Zelda va al mare - Zelda goes to the seaside

After four months of strenuous sleep on the couch, even Zelda has decided to leave for the seaside.

Our initial plan was to spend five days in the beautiful Positano and then, move to Puglia for two days.

Unfortunately, nothing in this holiday went the right way, and after less than a day that we were arrived, we had to run to Barletta to my sister-in-law's house because my boyfriend had strange pains at his left arm...

Positano is really a smoochy, relaxing and wonderful place! Perfect for couples looking for a romantic getaway or families who need to relax (even though our neighbors, two young Portuguese guys, came home at 6 am!).

However, for what we could see and ask, Positano doesn't seemed to us a pet-friendly town! Dogs are not allowed on beaches and the waiters didn't seem so glad to let us enter in their restaurants (and this has never happened in Rome).

Looking here and there on the internet, we found that Campania is perhaps the only region of Italy that does not allow dogs on beaches, although we have heard that in Agropoli (about an hour and a half from where we were) there is a beautiful beach equipped for our furry-friends. If we had stayed longer, we would have definitely went there to have a look!

Regarding Barletta however, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Dogs can run like mads for the beach, and they can even swim! Our friends are not allowed in the "lidi" (it is the part of the beach with facilities, but you have to pay for it), but only with the promise of keeping Zelda always in arm, we were able to let her in there too!

The only sour note (but not only for Barletta but for many other cities of Puglia) is that this is a truly filthy city! Dog droppings, broken bottles and dirt for all roads. There aren't trash bins on the streets (and neither green areas in the suburbs).

When as a child I was on holidays with my parents in Puglia, I remained shocked by the number of stray dogs I saw around me and I always wanted to take them all home with us.

The fact remains, Puglia is one of my favorite regions: I love Gargano (Vieste and Peschici in particular) and especially I LOVE the sea!

Fortunately Zelda loved it too! Just look at the pictures!

 

La terza palpebra - Cherry Eye

As they say, Zelda was born under an unlucky star. Even as a puppy, she has proven to be a real unfortunate: we went to the vet every Saturday, she was always sick and I've lost count of how many brands of dog food we tried in order to make her eat.

The biggest punch, however, came at the age of four months.

I remember that in a few days I had an exam at the university, so I was in a period of "nights". Zelda had begun to snore as usual on the bed and I was quietly sitting at my desk surrounded by my big book of modern history. At 2 am, exhausted, I get up, I go back to the bed and put myself under the covers. Like every evening, my little pig gets up to lick my face and at the exact moment I looked into her eyes, the blood froze in my veins.

She had a strange red ball in her eye, swollen and scary and I didn't know what to do. I was not prepared. I didn't know this could happen, and most of all, I didn't know what it was.

As it has happened for every misfortune that happened to Zelda from there to the months that followed, I did the only thing I knew to be able to do: cry.

After about 15 minutes of crying, I picked up the phone and I called the closer Emergency Vet.

I don't want to tell you about all the tears that I got when the veterinary told me "There is nothing to do, the dog should be operated!", I would go immediately to the operation itself.

As I later realized during the FOUR cherry eye-surgeries that Zelda has suffered of, the procedure is quite simple, and is "almost routine" for English Bulldog and French Bulldog. I just wanted to know this before...

I state that I AM NOT A VET, but, as a worried and apprehensive mother, I got much more out from people who were not vets.

The third eyelid is anchored to the base of the internal cartilage. If for some reason, this cartilage is diverted, that's the third eyelid pops out. If this normally happens only in one eye, it is not uncommon this could happen over the other eye in the next few months (as we well know).

The surgery involves the removal of cartilage and the tasking of this gland (in other words an incision in which the vet puts the red ball and then he closes all).

The operation takes about 30 minutes, but the post-operative is quite annoying for our furry friends.

It consists in the administration of oral antibiotics and anti-inflammatory and eye drops, and we don't have to forget the hated Elizabethan collar!

The bad luck wanted that 13 days after the first operation, the eye of Zelda popped out again and about a month after the second operation, popped out even the second eye.

When I finally thought I had finished with antibiotics and eye drops, here appears a strange white coating on the right eye of Zelda (the last to be operated): an ulcer.

The genius of the veterinary had messed up the thread of the suture that was scratching across the cornea of my poor child. Baleful wrath!

Zelda goes to Rome

After months of grueling game and wild rides at the park, finally came the holidays for Zelda. As a first step, we spent three days in Rome to visit the city.

First, it is fair to say that it is a wonderful place! The people are friendly and the atmosphere is almost magical, it really feels to live in another era!

The only "criticism" that I would make is that it is not a city "dog-proof" (like many other Italian cities).

We were in the center, practically glued to the Vatican, and there the weather was really hot, I would say stifling, even worse than Milan (but we haven't seen a mosquito flying anywhere). We also noticed that there are very few green areas and not all are accessible to our furry friends.

Unfortunately, Zelda was able to follow us around the city until the first day (I was really afraid that she could have an heat stroke!) and the next two days remained at the hotel to enjoy the bed and the air conditioning!

Next stop: Positano!

Una settimana in montagna

Due to the scorching heat of Milan, we thought it would be a nice idea to move to the mountains for a few weeks (because you know, the French Bulldog risk of heat stroke quite easily). We thought we were going to spend a few days in total relaxation, lying in the shade of some old pine but, alas, we have not considered the most dangerous predators of mountain... RELATIVES!

Oh yes, because of a "C'MON!" here and a "Come on..." there, we have to be convinced to do a hike at 2000 meters!

I have to admit that we were all convinced that little Zelda would fall to the ground after the first 20 minutes, and instead, we were pleasantly surprised. She was very good, she walked continuously for all 3 hours of climbing, jumping like a kid and going around to smell all the flowers.

The only drawback that we (naive) had not considered, was that the fingertips of Zelda have a little bit peeled... Indeed, I had noticed some strange socks/shoes at the foot... er I mean, at the paws of all the dogs met on the path, but I did not really connected the two things (I was busy surviving!). Fortunately, nothing that a little ElaSto Pad cream did not resolve.