Stained Glass By David Logue

Zeke Feb. 4, 1989 - Dec 3, 2002

Zeke was one of the sweetest dogs you would ever meet. He was the first born of the litter. His parents were Nick and Kcin.
Zeke was something else, he was a real mama's boy.

Zeke loved to play in the bed, running all over the bed, just barking and barking. He really liked getting under the covers.

Zeke's favorite spot was behind the toliet, he liked the cool tile floor, Zeke never really liked the heat. When Casper got in Zeke's spot, Zeke would bark and bark (5 minutes or more) until Casper would move, and Zeke would move in for a nap. Sometimes you could hear him from the other room, dreaming and whining and you would have to go wake him up and then he would join you back in the living room.

Zeke liked his back end scratched, the top of his tail and the back side of his legs, when he was standing up, he would let out a playful growl, letting us know he liked it.

Zeke was a big eater, he could smell Anything that was cooking in the kitchen. After he became blind and deaf, his senses became stronger. His bark became so loud, I think so he could hear himself.

Zeke had the fatest tongue, he would lick half your face at a time. He loved to kiss you on the lips.

Zeke's heavy panting could keep you up at night, especially when it was warm at night, it would shake the whole bed and keep us up.

When Dave would take the dogs out front and I was somewhere else in the house, Zeke would always come find me, he would bark and bark until I would come out with him.

Zeke was the best, when it came to being groomed. He would lay on one side, let me dry him and then turn to the other side to be dried. He loved being brushed under his chin.

Zeke will be in my heart forever, we became so close, he was always my big boy. I will miss him and cherish the days we shared together. Zeke taught me alot and how to love no matter what problems came up. He was always there for me and I for him. With Love, Mom and Dad

Zeke napping while being groomed

Zeke-Casper-Nick

Casper-Nick-Kcin-Zeke

Zeke-Casper-toliet paper monsters

Nick-Casper-Zeke-Kcin

Kcin-Casper-Nick-Zeke

Zeke's Diabetic Years

Zeke, my Maltese, was diagnosed with diabetes in Oct 1998.
The disease didn't scare me that much because I didn't understand what diabetes
was all about. I was just happy that Zeke was alive. Even today the hardest part is
giving Zeke his shots, I'm not very good at it. My husband still laughs at me,
so I don't let him watch while I'm giving shots.

Zeke started on Humilin L, the vets never explained to me about diabetes, highs
and lows, urine testing and what I should do in case of emergencies. Thank God,
Zeke is still here with me today; I must have been doing something right. Looking back
at everything, Zeke has been very lucky. I feel stupid for not being more informed.

March 2001, the vet changed Zeke insulin to Humilin U. (BIG MISTAKE).
I believe he was very unregulated when he was on Humilin U.
I don't remember why we changed. I looked up Zeke's records, Zeke weight 20.6 lbs.,
in 2 months Zeke lost 2 lbs. (18 lbs.). He maintain that weight until Nov 2001,
he started losing weight about ½ LB every 4-6 weeks. In March 2002, Zeke
became very sick, anorexia and vomiting. We had done a liver sonogram and
biopsy done. Also ran an ACTH stim test, my vet said he has Cushing's disease.
I was not convinced because he showed no symptoms of Cushings.

In this year, Zeke has totally lost his eyesight and hearing as well.
That is when I started looking for answers, I bought a lot of books,
found The Pet Diabetes Website (www.petdiabetes.com), Cushings site,
what was really in commercial pet food
and all about vaccinations.

I started testing the urine, On the U, Zeke's urine test; told me he was very
unregulated. High for days and lows for days, very weird. On the L, I see a daily curve.
Higher in the morning, lower in the afternoon, and then it goes higher in the evening.
I know this is not accurate but it is all I have until I try to get blood again
(not much luck in this department).

Without going into detail about my vet, I went to see a specialist and changed vets
for all of my other dogs. The specialist did another sonogram of the liver and biopsy.
From the vets experience she believes Zeke has liver cancer, but couldn't tell for sure
unless we try surgery to get a larger sample of the liver. Zeke has too many masses on his
liver and is inoperable. He also was not showing any ketones. She changed him
back to Humilin L, says she never uses Humilin U.

He now is maintaining his weight at 15 lbs., for 3 months now.
Zeke is now starting to show signs of Cushings, thinning of the hair.
But still doesn't have the appetite or drinking excess water, that goes along with
Cushings. With his liver problem, he is not a good candidate for Lysodren,
so we started on Anipryl.

Too early to see if this helps or not.

It took along time to get Zeke back to feeling good (about 6 months). He is now on a
homemade diet, no vaccinations, lots of supplements and vitamins. We are not
through the woods yet, may never be. Zeke's still happy and can find me anywhere
in the house with his nose. Zeke is 13 ½ years old,

I know we are on borrowed time now and I cherish every day with him.
Martha