The Portuguese Water Blog

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Finally!

Finally some good news.

Syd went to the hospital this morning. First they did a recheck on her urine. There was no blood. The antibiotic worked. Yea!!

Then Dr B removed the growth on her lower eyelid. When we picked her up, he brought her outside to us. He was very pleased. There was more skin available in the eyelid than he expected and he was able to remove it without taking a wedge out of the lid. He says there won't be any deformity of the eye.
Yea!!!

Syd has three sutures that will be removed in two weeks. Till then she's wearing a stylish plastic bonnet. She's either crashing into everything or standing like a statue but she'll soon figure out how to move around with her hat.

She also wants to eat but doesn't think she can so for now she's being spoon fed.

This will be a long two weeks but we've done it before and we'll get thru it this time, too.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

To The Moms

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, the ones with two legs and four.

The ones with plain skin, fur, feathers or fins.

Enjoy your special day.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Sydney's Vet Visit

This morning we donned our masks and took Syd to visit Dr B. She was due for her vaccines and I had a list of things for the doc to check out.

Syd didn't want to go inside without us but the tech said she was a good girl for the exam.

The items on my list were:
1 a growth on her lower eyelid.
2 a possible umbilical hernia
3 a frequent urination problem
4 a weakness in her left front leg

After a surprisingly short wait Dr B brought her to the car. He addressed all the items on my list.

The eyelid growth is a little cyst that won't remain little. So it has to go. She'll have the surgery on the 20th.

The hernia is not really a hernia. It's because she has gained too much weight. Syd had a hernia repaired when she was a puppy. There's a weakness there and her extra weight is causing some swelling. She's gained 5 pounds since her last visit. So she's on a diet.

The frequent urination is from a bladder infection. It's her third in her life and if it happens again we'll check for causes. So she's taking antibiotics for seven days and should feel much better soon.

The legs all have good range of motion and she doesn't show any pain when he manipulates them. Syd dislocated her shoulder a few years ago and Dr B thinks she may have some slight weakness in the area. For now we'll increase her fish oil and consider Rimadyl in the future if it continues to bother her.

All in all it was a pretty good checkup for an almost eight year old. She's very happy to be back in her nest.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Life Changes

Our lives have all changed recently and I've heard a lot of people who aren't adjusting well. A couple of friends who almost never left the house before the virus, now feel caged. I look at it differently.

Instead of feeling forced to stay home, I feel I have permission to stay in and do the things I enjoy most, playing with my dogs, reading books I didn't have time for and my crafts.

Instead of wandering around the grocery store I get to order online and my order gets delivered.

Of course there have been some items that were snatched up by hoarders and aren't available from the usual stores. The items we haven't been able to order are flour, rice and yeast.

Instead of getting upset, I chose to turn it into a scavenger hunt. Rob scored 10 pounds of flour last week. He was in a store for something else and checked out the baking aisle. There it was, one lone bag of flour. Got it. One item off the list.

Today I found a restaurant online that was selling supplies. When we called they had rice. We now have 50 pounds of rice snuggly stored in the pantry.

The last item is yeast and this one is really tough. I'll keep looking but I may have to ask for help eventually.

Today Rob came home with this. We weren't out yet but starting to get low.

For my mental health I'm trying to put a good spin on this whole mess that we're in. How are you all dealing with lockdown?

Friday, May 1, 2020

May Day

Hi Everybody,
Happy May Day!

We're all stuck in lockdown but we're sending virtual May baskets to all our Blogville family. We love you guys.

Stay home and stay safe.
From Norma Jean, Mackey and Sydney

Monday, April 27, 2020

Season Opener

Guess what everybody, it's lizard season!

We're still getting a lot of rain but the days are warmer and when the sun comes out the lizards come out to sun themselves. Syd and Mackey have been waiting for this.

For days the two spotty girls have been sniffing around the rock pile and trying to move rocks bigger than they are.

Last year Syd caught several lizards. When she finished tossing them around and rolling on them, she left the remains for Mackey. Mack tried her best but was too slow to catch one.

One afternoon last week the first lizard was spotted sunning himself on the warm bricks. Mackey caught it!

Rob tried to rescue the little guy but Mack wasn't giving up her prize. She had waited too long for this victory. Syd wasn't happy that her sister didn't want to share but later that day she caught one of her own.

Now both girls are totally obsessed with lizard hunting. They spend hours in the rocks trying to coax them out of hiding. Rob has been complaining that the two are moving rocks and bricks and he has to put them back in place.

Unfortunately Mackey has bruised her front leg and cut her nose on the rocks so her hunting is suspended for now. She's staying on leash till her injuries heal. She's very into her hunting.