Picnic

Hi Everybody,
We're having a picnic this weekend. Mom said that we won't wait for July 4th because it has boomers that scare us, so instead we're having our big picnic this weekend. We're so excited!

The other day Dad came home with one of these. 

 He cut it up into bite size pieces and put them in a box in the fridge.

Mom showed us this bag of brauts. Yum!! She wouldn't open it to give us a taste. She says we have to wait for the picnic.

Then yesterday Dad went to the store and look what he brought home. FROSTY PAWS!!!! Three boxes of them! They're in the freezer getting nice and cold for the big day.

 Mom said there'll be lots of things to do. There will be water to splash in.

We can play frisbee.

Or we can just catch some rays.

And of course we can roll in the grass or weeds or dirt, whichever we prefer.

Oh boy, it's hard to wait. Everything looks so good.

 We wish you could all come picnic with us.

Your pal, Fudge
Mom says: We'll spread the picnic over several days so there are no tummy aches from too much of a good thing.

Mushrooms

I like mushrooms.  I use the regular button mushrooms in a lot of the dishes I cook. They're great on steak and of course pizza.

I found a mushroom dish in Russia that was go good that I tried for two years to duplicate it. I finally found the recipe in a Russian cookbook and it is wonderful. Trouble is, it's very fiddly to make and takes a long time, so I have to be in the right mood to start it.

When we were first married we lived near a large park that had a nice sized lake in the center. We used to walk the dogs around the lake and in the spring and early summer we would find a lot of mushrooms. One year there were a lot of these that looked like brains. My dog Libby was good at spotting them.

I also like puff balls. They're nice and round, but when you tap them, they spurt out this smoky stuff. Don't stand too close.

In our yard we sometimes find fairy rings of mushrooms. If I see a couple, I look around and there is  the ring. Some are small enough that I can follow the whole ring. Some are so big that I can only see a small part of it.

We had a big rain storm yesterday and things stayed wet and muggy all night. So this morning when I took the dogs out around 6, I found all these growing on a hay bale in the yard. We keep the hay around to fill in muddy spots, but this one is home to all these mushrooms.

 Mother Nature is certainly creative.

BFFs

Hi Everybody,
Guess what today is... it's Best Friends Day. I know because Mom read it on the internets.

I have lots of best friends because we all have each other.

Even when we have fights, we're still best friends and we're there to help each other and to steal each other's cookies.

Sometimes we play together and sometimes we snuggle together for naps.

We try to watch out for our Morgan because she gets confused, so we help her.

 But our very very bestest friends are Mom and Dad.

 

  

 

  They're always there to feed us and clean us up and talk to us and if we get scared or sick we always go to them and they make everything OK again.

 

 

 So, today go give your best friend a hug or call them up or send them an email. Let them know you're thinking about them.

 Your pal,
Fudge

With A Little Help From My Friends

Sometimes I feel that my posts are nothing but sickness and injuries. I know it seems that way to you, my readers, because of some of the comments I get. Actually, my dogs are pretty healthy. We have had some unusual things happen such as our experience with Cryptosperidium. That's not a common health issue to deal with and we got hit hard. It was a result of the pack drinking some bad water that had been infected by wildlife, most probably a puddle or some that collected somewhere in the yard. It was certainly a challenge and we continue to live with the consequences. Basically, we deal with the same things any other pet household deals with, skin lumps and bumps, ear infections, intestinal woes etc. We just have them on a larger scale. There are ten dogs currently in the family and Porties are an active and rough breed. And though I hate to face it, my pack is aging.

There is another reason why my blog posts may often address canine health issues. From the time I was three years old, I wanted to be an animal doctor. When adults asked me and I told them what I wanted to be when I grew up, they smiled and patted me on the head. They thought it was a phase I'd outgrow.

When I was a teenager and still wanted to be a vet, I didn't get much support. Some came right out and told me it wasn't a job for a girl. Others just tried to change my mind. My Spanish teacher thought I should study languages and maybe teach. I liked languages and they came pretty easily to me, but I didn't want to teach.

My art teacher was so convinced that I should study art, that he contacted not only my mother, but his art school. He tried his best to convince me to visit and study there. I liked art and spent a lot of time sketching and painting, but I didn't want to study art.

Only my biology teacher listened and took me seriously. He knew how difficult it would be to get into the school I wanted to attend, Cornell, but he encouraged me and took me to visit the campus on several occasions. He was really the only adult in my life that accepted my choice. My family also thought I should study to be a teacher or a nurse. I never considered either.

It wasn't just family that was the problem. At the time that I was ready for college, veterinary medicine was considered a man's career. The vet schools only accepted one or two female applicants each year. There were waiting lists of women and I would have to go to the bottom of the list. I'm not famous for my patience and I refused to wait, so I gave up my dream to become a vet and went out into the business world to earn a living. Today vet classes are 80% women, but in the sixties, women were considered too weak and delicate to handle the physical aspect of the job. I guess I was born too early.

 Before I had given up on the dream, I lived in a small village in Central New York. There had been an old vet that lived in town but he was long retired. When I was 15 a newly graduated young vet moved to town. He rented the office of the retired vet and set up practice. Most of his cases were farm animals because at that time people didn't give their household pets the care they do today. I had a couple of puppies at the time and took them to him for vaccinations and to be spayed. Many evenings he was alone in his office with no one to talk to so I began hanging around on his free evenings and he explained all sorts of interesting things about canine health and care. I credit him for teaching me to pill a dog and how important it is to train them early to take medicines without fuss.

When I moved to the city after giving up on my dream, I watched the newspapers for a vet tech job opening, but those were much sought after jobs that were usually handed from friend to friend and I never did find one.

When I lived at the beach for three years, one of the first things I did was get a dog, of course. Libby was my pal but she had one very bad habit. She got sick on holidays, Easter, Christmas Eve and New Years Day. These were really serious sicknesses, not just the normal run of the mill dog sicknesses. Fortunately, I had a neat vet who saw her on those holidays and also made house calls when she was too sick to travel to his office. He encouraged me to go back to school since by that time women were being accepted in much larger numbers, but I was used to a regular paycheck by then and couldn't face the routine of being a student again.

After Rob and I married, we adopted an assortment of dogs and had good caring vets, but I never really made a connection with them. The last one we had in Maryland before moving here was a woman and yes, I think I resented her a bit. We never got along. She was good with my dogs and very capable at her job, but our personalities clashed. I did, however, develop a friendship with Bentley's acupuncturist, another woman vet. She came to the house for his treatments and we got a good chance to talk.

Then we moved here and added even more dogs to the family. Bentley and Pylon were aging and both had some health problems so we needed to find a vet. It was a great stroke of luck to walk into All Creatures one Saturday afternoon and meet Dr B. Over the years we've seen a lot of him as dogs have needed help leaving and puppies have arrived. He's been kind enough to take time to answer questions and I have an unending stream of questions. He explains and draws diagrams and gives me lists of reading matter. I have learned so much from him and am grateful to him for sharing his knowledge with me.

Are my dogs sicker than the average dog? No, but because of my long love of animals and their health, I may spot things that arouse my interest and or concern more quickly than some dog owners. I may feel the need to question my experts or get advice more urgently than many. Yes, I'll admit, I'm a frustrated vet on the inside. I want to know why and how and when. I probably drive Dr B and the staff nuts at times but it's a compulsion that I can't control.

So, if I write a blog post yet again about a tummy upset or a sprained leg or a strange bump, don't think that I have an unhealthy pack of dogs on their last legs, just remember my background and give me a little nod of encouragement.

The Good, The Bad, and The Grumpy

We went to visit Dr B this morning. Today our victims were Sebastian, Fudge and Morgan.

First up was Miss Morgan aka Grumpy. She was only there for an Adequan injection, then went off to nap in the car with Rob while the others got their checkups. Dr B was pleased to hear that both her appetite and her activity level have improved since starting the injections. We all feel that she must be in less pain.

Next up was Sebastian. His bad behavior started at home this morning. When I leashed him and picked up the little pee cup, he guessed what was happening and decided that he would not part with any body fluids today. I walked him three times and the dog that usually likes to mark every bush and pole chose to hold it. OK, I gave in and we went without a urine sample.

He greeted all the ladies at the office and hugged the doctor and distributed plenty of wet kisses. He even got on the table voluntarily for his exam. All was going well till the doctor put the tourniquet on his leg for a blood draw. Nope! High pitched unhappy noise came from him and he started squirming. The first stick was going OK till he jumped up and threw his head back hitting the tech in the jaw. OK, lets try again. We got another hold on him and started over. Nope! He started backing up and almost went off the table. Stick number two was no good. Well, Dr B is just as stubborn as Sebastian. We called in reinforcements to hold the squirmy boy. We put a muzzle on him to distract him and give him something to think about besides his leg and the doctor spent some time pinching his leg to desensitize it. When he said go I pinched Sebastian's nose to further distract him and this time we got the blood. When he got off the table, he got a treat, then went to sleep under the desk and snoozed thru the rest of the appointment.

Finally Fudge got on the table. What a difference. He laid quietly for his blood draw with just my hand on his shoulder. No dramatics. Fudge had a new bump that needed to be looked at. After his experience with skin cancer last year, any new bumps make me uneasy. This one is not serious and can wait to be removed next time he has a dental cleaning.

 There was some blood in his urine and we couldn't tell if the infection is in his bladder or his prostate, so we're using an antibiotic that will work for either. We're waiting to see if anything shows in his blood that might explain his change in eating habits. If nothing shows up we'll try treating his arthritis as he may be experiencing more pain than he's telling us about.

We all felt tired from Sebastian's antics and I was glad to get home, have some coffee and put my feet up for a few minutes.

 Sebastian was happy to get home and pee.

Age Has It's Privileges

When Morgan was a puppy, she was a terror. She ate shoes and furniture and anything she found lying around. But she was so darn cute!

I had a little help with her. Monty was not only her best friend, but he was a first class tattle tale and would come tell me whenever Morgan got into something. He was a big help in raising her.

Then the years flew by and now Miss Morgan has passed the 15 1/2 mark. She doesn't get into much trouble anymore, though we do keep the bathroom doors shut because she still has a fondness for shredding toilet paper.  Now she spends her days more quietly than she used to, but don't think she's not still a force.

Let me tell you about her days. We all get up about 6AM and everyone goes outside to pee. Then everyone goes back to bed for an hour or if I'm lucky for two hours. Morgan gets her Denamarin pill when we go back to bed. It's for her liver disease and has to be taken an hour before she eats. At six, she's usually pretty groggy and Rob has to help her out the front door and down the steps. She's happy to go back to bed for awhile.

 When we all get up again between 7 and 8, Morgan is more awake and ready to get the day started. Rob feeds her and Mackey together but Morgan has decided that she doesn't like to eat in the morning and usually just looks at her bowl and walks away. Instead she chooses to do her exercises which consist of lying on her back, kicking her legs in the air for about five minutes. She usually does them in the middle of the living room but sometimes she does them in the tunnel.

When I come upstairs from feeding the other dogs, I hand out medications. Morgan gets her thyroid table, a B vitamin, a tumeric capsule, 2 glucosamine tablets and 5 fish oil capsules. Then she gets a squirt of her arthritis medicine, Metacam. After all are swallowed, she gets a cookie and a piece of strawberry. Then she naps close to the table while we have breakfast. After breakfast she and I go outside by ourselves and wander around the yard a little, then it's time for a nice long nap.

Morgan goes outside several times during the day, sometimes at her request and sometimes because I think she should go. She doesn't go to the back yard anymore because the hill is too steep for her. She and I go to the mailbox and back, then she walks to the back of the deck so she can watch the other dogs run below in the yard. When we come in I hand feed her about a cup of kibble.

Around 3:30 Rob feeds the two girls their dinner and by this time Morgan is ready to eat dinner. After they eat Rob takes them outside but Morgan stays on the deck and walks laps. Our deck wraps around three sides of the house, so she gets a pretty good walk in by doing between four and six laps. Next it's time for another nap.

Between 6:30 and 7 Rob takes the others to the back yard for an after dinner run. It's often cooler and they can run and bark and play. I take Morgan into the front yard and when she's ready we go back to the deck for a couple more laps, then it's inside where she eats some more kibble from my hand.

The evenings are pretty quiet as we watch TV and I knit and Rob is on his laptop. But at 9, Morgan wakes up and comes toward me. I know exactly what's on her mind, but if I don't react quickly enough she starts barking at me and won't stop. I get a bowl of kibble from the kitchen and we sit together in the living room as I feed it to her. But she's not finished, when the kibble is gone she wants her milkshake. I pour about half a bottle of Ensure in a mug and hold it while she laps it up.

Then it's a short outing and Morgan is ready for bed. As soon as we're all ready I help her up the stairs to the bedroom, turn on her nitelight and give her two cookies. But Morgan can count and she knows that Rob also has two cookies, so she waits till he hands them over. Then she arranges her blanket and stuffed bear and settles down for the night. She drifts off, no doubt dreaming of cookies and milkshakes and sleeps thru till we wake her the next morning to start all over again.

Since starting Adequan injections about a month ago, her appetite has improved and she's getting more exercise. Her nightmares have also decreased, she's only had one. I wish she could tell me, but I'm guessing that the pain from her arthritis is a bit less, so she's feeling better and showing it. Whatever it is, we're enjoying Miss Morgan's routines and demands, though the other dogs think they'd like to get milkshakes at bedtime, too.

 I'm not kidding myself, Morgan is old. She has liver disease and very bad arthritis. Her legs are weak and shaky and we have to help her on stairs. Sometimes her right back leg gives out and we have to help her walk. But, even with all those strikes against her, she seems to be having a very good quality of life in her later years. She is alert enough to know what she wants and when she wants it and we're here to serve.

Damp Days

Hi Everybody

Did you all have a nice long weekend? It rained here quite a lot, but there were no thunder boomers, so it wasn't too bad. We all had to hurry when we went outside because we got soaked pretty fast but that's OK.

Mom was lazy this weekend. She just hung around the house and watched hockey. She did take care of Morgan and Bailey, so I guess that counts. Morgan is doing really well for a crabby old lady dog. She goes outside and wanders around the yard, even in the rain. Mom gets soaked, ha ha..... Morgan has decided that she doesn't like to eat in the morning but boy, can she pack it away at night. Mom feeds her kibble by hand, then tops it off with an Ensure milkshake. We just stand there and drool.

Bailey is feeling a lot better too. Her temperature is back to normal and she's walking a lot better. Her right leg is a little stiff but the really bad pain is gone. The doctor says she has to have two more weeks of bedrest, so as soon as she goes outside on leash, she has to get back into her crate and rest her back. She doesn't seem to mind but by next week I  bet she's making a fuss about it.

Last Saturday was World Turtle Day and Mom was hoping to celebrate, but she got off track because of Bailey, so pretty soon we'll do a nice turtle post to salute the guys with shells.

You all know how much I love sprinkles. I like them on cupcakes and cookies and dog biscuits and I think it would be great if Mom put sprinkles on my dinner. Well, I guess I'm not the only one who likes them. Dad found this picture on Facebook. He and Mom laughed but I didn't see what was so funny.

Till next time, stay safe and dry.
Your pal, Fudge