Professional photography by @Strike a Pose Photo / Video
Black Spaniels Lappies and Miley were surrendered to Spaniel Welfare South Africa. While Miley was in good health, poor Lappies had a serious skin problem. When we collected them, we were shocked to see it, having never before seen a spaniel with such a bad skin condition. This poor eight-year-old boy had been living on cortisone his entire life and yet was almost bald and suffered from non-stop itching.
We acted immediately in getting Lappies to a specialist vet, Dr Gary Eckersley, who specialises in allergies and skin disorders.
For the first time in his life he received a correct diagnosis: seborrhoea.
In dogs, seborrhoea is a skin disease characterised by a defect in keratinisation or cornification of the outer layer of the skin, hair follicles, or claws. (Keratinisation is the process in which the protective outer layer of skin is being constantly renewed by new skin cells.)
The hard work started after Lappies had multiple secondary infections caused by the skin disorder. He was diagnosed with various problems, including dry eyes, yeast infections, ear infections and sores all over his little body that had prevented him from sleeping for a very long time.
Coconut oil was rubbed into his dry skin twice a day, every day. He was bathed at first with barrier shampoo every second day. He had drops for his dry eyes and various treatments for his ears, and his feet had to be dipped in Hibitane solution. Lappies was given Omega and Vitamin A, along with some antibiotics to clear up the yeast infection. We tried our best to get him not to scratch and lick himself. He also had to get a cooked meal with loads of vegetables. We added kefir and bone broth to his diet.
Every day Lappies got better. The skin began to heal, new pigment was forming, and his eyes started to produce natural tears again. The ear infections started to clear, and in four months we managed to get everything under control. He’ll be on Omega and Vitamin A for the rest of his life and will always have to have a good cooked meal.
But I’m happy to report that our boy has healed completely and has gone to his new home with his sister, Milly (whom they’d been looking after while Lappies, now Toby, was being rehabilitated).
A million thanks to Elmari, Annelda and Dr Gary Eckersley for getting “Lappies” right so he could blossom into “Toby” and be reunited with his sister. Jacqui, we cannot thank you and Kevin enough for giving these two adorable Spaniels their forever home. We know that they’ll thrive under your care. Go well, sweet Milly and Toby xx.
Thank you for the donations from our supporters, the Spaniels4Life group and SAINTs Animal Charity Shop. Without this funding, dogs like Lappies couldn’t be helped.
Never give up hope... Lappies didn’t, and nor did we! Fight the good fight every day!
Jacqui and Kevin Wiles, Toby and Milly’s new owners, share...
Something about the photo of Milly (previously named Miley) and Toby (previously named Lappies) on the Spaniel Welfare SA’s Facebook page tugged at my heartstrings. While all the posts of dogs looking for new homes do the same, there was just something different about this one.
We’d lost Daisy, our beloved Golden Spaniel, to kidney failure at the end of March and, despite our age and travel-related reservations about getting another, we found we really missed the companionship and fun a dog brings to a home, not to mention the obligatory exercise.
Miley and Lappies seemed to tick all our boxes. Most importantly, they were cat-friendly, they were older and they were black – which meant we’d not be comparing them to Daisy in quite the same way – plus, they were a pair, so could keep each other company too. After some hesitation, I made the call and let Elmari know that we were interested in adopting them.
We passed the home check and waited with great anticipation for Miley and Lappies to be transported from George to Johannesburg. It was only once they reached Elmari that Toby was found to be in very poor condition with a serious skin disease. He was in no fit state to be rehomed, but Elmari was confident that, with the help of Dr Gary Eckersley, he would recover.
In the meantime, we were able to bring newly-named Milly home. We could only collect her after dark, and to say it was a somewhat chaotic meeting would be an understatement. But she hopped into the car without a backward glance and sat calmly on my lap all the way back. She bounced through our front door, shot past our three astonished cats like a streak of greased lightning, across the patio and the lawn, and straight into the swimming pool… Fortunately, this is the only mishap we’ve experienced with her. We scooped her out, wrapped her in a big towel, and rubbed her dry.
From that moment on, she seemed to know instinctively that she was “home”. She settled into her new bed, next to ours, slept through the night without complaint, and by the end of the following day it felt as though she’d been with us for months. One cat, also a rescue, had taken fright at her sudden, speedy appearance and took shelter under a bed for three days, but despite the other two trying hard to gain her affection, she’s shown little interest in them. Within a few days she showed herself to have the sweetest, gentlest disposition and a very sociable nature.
It was over two months before we were able to collect Lappies – immediately renamed Toby – from Elmari. We’d followed his progress along the way – not without some anxiety – and had had moments when we wondered whether we’d cope with his special needs. We’d committed to taking both dogs, though, and we felt we owed it to Toby to give him a good chance at a new life. Collecting him from Chartwell on the 19th of November on a bright, sunny morning promised to be simpler than our previous trip in the dark, but it wasn’t to be.
Unlike Milly, he didn’t wish to sit calmly on any lap and made his excitement vociferously obvious each time we stopped at an endless stream of non-functioning traffic lights as the northern suburbs of Johannesburg muddled their way through what seemed to be a prolonged and extensive bout of load-shedding. Toby bounced about, greeting both fellow motorists and pedestrians with great enthusiasm and garnering smiles in return. He was quite unrecognisable as being the same dog who’d arrived in Johannesburg a few months earlier, bare-skinned other than for a comical mohawk on his head.
On arrival home, Milly didn’t greet him with quite the same unbridled joy he displayed. She’d become quite comfortable with being an “only child” during his recuperation, but he won her over as easily as he’s won over everyone who’s come into his happy, slightly goofy, sphere. Presumably thinking they were seeing double, the cats hardly gave him a second glance, although he’s more interested in them than Milly has been. Like Milly had done before him, Toby settled in very quickly. I was initially a little daunted by his dietary requirements, but dishing out his daily supplements has become quite routine and seeing the wonderful condition of his new, lustrous, curly coat, I’m beginning to wonder if I should be adding them to my breakfast too…
My elderly Tedelex slow cooker has taken on a new lease of life, proving ideal for slow-cooking Toby’s vegetable-laden stews, which Milly also enjoys. The highlights of the day are mealtimes and walks. Neither Milly nor Toby seemed familiar with walking on leads, but they’ve learned not only that but also how to tell the time, both having the remarkable ability to know exactly when five o’clock rolls around and a walk is in the offing, come rain or shine.
Elmari and Dr Eckersley, with endless patience and care, have worked miracles with Toby, and Spaniel Welfare SA do amazing work for Spaniels throughout the country. It’s almost impossible to believe Toby is the same dog who arrived in Johannesburg in August, and we’ll do our best to keep him this way. Both he and Milly are absolutely beautiful dogs. We feel so lucky to have found them and hope they’ll live long and happy lives with us.
