goodbye to Gink

Gink  -   ? June 1999 - 6 January 2014

A few months ago, after 14 years of excellent health, Gink started to show signs of being unwell.  He was diagnosed with severe diabetes and we duly put him on a special diet.  With Gink there was no question of going down the insulin injection route everyday - whenever faced with something he disapproved of, he would simply move out!  So we made the decision at that time to give him as much quality time as he had left without putting him through any kind of stress just for the sake of a few extra months. 

He was a terrific cat who first came into my life when Lenny, who was then about 10 months old, brought him home one day.   He had no microchip and no collar and was about the same age as Lenny.  I waited for him to go back home, but he never did.  In the end I started to feed him and he duly moved in with Lenny and I.   When a few months later I moved, Gink came with us and stayed ever since.

But only just.  He was one of those cats who would quite happily mosey into other people's houses, if given a chance.  I don't know if he ever went through anyone else's cat flap, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did.  He certainly had to be rescued out of people's garages from time to time.  More than one neighbour over the years threatened to keep him, as he regularly visited them and they were so taken with him.  That's when it occurred to me that I had originally gone off with someone else's very friendly, very disloyal cat!  Oops.

Reading about juicing

Helping Jay at the computer

He clearly had several stops on his neighbourhood rounds where a tasty snack could be found.  As a youngster he was diagnosed with urinary tract disease which was controlled throughout his life by a special diet.  In spite of this, he was known as a big cat - very big.  And by "big" I mainly mean "fat", thanks to his many admirers.

In recent months he stopped going outside much and he steadily lost weight until he was half his original size.  When he stopped eating and drinking we knew it was time to make that difficult decision, and so today we said goodbye to him. 

I will miss him on the end of the bed, taking up all the space.  And I will miss the way he would demand food in the mornings, even though there was always food in his bowl.  I will miss him sunning himself in the garden in the summer - and I'm sure the dogs will too.  Who will they chase and poke now?  And in the evenings it will be strange not to have him rolling around on the stairs, scratching the carpet to shreds.

In the "shade" of the clothes line

He recently took exception to the water in his bowl.  Thinking he didn't like metal bowls, we got him an earthenware one - after all, who likes to drink out of metal?   But apparently all this time he actually preferred to drink from glasses.  We'd rather not think how long he was drinking from Jay's water glass at night before we caught him red-pawed...






Run free, Ginger Cat.

hot dogs

You might have thought I was exaggerating when I said in my last post that a Lapphund would prefer it to be minus 30°C rather than plus 30°C, but if it was an exaggeration at all, it was a very slight one.  They are purportedly one of only a small handful of breeds who are allowed by law to remain outdoors during the night in a ferocious Finnish winter.  And when you get the chance to see them in cold weather, you can appreciate why.

It's a real treat for Lappy owners to see their dog's reaction the first time they see snow.  It really is like they have a genetic predisposition for it and they go quite bonkers with excitement.  For many of them, the worse the weather, the better they like it.  That includes not only snow, but also rain and wind and bitterly cold temperatures.  

So what's a Lappy to do when the temperature is somewhere in the region of 25-30°C, as it was here in southwest England for the past few weeks?

Our dogs like to lie about in the shade on the patio with the cool stones on their bellies - and chins.

Smiley Neka the second after lifting her chin from the ledge -

I just wasn't quick enough with the camera

Keskiyo, Maija & Tuuli - still panting even when in the shade

Even Gink enjoys the cool patio.  Do you suppose he thinks the skeleton washing line will cast some shade for him?  Or perhaps he just knows that this is a safe place to lie because even dogs who are careering madly around the garden tend not to run into poles - or trample the pussycats lying under the poles.

So what about exercise in this weather?  How cool does it need to be to walk a Lapphund?  How hot is too hot?  I always tell people that 20°C is the maximum temperature to walk your Lapphund in.  Any warmer than that is too warm for them, really, and that's especially true if that temperature comes with sunshine and no wind.  

So this kind of summertime in England means very early and very late walks for happy Lappies.  These days when it's 20 degrees by 9 am, I am out with the dogs by 7 o'clock at the very latest.  And some days - and for some people with different schedules to mine, that latest time will be 6 am.  Or even 5.  After that, the order of the day is lounging around on the patio stones until the sun goes behind the trees sometime after 8 pm.  

As for warm weather and the thick Lapphund coat, I have often had questions about clipping the coat in an effort to help them keep cool.  In a word: DON'T.  Here is an article that goes into some detail about the reasons not to clip or shave a dog with a double coat like a Lapphund.  But the short version is this:  The coat acts as a perfect insulator.  That means that it keeps them warm in cold weather but also cool in hot weather.  

Not so cool that you should take them out for a run in 25 degree heat, though, obviously.

Then there is the assertion "but my dog wants to go for a walk even when it's warm".  My answer to that is this:  You would not allow your 4-year-old child to decide what was in his best interests, so don't let your dog make those decisions either.  

In any event, it's not a problem that is likely to cause us in the UK any long-term dilemmas.  I have no doubt that by the time I publish this post, the weather will have reverted to the usual cold wind and rain that we have come to expect of our summers and the Lappies will all be comfy and as happy as clams (and probably as damp as clams too).