Celebrating a year together

Our Bella beagle has been home with us for 1 whole year and wow how time just flown by!! I remember her coming home and being this tiny little pup who was all ears and howls and was a whirlwind of fun and craziness. 

She is defiantly a beagle in some respects-stubborn minded (my kind of girl) she knows what she likes and wants and takes some persuading to change her mind-for example if she wants to go one way on a walk and we want to go another she will sit down and wont budge for love nor money or a piece of chicken until she decides for herself that she wants to go that way and then acts as if she wanted to go that way all along!! She has the typical beagle "deafness" if she finds a scent no amount of calling, tempting or food will tear her away until she has found the source or lost the scent which is why she remains onlead on all her walks for her own safety. But she is very loving and every day since she came home she has had the family in stitches with laughter with her mannorisms and the quirky things she does. Bella also always has to have the last word and I swear she sometimes answers me back under her breath! And boy does she talk to you!! if you start making noises she answers back and thats it you then have 5 mins of uuufffing and awwwoooing going on followed up by her jumping up and sitting on you!

She is a lovely little girl and so intelligent that I cant keep up with her lol. She picks things up so quickly and loves to learn new tricks. Last week I taught her "get back" which means go sit back down on the rug and wait. Im also trying (and this is the hardest yet!) to teach her "play dead" she kind of gets the hang of it yet wont stay "dead" lol and gets up to quick for her treat!!

I had my first bad experience dog walking at the weekend sadly which marred our 1 year "anniversary" with Bella. I often come across idiotic or lazy (or both) walkers who let their dogs off lead and then have their dog(s) come and say hi to bella who is onlead and more often than not they either snap at her or wont leave us alone. And where are the owners?? too busy on their phones, the other side of the field or just totally unaware!! Ive NO problems with any dog being off lead as long as they are dog friendly. 2 weeks ago Bella got jumped on by 4 dogs a lady was walking and she hadnt seen us and Bella didnt know what to do or where to go. The puppy was just being a puppy and jumping up-which bella doesnt mind and willl happily play with any dog like this but the 2 labs were too full on and big and getting caught up in the lead and the collie that was with them started snapping at her heels and chasing her :( not nice at all although in this instance the owner did apologise and genuinly hadnt seen us.
However Sundays walk was ruined by pretencious idiots and it really shock me up afterwards. We had just been for a lovely walk in a different part of a common we normally walk on and were heading back up to the carpark when a border collie came running towards us and ran back up to its owners who were coming down the track towards us. We then carried on walking up the hill and the collie came flying past us followed by 2 huge dogs (which ive later identified as pharoh dogs) and 1 sniffed Bella and the other ignored her (ok by me) we exchanged greetings with the owners (2 ladies and a man) and again carried on walking towards the car when suddenly one of their dogs was right on top of bella and growling and snarling and bit bella on the neck. Bella instantly went OTT submissive and belly on the floor and their dog was still stood over her so I yelled to the owners to please put their bloody dogs on leads and hubby shouted if your dogs are aggressive put them on leads. Well we then received a barrage of abuse from the 3 of them about how cruel we are, how sorry they felt for our dog being stuck on lead and how if she had been off lead their dog wouldnt of gone to her--is that an admission of having an aggressive dog?? So we yelled back WTF she is a  young beagle you dont let them off with zero recall and she is a long lead (28m) they are in the wrong having their dogs off but oh no they were right and just kept saying how cruel we are and that their dogs are not aggressive and after all the owner would know as she is, wait for it.....a dog behaviourist!!!! OMG where ever she got her credentials obviously hands them out like sweeties if some one like that can call themselves one!! And they walked off saying what ever and byeeeeeee. ARRGGGHHH makes my blood boil now just thinking about it. For starters how the heck dont they know my dog hadnt just been off lead for the past hour and was onlead as we were near the carpark!!

Some people really need lessons in owning a dog!!



Anyways thats enough moaning from me and ill leave you with some pics taken before the walk was ruined. xxx

little pup in a big world

the common we walked round

after digging in the sand lol

1 year old!

I am so daft for not keeping up with this lately! Well Bella is now 1 year old :O and is the most amazing dog ever.

She has settled right back down again after her spay op and is back to being a very cuddly chilled out dog with the odd nutty moment thrown in and is just an utter joy to have around.

I think she has stopped growing now and is just a perfect size, albeit a heavy lump!! But not too chunky and not skinny lol. Her appetite has picked up too-a side affect of the spay op by all accounts. So Im cutting back on food and treats to make sure she doesnt become a porky!

I have also come across the best invention EVER for owners with a dog/puppy who pulls like a frieght train! Its a bungee lead which acts like a shock absorber and when the dog pulls they dont really get anywhere and kind of "boing" to a halt. Its very gentle no sudden elasticated pinging off the end of a lead but just slows them down to a halt without wrenching your arm out of the socket or the dog ending up flying backwards off the end of their lead, which at the end of the day can cause long term damage to both owner and dog. I hope Im allowed to link to this product but I really do recommend it. Its meant to be used as a lead for walking ie. Street walks but I clip it on to her harness and attatch the long line to it to allow her to run about the fields freely. It is also amazing walking the roads as it prevents her from jumping up at people (her new hobby!) and also gives me such control over her. I ordered it from here this is also where I bought her pink harness as im often asked where people can buy one also :)


We recently took Bella to the beach for the very first time and she LOVED it.













We went to West Wittering and here are some piccys of that day.

Its a fantanstic beach for dogs with miles and miles of beach and loads of poo bins (very important for dog owners) and fresh water taps every where to fill up bowls. Sand dunes and flat sand for as far as you can see. And yes Bell really enjoyed as did we all. I dont think ive known her to sleep so much as she did that night and next morning.


I cant believe she has been home nearly 1 whole year now!! how time flies when you are having fun!

Back to normality

Yes FINALLY my Bella is on the mend. She's back to being cheeky and mischievious once again and I am so happy, well 99% happy as she is still a randy little madam and I'm still getting the full force of it!
We took her out on Sunday (our second wedding anniversary and her 11th month birthday) to a lovely place called Hankley common, near Elstead in Surrey. Its a beautiful place although somewhat confusing lol as it has a golf course running through the middle and its on MOD land and we had tanks and gun fire going off whilst we were there! Not sure how you can play golf with all that going on but hey! I took some lovely pics of her and here they are, Bella at 11 months old.This is the photo I am entering in to the Kennel Clubs Dog photo of the year. Fingers crossed we win huh.

Running down the hill to me :)

I have found a real must have for training. Dried duck and chicken fillets from pets at home (and more stores online I would imagine) she will stay by my side through out a walk and when I give her the "go" comand she will run off and come straight back on one whistle and sit down ready tail wagging lol.

I measured her yesterday and she is now 16" tall at her shoulders but trying to measure her length wise proved impossible as she kept trying to eat the tape measure LOL!!

Her belly scar has healed perfectly and is now only a very thin line right down the middle and her fur is growing back where she was shaved although her leg where she had the drip is growing back very blonde which looks funny on her brown leg.

ooo new trick taught the other week. Ive noticed some songs Bella will start to howl to when I sing along (admittidly this could be her telling me I have awful singing voice but we shall gloss over that fact) and one song in particular is Kings Of Leon Use somebody and she will howl along to the chorus and is just TOO cute :) if I work out how to upload a video here I will add that.

Anyways I need to pop to work :( xxx

The saga continues

Bella continued to show little improvement on her antibiotics so I stopped giving them to her and thursday morning I gave her a dose of metacam (painkiller) to help make her feel more comfortable and went to work. I then rang another vets practice to go for a 2nd opinion and to just see if they had any ideas on what to do or if they believed me over the whole BPS theory.

When I got home to a very vocal and waggy tailed Bell I really thought we were turning a corner and she was throwing her food bowl around and she ate a normal meal of kibble for the first time since last tuesday and she was pestering me and my friend for cuddles running, yes running between us for kisses and suddenly began humping me and howling and went to lick her "bits" when I noticed straw colour discharge and within a couple of minutes it had turned to red blood dripping out (just like with season) and so straight back on phone to our vets who said this is not normal post spay and they need to operate on her to see whats going on and looks like foreign body reaction to sutures.

This may be why she has sore neck as bloods do indicate high inflammetary process going on but it could still be that she had a pre exsisting neck problem which was aggrivated during surgery.
We saw 2nd opinion who agreed it could be the BPS and to maybe try some steroids to see if any improvement and they advised to not put her through another operation so soon (9 days after 1st) and to see how she is in the morning.

So I starved her from 8pm just incase she was to be operated on and we took her in to the vet at 8am. She had made such a remarkable improvement in 24 hours and had no more blood loss so we decided to leave her be and finally got signed off post spay. She has lost more weight but fir the first time in over 2 weeks her temperature was normal and her neck was much easier to move and no pain on doing so. Vet was very pleased, as were we and we go back at the first sign of neck pain or any signs of pain again and they will refer her for CT scan and do a spinal tap on her too. We are now allowed to treat her as "normal" so walks are back on and she can have a bath which I must do actually as she stinks lol!!


That evening I got a call from georgie (vet) to say bells vaginal swab results are back which we did mon/tues with 1st set of bloods to see what was going on "that end".....the lab can't identify the bacteria, it's a totally new strain and unknown to them or their database!

it's also resistant to ALL antib's used on it and reacts with them!!! Hence putting her on 3x antib's has made her worse!! I stopped them sun pm she perked up mon, went on new ones mon pm got worse so stopped these weds pm and by thurs she was better! The lab is going to continue to grow the cultures and ring me next week with some more answers.

someone please say this is it as I'm worn out and so confused. The vet said she will ring in a few weeks to find out how she's doing as this is getting weirder and weirder by the day and she wishes she could stay and discover more and if lab proves this is a new virus could prove quite incredible! She says she's not only a walking mystery but a medical one in a million dog!!!

It explains the huge reaction to antib's and ongoing discharge as a pup and inf during season etc but as yet what it is is anyones guess!!!

Im so sad though that her vet has now left and moved practices :( she was SO good and her new practice are very lucky to have her. Today Bella is 100% her usual naughty self :) Shes obviously losing the female hormone as she is as randy as anything!!

So lets see what this week has in store for us and Bell shall we!! xxx

Im copying this from a dog forum I use as im too lazy to retype :D

I'm starting a new thread about Bella and her recent ill health in the hope maybe someone has had similar or has similar happen to them and in future it may prove helpful to someone. I must stress at this moment this is a theory we are working on at the moment and nothing is concrete.

Background info on Bella- She is a 10 month old purebred beagle, she has been with us since 8 weeks and has had all vaccinations required and has been a healthy dog until the last 6-7 weeks.

When Bella was 5 months old she had juvenile vaginitus which is quite common is all breeds of dogs and was treated succesfully with antibiotics (novoclav) She then started her first season aged 9 months old (literally to the day) on 6th June and from day 1 it was a heavy and stressful time for both her and us. about a week into her season she was bleeding very heavily and her vulva became very swollen and a trip to the vets confirmed odema (swelling) and an infection so she had painkillers and antibiotics again and within 5 days things cleared up and she picked up again. We discussed having her spayed 12 weeks later with the vet.

Less than 2 weeks after her season finished I came home to find bella restless and lethargic and with a egg white discharge coming from her vulva, trip to the vets confirmed my worst fears that it looked like the start of pyometra and we started her on a course of 10 days antib's and booked her in for an emergency spay 4 days later to give antib a chance to make the op safe.

She had the spay op last weds (6 days ago) and the vet confirmed uterus wasnt right and lucky to of noticed when I did. Since coming home Bella hasnt been right and with each day has got worse sadly. It took her 4 days of sleeping solidly (day and night) to get a little energy to stay awake during the day. We saw the vet 3 days post spay and she wasnt happy with how sleepy and uncomfortable she was looking and prescribed us another 3 days painkillers and to come back in 48 hours.
Symptoms at this point were-high temp (over 39) loss of weight, sleeping 23 hours a day and no appatite and little water being drunk, shivering and muscle spasms when resting-like restless legs.

Sunday I noticed her looking very stiff on walking and walking with her head hung low, she also was reluctant to eat out of her bowl off the floor so I began hand feeding her. She was eating science hills recovary wet food which is high in calories so should of perked her up--did nothing!

Monday took her back to vets and still no improvement and I showed the vet her lack of being able to bend down to pick something off the floor, and so the vet had a check of her neck and on moving her (gently I must add) bella yelped when her head was lifted up and turning left and right. so this left us with a new symptom and a whole host of unanswered questions.

The vets opinions were that she could of had a pre exsisting neck or back issue which normally bella masked by being awake and not using or moving if it hurt but under a general anesthetic with her muscles flaccid and being picked up by the vets they have caused something to go wrong be it a disc slipping or nerve trapping or something a little more sinister. Or it could be the infection is still on going-her temp is still above 39.c and hasnt come down for nearly 2 weeks now and as in humans when we have flu our muscles ache.

She also mentioned beagle neck pain and said we would need a CT scan to check her neck and spine for damage and in the mean time take her back home and see how she goes over 24 hours. I asked for a full blood test to show if an infection still present (high white blood cells count) check organ function and to rule out any other possibility. So that was taken and we get the results tonight.

On coming home I have been doing a little (lot) more research and reading up on beagle neck pain as its know SRM, she has 99% of the symptoms.
The problem may present with a variety of symptoms and is often misdiagnosed as Lyme disease, cervical/spinal injury, or massive bacterial infection. Cervical pain, shaking, hunched back stance, fever, lack of appetite, stiff neck, muscle spasms (especially in front legs and neck), lethargy, and unwillingness to move can be noted and theses symptoms may appear quickly.The dog maybe hesitant to bark and opening of the jaw seems to be painful.Some affected dogs may cry out in pain with the slightest attempt of movement.There are reports of blindness and limb paralysis associated with this syndrome.

Bella has all of the above and fits this description perfectly, she is also smack bang in the age bracket for this problem 4m-2 yrs. This morning on trying to move her off my bed she growled and showed her teeth when I merely placed my hands on her shoulders so she is def in pain.

The test for this is normally a lumber puncture by can be diagnosed purely through syptoms and treatment is antibiotics and/or steroids. Im going to ask the vet if we can try her on this treatment for a couple of days as all reported cases show a incredible improvement seen within 12 hours so we shall know if its working or not. Whether or not she will agree with me I dont know but what else can I do but try all avenues. If there is no improvement I need to accept maybe it is damage to spinal area and get a ct done.

I will update this after our appointment tonight at 730 and if anyone has any advice or is worried about their own dog (its not just beagles this can happen to) then please feel free to reply here. sorry its SO long

Poorly bug

Here we are 4 days post surgery and Bella is still unwell. I cant remember what I blogged last time so apologies if i am repeating myself at all.

Weds Bella had her spay op and came home at 6pm looking very sorry for herself and still under the influence of the anesthetic. We had a very tense night as she was to keep her cone on her neck and this prevented her from getting comfy and by 3am she was up and miserable and so I came down and sat with her and she just kept standing and sitting, standing and falling over and wriggling and wriggling. She finally fell asleep about 11AM!!

Thursday she perked up a little and took some boiled chicken again and seemed a little better with the cone on, however I noticed she'd yet to have a drink and I offered ice cubes but she refused these also. So I used the water which I had boiled the chicken in to give her a drink and thankfully she took some but only off the spoon by hand!! Spoilt madam!!

Thursday pm she picked up again about 90mins after her 24hrly painkiller and became very cuddly and wanting to jump up on the sofa with us. So after snuggling on the sofa until about 1am I put her collar back on (much to her disgust) and left her to sleep until 7am when I came down and she was laying on her bed looking fed up :(

She has then spent since Friday AM until today (sunday afternoon) asleep!! We took her for a check up saturday and mentioned how sleepy she has been and little she is eating and drinking and she still has a temp of 39.1 (should be 37) lost weight since weds and just generally looking fed up so vet increased painkillers to get us through the weekend and we go back monday evening for another check up.

As soon as we got her home she went to sleep on her bed and didnt move until that evening and only then to go to the loo and have some food and painkiller.

I got so worried that I took her up to bed with us and she slept most of the night ok until 5am when i woke to find her standing over my head!! She woke up about 9am and came down very reluctantly for a wee and some breakfast and meds and has been asleep ever since-its 1420pm now!

Ive rung the vet up as she was oncall this weekend and she has said to keep her resting at home and tomorrow when we go in she will take bloods and see if everything is ok. It could be an adhesion of scar tissue forming or it could be the infection is getting out of control and we are changing her painkillers and antibiotics as its been 6 days of them prior to surgery and no better for them!! Ive got to try and get her to eat as much as possible and keep drinking and just let her rest up.

So worried about her and just hope it will all be ok, will update tomorrow after appointment x

Surgery

My little girl had her operation to be spayed today and omg Ive been on tenderhooks all day waiting for the phone to ring after a very restless nights sleep and stressful journey to the vets (not from bella btw)

We dropped her off at 845am and she was all eager and excited to be going out in the car and as soon as we pulled in she was like ooook I know this place can we go now!! But she went in tail half wagging half between her legs (and promptly pee'd all over the floor *blush*) and was soon being stroked, fussed, kissed and generally adored by both the vet, Georgie and the vet nurse so she was in her element and being the nosey pupster that she is the chance at being lead out back this time proved enjoyable so she was quite happy to leave us teary eyed (me not hubby!) at the reception desk whilst she trotted off behind the scenes. Then began the agonising 6.5 hour wait to hear how the op went. We knew there was a higher risk with this op not only being done so soon after her season when blood vessels are still dialated making blood loss a high risk but also that we didnt know just how badly affected her womb and uterus was.

By 315 I couldnt stand it any longer and so I rang and heard those words she is ok. She is awake and sitting up in her cage howling for her mum to come get her :D Due to working hours me and the husband couldnt get to her before 5pm so it felt like forever from when I said goodbye in the morning until then. As I sat in the waiting room I could hear her little howls and my heart melted at that sound. Soon she was brought through wobbling and shakey legged out to reception wearing her buster collar and crashing into everything love her!!
She was still so drowsy whilst me and the vet chatted she fell asleep standing and began snoring! LOL! She also did a huge wee on the floor so we know her bladder is ok!!

Georgie explained that her uterus had been more enlarged than first thought and also "flexible" so easier to remove than normal? but def signs of start of something bad going on so just as well I noticed that strange discharge as she had no more of it either after that! Very lucky indeed.

Her tooth also came out during the op as for some reason her milk canine tooth never fell out and her adult one grew next to it causing food to be trapped and getting sore so she removed that for me and her belly looks very neat and clean.

Shes currently laying on the bed at my feet just watching me, Ive removed the collar as she was whining a lot and looking uncomfortable-I will add a piccy of her in her "cone of shame" for those of you who have seen the film UP will know what I mean :) but if she begins to lick her belly then im afraid it goes back on :,( so far I have told her to leave and she has done but im sure by tomorrow she will be a nightmare!!

Im just boiling her some chicken to see if I can get her to eat anything as its been 24 hours now since she last ate and that will be gentle and bland on her tummy.

So my little girl is home where she belongs and I can relax somewhat although im worried about tonight and im worried to go to work tomorrow but least she is home again :)

Night xx

It could only happen to Bell!

Yes I am feeling oh so slightly jinxed shall we say!! My poor girl is once again suffering with a infection 'that end!!' and is on antibiotics to help keep the infection at bay until she is spayed on wednesday :(

I have begun this week to leave bella 'cageless' whilst I pop out and about and leave her to have free roam of the living room with her large dog bed against the cool wall and her cage open so she has a choice of where to sleep/lay/chew etc. And so far so good. First couple of days was only for 1-2 hours and she slept the entire time, then I stretched to 2-3 hours with either myself or my friend popping in on her to check all was ok (which it was)

Then yesterday I came home and found her hiding under the table looking very submissive and head down, tail between legs and I thought oh god whats she eaten! and she came over and started whining and whimpering and I knelt down for a cuddle and I noticed what i can only describe as egg white looking discharge coming from her lady bits and when I went to look a bit closer she began licking and growling at me to keep away-she has never growled at me like that before so I knew something was wrong :( She then became very restless pacing about and sleepy as well.

So back on the hot line to the vets who thankfully agreed not normal behaviour and agreed with my thinking of possible pyometra-more on this later and to bring her in.

Took her in and bless her was all eager and excited when we got there but as soon as the vets door opened and we walked in she was desperate to turn around and bolt!! The vet had to take her out back to take her temp with the help of 2 nurses and omg did she howl and howl :( temp was 39.3 when it should be 37c and cervix is opened when it should be closed so yes looks like start of something and lucky to be caught in time.

The only prob is the risk of serious infection setting in and being life threatening is high so she is being spayed on weds and vet thinks uterus will show signs of pyometra beginning :( Obviously spaying a bitch this close to her season isnt normally recommended-they like 3 months between seasons to spay so that all blood vessels have shrunk back to normal size and risk of bleeding out is less. So to do her 5 weeks after she started her season is half the reco time frame which worries me greatly but vet assures me leaving her for another 6 weeks is far riskier and she is performing the surgery and said she wouldnt do it if she wasnt confident. So I am a bag of nerves and just pray my little girl comes back home on weds :,( the alternative doesnt bare considering.

She is quite quiet today and has done nothing but sleep but she had an injection of anti biotics and needs 2x a day for the next 10 days so Im back to forcing tablets down her gullet lol! Its also incredibly hot here today 30c and so we are all flaked out tbh. Bell is currently legs a kimbo on the bed with thte fan blowing a cool breeze on her chops :D

Such a shame this has happened as Ive just come off 3 weeks of late nights and shes just out of season restrictions so we have been walking at 10/11pm for weeks and once she is spayed we will be on limited walks again *sigh* least she is turning into a couch potato and not destroying my house but i think training is keeping her busy.

Piccy for today are- Bella watching ants in the grass :D
Some information on Pyometra and its symptoms etc for anyone with a unspayed bitch to read and remember-knowing this may of saved bells life.

In its simplest terms, pyometra is an infection of the uterus or womb. However in most cases pyometra infections are much more difficult to manage than routine infections.

Infection in the lining of the uterus is established as a result of hormonal changes. Following oestrus ("season", or "heat"), hormone levels remain elevated for 8-10 weeks to prepare the uterus for, and maintain, pregnancy. If pregnancy does not occur the lining continues to increase in thickness until cysts form in the walls. This thickened cystic lining secretes fluids which are ideal for bacteria to thrive in. The wall of the uterus is also inhibited in its ability to contract and remove the cystic fluid. When infected by bacteria this fluid becomes pus. Sometimes the fluid becomes purrulent without bacteria being present.
This situation tends to become more intense as the bitch gets older, particularly if she has not been used for breeding. This explains why this condition usually effects older dogs. It can, however, occur in dogs of any age. Pyometra can be a possible complication of the use of hormonal treatments, for example when used as contraceptives, or to treat misalliance, and this is one of the main causes in younger bitches.
The cervix is the gateway to the uterus. It remains tightly closed except during a season or when giving birth. When it is open bacteria that are normally in the vagina can enter the uterus very easily. If the uterus is normal, the environment will not encourage bacterial survival, however when the uterine wall is thickened or cystic, perfect conditions exist for bacterial growth.
The typical timing for the disease is 1-2 months after your bitch has been in season.

Clinical Signs and Diagnosis

The clinical signs will depend on whether or not the cervix is open.
If open, pus will drain from the uterus through the vagina to the outside. It is often noted as a purrulent (pusy), bloody discharge on the skin and hair under the tail or on bedding and furniture where the dog has laid. It may or may not have an odour. Fever, loss of appetite and depression may or may not be present.
If the cervix is closed, pus that forms is not able to drain to the outside. It collects in the uterus, which will cause an apparent swelling of the abdomen. The bacteria and pus in the womb release toxins, which are absorbed into the blood. These bitches will become very ill rapidly. They are off food, very listless, depressed, may vomit and have diarrhoea and will be drinking very excessively. The toxins will affect the kidney function and may cause permanent kidney failure in the bitch if the condition is not treated quickly. A blood test may be taken to estimate the damage to the kidneys before and after surgery. Efforts are made in treatment to minimize the risk of kidney damage.
A female dog which is not spayed, drinking an increased amount of water, has had a recent season and is unwell is always suspected of having a pyometra. If confirmation is required, such as with a closed pyometra, blood tests will show signs of severe infection, an increased no of white cells in the blood and signs of kidney failure. These are present in all very serious infections however, so an x-ray is often used for confirmation. This also has the advantage of being done immediately at the surgery, and will show if your bitch has a uterus which is full of pus. If the cervix is open there may be minimal uterine enlargement and x-rays are more difficult to interpret, however in this case the discharge from the vulva is usually diagnostic.

Treatment

An IV drip is used to minimize the kidney damage and to help repair dehydration. An anaesthetic will not be attempted until the risks of anaesthetic complications are made as small as possible. Usually 6-12 hours of fluids will be administered before the anaesthetic and at least 24 hours after the surgery. This will depend on the amount of kidney damage and the recovery of your bitch. She may be on a drip for several days after the surgery.
A general anaesthetic and ovario-hysterectomy, removing the ovaries and uterus of the bitch, is the preferred treatment. Antibiotics will often be given for 1-2 weeks after the surgery.
Stitches will be in for 10 days and the dog must not lick them.
There is a medical treatment for pyometra, although it is very risky. Prostaglandins are a group of hormones that reduce the blood level of progesterone hormone, relax and open the cervix and contract the uterus to expel bacteria and pus. They are not always successful and have some serious limitations.
Prostaglandins cause side effects of restlessness, panting, vomiting, diarrhoea, salivation and acute abdominal pain. These occur within 15 mins of an injection and last for several hours. Successive treatments are always required 2-3 times daily.
There is no clinical improvement for at least 48 hours, so dogs, which are very ill at presentation at the veterinary surgery, have a very poor prognosis with this treatment. While waiting for the treatment to work, a bich can deteriorate to a level which makes surgical treatment very much less likly to succeed, and the chances of permanent damage from the toxaemia to be much more likely.
Because prostaglandins cause contraction the uterus, it is possible for the uterus to rupture and spill infection into the abdominal cavity. This is most likely to occur when the cervix is closed and is often fatal.
There are some statistics you should consider before choosing this treatment.

The success rate for treating open cervix pyometra is at best 75%.
The success rate for treating closed cervix pyometra is only 25%.
The rate of reoccurrence of pyometra at the next season in bitches which do recover is 75%. The severity is usually increased.
The chances of subsequent successful breeding are at best 50%.

For all of the above reasons we strongly advise that the best course of action for a pyometra (open or closed) is ovariohysterectomy as soon as surgical conditions are optimal for the bitch's survival.

Alternative Treatment?

The chance of successful treatment without surgical or prostaglandin treatment is exceptionally low. If treatment is not given quickly the toxic effects from the bacteria will be fatal. If the cervix is closed, it is also possible for the uterus to rupture and spill the infection into the abdominal cavity causing a fatal peritonitis.
Spayed bitches do not get Pyometra. If you do not intend to breed from a bitch we strongly recommend that she is spayed when young and fit, and when surgical risks to her are minimal.

From an Original Text by Jenny King

The end is in sight

Bella is on day 20 of her season and they say to leave it 24 to be sure she is safe so I cant wait to be able to take her out again at sociable hours and for her to interact with other dogs again. She has missed her friends and the last week has been quite stressfull as she has been very boistrous and playful around 4pm but there are too many other dogs around at that time plus we seem to be in the middle of a heat wave so far too hot too and so Ive been trying to train a little more but she will just walk off and ignore me and go to her lead and howl :( poor girl.

Shes been out at 1030pm but its just not the same and me and hubby have been attacked by mosquitos every evening too. yucky!! We did take her over the park one night and for a drive in the car but we stayed next to the car mostly and if we saw another dog we dived back in the car lol!!

The infection and sickness has gone thankfully and she is on no more painkillers or antibiotics bless her.

I am on the hunt for a pool for bella but I think I will be unsuccessful-plus husband has said its silly "shes only a dog!, she knows when to cool down etc" but I think she would like it and would get her used to swimming as once summer is over I would love to take her to the beach and let her swim about and play. So I am trying to sort out a hose and sprinkler so she can cool off and my grass is dying in the heat so will be good for that too.

Ive just taken a pic of bella on my old dogs bed as when we first got her she couldnt really climb up on to it and she was teeny on it.... but now she is stretched out completely on it and shows just how much she has grown in the last 6 months.

Hot Sausage!

I swear Bella will be the death of me one day! Yesterday we went for a family BBQ at my mums house and Bella decided to help herself to a sausage straight off the BBQ! The sausage didnt even get a chew it went straight down her throat!! So as you can imagine within minutes she was being violently sick and thankfully sausage came up (totally intact) but she spent the next 3 hours being sick and eating grass, so in turn the cycle of sick continued and I was panicking madly that she would be really sick. Also her antibiotic had not long been given to her so chances are last nights wasnt properly ingested *sigh*

Anyhows apart from sick in her cage over night she is much better today after having rice for breakfast-nice and bland and scrambled egg for lunch with her meds and she has kept them both down so all good.

Also touch wood today her bleeding is easing off woooooo. But now her fertile week begins so lets pray she isnt too desperate to go find herself a romeo huh!

Right I best go try and give her the antibiotic-3/4 of a tablet why cant they make it half as trying to break them into 1/4's is mission impossible lol!! and thats before ive even tried to get her to swallow it lol!!

Poorly Bell

My little girl is really struggling with her season at the moment :( She is on day 10 and so her blood loss (sorry for so much gory info lol) should be easing but its just the same as if she was on day 1 and the swelling of her *bits* is unbelievable-you have to see it to believe it but lets just say she is so swollen she cant sit down! We noticed on Sunday just how large she was looking and how uncomfortable she was that I took her to the vets on Monday (yesterday) and she has a infection which has caused odema (fluid swelling) and making it painfull for her to sit down properly. So she is on antibiotics and pain killers to try and reduce the swelling and infection. Vet did suggest I apply an ice pack to her bottom to help ease swelling but can you imagine trying to apply that to a puppys behind!! Exactly so thats not happening lol!!

Its definately put me off considering her for breeding (even though it was really just a distant dream as I havent a clue and money to really follow it through) as I cant put her through another season and although we had planned on spaying her we looked at all pros and cons and decided to spay after her first season-in hindsight I wish I had done it before season now but again we made a decision based on pros and cons and thought we chose the right path.

Anyways at the moment the painkillers kicked in as she is fast asleep next to me and relaxed so thats an improvement on the constant fidgiting she was doing bless her.

In a little while we are off to my mums for a BBQ and she can have a lovely play in mums big garden and with the boys playing football if she is up to it.

Todays pic is one I took the other night. She was behind me on the sofa and we snuggled up and I said say cheese bell and looks like she did just that LOL!! please excuse the crazy husband in the background!!!

All growed up!!

My little Bella is now offically a grown up girl! On Sunday she came into season and so I guess this marks the end of puppy hood and the start of......doggy hood??

Little flower is all clingy and cuddly (which I dont mind) and seems a little uncomfortable- I didnt realise just how similar a season is to a womans time of the month! eeeewwww lol.

So we have the next 24 days or so on limited "off peak" walking to avoid other male dogs and extra training sessions to tire her out mentally, although tbh she is quite sleepy at the moment so its not been too bad. Ive noticed her dreaming more when she is sleeping-I must try and record that as she sounds SO sweet oofffing in her sleep :D

Besides seeing as we have hit the teenage stage all training seems to of gone out of her floppy ears and we are having to go back over all the basics again as if she never learnt in the first place. *sigh* so extra training isnt such a bad thing.

I'll leave it here for now as she is wanting snuggles :)

9 months old.

Yesterday our Bella turned 9 months old
Monday we took her for a lovely walk along the river and stopped at the pub for a quick (soft) drink. She was an angel and very well behaved just observing everyone and enjoying being admired by everyone! She laps up attention! Whilst in the park we had a little training session and we have perfected our crawl command in 3 goes :D very quick at learning new commands. She often on walks will drop down on her belly and crawl along with her bum in the air so whilst asking for a roll over and lie down in the park she started to crawl towards me so I just add the cue word (crawl) as she does the action and after repeating 3 times she can do it on command. Beagles are very quick learners. Here she is mid roll over.













She was so tired after our lovely walk that she came home and jumped straight on the sofa and stayed like this for a few hours! Bliss.
I also wanted to jot down all Bellas commands and tricks she does.

• Lie down
• Sit
• Wait
• Stay
• Paw
• Speak (bark)
• Sing (howl)
• Find Jordy/mummy/daddy
• Fetch ball
• Crawl
• Roll over
• Bedtime (goes to her crate and lies down)
• Wee wee (wee's more or less on command on walks)

Right She's had enough of sunbathing and is now snoring on my lap making this impossible to continue typing one handed!! Think I'll join her for a snooze :D Sarah x

Lazy Bank holiday

We have had a very lazy Monday so far :O) Hubbys alarm went off at 7am and woke Bellaroo up but thankfully after a quick wee she came up to bed with me and we all fell back asleep until 1130!! I even woke up to find the cat on hubby and bella on my back! They only tollerate each other if there is food to share or they want to go to sleep?

Ive just cooked us a lovely fry up and Bella has just eaten a large breakfast so in an hour or so we are off for a walk down the river Wey and stop at the pub on the river front for a nice cool drink and slowly wander home. Loverly :O) I am working tonight though so Im enjoying it whilst I can and then its back to boring work tomorrow morning. *Sigh*

Last night I took the camera to go look for the fox and there s/he was and I walked very slowly towards it and tried (and failed) to get a shot of it whilst it kept dipping its head below the tall grass. Just as I got nearish Bella howled and it spotted me and shot off into the hedge
but not before I took these 2 snaps :D
So here is our local foxy.















Right Bells is getting boisterous so walkies here we come.....thats one thing with a beagle if they want something its now or never!! lol! xx S

The fox and the hound

This is something that happened a few weeks ago but will stay with me for sometime Im sure.

Hubby had gone out for a meal with friends and I took Bella out on our usual walk alone this evening around 8pm. We walk this field several times a week and more often than not as 1 of our walks a day-I try and mix up bellas walks so they dont become boring and we are lucky to live surrounded by different places to take her right on our door step.

So there we were, walking round this large field, which is part of the Loseley Estate land, minding our own business when all of a sudden I hear rustling in the hedge next to me and just 4 maybe 5 FT in front of me up pops this fox's head!!! Thankfully Bella only howled and the fox darted off towards a ditch in the hedge line which is when I noticed the 2 fox cubs playing outside their den!!! We had stumbled across a vixen and her cubs lol. I was momentarily frozen to the spot and then fear panicked me thinking what if the mum attacks Bella-Id read online not a few days before hand of dogs being attacked in their own garndens by foxes and here I was right ontop of her den. So I walked away quickly but calmly and we went to the other end of the field.

The following morning I took hubby back to the field and we walked quietly towards the same spot (without bella this time BTW) and crouched down and watched the 2 cubs playing for some minutes before they darted down the den hole. We were able to take a couple of photos before they vanished.


Over the next week we saw them running about whilst we took bella on her walk although we kept our distance and resorted to watching through binoculars. Sadly and worryingly one day on our way out in the car along the main road we saw an adult fox dead after being hit by a car right at the enterence to the field along the road side. :O( It was about 2 more weeks before we saw a fox near the den and we feared the worse. But last weekend we were all out on our usual walk in the evening and there as bold as brass sat a fox enjoying the late evening sunshine and playing about in the grass. I havent taken any pics of him/her but I will take my camera out in the hope of a shot. We also saw said fox have a territory dispute? with another fox right in frontc of us chasing each other across the length of the field in less than 10 seconds! They can run when they need to!

So there you are a real fox and the hound moment and im pleased to say instinct didnt kick in for Bella :O) Yes she howled and barked but stuck right next to my leg.

Its not the first time we have realised just how much nature and wildlife we have on our door step. We had 2 pairs (at least) of buzzards nest in this field and the field opposite and often heard them and saw them soaring across the sky or perched in the tree or on the phone poles. We have occasional kestrals come over. The same field (Fox field as we now call it) often has a lone deer in. We hear cuckoo's and live at the foot of the Surrey Hills, so we have access to some wonderful walks.

This has meant that me and the husband have become quite interested in photography and taking photos whilst out on our walks has seen us to increase our equipment and so we have been able to catch some great pictures over the past 6 months or so.

I may devote a whole seperate post to pictures we have taken as im still working my way round this all :O) Sarah & Bella x

The rain has returned!

After several weeks of dry weather and infact 4/5 days of scorching temps (29c) we are back to dull, dark, wet and windy :(

Poor Bella wasnt impressed when she looked out the patio doors this miserable morning and promptly turned and howled at me as if to say 'what you want me to go out....in that! '

I must add here that Bella seems to of grasped the concept of time and days of the week as this morning she did not stir until 10am and thats only because the post man had a parcel for me to take that I got up at that time. Now I know this sounds normal to many but when you are used to walking up at 7am and working weekends and having children/puppies means a lay in becomes a distant dream or something you often hear people talk about! But last night (Friday) my son was sleeping over his nans as he has gone away for a weeks holiday to the coast, hubby had gone out for birthday drinks so me and the Bug spent a lovely evening snoozing and browsing channels on sky snuggled up together in my dressing gown. Husband returned home around 1230 and after we finished the poor excuse for a film, Haunted! we went up to bed and were very rudely awoken at 3am by a lost pizza delivery guy hammering on our door!!! Terrified as to who was rattling the letter box at that time of night we peeped out the window, which was slighlty ajar and we heard him ring up who ever he was meant to be delivering to only to hear the penny drop across the front garden when he realised he was on the wrong side of town!! So as you can imagine a late night led to a late morning but Bella didnt moan,howl or groan she was just very excited to see me stumble down the stairs to reach the door before the postman walked off as they normally do within 2 seconds of ringing the bell!!

So anyways today we took Bell out for a walk in the pouring rain and suprise suprise we were the only walkers out with their dogs-the amount of fair weather walkers here shocks me. Bella is walked what ever the weather/time/day. She was excellent today and spent the whole walk once in the fields and woods with just the long line trailing so free to roam but never strayed far until we get to this one part of the field where since the first day we went there she has enjoyed running round in large circles in this one section! Its as if she remembers this is zoomie field and so off she runs full pelt, ears flowing backwards tongue lolling out the side of her mouth round in huge circles and then straight back to our sides and looks up at us with a big smile as if to say ok lets go home now im tired. :) But there was very little pulling on todays walk, until we passed a carrier bag in the grass whic hbella just HAD to go and sniff so she tried to pull and sat down and sulked when I said no!! Beagles are stubborn creatures but oh so comical with it. Talking of such fooling around, today Bella had one of her funniest little moments yet.

Eeewwww Slug!!

Bella has a tennis ball bone-its a tennis ball shaped like a bone and quite large but she loves it. Today she brought it to me and I threw it and it bounced out the patio door, Bella hates her indoor toys going outside lol so she trotted out to bring it back in but began howling and I mean full on head back nose to the sky howling! She then got the bone as far as the patio door and began whining at us. I thought for some reason she couldnt get it back in the partially closed door but nope she could do. She kept on howling at this bone and looking at us so I really encourgaed her to show me what shes got and she picked it up very delicatly and brought it over and dropped it at my feet and proceeded to whine and howl and paw at me to look at this bone! At first I thought it has got a leaf stuck to it or worse a bit of poo!! but nope its a little slug!!!
ALL that fuss for a slug. >_< now I know lung worm is every where this year, she has all her regular worming and flea treatments which cover lungworm amongst everything else and I have drummed it into her to leave them alone but not to this extent!! After disposing of said slug she carried on throwing her bone around as happy as larry!

She is due a walk now so I best leave it here for today but will add on some more pics of my Bella bug <3 night S xx

Enjoying the sun last week

Watching a line of ants cross the patio with amusment/confusion/awe on her face!

Adjusting to puppyhood

Bringing Bella home was an exciting car journey. Not only due to having a teeny little big eyed puppy in the back but also our son had no idea we were bringing her home that weekend :) She was very good and as long as I kept my fingers inside the crate for her to lick and nuzzle into she was good. However there is only so long I could bend my arm round the seat to do this so inbetween licking and napping she would do the cutest little howl/bark. We also found out she quite liked Kings Of Leon so we knew she would settle in well with us! After a quick loo break (for all of us) and lots of cuddles we headed on the final leg of our journey.


Her first evening she slotted straight in as if she had been here all her life. Our son was blown away with excitment when he came back from nannys and Bella fell totally in love and they have been inseperable ever since.As you can see she took to him straight away <3


She looked so small on my old dogs large bed and would lay there flat on her back with her legs in the air, and a teddy was given by our son for her to snuggle up with and she was the same size as him (although now he is tiny in comparison, or should I say was as he is now no longer with us after being de-stuffed by bella during a playful day!)

The first few nights

The first couple of nights, understandably were hard. She needed a wee several times a night and got a little lonely downstairs in the kitchen but after moving her cage into the living room she slept soundly from 11pm-6am and by 10 weeks was sleeping from 10pm through until 7am without needing a loo trip in the night :) way to go Bella. I do remember one night, I think day 3/4 with us she whined a few times in the night and I ended up sleeping on the sofa with her snuggled up under my chin and although I was shattered just being snuggled by that little pup who had the beautiful "puppy smell" about her was a wonderful feeling.

Now I cant really recall many moments since then as its been 6 months which is why I wanted to start this sooner than now as I knew I would forget but I'll try and remember.

From 11 weeks she was vaccinated and able to venture outside on walkies and the fun really began. We joined a local dog training class and Bella did really really well and I found it invaluable and recommend every new owner finds a local class. The socialisation for puppy and the tips you pick up became life lines and we found bella loves all dogs regardless of size! From the huge 16 week old great dane to the chiuahua on the same course lol! She just had no fear.

Sadly we didnt finish the course as Bella caught Kennel cough and so needed to be in isolation from other dogs and bless her it was a horrible cough she had. My top tip from the vet warm some honey and a little lemon in warm water and let her lap at it to soothe her throat and it really seemed to work (although honey seemed to give her a sugar rush lol!)

Back out in the world again we had many a joyous walk and plenty of training thrown in daily which meant by 12 weeks Bella would sit, stay, wait, lie down, leave a piece of chicken on her paw without touching, and we began using a long line and a harness to practise recall. Recall had always been a scary thought as beagles are known for having zero yet constant training meant from 16/17 weeks old I could let the long line trail behind her without holding it and she could run about and we would stand 20/30 ft aoart from one another and get her to recall to one of us then command her to go to the other. We can now say on a walk "find daddy..find mummy...find jordy" and she will know who to return to :D

Teething kicked in around 15/17 weeks ( i think ) and it was SO funny when she had one pop out. She would bark and paw at the tooth on the floor and look at us and howl as if to say " what on earth is this mum??" Ive now got 8 in a little box put away as mementos. Looking at her adult teeth I cant believe how teeny they are!

During the teething stage she would chew and chew and my poor sofa took a bit of a bashing but thankfully frozen carrots became more tempting and the sofa got left alone. By 21 weeks or so the teeth had all come through, well all except one baby tooth which is still there and next to the adult tooth it was meant to move out the way for but during her spaying op the tooth will be removed.

As bella has got older her colourings have changed quite dramatically. She came home pretty much black and white with a brown right leg to her sock. Today she is mostly brown and white with a small black section on her back. Her face has also gone from jet black to tan brown. Her ears have also now become in proportion to her face where as for about 6 weeks they looked too big for her body bless her tooo cute!!

She also hit 7 months and became much more relaxed and the loony zoomies as we called them-the mad 30 mins before bedtime started to stop and she is now happiest lying down in front of the fire or recently lazing in the sunshine. She also has a fab routine of waking at 7am, going for a 30-40 min walk and home for breakfast before she goes for a sleep whilst I go to work and I return at lunch time for another walk and then we chill all afternoon until 3pm when my boy comes home and play time begins!! She then has tea about 5pm and sleeps whilst we have tea and then a final walk about 8pm and home to relax/play/train until bed time at 10pm. By doing this she has no seperation anxiety,doesnt howl on leaving alone, hasnt once destroyed anything in her cage whilst inside, and is basically a chilled out pupster. <3

So I want this blog to highlight all a beagle qualities and prove they ARE trainable, they are loveable and to be honest the best breed out there, contrary to most information online/in books which only seem to list their negative traits :(

Introducing Bella

I wanted to start a blog on life with a beagle and Im only just now getting round to it after thinking of it for the last 4 months!!

So I am a beagle owner and just wanted to blog my journey on living with a beagle and the fun and adventures we have together and keep a record of milestones along the way.

My beagle is a tri-colour beagle girl called Bella who is 9 months old on the 1st of June. She was born and bred in Wales Sept 01 2009 and she came home to live with us on the 24th October 2009 aged 8 weeks in Surrey. This picture is of her aged about 5 weeks old.

She has been a breath of fresh air to the household after I sadly lost my border collie X german shepard boy in April 09. The house was far to empty and quiet without a dog and so my quest to find a new family member began in the summer of 09.
My husband had the idea of a beagle and we (I) began researching the breed and looking into breeders. We had agreed on a bitch and already had the name Bella chosen so now the hunt for Bella began. As soon as I saw her photo I knew she was the puppy for us and the rest as they say is history. We visited the puppies in the beginning of October and we both fell totally in love with her and the long count down began until we could travel back to collect her.

I shall leave this here as she is pestering me to play ball with her. I will update later on the next chapter in the story. S xx