Digby cautiously ventured out with me on his morning walk while his elder brother went off on a hike with 'the font'. The little ones sore paw meant that such progress as was made was extremely leisurely and interspersed with long contemplatative stops to observe nature and sit on the grass. We paused by the village pond for ten minutes looking at the resident heron and the ever active scarlet breasted woodpeckers. Anyone observing our gentle stroll must have thought we were two eighty year olds out for our daily constitutional.Wilf's ear allergy was troubling him last night. I was up from three thirty until four calming him down and trying to stop the manic scratching through a combination of cuddles and soothing talk. The violence of the scratching makes rest impossible - thankfully, he eventually fell fast asleep in my arms and then slumbered uninterruptedly for three hours. Looking back at the old 'Life in Italy' blog I see that we had exactly the same problem last year and found that the application of an American ear cleaning product, 'Zymox' , was the only thing that worked to soothe the irritation. Digby doesn't have the ear problem so I don't know whether this wild scratching is breed specific or stress or allergy related. Last year I'd asked the kennel where we got them for some advice but didn't get a reply. The vets tests are inconclusive. His diet, post-Pancreatitis is pretty well controlled but it could be that he has developed a reaction to something in his low-protein kibbles - certainly, his once every ten day stomach upsets have started to occur more frequently in the last couple of months. A large Zymox order has been placed this morning with the manufacturer in the US together with a request to send it to Europe by courier asap. Wilf's the perfect companion but sadly,the combination of pancreatitis, poisoning by the Italian hunters, and then the run in with the killer caterpillars, all in the space of 18 months seems to have taken its toll on him.
