We last reported that Shirley’s two surviving pups were reaching the stage of leaving their Mum and preparing to start their new life with their waiting adopters.
Both Elsa and Button have now joined their new families, as has Shirley who is enjoying the rural life and learning to be a dog again. Her puppy producing days are over, she has been spayed and is now a very welcome addition to her new family.
They stood patiently by, waiting for Shirley to cast off her mothering duties right from the first announcement that she was pregnant. The family were on holiday at the time and when the news was broken I daresay a glass or two of Ouzo was downed to aid recovery from the shock.
As the only dog in the household, Shirley is the centre of attention and enjoying every minute of it. Enjoying long strolls in the countryside and coming home to a welcoming warm bed.
ELSA:
Elsa was welcomed into her new grumble right from the start.
Her special friend and self appointed guardian is Pugsey, a PDWRA rescue, who had a troubled past but who has now found sanctuary.
He is the nearest in age to Elsa, maybe that is why they have created a special bond. He keeps an eye out for her and when she yelps, he runs over to see what the trouble is.
Like many children not wanting to put their coats on, it was a struggle to get Elsa to accept a harness, but a little bit of coaxing with some tasty treats solved that problem.-
Elsa has now been fully vaccinated and able to join the rest of the grumble on their walks. She obviously has an eye for design, as she has made a start on stripping the wallpaper!
BUTTON:
Button seemed to think his new grumble are there to be ambushed. His favourite game is to hide underneath the furniture and launch himself on an unwary passer by.
Billybob has taken him under his wing and Button is learning from an older and wiser pug.
Button’s adopter has things well in hand though, she is a dog trainer and he has started his training already.
One of the grumble has gone on to become a Pets as Therapy dog, so who knows, perhaps Button is destined to join him in the future.
It’s been an eventful journey for Shirley and her pups, travelling around the country, meeting PDWRA Volunteers at every step of the way, and adapting to their changing surroundings.
Now all three are safe and secure in their forever homes, their futures certain.
We would like to send belated Congratulations to Maria and Maurice on their recent wedding on a very special communal occasion!
Some of you may have seen or heard on the News, covered by the BBC, about the ‘100 Weddings in a Day’ celebration at Marylebone Old Town Hall in London, that took place on October 1st.
It took place throughout the whole day, from 8am to 10.30pm. Maria and Maurice were wedding no.99 and to make their ceremony complete they were joined by their 3 PDWRA rescue pugs, Twiggy, Harley & Jojo!
Maurice sent us this video from BBC News that shows them being interviewed as they were leaving after the ceremony. If you’d like to see Maria, Maurice and their pugs on the BBC, just click the link below to go to our Youtube page –
This is not a condition that is over-represented in pugs, unlike many of the conditions that I have written articles on, though having seen a couple of cases of PSS in PDWRA pugs this year, I thought it was a good time to write an article on it.
A Portosystemic shunt (PSS) is where an abnormal vessel goes directly from the intestine into the main circulation, bypassing the liver.
The liver processes nutrients as well as removes toxins, and with a shunt, most of the blood bypasses the liver and flows back to the heart, where it is pumped round the body.
Generally speaking, the type of shunt seen in pugs tend to be congenital (born with the abnormality) and extra-hepatic, meaning accessible outside the liver.
Clinical signs of a PSS are a consequence of the blood bypassing the liver, with toxic substances pumped round the body, including to the brain.
Dogs with a PSS can be small for their age, and often are the ‘runt’ of the litter because of reduced nutrition. Symptoms can occur gradually, with excess drinking (and urinating), and altered (neurological) behaviour such as lethargy and apparent blindness, culminating in seizures.
Diagnosis
Blood samples are usually taken if an animal is showing suspicious clinical signs. Routine blood biochemistry results are often suggestive of a PSS allowing further more specific blood samples determining bile acid levels to be taken before and after feeding. Ultrasound examination of the abdomen often allows the shunt to be identified, or where a shunt is not visible ultrasound can show changes consistent with a shunt.
Treatment
If a shunt is left untreated, the dog will eventually die from the condition.
PSS can be treated either medically or surgically, however the older the animal, the poorer the prognosis following surgery, although surgical correction is the treatment of choice.
Medical management is aimed a reducing the symptoms caused by the shunt rather than treating the shunt itself. Feeding these animals a diet low in protein is the mainstay of medical management. This decreases the amount of toxic substances being absorbed from the gut and entering the main circulation via the shunt. Diet selection is important to ensure animals still receive adequate ‘essential’ proteins for growth and general health. Antibiotics and lactulose are also used to lessen toxin production and absorption. Most animals are stabilised on medical management for several weeks prior to surgery. Those animals which are not suitable for surgery, for example older animals, can be maintained on this treatment long-term however they are likely to have a limited life span.
The surgery for a shunt is very challenging and will require a specialist soft tissue surgeon to undertake. The aim is to find the shunt and close this down so allowing all the blood draining from the gut to be routed correctly through the liver substance for processing. However, closing the shunt completely during surgery is only possible in approximately 15% of animals. In the majority of animals, the normal vessels to the liver are under-developed and are unable to cope with the additional blood flow.
Closing the shunt suddenly in these animals would cause major problems with shock and potentially death, therefore the shunt is usually only partially closed and then allow the animal to recover from the procedure. Over the first 3 months post-operatively there is some ongoing closure of the shunt in many animals the shunt will eventually close. This is not always the case and additional surgeries may be needed. Dogs are monitored following the surgery with repeated bile acid tests.
Unfortunately, some animals are not able to fully develop a normal blood supply into their liver despite surgery to close the shunt and some blood will therefore always pass through the shunt. These animals can do well despite this, although some need extra medical management.
In summary, a portosystemic shunt is a serious condition that can lead to death if untreated.
The ideal way to treat is with early surgical intervention, however it is not without risk, and requires a specialist surgeon. Lifelong management is often required.
It is therefore also a very expensive condition to treat and manage, the cost of which would likely be prohibitive without insurance.
It’s so hard to believe that Doris has been with us for 11 years now, I’m not quite sure where the time has gone! On reflection, so much has happened in that time – house moves, marriages, the arrival of two human brothers, a global pandemic and the sad loss of her furry pug brother Oscar to name but a few of the events. Doris has been there to support us through.
We originally applied to PDWRA to offer a home to a puglet in need but mainly as a companion for Oscar who we sadly lost in 2021. We simply searched for pug rescues on the internet and PDWRA was the first result. The application process was very straightforward – completing an online form about our home, our set up, personal circumstances and reasons why we felt we would make suitable adoptive pug parents. We are lucky that Rory (my husband) can work from home and so there is someone at home 99% of the time.
Rory and I had purchased Oscar as a puppy, our first “baby” but this didn’t sit right with me. I suppose looking back, I felt a sense of guilt. Growing up in a family of animal lovers, we never had purchased a creature before – but had cared for many waifs, strays and rescues that had fallen our way, so I felt the urge to rescue as well. I felt we could offer a secure and loving home for a pug in need. Being a community nurse and having researched heavily into pugs prior to purchasing Oscar, I also felt that I could cope with and offer a pug with additional health concerns and had added this to the online application. We waited for a while until a puglet was matched to our little family of 3, but by then, we had become a family of 4 having also rescued a Patterdale terrier/Dachshund called Millie.
I received the call from PDWRA whilst out on shift to suggest that there was a match for us and were we free for a home-check with a view to having an addition to our family. Our conversation over dinner that evening was interesting. “How was your day? Can you pass the garlic bread? Oh, we are having a home-check at the weekend by the PDWRA!”. Suddenly the prospect of having 3 dogs instead of 2 became a bit daunting – I mean it wouldn’t be that much more work – surely?! I was very much mistaken!
We passed the home-check and Doris soon arrived courtesy of a lovely lady, Janet, as her chauffeur. She was a tiny little girl, not quite a year old and looked very moth-eaten. I fell in love with her instantly. We had been informed that she had a skin condition called Demodectic mange which would need intensive treatment and close monitoring with a vet. The treatment regime was definitely intense. “Sorry, no you can’t pop round tonight, I’m busy washing my dog” became a regular reason to avoid social contact!! Multiple baths per week with medicated shampoo, topical medications and good high quality nutrition became the strict regime. In the end, and following a labour of love, it was a medication licensed for sheep that finally got rid of the little mites that had been irritating her little body.
Doris had clearly been very much loved as she arrived with a little letter, a bed with blankets, and 2 large bags of toys and goodies. She also came to us with a Polish passport – this language barrier soon became an excuse for her behaviour as the weeks went on!
Her cheeky side flourished as she got better and more confident and she would get away with all sorts of mischief – “she doesn’t understand” as the excuse. Internet searches of translations of phrases from English to Polish became the norm in a bid to get though to her! I’m certain that Oscar and Millie would roll their eyes when she got away with things they wouldn’t. I’ll add at this point that Doris still does as she pleases (within reason) most of the time! She is definitely a character! Doris has previously enjoyed meetups organised by PDWRA and our local facebook pug group over the years – although for health reasons, she now has retired from these.
Since Doris has joined our family, she has witnessed a lot! Rory and I got married in 2014 and have welcomed 2 sons, Leo and Tristan who are now aged 8 and 4. Doris has thoroughly enjoyed the baby years and very quickly learnt that babies and toddlers = food.
Whilst out on walks with the pram, she has often taken the opportunity to hitch a lift in the basket beneath when walking had become too much!
Pugs are great with children, and even to this day, she will seek out a child to curl up with and listen to Disney films on the settee with a blankie! We moved house in 2017, did lots of internal renovations and tidied up the garden. It has been a project! Doris has been fortunate to have access to a large garden to roam – although in the recent year, this has also proved challenging at times.
Sadly, Doris was diagnosed with anterior lens luxation in her eyes after many recurrent eye ulcerations that had proved difficult to try and overcome. In 2022, Doris had an eye enucleation of her right eye. We have been under the care of the ophthalmology department in Debenham, Suffolk for both Oscar and Doris for many years as eye problems and pugs often go hand in hand.
Doris & Oscar
Sadly, following the loss of her right eye, her left eye began to follow the same path and we had to make the very difficult decision to have the left eye removed in March 2024. We really had to think hard about the removal of her left eye – although the left eye was providing limited vision as it was – would she manage being totally blind? Would we cope? What would we need to do to make things easier for Doris? What does caring for a blind pug involve? Our decision was also being forced by the fact that the right eye had ruptured and Doris had attended for surgery as an emergency case and had not coped very well with the anaesthetic. She ended up with haemorrhagic gastroenteritis and was really quite poorly to the point we thought we might lose her.
Doris boxing Oscar!
We decided to jump before we were pushed this time and although I wasn’t sure how any of us would manage – we all have, and Doris is doing really well! I reached out for further advice from the very supportive PDWRA Facebook group for adoptive parents – and the advice came flooding in. Luckily we had many of the steps in place prior to the enucleation of the first eye – steps from the back door to make it less of a drop, bells on Millie’s collar so Doris can hear where Millie is and follow the noises, no furniture movement and ensuring the clutter is picked up. Doris is able to navigate the house really well.
Doris & Millie
Garden manoeuvres are generally OK but she often gets lost at the bottom of the garden and we have to retrieve her or have been known to send Tristan down to gently clap so she can follow the sound and come back to the house. On the odd occasion that the humans are away from home for a few days, “Nanny and grandad” move in to look after Doris and Millie in their own environment. Doris would not manage to be relocated due to being blind – it just wouldn’t be fair on her.
She doesn’t appear to enjoy being out on walks unless she is in her chariot! I think it is disorientating for her and she is very hesitant with putting one foot in front of the other but is happy to go out safely in her own pushchair. She enjoys trips to the beach as this usually results in ice-cream – one of her favourites! If we pick her up, we have to be sure to place her back in her bed “to reset her” to ensure she is able to get her bearings again!
Teatime often makes me laugh as she does shout at me to hurry up with her tea but has her back to me and is actually shouting at the wall instead! She seems happy and is coping well – and as long as this continues – so will we!
Doris is such a dear little girl and we feel we have been so privileged to have cared for her on behalf of the PDWRA over the last 11 years. I would offer another pug a home in a heartbeat – but looking at our current situation sensibly due to Millie’s age and Doris’s blindness feel that we need to devote our time to our “little old ladies”.
My advice to anyone considering adopting is to do your homework. Pugs are great companions with massive personalities but they can be complicated (and expensive) little creatures. The rewards massively outweigh the hard work, and I honestly can’t see us not having pugs sharing our home.
The 1st October every year, is a day set aside to celebrate black dogs. It was originally created to raise awareness of how they were often passed over in rescue shelters and to break the historic stigma surrounding their colour.
However, we know black dogs are just as loving and loyal as any other colour. In fact they have great character and unique personalities. They are very special!
Black pug owners will know that!
Here, we Celebrate a small sample of YOUR black dogs & pugs, who you’ve shared with us on our Facebook Page Post for National Black Dog Day! 😍🐾 https://www.facebook.com/PDWRA/
Pippin & Poppy
Miss Pickles
Nicola’s Boys
15 year-old Sid
Pepper Pug
Frank & Greg
Doug & Betty
Arnold
Belle
Valerie’s Betty
Alfie
Kevin
Marley
Pumpkin
Bella
Plus, here’s a pretty impressive grumble, of Lindsey’s. She has a total of 7 pugs, 6 of which are black and of those, 5 are adoptees from the PWDRA!
We celebrate them whether they are with us now, or in our memories from across the Rainbow Bridge. Here are a few who were also lovingly posted in remembrance, by their adoring parents:
