For Mary

To S or Not To S, That Is The Question

Fudge is a doofus. This doesn't come as a surprise to anyone, I've mentioned it a number of times. He's not a doofus 24 hours a day, but at times, there's no other word that better describes him.

 I've discovered that the doofus gene can be inherited. Guess how I learned that. Right, several of his pups can at times qualify for doofus status. Which brings me to the big question. What is the plural of doofus?

 Some words are easy.
One cat

Several cats.

One house

Several houses.

Just add S.

Some words are trickier.
One mouse

Several mice.

One louse

Several lice.

So, why not one spouse

Several spice?

That didn't work too well.

How about one goose

Several geese.

So why not one moose

Several meese?

 The English language seems to break more rules than it keeps.

So back to the plural of doofus. I vote for doofi.

An Overdue Review or Mom Makes A Boo Boo

Labels are meant to be read. Remember, those of you who are old enough, when we went shopping and just reached for a package on the grocery store shelf and put it in the cart. We knew, or thought we knew, from the title and picture what was inside. We didn't bother looking at the label. I'm not even sure if there were nutrition labels at one time.

Things have certainly changed. Now grocery shopping takes twice as long because we have to read labels on everything. Even products we've used before can make changes that we need to be aware of before buying. For instance, Rob likes peanut butter. I like it occasionally but he likes it more than I do. The dogs also like it and he often shares with them. But recently I've been reading about some peanut butter manufacturers using Xylitol in their products. Xylitol is deadly for dogs, so Rob has been instructed to check the label every time he buys peanut butter.

At the beginning of the month Chewy sent me a list of review choices and I was going thru it early in the morning as I sipped my coffee. One jumped out at me. It was Cosequin Minis. They were described as small treats made with glucosamine chondroitin for dogs with arthritic joints. Of course I immediately thought about Morgan.

 Several of us take glucosamine chondroitin daily. I started taking it for  Freiberg disease, a painful joint disease in my feet. It helped enough that I was able to stop taking pain pills. It had helped Lucy and Bentley with their arthritis so now Morgan, Bailey and Tess all take it. I'm thinking of starting Fudge. It doesn't work for everyone. Rob tried it for shoulder pain from an auto accident and it didn't give him any relief, but for the rest of us, it's great.

 I ordered the Minis without reading thru the entire list of ingredients. Bad Mom! When the Chewy box arrived, I was very happy. I thought this was something that Morgan would not only enjoy, but benefit from. Fortunately, I did read the back of the bag before handing them out. One of the ingredients is MSM.

Ingredients

Active Ingredients: FCHG49 Glucosamine Hydrochloride (trademarked ingredient) 260mg TRH122 Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate (trademarked ingredient) 130mg Methylsulfonlymethane (MSM) 175 mg Others: glycerin, starch, natural flavor, vegetable oil, silicon dioxide, mixed tocopherols, green tea and rosemary extract

 

Recently I've seen MSM appearing on the glucosamine bottles in the stores and I've avoided them, buying only those without MSM. Somewhere in my memory I thought there was a problem for people with sulfa allergies taking MSM, but I wasn't sure. The next time I saw Dr B, I asked if MSM was safe for people and dogs with sulfa allergies. He told me that no testing has been done but he recommended staying away from it. I'm glad I asked.

The Cosequin Minis would not go to waste. Morgan and Noah and I are all allergic to sulfa, but Tess and Bailey are not. This afternoon I opened the bag and passed them out for the girls to try. They all found them very tasty and maybe they'll relieve some of the soreness in their legs.

  We probably won't be ordering these again. I'd rather stick to things that are safe for everyone. I will also remember to read the labels more carefully in the future.

Equal Is Equal

Occasionally we get it right.

Congratulations to all who have been waiting so long.

Let Them Eat Cake

Hi Everybody,
I thought I'd share our party pictures with you. We went into the back yard, all of us except Miss Morgan. She's too old, so she waited inside. Sydney said she'd be on her best behavior and since it was outside we let her join us. When we're all together inside, it's too much for her to deal with and she gets nasty. Still Mom and Dad kept a close eye on her.

Dad had the little cakes with sprinkles and Mom had the camera. I was so excited that my feet wouldn't stay on the ground.

Dad handed them out.

Looks like Syd got a blue one.

Mackey rolled hers in the mud a little before eating it. It adds flavor. Then she left the sprinkles on the ground. Don't worry I finished them.

After we ate all but one of the little cakes with sprinkles, we went back inside. Dad gave the last one to Miss Morgan.

She thought it was very delicious.

Your pal, Fudge

So Much Going On

Hi Everybody,
It finally stopped raining. We're all kind of soggy here because there was so much rain. It rained for almost two weeks and just when we thought it was over, it started again. Tropical Storm Bill came thru and just dumped a whole lot of water on us. Today it's sunny but really, really hot, so we can't stay out for a long time but we do have some important business to take care of.

Mom and I got straight on the Fudge Day stuff. Don't tell the others, but she and I cuddled and she fed me some really nice cookies. Just me. 

Now today is a crazy wild day with lots of stuff going on all at the same time. I'll try to sort it out for you. First it's summer! Mom says it's the Solstice, both summer and winter. I can't understand that and it makes my head hurt to think about people 'down under' starting winter. I guess I'll let the peeps work that one out, but happy winter to Bella, Roxy, Dui, Rory and Stella and all the rest of you heading into winter.

Today is also Father's Day, so happy Father's Day to all of you Dads out there no matter how many legs you have. We're going to have a special treat this afternoon because there are two Dads here at our house. There's our human Dad who takes such good care of us and there's ME. Yes, I'm a Dad too. I'm not really sure how that happened but they tell me I have nine kids. WOW!!!

So in about an hour we're all going into the sunny back yard to eat these. Look at those cute star shaped sprinkles! These are to celebrate the Solstice and Dads everywhere.

 Ruby Airedale, we consider you an honorary Water Dog, so this one is for you. But since you can't be here with us this afternoon and the Post Office would mangle it, I'll personally eat it for you.

Have a happy day wherever you are.
Your pal, Fudge

Mom Messed Up - Big Time

Hi Everybody,
Mom made a terrible mistake. She missed one of the most important international, worldwide super special holidays ever invented. It was yesterday and she didn't even think about it.

 Yesterday was NATIONAL FUDGE DAY!!!!!!!

 She didn't do anything special to celebrate. It was awful!

Mom says it's because for her everyday is Fudge Day.

I don't know if that's an acceptable excuse. What do you think?
Your pal, FUDGE

The Last Two

This was a good day. Today we took the last two dogs for their annual exams. I wasn't looking forward to taking Syd and Mac and put it off as long as I could. The reason for the hesitation? Sydney has a problem. Ever since she was a little puppy, Sydney hasn't reacted well to new situations. She never learned to read signals from the older dogs and when she was close to the other dogs and they were bouncy and happy, Syd would overreact.
 
At first we thought it was something she would outgrow and we tried treating her for anxiety. We used a drug and a pheromone spray. We had iffy results. As she's gotten older, her stress level has grown. She's fine with the other dogs in the yard because she can go off by herself when her stress builds up, but in the house she lets out a high pitched whine, then attacks the closest dog.

If she sees that one of the dogs is sick or injured, she attacks them. We can't let her in the same area as Morgan and when Bailey's back was bothering her, we had to keep her far away from Sydney.

This afternoon I gave Syd some Acepromazine, a tranquilizer and some valium, an anti-anxiety drug, then we put her in the car and drove to the vet's office. The drugs jazzed her up and she was bouncing off the walls by the time we got there. She was happy to see everyone, she likes people, but needed to be muzzled for the exam. She was pretty worked up and struggled enough for three people to hold her.

After the exam and vaccinations, she got on the floor, we removed the muzzle and she was fine. She rested on the floor, wagging her tail and even licked the doctor's hand. We dicussed her behavior and came up with some ideas. He thinks she has a canine version of Asperger's Syndrome. She can't relate to other dogs and can't control her stress levels around them. We'll be sticking to the routine that seems to work for her. She eats alone, sleeps in a crate and spends most of her time outside. We'll try taking her along when another dog goes to the vet so she can get familiar with the place and get a cookie just for being there.

Life isn't easy for or with Sydney. At one time we listed her for adoption, but how can you put a dog with her problems into a home that may not be able to handle her issues. So we'll muddle on and hope she mellows out a little as she ages.

Mackey, on the other hand, was very good today. She sat still for her exam and vaccinations. She licked the doctor's ear while he examined her feet and she showed what a sweet little girl she is.

 Both girls passed with flying colors except that Mac has a chipped tooth that will need to come out one of these days.

We retested Fudge's urine and the infection is gone. Fudge has recently had an eating problem. For almost a month, he refused to eat unless I spoon fed him. Last week I spoke with Dr B  at length about what could be causing him to not eat. Then I took a video of Fudge trying to eat and played it for him. He thinks  Fudge has a neurological problem in the esophagus. He suggested mixing his food with something to make it slide down easier. We started with water and it worked. I mix enough water into his food to make it soupy. At the doctor's suggestion I feed him separate from the other dogs and don't try to hurry him. Fudge has been eating his meals by himself since we started this new routine. Today I reported the good news and he told me what to watch for if the problem should get worse.

So, all in all it was a good visit. Sydney has some problems that aren't going to go away, it's just the way she is. We'll deal with them and try to keep her stress levels down as much as possible. She won't be joining in games or parties because it's overwhelming for her, but we try to spend one on one time with her when the others aren't around.

So now for a glass of wine, an important hockey game and some relaxation.