Zeyno

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to sweet Zeyno, our biggest dog and one that has been with us for fourteen years. It was her time and she has had a very good life. She has been loved and pampered.

She never was the sharpest knife in the drawer, but a big, good hearted dingus that let all the other dogs use her as a mattress  and boss her around. We haven't known an other dog as patient, innocent and with good intentions as she.

Zeyno, thank you so much for all the love and the smiles and the warmth you gave us all these years, you will be missed.

A Little Wild Trip

Today we went to the Animal hospital, a mountain drive of about half an hour, for our Zeyno. We discovered some large lumps and as we have had these kind of shocks a lot lately we did not waste any time and went straight away for her to be operated. It looks like she has the same cancer as Simon ( who is doing well) but we'll know more when the pathology test results are back. She is a big 12 year old dog, but we love all our doggies and like to keep them around healthy and happy :)

While waiting for the operation we discovered a fox pup in one of the recovery cages, oh so very adorable and pretty and very small. She will go to a wild life park once she has been vaccinated and has stayed there for quarantine for a while. I never have seen a fox so close, let alone a pup so I took some pictures for this beauty.

The operation went well, 4 lumps are removed and we'll know what is going on in a few days.
On our way back we stopped by an abandoned greenhouse, literally exploding with greenness, so magical.

I often love pictures of abandoned places, the way nature takes back the place and slowly makes it green and pretty has something satisfying, the ability of nature to heal is amazing (of course it can heal to a certain extent).

We must have passed it dozens of times, in a fast going car you do not see everything, but this time I realized that the greenhouse was a little too green and we made a mental note to stop on our way back for pictures.

Girmek Yasaktır - Forbidden to Enter, not that you can actually enter, I did break that rule by poking my head and camera inside :)

Funny enough just when I was about to write this blog post I came across this image on BoredPanda, it seemed to meant to be featured here considering the combo of the fox and the greenness that she could have been in that greenhouse :)

Here some 'forbidden' peeks inside.

Zeyno is doing well, lying on her favorite couch with a comfort blanket and her appetite already back to normal, and her tail waggling like nothing has happened, animals are so strong!

Zeyno Update

So yesterday morning we go up before sunrise and went to Aydın again for Zeyno's operation.
We were welcomed by a calf and a herd of students.

We waited till Zeyno fell asleep before we left to the centrum of Aydın to kill some time while she was operated.

When we came back Zeyno was already starting to wake up. The operation went well and to our relief it was not a tumor but as suspected her spaying operation wasn't done correctly and part of her uterus was left behind. This part had grown through the years and now got badly infected. The vet told us that it was a miracle that Zeyno was still alive and so healthy as it was badly infected.

This was the terrible piece of meat full of bacteria which was removed from her, sorry for the ugly detail but we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw it. It is the size of an adult man's fist and if we would cut it open terrible stuff would spill out of it. If it had bursted while it was in Zeyno, she wouldn't have made it.

Zeyno didn't want to see or hear about this ugly piece of meat, but is doing well. She is on a fluids diet but is in good spirit and still waggles her tail when she sees us. She is getting an antibiotic injection every morning and evening to prevent infections. Thank you all for the good vibes, I'm sure it helped her a lot!

Close to the faculty was an old abandoned cemetery. At first glance it looks like a dirt pile with some wonky stones, I think even the relatives of these souls are long gone by now.

Doggy Emergency

 About 6 months ago our 9 year old big girl Zeyno started to bleed, she can't be in heat as she has been spayed when she was 6 months old. So we took her to the vet and after blood and urine tests and an ultrasound nothing came up. With an expensive 10 day treatment of Vitamine K injections the bleedings stopped. Now it started all over again and before spending another fortune at the local vet we decided to take her to the Veterinarian Faculty in Aydın, a city that is about 180 km (112 miles) from our town. Here there are specialists and also more tests available which makes the long mountain drive worth it.

 The Faculty is outside the city and has a very village like feeling. Mainly farm animals are brought in as there are a lot of farms in the surroundings. As it is a Faculty all vets are also teachers and some professors but there are also vets-in-the-making, clueless students watching the procedures.

 The building is old, although there was now also a very new building for classrooms the examinations are still done in the old building. With ceilings so high that even a giraffe could be examined.

Here we are waiting in front of the xray room.

Ultrasounds showed that she has an unidentified cluster which isn't supposed to be there. The first guess is that a part of her womb was left behind during her operation more than 8 years ago, apparently even a fraction as small as 1cm ( 3/8'') can later on grow and cause for bleeding. It can also be a tumor, we will be sure once she has been operated as the ultrasound and tests can not tell everything.

So now after all those tests we came home with fearful hearts and empty wallets, Friday morning we will rise early and hit the road again so that she can be operated, hopefully this will heal her and no bad 'surprises' will come out of it.

Here some weird looking instruments at the faculty, the one above was a huge table with clasps, this is most likely used to keep a large animal like a cow firm and unmoving during an operation, I wonder what kind of lift they have to lift such a large animal on that table in the first place.

And this looks like it goes around the large animal and you can clim on the metal to examine the back etc without beeing kicked.

We'll let you know how everything goes, keep your fingers crossed and send some good vibes our way please!

Wordless Wednesday

Seriously looking Zeyno :)

Introducing: Zeyno

Our big girl, Zeyno, has been with us since 4 august 2004. A friend of us found her trembling in the street as a wee puppy. We had no idea than that she would grow to the dimensions of a calf.

But her heart is big as well. As the turkish people say, she has a heart of bread, innocent, loving and good natured. She is the kind of dog that you could trust to babysit an infant. The smaller dogs adore her. You can take food out her mouth without her giving a crimp.
Alas she is getting very fat and she would need more exercise and diet food, both things that we cannot procure, so we are looking for a new home for her, before she gets problems with her joints due to her weight.

Is there anybody out there who could put her into a strict diet and make long walks with her and love her for ever?