Heya,
I’ve asked Paul about Tilly’s history and she was found in a newspaper advert along with her brother. They saw both her parents and she was brought for Paul’s nan - she was around 8 weeks old when she went to her new home, but around 6 months later the nan ended up in hospital as she wasn’t feeding herself properly and was feeding Tilly her food. Paul seems to remember when she came to his mum she ‘chewed’ her lower nipples, she had no toys at the nans house and chewed a lot of wooden furniture and had gained an obsession of eating tissues, which she still does today.
In Paul’s mums care she would not eat proper dog food (his mum, Sue, tried her best) but all Tilly would eat was pasta and ham. She was given a few toys to play with but not many (she was given a ball, yet didn’t know how to play with it). Paul can’t remember when the aggression started to show, whether it was due to him pestering/tormenting her, I don’t know.
I’ve known Tilly now for about 3 and a half years. Just under 3 years ago, Sue was diagnosed with lung cancer and sadly passed following a 10 months battle. Around 8 weeks previous to losing Sue, I took over Tilly’s care due to Sue being in and out of hospital/Marie Curie.
I remember Tilly’s weight getting to a point where she would sit at the bottom of the stairs and bark because she was too fat to get up there, so I carried her up and down the stairs (I think she has separation anxiety as she doesn’t like to be left on her own). I knew I had to do something about her weight so I brought her some Cesar, which she liked, and she lost a good amount of weight on it. I took her for her annual booster at the vets and asked about getting rid of the last bit of weight when the vet suggested I try her with Chappie due to the high salt content in Cesar. She was ok on this for about a year but was developing anal gland infections all the time so I changed her diet to Wainwrights dry food and, touch wood, she has been fine.
Up in Liverpool (where we lived up until 2 months ago) she didn’t have many toys as Paul’s dad liked the house to be perfect and she was never really played with when he was around because of the ‘noise’ she made…
Now, happily living in Coventry, she has plenty of toys (which she is very possessive over when she wants) and she gets a nice long walk around the local park every day.
She has, as far as I can remember, has always nibbled her lower nipples, and Paul says she was doing it when she came to live with him and his family at 6 months old. Could it be a habit she has got into? Whenever I try and have a look, she grumbles at me so I don’t push her too far, but earlier today me and Paul managed to take these photos of her:
This is one of her lower nipples:
A pic of one of her middle nipples, which she scratches from time to time:
And, finally, a pic of one of her higher nipples, which she cannot reach:
I don’t think she is in pain around her tummy as she loves her tummy being tickled/rubbed when you come home and also when she is on your lap.
I work full time but Paul is home of a Friday (he works up in Liverpool of a weekday), so I was going to give the vets a ring tomorrow and ask if they are familiar with SM in cavvies.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Jen
-x-