CaseyKay

Gorgeous photos, I love the penguins! Whereabouts is this seal-infested waterfall? I've never heard of it and travel through Kaikoura every so often. You need to come back and get some kea photos, they are awesome birds, I could waste half a day just watching their antics.

AJ Alice Alika Alchemy Amber Amelia Amy x 2 Anais Annie x 2 Anastacia (Annie) Angel X 4 Anishinaabe Annabelle Annabella April April RIP x 2 Ari Arizona Arki Asante sana Asha Ashka Askari Ashleigh Astro Athena Aubrey Audrey Aura Ayla Baba Baci Bailey Basha Beanie Beans Becky Bella x 5 Bianca Bit Blaize Blossom Bonny x 4 (Bonnie) Bonita Brandi Brandy x 2 Bree x 2 Bridie Bronte Buffy Buttercup Cally Cara Casey Cassie Casper CC Cedar Chapparelle (pronounced Shapparelle, and shortened to Chappa (Shappa)) Chelsea Cherrie Chevy x 2 Chloe x 3 Charley Charlie Charlie-May Charlotte Chilli Choo Choo Chops Cider Cinders Cinta CJ x 2 Claire Claudia Clover Cleoparta Coco x3 CocoNut Colour (for a greyhound who's not grey!) Cookie Cossette Courtney Crystal Cristie Crupi Daisy x 2 Dallas Dancer Danika Delilah Delta Demi Dexta Diazz Didge Dinky Dixie Diva Durham Dyzney Ebony Echo Elizabeth Ella x2 Ellie Ellie x2 Emily Emilly Emma Emmy Enya Erin Esky Evie Faith Fanta Feather Feonix Finta Flame Fleur Flute Frenchie Froggy Gabbie Gabby Gael Galadriel(Gala) Gemma x 2 Genie (not exactly a girly name but I thought it suited my goldy) George Ginny Gita Glitter Goldie Grace Griffin GT Gypsy x 5 Gyrle Harlow Havarna Hayley x2 Heather Heddy Heidi x2 Holly x 6 Honeyx2 Honour Hope Imme Imogen - Imy Indi India Jade Jamie Lee Jane Jasmine x2 Jaxx Jay Jay Jazz Jazzman Jedda RIP Jelly Bean Jenna x 2 Jess x2 Jessi Jessica Jessie x 3 Jeune Jezebel x 2 Jindi Jinxy Jodie Juliet Juno Kara X 2 Kari Karma Karmen Kaos Katie x 2 Katy Kayla KC Keeta Keilani Keira Keirra Keisha Kelli Kelsey Kenzie Kibah Kiesha Kimba Kiri Kiri-Lu Kirra (agility name Kiz) Kishka (called Kish most of the time) Kitty Kizzey Krissy Kuean - (Queen) Lacey Layla x 2 Lea (lele) Leader Leia Leila Lexi x 2 Lexie Libby Lily x 3 Lizzy Lobo Logan Lola x 2 Lottie Lucia Lucky (yes, a bit tacky, but I loved her) Lucy x5 Luuka Mable Maddie x2 Maddison Maggie x3 Mallee Marie Claudette Marina Marlo Meeka Meg x 2 Meisha Merrique Mia X 3 Miekah Migaloo Milky Milla Millie x4 Mindy Minky Minnie x 2 (Mynni) Minouche Mischka Missy Missie Mistletoe Misty Mitzi Molly x 7 Molly Coddle Moochie Mung Bean Mya Nala Narla Natasha Nena Ness Nora Nyima Olivia Ollie Pagan x 2 Panda x 2 Paris Paxy Pearl Pebbles Peggie Penelope Penny x 2 Pepper x 2 Phoebe x 2 Pink Pip Pippin Piper x 2 Pixie Polly x 2 Popcorn Porridge Porscha Prada Quince Rani Razzle Reba Rebel Reno Rhoda Riki Ricky Rizzi Rogue Rommi Rosey Rosie x 2 Roxy x 2 Ruby x 4 Rumour Sabrina Sadie Saffron Safire Sahli Sally x3 Sarah Sarah Jane Sari Sascha x 2 Sasha x2 Sarsha Satu Savannah Scandal Serena Shae Shandy Shannon Sharnie Sharna Sheba Shelby Shine Siann or Cyan Sinta Sienna X 2 Skye SkySnow Sola Sooty Sophie x2 Sophia Sparkles Springy Sputnik Spook Stella x2 Stimpy X2 Storm Stussy Sue Summa Suzie x 2 Sybill Tait Tamar Tameeka Tara x 2 Tasha Tashi Taya Tayla Teegan Tess x 4 Tessa Texas Tia x 2 Tieke Tilba Tilli Tilly x3 Tinka Tinny (tin tin) Toot Tori Tully Tyra Tyneal Vada Vicki Viviane Voodoo Wandy Winter Wilhelmina Wolf Xena Xanthe Zara Zillah Zippedeedoodah Ziva x 3 Zena Zoe x 3 Zola

Awww that is so lovely Must make you so pleased that you made the right decision to get Charlie a friend!

My girl KC has epilepsy and has since was 18 months old. She is now 8 years old. She is on 2 types of medication but she is a happy active girl. I could probably increase her meds and she would have NO seizures but at the moment she has a single grand mal every 3 weeks to a month. 5 minutes out of her life a month and otherwise she is fine. She did used to cluster (like Monte) but adding a second drug miraculously changed that, it doesn't for all dogs but it did for her. Even though she is what I think is an "easy epileptic" to own, still I know some people don't understand. We walk in the evenings with a groups of friends from our neighbourhood and KC had a seizure in front of them a couple of months ago. I made sure she could not hurt herself, I timed the seizure, and that I was there to reassure her when she came around as sometimes she is frightened right after and better for her to keep lying down than get up and stagger and fall down. When she got up after about 3 minutes resting I saw the 3 people we walk with were crying. They knew she was epileptic but that was the first seizure they had seen. Grand mals are not nice, she foams a lot at the mouth, loses control of her bladder, makes a keening sort of noise at the start and of course the actual clonic part can be scary. All of them told that that was one more seizure that they ever hoped to see and that they could not cope with that. One of them helped me walk my 3 dogs home and she said if she owned KC she would have her PTS as it was "just too awful to bear". That surprised me, she sees KC almost every evening for a 1 hour plus walk and she knows KC is a happy bouncy girl with a good life, who enjoys things like hooning in the long grass paddocks and chasing hares. By the time we got home, a 5 minute walk, my girl was almost back to normal. She will be tired after a seizure and sleepy the next day and then back to normal until next time. Probably some combination of the meds and the seizures will shorten KC's life. We will deal with that when we have to. And Anne, you are a braver person than me. I love KC with all my heart and will fight for her and with her to the end but I had loved her for 18 months when she started to seizure. I could not knowingly adopt a dog with epilepsy

Oh, wow she is adorable, I think that breed is a serious contender for "cutest puppies". I hope she brings you lots of joy and Charlie enjoys his new sister.

Percyk that was a beautiful story My oldest BC girl Maddie and my teenage BC pup Gael were both chosen for me by their caring responsible breeders after I told them what I wanted in a puppy and what i wanted them for (tracking and agility). Middle girl, well she was a bit different. I wanted a second pup when Maddie was 18 months old, doing well in obedience and just starting in agilty. I was having a rough time, in the space of only a couple of months I had had a scary but non-injurious car crash hitting black ice on the highway, my Dad died after a long drawn out illness and my FIL died very suddenly and caused massive family problems. Maddie is and always was a nice easy dog but quite independant and aloof. I REALLY needed puppy cuddles at that time. Husband found an ad in the paper and took me to see some BC pups "as a surprise" to cheer me up, well that is so NOT how I do things! But anyway, they had one pup left and the Dam was shy and the pup was 10 weeks old and VERY VERY shy and also very tiny for 10 weeks and seemed a bit odd. Unfortunately she was also fluffy and gorgeous and not only was my giant sook of a husband there, my Mum was too...I spend half an hour arguing with them about why it was the wrong puppy, from the wrong parents and the wrong BREEDER (later my suspicions that this was somewhat of a BYB puppy farm were confirmed). My wishes were overidden and Puppy KC rode home on my husbands lap. He left her with me while he went out with Maddie for afternoon milking and I have NO IDEA what happened really because I was busy telling the puppy she wasn't MY puppy and I didn't even WANT her but by the time Husband got home she was sleeping on my lap and I had fallen seriously, deeply in love with her. She has had health problems (is epileptic) and is still shy, but my love and faith in her has never wavered over 8 years. She is truly my heart dog and 100% what I needed at a really rough time.

I too have a teenage puppy who occasionally drives me crazy and we have a bit of power struggle but she is always super, super cuddly girl which helps. Whereas, the oldest of my 3 border collies girls, she was a demon teenager, was a huge struggle and I never seemed to get anything from her. She grew into the most amazingly obedient, well behaved dog. I can take her anywhere and no one believes she was such a horror and even worse a disappointment to me. Hang in there, you just need to ride it out, I know how hard it is because baby puppies are such adoring cuddly creatures and then you get lumped with this giant lunatic semi-formed dog for a few months

I only had the OMG what have I done?? with one little border collie puppy. I got her, and she was our only dog at the time after our two beloved old Border collie boys had passed away ages 13 and 17 years, and not soon after, 2 years after. I was way out my depth with her and wanted to give her away about every day. She was a terrible mix of very full on and very independant, nothing I could possibly offer her was as much fun as causing chewing and digging destruction. She made me a lot. She seemed impossible to house train. I said I was never never never getting another puppy EVER again. I have never had so much trouble teaching a dog to walk on a lead as that girl, although she grew up to perform very well in obedience, agility and tracking. When she was 18 months old and starting to calm down, I got Border Girl puppy #2 and she was the sweetest, most angelic puppy who housetrained in about a day, was never destructive and just so easy and such a joy. Adding Border Girl #3 recently when #1 was 9 years and #2 was 7 years has been pretty easy. She is again the very full on sort but I just really enjoy her and the older two are so good with her. She is 7 months now. I do always warn people who get puppies it is very common to freak out every day and think they have ruined their lives...

It surprises me that people/clubs would be anti Rally O. I think it is heaps of fun and my dog and I competed successfully in obedience, agility and tracking before we started Rally O (we live in New Zealand). I like how the handler has to use their brain too, and I've more been concentrating on getting things right than trying to do it FAST ;) But hopefully get our third leg of Novice in a couple of weekends time then I might enter some Novice for fun and see if my brain can keep up at speed.

If anyone is interested in colour or hereditary disease genetics of Border collies there is a fantastic resource called Anadune Border Collie Pedigree Database (you need to email them for a log in) and you can theoretically breed border collies to your hearts content

As with all breeds, you can't breed merles to merles. As with all breeds, breeding specifically to get certain currently trendy colours is a poor reason to be breeding 2 dogs together. The most common colour black and white is a dominant colour BB or Bb. The recessive of that gene is bb (chocolate) Blue is dilute of Black, a different gene. So B- dd would be a blue and white puppy, you can also get bb dd, dilute of chocolate known as "lilac" which I have seen photos online of but not an actual real life dog, as I imagine it would be very very rare. Tri-colour, merle and "red" are different genes again. My puppy is blue and white, as a small puppy she was light-ish grey, now at 6 months she is a dark steel blue, you can mainly see the difference beside my 2 black and white girls in the sunlight.

I have fed my 2 border collies on this (the frozen variety) for about 4 years. They eat it exclusively, just have bones as well. They love it, and now puppy is on it too. I like the freeze dried stuff for taking away to shows but it is a lot more expensive than the frozen. Mine don't seem to notice the difference between the two. Frozen stuff comes in beef, chicken, lamb, venison and salmon. I've only tried the freeze dried lamb.

My retired obedience/agility/tracking Border collie and I had her first go at Rally recently (also in NZ), thought it was lots of fun and we qualified despite my worry I was going to stuff her up! Good to see all the dogs looking so happy in their work. I think it will be great for older dogs like mine, and people who aren't keen on the precision work of competitive obedience.

QUESTIONS 1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) Owner, dogs sports: agility, obedience and tracking. Grew up with BC's on a sheep farm. Have had 2 boys in the past and currently 3 girls, aged 9 years, 7 years and puppy. 2. Where and why was the breed first developed? Answered above 3. How common is it in Australia? Common 4. What is the average lifespan? 12 years? They don't seem particularly long lived for their size. 5. What is the general temperament/personality? There is always difference in temperament in all breeds I guess. I know a couple of border collies who are very laid back pets. Mine have all been the sort who will give 100% when you ask it of them, and then just like to hang out when nothing much is going on, provided they get enough exercise and brainwork. They like to be with their owners and they like to do stuff. All of my girls love people and are non-territorial, terrible watch dogs, but the boys were good watch dogs and tended to be more suspicious of strangers. I really dislike seeing overly reactive or aggressive border collies. 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? Mine get a couple of hours off lead a day, half an hour of fetch and most days some training. If it rains or snows, they still need a walk or you are going to have to amuse them inside with a game of find the toy or something. Once they are mature they might not mind missing a walk on the odd day, but I would feel too guilty if they had just stayed home all day. 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? Depends if they want to DO something with the dog, agility etc. There are easier breeds if someone just wants a nice pet that you can walk around the park once a day and then it sits on the rug while you watch TV. 8. Can solo dogs of this breed easily occupy themselves for long periods? I'm sure they can occupy themselves very well... but this might make their owners cry. Maddie as an only puppy was a digaholic on the odd occasions we left her outside, even if we were home. It's amazing how fast a small puppy can dig a hole the size of a bomb crater. I don't think they are a breed that should be left alone for long periods. Maybe if you have two, but even then, I'm not sure they would be happy in a situation of being alone for 8+ hours a day. But if they were, their owners would need to be very committed to exercising the dog before and after work and doing some brain work with them. 9. How much grooming is required? Depends on the coat, but one of mine about once a week and the others about twice a week, one of them really enjoys grooming though, so every night for her. They have a good coat where they can be horribly muddy and once they dry out the mud all falls off and they look stunning again. Don't seem to have a particularly doggy smell. 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? I would say in general yes (unless well trained). One of mine does rest home pet therapy but she is a very quiet, people orientated dog now she is 7 years old. As puppies I would say definately too boisterous for little children. 11. Are there any common hereditary problems a puppy buyer should be aware of? Yes. CL, CEA, TNS. Epilepsy seems to crop up in the breed; one of mine is epileptic. Not sure if or how that is inherited. 12. When buying a puppy, what are the things you should ask of the breeder? (eg what health tests have been done (if applicable) and what is an acceptable result to those tests so the buyer has an idea of what the result should be) Have the above health tests been done on the parents? Are they clear or if a carrier of CEA been mated to a clear? Other than that general questions one would ask a breeder of any breed about the parents and how the puppies have been raised.

KC at 12 weeks and 6 years (now)

Hi Stari, Sorry to hear about your boy. I'm also surprised the vet was so casual. A 5 minute seizure is "normal"?? BTW if he has another one, you should time it, they always seem longer than they really are. Maddie had her first seizure at the beginning of Dec last year and we took her in straight away because my main concern was toxin. She was tested for a LOT of things over the next couple of weeks. Things I never even considered would cause seizures. As for Triggers, Maddie's is definately overheating...all times she seized was was exercising when it was hot, and she has always had a problem with overheating. KC I have no idea. Occasionally stress, mostly in the beginning but they happen when she is asleep, sitting there doing nothing, chasing a ball etc etc. Over 4 years of keeping a record there is no pattern and no obvious triggers.

Maddie my older BC is seizure-free since going on Pb on the 10th January. I'm still not 100% convinced she has epilepsy. There was a lot going on there with her bloodwork and general health/appearance over Dec/Jan when she had the seizures. She has put back on the weight she lost in Dec, her coat looks much better and she is brighter and much more active. Since the weather has cooled down from a VERY hot summer she seems so much better. The vet said this could still mean she is epileptic, and is triggered over-heating. He always says there are as many kinds of canine epilepsy as there are dogs with epilepsy! We are back doing tracking again, on cooler evenings and I am careful with her. It makes her happy though. I think she will be able to compete again, probably not until winter though just to be safe. She is back competing in obedience again. KC is good, she had a seizure in mid Feb, but only one, and short and relatively minor. She has unusual sort of seizures, they aren't grand mals. She does foam at the mouth and urinate and her head makes violent jerking movements and snapping jaws. She doesn't fall down or lose conciousness. Afterwards she runs blindly around (the worst part as sometimes she yelps) and then she paces up to an hour. If she doesn't pace after, I know we are in for a cluster. Although she has been epi since March 2004 i had never witnessed a grand mal until Maddie started having them. I realise now we have it relatively easy with KC. Varicool, I'm not sure about Gluten. Both of mine are on a meat only diet (a commercially made raw diet of meat, bone, veges, fish oil etc). We found that this made KC's original ataxia much better (prior to this they were on Canidae dry food for a couple of years). They have been on this diet 18 months. She still seizes on this diet, maybe every 2-3 months.

That must have beem frightening for you Varicool! I hope Harvey is better and you can give him a hug soon. Puggles, when do you class that a seizure is status and not a very long grand mal? I thought if more than 5 minutes?

Add an update: Madds is now one month on Pb, and seizure free (yay!). She was bit wobbly for the first two weeks and then came right, and seems back to her usual self. She had her levels tested a few days ago, and they are 105 (range 88-176), this is the exact same level KC tested at just before christmas. She had some other blood work, interestingly, her white count which had been very low is back in normal range. We don't know if that means anything related to her seizures. The weather has also gotten cooler again which helps. She has put on some of the weight she lost in January, one good thing about Pb! KC had a minor seizure last week, didn't urinate and no scary post ictal just went back to sleep. I can handle that sort of seizure. Hope all the other epi dogs are going well

Okay another update. Maddie had a third grand mal last evening, the third one and again when on a walk. Just when we cancelled the MRI argh. Anyway her last blood work came back improved in the liver values but the white count still low. The vet does not think anything there that would result in grand mals. Last night she fell on her side, seized for just under two minutes then lay still. I touched her on the side and she made a yelping noise and then started seizing again this time for just under 1 minute. I didn't touch her again for a few minutes after she stopped. She was panting fast and didn't try to get up. We were in the park next to my house so I picked her up and started carrying her, she was quite floppy and heart going very fast. Near to the house, about 5 minutes later, she picked her head up and looked at me, so I put her on the ground and she could stand up but not walk. Put her on the couch and rang the vet. He said to start medicating her. It was two weeks between the first and second and three between the second and third, so she is now on 45mg BID of Pb. She had a big sleep and was then fine. This morning she is good, had a little walk and was normal, wanted to chase birds, I kept telling her off if she started running! The vet still thinks hold off on the MRI, she how she goes on the meds, he thinks only do the MRI if she gets worse/seizures closer together or shows other neurological symptoms. Also it will be another two weeks before they can use the human hospital MRI again anyway. I think for now, as far as he is concerned, I now have two epi dogs. KC seizures are quite different. She has one of between 30 seconds to one minute, but she does not fall down or lose consciousness, she snaps, stares, foams and urinates. Then she runs blindly for about 20 seconds, then she paces for up to an hour.

Hi Puggles, sorry I haven't gotten back but I was waiting for the 3rd lot of blood tests. I'm still not 100% clear on what is going on with Miss Maddie but I think we are getting there. The 3rd tests were supposed to be back today but I didn't hear from the vet, I will call again tomorrow. Basically in the 2nd tests just before Christmas (she has had a lot of blood tests!), they came back negative for neospora, toxo, lead, thyroid problems etc. But the vet said there was "something" and wanted to do another test. Which is the ones we just had done. I had a long talk with them on Monday of this week. The tests done the day after maddie had her first seizure (2nd Dec i think it was) showed that her white cell count was 2.5 when should be a minimum of 3.6. This was the same in the tests the day of the second seizure. The tests on the first and second day also showed up a problem with liver function. At the time of the first tests they did not think this was significant. At the second tests this was more significant (it was also a different way of testing it). When he took the blood he mentioned that her blood looked "very fatty". It was hard to draw and he showed me it in the vial. This 2nd one was a test with an 8 hour fast and then 2 hours after a meal. So the reasons for doing the third test this week was to repeat the same fasting/after meal test and a test for glucose and a some specific liver panel. They THINK what has been causing all this is a liver problem. Caused by: Possibility #1: the evening before the first seizure she was not well generally and ate a lot of grass and threw up multiple times. She could have eaten a dead poisoned animal etc that afternoon as we were out in the country. So could be after effects of a toxin and if so could be permenant. Possibility #2: an infection in her liver which would explain why the white cell count in her blood is low. Possibility #3: something else either liver or pancreas related. They have tested for leukaemia and it wasn't that. So they THINK, (from what I understand, it has all gotten rather complicated) that her liver for whatever reason is not functioning properly. There is a lot of fat in her blood stream. This is making her blood quite viscous. Both seizures she had while exercising on a hot day. The current theory is that the exercise caused her system to "crash". She has between blood tests #1 and #3 lost weight. She is a thin but muscly and athletic dog and was an ideal weight for a sports dog at 18.5 kg and is now 16.5kg and feels horrible and bony. They said this could be expected if she is not metabolising fat. She also smelled very "doggy" for a couple of weeks there and her coat looked dull and fell out a bit. She just looked generally unwell. In the past 4 days she has perked up considerably, is less lethargic etc, we have put her on a low fat diet so may be that or perhaps what ever is wrong is improving. She wants to go out for walks/play/do training. So I am very keen to see what these latest tests show. Well I asked the vet last week if this does seem to be the problem should we cancel the MRI...he said we will see what the bloods show, but I haven't got the results yet or talked to them again but I'm guessing it will be cancelled. My bank balance will be happy about that, although we have spent on this episode the cost of an mri anyway! Sorry if this is long and confusing...I'm confused enough myself. But it might help someone one day. I did not even know liver problems could cause seizures but I looked it up on the computer and it appears it is so. We had started maddie on Pb but only 15mg BID but took her straight off it when liver problems were mentioned!! She is on a low fat diet and also taking milk thistle. They would need to be 100% sure it is an infection before they gave her anti-biotics due to her white count already being low. KC my actual epi girl has been very good and no seizures since a big cluster in August. It seems to me looking at her seizure log that if she has a cluster she will go for a fair while without having any others. She had bloods done just before christmas and her Pb is still in the low but therapeutic range so I'm happy with that. She is so happy because maddie wants to play again. We have been looking after our friends young papillon. He is not as good to play with, too tiny!

Maddie update. I so, so hoped I wouldn't have to write this. Sadly, Maddie had another seizure today. We have been in to see the vet this afternoon. I said due to the fact I already have an epileptic dog and the amount of worrying I am likely to do, I would like her to have an MRI. Well here in new zealand you have to get that done after hours at the private people hospital and they only do animals on a wednesday night. They can't do tonight, they can't do next two as they are holidays. So we will have to wait until the 9th. They are taking a fasting/post meal blood work tomorrow to test for anything they didn't two weeks ago, includes "long shots" like lead poisoning, toxoplasmosis and neospora (the latter two both protozoa). Vet has recommended that due to wait and it being holidays, that we should start Maddie on Pb, just in case. So we will do that when the bloodwork comes back. I did not see the seizure today, but my husband rang me at work and she was still very ataxic/post ictal when I got home an hour later. At the vet she just lay on the floor. She is home now and just looks very very tired, but she doesn't want to be alone, so I am trying not to move around the house too much. She is staring at me as much as I am staring at her. I am off work until the 7th Jan now, but I suspect I am going to spend my entire time off work watching her like a hawk. I think the vet is right about Pb, it might give me some peace of mind. The vet was so good, he knows about worried I am and he is trying to think of every possible reason. Kelly & the 2 border collies both with seizures (On my avatar KC on left and Maddie on right).

Thanks for that Puggles. I will check it out. Nothing has changed I can think of. Here is what the blood actually showed: Albumin (sp?) 46 range should be 25-44 Slightly lowered red and white blood cells. Slightly elevated liver enzymes. Vet said these are non specific changes and that when the receptionist spoke to me earlier she didn't mean this shows it was a toxin, the vet thought it "might" show there was an infection but further tests did not back this up. So now, much like back in 2004 with KC, we play the waiting game to see if she has another. So vet thinks unlikely to be toxin which is also what the er vet said. Could be something we'll never know, ie a one off (please please) Could be epilepsy Could be brain tumour I can cope with KC seizures. I don't know if I can cope with the kind Maddie had. If she has another, I will get an MRI done to rule out a brain tumour. With her age I will need to know that. I do have a slight advantage now... because of kc i have read everything i can get my hands on about epilepsy. Again I am so glad my husband works 3pm-11pm and I work 8am -4pm!! We will definately know if she has another. I just keep thinking it can't possibly be epilepsy or something even more serious because that's just not fair.

Start with the good news: Miss KC is almost 5 months seizure free, yay! Had a very horrible experience yesterday. My husband and I were walking our two border collies (KC my epi girl and Maddie) in the paddocks across the reserve from our place. We had been walking for about half an hour and the dogs were happy racing around. My husband was a bit behind me and I heard him shout, turned around to see Maddie crashed to the ground and having a grand mal seizure. I just could not believe it, KC is the one who has seizures!!! But KC has never had a seizure like that one, it was so violent, I thought her back was going to snap she was so rigid. She bit through her tongue and there was blood falling on the ground. This went on for almost two minutes (we are used to timing KC) and we were trying to decide whether we could pick her up to get her to the car when it stopped. She lay there very still (as soon as KC finishes having one she races around blindly). I was totally in shock, I thought she was dead. Then she started moving a little and my husband picked her up and started back for the house. We rushed her to the ER vet in town. We got there about 45 minutes after the seizure. By this stage she was looking okay but very whiny. I was panicking because the night before she had wanted to go out and ate a lot of grass and threw up a few times. But every dog I have had has done that. We had also been out that morning for 4 hours before we came home and took them out, so I had no idea if that was the first one, or if something had happened, they were out in the yard when we were out. They put her on a fluid drip but did not take bloodwork for some reason. It was very busy so we left her there (what a sad place, so many sick and injured animals being rushed in, it is the only after hours vet in our city of 450,000). When I rang them they said she was very restless and seemed confused, was circling in her cage and yelping so they gave her valium. By about 6pm they reported she was fine and sleeping but thought it was best to leave her there overnight just in case as we were 20 mins drive away. I picked her up 7am and took her to our usual vet. They took blood straight away and asked heaps of questions, just in case the bloodwork came back clear. They asked if she is related to KC (she is, KCs dad and maddies mum are siblings which makes them cousins?) I said why? They said "well it could be epilepsy", I said no no can't be, I already have a dog with epilepsy!! Maddie is 7 years old. They said it could also be a brain tumour. I took her home as she was stressing, and was waiting to hear back about the bloodwork, kind of strange to be hoping your dog ate something poisonous, as you can't bear to think about the alternatives!! They rang today at lunchtime and said the bloodwork showed her liver enzymes were elevated which suggested she was metabolising some kind of toxin. They are doing more tests this afternoon to see if they can figure out what. But she is fine now, she is just very very tired. She is my "working dog", we do obedience, agility and tracking. She is such a serious, independant dog but today, she won't let me go anywhere. She seems fast asleep and if I try and leave the room, she leaps up and follows me. I have never seen her clingy before. She was very pleased to see me when I picked her up from the ER vet, but started howling as soon as handed her over at the usual vet. It was awful. They said if it was something really serious like 1080 she would have shown other symptoms such as vomitting, pain etc. They said they could not think of any toxin that the first symptom is a seizure. And then after a post ictal phase, the dog is fine again. She is going to the toilet no problem, no diaorrhea or anything. They said usually with poisoning you get other symptoms and then a seizure as things progress. The only thing was eating grass and throwing up on Saturday night. She didn't go out at all except in the car on Saturday. There is nothing in our house and section that could poison her, with 2 dogs and a cat we are very mindful of things like that. If it was something on the walk it happened very quickly. Any of you guys know what could cause something like this? They said it is possible they won't be able to tell what it was, as the fluids given by the er vet may have flushed most of it out of her system, but i'm still hoping we can get some answers. If it was in the park etc I need to know for the safety of other dogs. I need to ask them...do the elevated liver enzymes definately mean it was a toxin if that is the only thing they find.

I don't think I have seen a schipperke Ok, so one of the breeds on my list was the Papillon, and I have now spent a fair bit of time with Oscar the Papillon puppy who belongs to my friend. He is tiny (10 weeks old and 1.2 kg) and OH says way too fragile, he would be too worried about it being hurt, not by the dogs we have, but in general and by being stood on and also by our cat. Maddie my older BC ignores Oscar completely as I might have expected. KC tried to play with him the first time (making bitey faces at each other and doing play bows) and it started good but he jumped about and ran so quick and she can only see out of one eye and she kept losing sight of him. So she gave up and got away from him up on the sofa! The next time she ignored him too until he got too annoying and then she got back on the sofa out of his reach. KC is 5 years old but always my playful and sweet "puppygirl", with Oscar around she seems very grown up all of a sudden! I had no idea Papillons were so tiny and fragile-looking as puppies, I had only met grown up ones. He is much more like I imagine a chihuahua pup is like. He is extremely cute though! Although very very active for a pup so tiny. His Mum brings him into work at the university Now just down to Cavs and Shelties