This is the from Jan Donnithorne, who is fostering Millie until a permanent home can be found.
“Me, Angus, Millie & Molly were out today from around 10:30am through to 4:30 pm-now that’s a good day of walking around I can tell you, and we enjoyed every minute of it. This wee Millie is a treasure-period! She is soooooooo affectionate and when we stop to chat with friends and neighbours, she sits in front of me and just looks up at my face!! Very sweet to see I can tell you. She is excellent on the leash-no pulling whatsoever. I can even drop the leash and she continues following me....with her perfect big black nose about an inch from my leg.......she is one adorable Westie, however, it will sure be nice when her hair has grown in and she has her beard and moustache and her other furnishings back in place! It’s quite different to see a Westie without all these things I can tell you!
Unfortunately, a few more issues became evident with wee Millie this morning: (1) she has an eye infection-red, quite runny and lots of goopy stuff coming out. (The other eye is OK) I am treating the infected eye with meds from my Vet (2) she is digging and digging (scratching) at various parts of her body so I’ll probably have to find something for that too, if she doesn’t stop the scratching by, say, later on today. She really digs, and digs at whatever is making her itch. She has also got a balding patch on the top of one of her feet where she digs at and bites this area.
Following a telephone conversation with Jan, it turns out Millie has infection on both her ears, conjunctivitis in both eyes and the usual Westie itch. These problems are being treated with antibiotics and it is expected that the infections will clear up.
Thursday, April 17: Poor Lacey has not been lucky. She stopped eating and was taken to the vet for evaluation. There was no reason to suspect that she had something which was really serious. She was put on intravenous but then on Friday, the vet had to do an emergency surgery At first, he wasn't sure whether it could be a pyometra. It revealed something unbelievable under the circumstances since she had, at first, rather seemed in good health. Lacey had a tumor in her stomach which the vet removed as well as a part of her stomach as the tumor was attached to the inside of it. She is in intensive care over the weekend. The vet told me this afternoon that the tumor was encapsulated (a rather good sign, though we don't know yet whether it is malignant or not), she is responding well to treatment and has started to eat tiny bits of food; her vital signs are good. She has severe anemia: her blood cells are dangerously low, and her albumin is also low. This could be due to a hookworm infection for which she is being treated. If all goes well, she might be able to go back to her foster home tomorrow morning though we don't know yet whether that will be possible and what the recuperation will be.
Report from Jan, Millie's foster mother: ....but so very optimistic about this Millie Girl....she is a treat to have in “our” home, even though there have been a few (did I say a ‘few’?) issues with “P&P” on the floor. Training, though, is getting through to Millie and the mistakes are slowly, but steadily, dwindling in number. Our back door now opens & closes at least an additional 10 times a day for this particular, happy, sweet Westie Girl to go out. Hmmm, it looks as if we’ll soon need new hinges for that door!
TO APRIL 24, 2008: “A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF MILLIE’S CONTINUING DAYS WITH JAN, ANGUS & MOLLY”
Wee Millie is a 100% true ‘blue blooded’ WESTIE GIRL! She is strong willed, a bit stubborn perhaps- but gentle; energetic & very enthusiastic but she knows her present physical limitations and will simply flop down, wherever, when the walk becomes a bit too much for her; she’s loving, sweet and a smoocher and she’s a HUGE giver of love to me, Angus & Molly and all the kids in the neighbourhood. A good eater, she has, along the way, learned to eat slowly. She chews each and every little morsel by picking a piece of food out of her dish, putting it firstly on the floor for a look-see and then, at last, picking it up again to eat it- the exact same way as my beloved Angus eats his food. My much loved Molly, of course, being another story as far as the eating department goes-as in: gobble, gobble, done! WOOF!
Millie is still on antibiotics for her eye and ear infections, however, both issues are almost cleared up-hurrah! She has her second/final “de-worming” meds this Saturday, April 26th and that should see that issue successfully treated too! Her eyes are a beautiful deep, dark brown and I swear that, sometimes, I can look in to those oh, so soft, gentle eyes and I can see all the way to her big ol’ ever so lovin’ heart-yes, I can..This Westie Girl is, truly, a treasure.
Also, from Jan about two weeks latter.
Millie has some of the ever so endearing Westie habits we all love so much in our own Westies: like the little ‘skip’ most of them seem to do with one of their back legs when out for a walk; the tilting of the head as they look at, and listen to you (really?) when you are having that little chat with them about where those bulbs went that were in the south corner of the garden earlier (well, where are they?); the bum wiggling and furious tail wagging when I let Millie out of her ‘house’ (crate) first thing in the morning (like after she wakened ME up @ 5:30am this morning) the lifting of a front paw and holding it up like that for no good reason when she’s just standing there looking at me, the sudden snorting & snuffling noises of happiness and the turning around in circles when she’s excited and simply overjoyed with the way her life’s going......a treasure, indeed.
I am checking for Markham and area Vet estimates for Millie’s “Spaying” and for her “Teeth cleaning”. These are the two treatments left for this little girl to have done and, when completed, Millie should be “up to snuff” on all her prescribed medical/ overall health/ dental requirements.
On Friday, May 16, Brigitte and I picked Millie up from Jan in Markham, for the begining of her trip to Cape Breton and her forever home. It was an emotional good bye. When last we saw her she couldn't climb stairs, now she can easily jump in and out of the car! We took her to Montreal and stayed over night in a motel. Here she is on the bed with Brigitte and Pearl.
Here is our last picture of Millie as we pass her on to Monique Courtois, the President of the Canadian West Highland White Terrier Club, who has organized the rest of the trip to Cape Breton. It was another emotional good bye.
Jan has given us permission to print the following email which she sent to Monique:
My ever so sweet “Millie Girl “ left with Brigitte, Paul and Pearlie, their Westie, around 11am today on the first leg of what will be, for Millie, a fairly long journey to her “FOREVER HOME” in Cape Breton. It was a very difficult parting.
During the process of me getting her things together to put in the car, Millie was right there with me, pushing her nose against my legs & always watching me with those beautiful, brown, soulful, loving and trusting eyes of hers... as if to make sure I wasn’t going anywhere without her. I kissed her sweet face many times and held her very close to me...I think I felt her heart beating against me.
If it is possible for a wee Westie Girl to look worried, well, at times, my sweet Millie did. She seemed a bit concerned about just what was going on around her. Then, she had a safety harness put on her by Paul, which, after he put Millie into the back seat with Pearlie, was attached to the car’s safety belt system. Safely secured little Westies, for sure.
And then, just like that, she was on her way.... a dear little white face peering out at me through a window of the car which would carry her on the first part of her journey home......a loving & kind home-at last.
I miss her terribly.......
Jan
Dear Friends along the way...
I have finally arrived here in Nova Scotia and it is a good sign that
after days of rain - the sun has come out here - we're celebrating my
arrival as well as the sun's. It's a good omen.
I was terribly nervous when I first met Penny and Ian but after Penny
let me sit on her lap for a while during the journey I felt a little
better. Then we kept stopping at interesting smelling places and then I
ate - had some water and did my thing and I felt better as the miles
flew past. Pretty interesting place here - the car ferry was
interesting - lots of smells there!
I'm still pretty jumpy with sudden sounds. Ian nearly scared me out of
my wits when he ate an ice-cream cone! But big noises don't seem to
bother me as much. It's pretty quiet here - as long as no one makes any
sudden noises or moves too quickly.
So now I am finally home. I have had a bath and I'm running around in
circles with my tail going a mile a minute. It will take me a while to
get myself settled in, but so far so good.
The place I am at is on a lake with lots of grass and birds. I've been
for a walk around the grounds and let any other animals know this is my
territory. I think they'll get the message.
Well the news is almost on and I have to see if I made it to the 6
o'clock news - it may not be a big deal to reporters but I think it was
a pretty interesting trip. I'll tell you about it sometime.
Love Millicent (nee Millie)
Here are pictures of Millicent at her new home in Cape Breton.
Posted July, 16 2008
Posted July 24, 2008
My canoeing partner, Marion, purchased a life jacket for Millicent - and here she is! It took her a while to get used to it - she used to just stand there as if I had her in a strait jacket. Now she looks like a super hero as she runs back to the house from the canoe ride - pausing very often to chase ( and once catch!!) a chipmunk or squirrel. What a hoot!
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