|
 |
 |
| Name: |
Charlie
|
Age: |
Eleven years old
|
| Gender: |
Male |
Breed: |
Miniature Poodle |
| Home: |
Arizona, USA |
Charlie
is the first small dog my wife and I have ever had. Before Charlie we
had Gretchen, a female German Shepherd. From childhood my wife and I had
always had German Shepherd dogs. But after Gretchen passed away at age twelve we
decided we would get a small, non-shedding, very intelligent dog. We saw an ad
in the paper and went to home where a new litter of miniature poodles were for
sale. From the ad I knew they cost $350 so I had exactly that much in my
pocket. The owners showed us the puppies they had for sale and we played with
them for a short time until my wife asked "Do you have any more besides
these?" The owner replied that they did have two more but they were "Spoken
for." My wife asked if we could see them and so they let two more puppies out
of a bathroom where they had been hidden. One of these two was shy and stayed
behind near the wall while the other came out running, happy to see the other
members of his litter. We were drawn to the shy little boy and I rolled him
over to rub his tummy, which he didn't seem to mind at all and he looked over
at my wife. She had said "If we get a poodle he has to be black." All of the
litter were dark gray but Charlie was black black and sweet as could be. So I
said to the owner "I'll give you $350 cash for this one right now." The owner
hesitated only slightly and then sold him to us. Charlie's papers showed that
his name was "Orion" which we thought was a little too much for this little
puppy. So in the car on the way home we changed his name to "Charlie" and that
seemed to fit him perfectly.
For the past eleven years Charlie has been our constant companion. He is sweet and
smart and wonderful in every way. We knew we wanted a boy because we had
talked with a poodle breeder and he had told us that the males were much
sweeter and that he always had a male poodle as his house dog even though he
bred poodles. Charlie goes with us everywhere. He goes for a walk with my wife
every morning and we also take him to the town square several times a week to
read the "pee-mail." Whenever one of us leaves without him, he sits in the
living room window, watching for our return. And every night at the same time,
he sits directly in front of us, telling us it's time to go to bed. And of
course, he sleeps on our bed with us.
Last Christmas he became very ill and lost nearly half of his body weight. We
took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with diabetes and Cushing's Disease.
From then on we have been very careful to keep him healthy. We have read
everything about these diseases and we have become expert in giving him his
medications and special foods.
Every morning he gets a medication called "Trilostane" which was just approved
by the U.S. FDA last January. This treats his Cushing's Disease, which is
really a brain tumor in the pituitary gland. Before we gave him Trilostane his
coat had become very wiry and splotchy, very course to the touch and it looked
as though he was in danger of losing his hair altogether. Now his coat is full
and soft and luxuriant just like a poodle is supposed to be. Besides
Trilostane we also give him Hepagen-C, a medication to keep his liver healthy.
He doesn't take these capsules readily so we have to wrap them each in cream
cheese, which works very well. We also feed him some special food, which is
high in fiber and designed specifically for dogs with diabetes. It's called
Royal Canine and you have to buy it from the vet. Since he doesn't really like
this food, we add another food called "EVO" which is pure beef and is supposed
to be a formula of what dogs ate in the wild and more tuned to their
"Evolutionary" diet - hence the name "EVO." I cut his food into about 25 small
pieces and feed each piece to him by hand. Otherwise he wouldn't eat it.
After feeding him we put the timer on for 30 minutes - giving him time to get
digestion started so that when we give him his injection of Insulin it will
participate in the digestion process. Insulin, normally produced by the body
naturally, is not produced by the diabetic dog. Insulin is required for food
to pass through the cell walls so that it can be converted into energy.
Without insulin the food is no use to the dog and ultimately the dog starts to
digest itself in an attempt to produce the energy needed to live.
We do the same thing in the evening so that he gets two injections of
long-acting "Vetsulin" which is insulin made specifically for dogs. It stays
in the system for twelve hours, doing its work on whatever food the dog eats.
Besides these two meals of Royal Canine and EVO, Charlie usually eats 1/2 cup
of raw T-Bone steak at lunch, 1/4 cup of Mozzarella cheese, and four to six Iams Puppy
Cookies that he has eaten from day one.
The exercise, special diet and medications have done the trick. When he was
first diagnosed, he has lost nearly half his body weight and was down to nine
pounds. Today he is nearly fourteen pounds and gives the appearance of a robust,
healthy, happy poodle. He plays with his toys, goes for walks, teases us by
getting us to chase him or throw his toys - in general he is the picture of
health.
Keeping him healthy requires a lot of time and effort on our part, but we
consider it well worth it. Charlie is like our little boy who never grew up.
He is our companion, our friend and almost our child and we don't know what we
would do without him. Besides keeping us happy and entertained he is also our
"Alarm Dog." Since he is small and in no way intimidating like our German
shepherd, Gretchen, what Charlie does to protect us is to be ever vigilant in
letting us know whenever there is anyone near the house. That's why, instead
of a "Guard Dog" we call him our "Alarm Dog" and he does this job with 100%
perfection.
Charlie is just the greatest dog you could ever ask for. And we consider it a
privilege to have him as a member of our household.
See more images of Charlie!
|
|
|
|
|
