take the muzzle off so she can have a play but she soon tires of that and returns to her old ways, the muzzle has to go back on and all is well with the world - does it bother Meg ? perhaps a little but her main objective is to smell every inch of the ground and find game, she's good and many pheasants, rabbits and wildfowl have been flushed by that nose, if we had been of the hunting persuasion we would have been well fed by her efforts.

As some one once said about Meg "she's a babe" you now what she is.


1 comment:

  1. Thank you for explaining! She is such a beautiful, happy looking dog, I'm glad the muzzle doesn't bother her much.

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