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❤️ Obi Kay ❤️

A Hovawart, a Hovawhat? A Hovawart!! Well that is what my 9 year old daughter says when people ask what breed my boy is. Just to get you up to date, Hovawart dogs are an ancient breed that used to be guardians of the estate many years back before Alsatians came along. They are a working breed and an alert dog so if there is anything unusual going on they let you know by their loud and scary bark. Obi is 3 years old and all I can say is that he is a big and soppy lummox. He is a large breed dog and when people see him they think he is a large Flatcoat. He is a super well socialised boy, I was very conscious right from the word go that I wanted my pup to get on well with other dogs, the only problem is that he thinks he is the size of a little poodle. This makes life interesting when he jumps on top of me in the morning for cuddles with his whole body weight, all forty something kilos of him. My boy is super lovable and affectionate, he thinks that he is a little lap dog and when he wants to sit on top of you on the couch you get flattened, we usually finally come to a compromise and end up with his head on my lap. He is a big gentle giant and my best friend - he makes me smile!!
I noticed a while back when I was taking Obi for walks that he had calmed down a lot. Instead of chasing around at a million miles an hour in the park playing with other dogs he would have a quick play and then stop. And then I looked after my sisters border collie who Obi adores. They were playing as usual as they love each other and I noticed that Obi got out of breath really quickly. Beau who is 7 wanted to carry on but my boy couldn't go on, he just stopped playing and started walking, I knew there was something wrong. It was the bank holiday weekend and I made a mental note, as soon as the weekend was over I was going to visit my vet with him. The weekend ended up being terrible, Obi lost his appetite and it was a battle for him to eat anything. I even roasted a chicken for him (his favourite) but he wouldn't touch it. On Tuesday morning after a night shift from work, I came home, collected him and went straight to my vet. As soon as my vet saw him he said that he didn't like his breathing, he wanted to sedate and scan him. They did this and called me straight away, they had found a large amount of fluid on his lungs and if they didn't drain it he would drown in his own fluid. 4 litres came out of him and they said there was still more there. My heart sank, my poor boy. How could I not have known how ill he was!! I felt ignorant. How could I have not seen that my darling sweet boy had been struggling to breathe??? My vet recommended for me to send him for a CT scan. We did this the next day and at the same time they drained another litre of fluid away.
The results of the CT scan were not great. Thankfully there was no cancer to be found but the result was that his lymph glands are leaking into his lungs. The clinical name for this is Idiopathic Chylothorax. Idiopathic meaning that they don't know the reason why. My vet explained that it has been like this for the past 30 years, they just can't figure out why the lymph glands would leak like this. Sometimes once the fluid has been drained away the lymph glands stop leaking but this was not to be the case. We brought Obi home and for the next week or so I spent ever hour counting his breaths. I was told if he took more than 30 breaths a minute consistently when at rest I should contact the vets immediately. Thankfully that has not happened, he was breathing at about 24-27 breaths a minute but you can imagine what a nervous wreck I have been. The following Friday I took Obi back to the vets for an ultrasound and they found more fluid which had to be drained, 2.3 litres came off him. We were told that we needed to be referred to a specialist vet as Obi was not going to get better by himself.
So last Tuesday we went to Fitzpatrick Referrals. They explained very clearly and simplistically that the only thing that we can do is to give Obi an operation to stem the fluid from his lymph glands, they explained that this works in 70% of dogs. As there is no explanation for it, there is no 100% cure. We have no choice, my boy is only 3 years old, he is a baby, we need to give him a fighting chance.
We have one problem, the vets bills from the tests and draining has eaten away a huge chunk of our insurance. Obi needs this operation but we have no way of paying for the majority of it. The operation alone is going to cost thousands and if he needs aftercare we just don't have it. I need to make sure that my big soppy, gorgeous, gentle boy gets his fighting chance. I would never ever ask for help if I didn't need to. I would never ever want to upset or offend anyone by asking for money for my dog. This is the only way I know how to be able to raise the funds to make my boy better again. Please, even if it's a couple of pounds/dollars/euros, every penny will help.
I love my boy from the bottom of my heart, I hope you all understand.
A Hovawart, a Hovawhat? A Hovawart!! Well that is what my 9 year old daughter says when people ask what breed my boy is. Just to get you up to date, Hovawart dogs are an ancient breed that used to be guardians of the estate many years back before Alsatians came along. They are a working breed and an alert dog so if there is anything unusual going on they let you know by their loud and scary bark. Obi is 3 years old and all I can say is that he is a big and soppy lummox. He is a large breed dog and when people see him they think he is a large Flatcoat. He is a super well socialised boy, I was very conscious right from the word go that I wanted my pup to get on well with other dogs, the only problem is that he thinks he is the size of a little poodle. This makes life interesting when he jumps on top of me in the morning for cuddles with his whole body weight, all forty something kilos of him. My boy is super lovable and affectionate, he thinks that he is a little lap dog and when he wants to sit on top of you on the couch you get flattened, we usually finally come to a compromise and end up with his head on my lap. He is a big gentle giant and my best friend - he makes me smile!!
I noticed a while back when I was taking Obi for walks that he had calmed down a lot. Instead of chasing around at a million miles an hour in the park playing with other dogs he would have a quick play and then stop. And then I looked after my sisters border collie who Obi adores. They were playing as usual as they love each other and I noticed that Obi got out of breath really quickly. Beau who is 7 wanted to carry on but my boy couldn't go on, he just stopped playing and started walking, I knew there was something wrong. It was the bank holiday weekend and I made a mental note, as soon as the weekend was over I was going to visit my vet with him. The weekend ended up being terrible, Obi lost his appetite and it was a battle for him to eat anything. I even roasted a chicken for him (his favourite) but he wouldn't touch it. On Tuesday morning after a night shift from work, I came home, collected him and went straight to my vet. As soon as my vet saw him he said that he didn't like his breathing, he wanted to sedate and scan him. They did this and called me straight away, they had found a large amount of fluid on his lungs and if they didn't drain it he would drown in his own fluid. 4 litres came out of him and they said there was still more there. My heart sank, my poor boy. How could I not have known how ill he was!! I felt ignorant. How could I have not seen that my darling sweet boy had been struggling to breathe??? My vet recommended for me to send him for a CT scan. We did this the next day and at the same time they drained another litre of fluid away.
The results of the CT scan were not great. Thankfully there was no cancer to be found but the result was that his lymph glands are leaking into his lungs. The clinical name for this is Idiopathic Chylothorax. Idiopathic meaning that they don't know the reason why. My vet explained that it has been like this for the past 30 years, they just can't figure out why the lymph glands would leak like this. Sometimes once the fluid has been drained away the lymph glands stop leaking but this was not to be the case. We brought Obi home and for the next week or so I spent ever hour counting his breaths. I was told if he took more than 30 breaths a minute consistently when at rest I should contact the vets immediately. Thankfully that has not happened, he was breathing at about 24-27 breaths a minute but you can imagine what a nervous wreck I have been. The following Friday I took Obi back to the vets for an ultrasound and they found more fluid which had to be drained, 2.3 litres came off him. We were told that we needed to be referred to a specialist vet as Obi was not going to get better by himself.
So last Tuesday we went to Fitzpatrick Referrals. They explained very clearly and simplistically that the only thing that we can do is to give Obi an operation to stem the fluid from his lymph glands, they explained that this works in 70% of dogs. As there is no explanation for it, there is no 100% cure. We have no choice, my boy is only 3 years old, he is a baby, we need to give him a fighting chance.
We have one problem, the vets bills from the tests and draining has eaten away a huge chunk of our insurance. Obi needs this operation but we have no way of paying for the majority of it. The operation alone is going to cost thousands and if he needs aftercare we just don't have it. I need to make sure that my big soppy, gorgeous, gentle boy gets his fighting chance. I would never ever ask for help if I didn't need to. I would never ever want to upset or offend anyone by asking for money for my dog. This is the only way I know how to be able to raise the funds to make my boy better again. Please, even if it's a couple of pounds/dollars/euros, every penny will help.
I love my boy from the bottom of my heart, I hope you all understand.
