Happy Reminder

Guess what is fast approaching.  Christmas is only 58 days away!

Why did I think of this? Did a little bird tell me?

No, a little plant told me.

See, my Christmas cactus is in full bud and will be soon be spreading holiday cheer thruout the house.

 This will be a quiet holiday season for us. My hand will be in bandages making it impossible to bake or stitch and we'll be missing the sweet, somewhat bossy face of Miss Morgan and all the others at the bridge, but we'll be here together and I'm sure the dogs will be as excited as ever.

Big Birthday Bash

Samba and Fudge's pups are nine years old today. We got an early email from sister Gracie who is celebrating with her family. Then I went to have my stitches out and when I got home, it was time to party.

These have been on the kitchen counter for a week and every time I walk by them I get hungry for Oreos. But today they got moved to the garage in preparation for the event.

Rob called the pack together and everyone was on best behavior because special cookies were ready to be handed out.

See how nicely they sit and wait, with a few exceptions.

So here are the birthday kids. Tess

Bailey

Noah and Lola

Norma Jean

They're all a little scruffy looking today from playing in the leaves. Sebastian and Mackey were also included.

And yes, Sydney even got invited to the party.

Happy birthday babies, I remember that day nine years ago as if it was yesterday and I love you even more.

Look What Chewy Sent

Hi Everybody,
It seems like forever since I had a chance to post. Mom kept saying she had too much on her plate to help me on the computer, but I didn't see a plate at all. I always stay close by her when she has a plate and I nudge her a little to remind her to share. I think maybe she's been a bit rattled because of the flu. Today she said "Come on Fudge, you have a review to do." So here I am.

This month something a little different happened with our Chewy box. There were two different treats. Mom said one was for the girls and the other was for us boys. You see, Noah and Sebastian and I have delicate tummies, so we can only eat certain things. Our dog food is turkey and duck and usually we eat sweet potato chips for treats. But this month Mom and Chewy got together and now we have these to taste.

If these look familiar, it's because Grandma Lucy's treats are some of our very favorites. We've had them in a bunch of different flavors and this time they're pumpkin because it's Fall. 

Mom says they're cute because they're shaped like little bears, but I only know that they taste GREAT. Hurry up, Mom let me have it!

Yum!!!!

Mom said that they're for all three of us boys so she called Noah

and Sebastian. They both think they're great, too.

Then look who showed up. Mackey doesn't like a lot of things. She won't eat animal crackers , silly girl.

But she liked these.

Tell your peeps that if they want to give you a delicious Fall treat, they should order some of these little pumpkin bears from Chewy. Even Dad says they're pretty good. He tastes all our treats.
Your pal, Fudge

Ups and Downs

Sorry about our extended absence. Things around here have been off kilter for awhile and we're slowly getting back to normal. First  a little about our Miss Morgan. After starting on antibiotics, she showed an amazing improvement. She found her appetite and began eating heartily, even gained a pound. She started sleeping comfortably thru the night and even started walking more steadily by herself.  She was awake and alert during the day and started following me everywhere, like a puppy. We felt encouraged.

Then on Friday, while still on the antibiotics, her leg started to swell again and I knew that the infection was winning. On Saturday she was running a fever and refused to eat. On Sunday she had difficulty walking without help. We knew it was time to let her go. Fudge went with us to say goodbye to his friend and we were all overcome with sadness. I had to keep reminding myself that she had lived a long and happy life.

 Dr B, Rob and I were all worried about how Fudge would react to the loss and paid special attention to him.  Being with Morgan at the end seemed to help him and he's doing fine. Mackey, on the other hand, had become quite close to Morgan over the last few months when they ate together and went outside together. Mac looked everywhere for her old friend and refused to eat for a couple days. She was unusually quiet and still goes each morning to wake Morgan up. We're paying extra attention to Mac's needs and she's coming around.

Over this whole time period Rob and I have been dealing with the flu. We discussed getting our flu shots early in September and just kept putting it off. We won't make that mistake again. This is a nasty flu that just keeps hanging on.

The day after Morgan died I had an appointment with a hand surgeon and we set a date next month for my surgery. I'm looking forward to getting it over with even though I'll be limited in my activities for the rest of the year. I'm in the middle of several projects that will be delayed yet again, but once this hand is working properly, I have some surprises for some of our blog friends.

Some of you know that we've been dealing with some issues with Sydney. As cute as she is, she has some mental disturbances that have caused  serious problems for the  pack and for us. On Friday she attacked one of the Portie girls. Sydney has a habit of making unprovoked attacks on the other dogs and this time I made the mistake of getting in the middle of it when the other girls came to join the fray. I got bitten and have 12 stitches in my leg. Syd and Bailey also were injured.

 This is not the first time this has happened with Syd and we've tried a number of things including several anti anxiety drugs, but none have helped much. I spoke with Dr B over the weekend and we decided that we had only two options left, Prozac or euthanasia.

On Monday we took Sydney to see the doc. He spent a over an hour feeding her special treats while watching her body language and eye movements. He says she is overwhelmed with anxiety and when she floods, she attacks the nearest dog without giving any advance signal. The other dogs are now all leery of her because they can't tell when she's going to attack. Rob and I decided to give her one final chance and we started her on Prozac. Dr B also referred us to a behavioral therapist who can help us determine her triggers.

It will be a long slow process to help Syd get thru this and we may not be able to. Rehoming her isn't really an option, as she would need to go to a home with no other animals, no children and one or two adults who were aware of her problems and willing to work with her. This is her last chance and I do hope the drug can give her some relief.

So you see, I haven't been able to post to the blog. Life has needed my complete attention. I'm hoping that things calm down now and the pack can get back to a more relaxed state and that I can get back to keeping up with happenings in Blogville.

Morgan

                                       Miss Morgan Magoo

                                     November 14, 1999 - October 12, 2015

Move Over Energizer Bunny

We've had a lot of emotion over the last couple weeks. Miss Morgan wasn't doing too well a couple weeks ago and I told Rob I thought it was time. He called the vet and made an appointment for the next morning. I cried for the rest of the day and when we went to bed that night I told Rob that I couldn't do it. I felt she was still in there and wasn't ready to go.

I called to cancel the appointment the next morning and Dr B called me back a short time later. We discussed her condition and he reminded me to not decide on a bad day but to watch the trend. She followed me around the house like a puppy all day and I was so glad that I had changed my mind.

Then last Sunday when Morgan got up in the morning we saw blood all over her bed. Rob threw it n the wash while I took her outside and examined her. There was blood on her belly and I knew she'd been licking herself the night before. Morgan has always been OCD so I assumed she had licked too much and damaged the skin. Then I noticed that her left rear leg was swollen almost twice the size of the other leg. She didn't want to eat and I knew there was some infection somewhere.

Monday we took her to visit Dr B. She was running a fever and he agreed there was an infection but he said it wasn't from licking herself. She had two little but deep holes in her groin. He said they were drain holes and the infection was inside, perhaps from some foreign matter, or a tumor that ruptured. He put her on a strong antibiotic and instructed me to put warm compresses on the drains to keep them open.

After a couple days Morgan perked up. The swelling in her leg is down, we're getting much less drainage from the holes and they're starting to heal. Best of all, her appetite has come back and she's eating enthusiastically. I spoke with Dr B this morning to report our results and he's optimistic. He said in a dog her age, even a tiny nick or scratch could cause an infection, so not to worry about it yet. He says if we're still getting drainage by mid week, we can keep her on antibiotics for another five days.

We talked again about quality of life and he gave me some guidelines:
 Is she eating and drinking?   Yes
Does she remember her house training?      Yes
Is she interested in the other dogs?       Yes
Is she seeking affection from Rob and me?     yes
He says as long as she's still doing these things, she still has a good quality of life.

So no  Energizer bunny or cat with nine lives has more going on than my Miss Morgan.

October 1st

Hi everyone, did you think I'd dropped off the face of the Earth? Nope. We're here and life at Chez Portie has been a roller coaster of activity. Each time I've attempted to get to the computer to post, something else has come up that needed my attention, but for the moment things are running smoothly.

Today is National Black Dog Day.

Around here we're very fond of black dogs ....

and mostly black dogs.....

and somewhat black dogs.

In fact, we consider every day to be black dog day. Unfortunately, black dogs are still stigmatized when it comes to adoptions. They're considered scary. Now honestly, is this a scary dog?

 We have a lot of stuff to report to get you all caught up, but for now I'll just say that Morgan is still here and doing as well as can be expected. Tomorrow after I speak with Dr B, I'll let you in on her condition.

Fudge and the others are well and enjoying the cooler temperatures. I'm sure Fudge will be doing a post to keep you up to date on his activities.

I had a disappointing morning. My thumb started bothering me again a couple weeks ago and I saw my doctor this morning. I was hoping for another injection to at least get me thru the holidays. Instead he told me that the injection I had in April didn't last long enough and it's time for surgery. I came home with a sore thumb and an appointment with a hand surgeon. Looks like I'll be sitting out a second holiday season because of this silly thumb.

So there's still plenty of time left in the day to go hug a black dog.