Mrs Down's Diary

OUR Jack Russell, Bud has just been to the vets for his review. Six months ago we discovered he had an enlarged heart.

He had been coughing and choking as though he had something stuck in his throat but we have learned now that in fact he was in distress and struggling to breathe.

A course of medication restored him to good health but he is now permanently on tablets, and although his lungs and liver are not compromised, his heart is.

As a result, we have to go through an elaborate charade twice a day to get him to take his medicine. No chance here of merely offering the medication in your hand, as we could with our greedy Labrador and spaniel.

Those two, Meg and Holly, would eat poison with relish. Bud, however, regards everything as potentially toxic and injurious to his health.

Stick his tablets in a sausage and he will eat around said sausage and leave the bit with the capsule in.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette June 11