We'll also be visiting Dublin Flea Market. Some friends and I are thinking about getting a stall there next month - I will be flogging some vintage jewellery and clothes, while they will be selling their artwork, zines and papercraft items. It will be a really fun venture and will give us a bit of extra money on the side.
In other news, I took Gerry to the vet as he has been experiencing hair loss on the back of his legs since January. I hadn't taken him any sooner as I thought it may have been natural shedding, or something known as "Bald Thigh Syndrome" that greyhounds are prone to getting, for no particular reason. Also, as he didn't seem irritated by it in the slightest I didn't really see the urgency. Anyway, yesterday I trotted him over to the vet to get it checked, as it's been getting a bit worse lately and I wanted to make sure it wasn't something serious. Gerry is always straining at the lead to go to the vet's because he can see all the doggies in the waiting room and wants to go in and say hello and have a good sniff around the food and toys they have for sale at reception. However, getting him into the surgery is a totally different matter! He refuses point blank to walk in, and I have to carry [all 21kgs of] his big, gangly body into the surgery and up onto the table. What a scaredy-pup! Once he was in there he was grand though, he waited patiently while I talked to the vet and didn't whine or make a fuss when he was given an antibiotic injection. He is now on antibiotics for 2 weeks, as he seems to have a bit of a skin infection. They are hoping it's some sort of mite and that the antibiotics and application of a repellent spot-on called Advocate will get rid of it once and for all, and that it's not a skin condition that will need constant management or an allergy that we can't do anything about. I have to take him back in a fortnight to see how he's doing. If it hasn't cleared up they'll be taking him in for a skin test, but hopefully it won't come to that and we can just continue with the monthly application of the Advocate and see if he needs any more antibiotics or not. Poor little chap! Apart from this he's in amazing health though, enjoying the Springtime sunshine in the park, running around with his friends and lapping up the attention he attracts from everyone!
I am still trying to source vegan kibble for him. It's a nightmare. I've literally checked everywhere, and as nowhere in Ireland stocks any (apart from one place which is way too dear) it's either too expensive to get it shipped over from the UK, Europe or America, or they won't deliver here at all! I've emailed a few places to check that their ridiculously high shipping fees are correct, but I've yet to hear back from them. All I can do at the moment is feed him as high quality raw organic kibble as I can, and make sure all his other treats are vegan. He goes crazy over a kong filled with frozen mashed banana and apple chunks, and he adores his vegetable based chews and biscuits, as well as rice, broccoli and carrots, so he's definitely a healthy pup who doesn't get fed any junk :-)
***UPDATE***
I just got a lovely email from a staff member at Veggie Pets about ordering 30kgs of V-Dog. She is going to find out exactly how much it is for me to send it to Ireland, and they can hopefully do it quite cheaply if I'm going to be a regular customer. I really do hope it's an option as £22 for a 15kg bag is very very good, and I would have no problem paying an extra £20 on top of that for shipping. Even if it costs me a total of the equivalent amount of euros that it would to get the Yarrah food from Zooplus, I still wouldn't mind as it would be 10kgs extra food than what Zooplus could give me. FINGERS CROSSED!
Here's a photo of the gorgeous Bianca over at Vegan Crunk, and her vegan dog Datsun who is a most handsome ambassador for V-dog. Hope you don't mind me stealing this pic from your blog, Bianca!
Get better soon Gerry, and good luck with the dog food company, hope they come through!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm really hoping they pull through with it as well. I made it clear to them that I'd be ordering it on a regular basis, so it would make it worth their while to try and sort something out for me.
ReplyDeleteIt would just finally put my mind at rest, having him on a good complete vegan dog food that was tried and tested for generations of dogs, knowing that every aspect of his health was being looked after properly. I have hesitated in making his meals from scratch as I don't think I could adequately provide every single vitamin and mineral he requires... sure I bet even if owners of meat eating dogs had to make a balanced meal from scratch for their dogs they wouldn't have a clue either and it would be deficient in quite a few essential things. I just want to get him onto a food that I can trust 100% and then supplement it with stuff like veggies, fruit, peanut butter, vegan biccies and treats, rice, linseed oil, etc. I just want his main kibble to cover everything so I don't have to worry!