Reminders

Today March 16 is Samba's birthday. Had she lived, she'd be 13 today. We all had cupcakes last night to mark the occasion. Living with her pups keeps her   in my thoughts constantly, but there are two special reminders.

This is Samba a few years ago after playing in the mud.

And here are Lola and Bailey last month.  They're following in their Mom's pawsteps.

I miss my special girl every day, but this is how I choose to remember her, running and happy.

Your family misses you, Samba.

Nice and Warm

As long as I can remember, I've had a touchy throat. I've learned to avoid certain things that cause it to suddenly get sore and I try to protect it from getting cold. Turtlenecks and scarves have become a staple in my wardrobe. So, guess how pleased I was to open a package from the Lapdogs and find a beautiful, thick hand knit cowl. On their blog you can see the handsome Tut modeling one just like mine.

Today Fudge volunteered to model mine even though it's warm and sunny outside, not cowl weather, but that can change very quickly.

 My new cowl is charcoal so it doesn't show up really well on black dogs, or even a brown one, so I was able to persuade Miss Morgan to try it on. Photographing a 15 year old dog can be a challenge. She does whatever she wants whenever she wants and standing around having her picture taken wasn't part of her plan today.

You get the idea. It's nice and chunky and will keep my neck warm and happy. Thanks, Lapdogs because we know you helped your Mom make it.

Special Delivery

Hi Everybody,
I have to tell you what happened the other day. It was wonderful!

You see, every month Chewy and Miss Sydney send Mom a selection of treats for us to try. Mom reads thru the list and chooses a couple that she thinks we might like. Then she goes onto the Chewy site and looks at ingredients and other reviews and picks one for us to taste and review. Then she writes to Miss Sydney and tells her what we chose. I say we because she almost always asks me if I agree. Then a few days later a big truck man brings a Chewy box to the door and our job begins.

Well, last week there were so many really good choices that Mom was having trouble picking one. There were two that we'd never had but Mom thought we'd like. She had heard good things about both of them. But then there were two of our very favorites. She was having a really hard time choosing.

Mom wrote to Miss Sydney and told her what a hard choice it was this month. She explained that the girls love Halo Liv-A-Littles. We had them a few months ago and the girls thought they were delicious. She was tempted to order them again, but Noah and I have tummy problems and can't eat them. We can only have certain foods and one of the other selections was Duck and Legume Belly Bites. Those we can eat and boy, are they ever good. Mom didn't know what to do, so she finally told Miss Sydney to send the Belly Bites so that Noah and I could join in the tasting. Thanks Mom.

A couple days later the box arrived. It smelled wonderful. When Mom opened it, guess what we found! There was a bag of Belly Bites and a jar of Liv-A-Littles. Miss Sydney sent both so that all ten of us could be happy. Yeah Chewy, you guys are the best!

At dinner Mom gave the girls some of the Halo treats. Last time we had them she noticed that they crumble easily, so she decided to use them as topping on the kibble. She says they feel like styrofoam but the girls said they sure don't taste like foam. They're real chicken breast and are so good.

 After everyone ate, and we all cleaned our bowls in anticipation, Mom gave each of us a Natural Balance Belly Bite. They're soft and chewy, so even Miss Morgan can eat them with her old dog teeth.  They are a nice size, though I wouldn't mind if they were bigger, but sometimes Mom breaks them in half. She says they're easy to break. This time she gave us each a whole one. Noah and I got two. They're so tasty, made of duck and legumes (those are peas) just like in our special dog food, so they didn't upset our tummies at all.

 Thank you Chewy and especially Miss Sydney for making all of us so happy. Mom says you go out of your way to be helpful, kind of like me, and she appreciates it.

Your pal, Fudge

Secret Ingredients

My Grandmother was a great cook. She cooked by feel and sight and taste and seldom used a written recipe. I once asked her to write down some of my favorites and laughed when I saw what she had written. " Use a little of this, a pinch of that and stir till it feels right."

I'm a pretty good cook now, but I didn't start out that way. Ask Rob. One thing I have always enjoyed is baking and I've always been pretty good at it. When I was a teenager, my Mom and I agreed not to use any mixes and always made our baked goods from scratch. It was good training and I think scratch cakes just taste better than mixes.

One thing I have learned over the years is that sometimes one special ingredient can make a dish extra good. It just adds a certain something that makes the smell or taste special. I was making dinner for Rob one day and the recipe called for red wine. I didn't have any wine in the house at the moment and didn't want to run out for it, so I substituted some cola that I had on hand. I expected it to just provide some moisture but I was really surprised when the mixture started fizzing. The spices in the dish reacted to the fizz in the cola and when we tasted it, the spices seemed stronger and more flavorful. Hmmm....

Well, I've learned about some secret ingredients that help in keeping my dogs healthy, too. We've been really lucky to meet Dr B who takes a special interest in nutrition. He's worked closely with us on finding healthy alternatives for our dogs.

Samba had issues with her nails at one time. The nails were cracking and chipping and were much too soft. We treated her with vitamin C and beta carotene, and although they improved, they still were bothering her. Then we added the secret ingredient that made all the difference.... zinc. Soon after adding zinc to her diet, we saw a huge improvement in her nails.

Now I have an aging group of dogs and they are starting to experience some of the age related aches and pains. Each morning every one of my dogs gets fish oil capsules. Actually, I train my dogs to take meds using fish oil because they all like the taste. Every dog gets at least one and those who have joint problems get more. Morgan currently takes five a day and we're working toward giving her eight.

 I always discuss supplements with our vet before giving them and he advises me on dosage and what to look for when  buying supplements. A while ago he told me to always look for fish oil caps that were molecularly distilled. This removes the heavy metals. I now look for this on the label.

After our bout with crypto a couple years ago, my dogs now get a daily B complex capsule. It helps with any number of things including skin and coat. The nice thing is that what isn't used in the body is excreted, so I don't worry about everyone getting it.

When Samba had trouble sleeping we tried melatonin. It didn't seem to do much for her but now Fudge is taking it because of some coat issues. His coat was thinning over his lower back. It seems to be growing in better now since using the melatonin.

Finally, I'm always on the lookout for something to help the pain of arthritic joints, not only in the dogs, but for us, too. I have arthritis in my fingers and Rob has an old shoulder injury that bothers him. Morgan has severe arthritis in her legs and hips. Bailey and Fudge each have some joint pain in their legs and though Tess isn't showing signs of pain yet, she has deformities in her front legs that will probably cause pain at some point. I increase their fish oil when they seem painful but recently I've been reading about tumeric being helpful for joint pain.

Earlier this week when I had Noah at the vet's office, I asked if he was familiar with tumeric for joint pain. He left the room and came back with a bottle of tumeric. He said it could definitely help them and showed me what to look for. We discussed dosage and a couple days ago I started giving it to not only my arthritic dogs but also to those with intestinal issues.

It's too soon to tell if adding tumeric to their diets will help, but it's another possible secret ingredient in my arsenal for keeping my gang healthy and active. We'll let you know what we discover.

Mom's Clinic

Today seems like a good time to catch everyone up on all the various medical issues hanging over us. Several of you commented that my hand must be better because I'm stitching again. You are a very observant group. Yes, I am feeling much better. The week before Christmas I had a steroid injection in the base of my thumb. Then I had to continue to wear my brace for a week and do virtually nothing with my left hand. During that time I didn't think the injection was working because I still had a lot of pain and limited movement in my thumb.

On Christmas Eve I removed the brace, but I was very nervous about using the hand. The doctor had told me to try it out, so the day after Christmas I started stitching and there was no pain. Today I'm still pain free and have almost full movement. There is one position that sends out a little tweak, so I avoid that. I haven't tried knitting yet, I'm chicken, but I think I'll give it a try this weekend.

I know this isn't a permanent fix, but for now it's working and that's a good thing.

Next on the injured list is Mr Noah. As you know, we've been having a terrible time getting Noah's eye to produce tears on it's own. We've tried various ointments and drops with some good results and some bad ones. Here's where we are now.

Noah  finished his tetracycline two weeks ago. He was getting dexamethasone drops in the eye. Things were going pretty well. The eye was open and just a little pink. I thought we were finally making progress.  Wednesday morning last week his eye was red and goopy. I called the vet and we decided to watch it for a couple days. It kept getting worse and on Sunday evening it was so full of pus that I couldn't see the eye. I started crying but had to get control because he was picking up on my worries.

Monday morning we were at the clinic bright and early. Dr B tested Noah's eye pressure and it was normal. Then he tested his eye moisture level and it was too low. He cleaned his eye, removing all the pus and put in a dilute solution of the drops for dry eye. Noah had a severe reaction to the full strength drops so we needed to know if he could tolerate the lower dose. He had an immediate reaction this time too. His eye got very red and started getting goopy.

Dr B kept Noah for the day to observe his reaction. He gave him drops every two hours and watched to see how the eye reacted. When I picked him up, he had good news and bad news. The bad news is that Noah isn't making enough of his own tears and he can't tolerate the drops to help him make tears.

The good news is that he is making some tears on his own and there is another product that shoud help him, if he can tolerate it. We started Noah on the canine version of Restasis. We're using it twice a day and he's tolerating it well. His eye is clear and sparkling and just slightly pink, so I think we might finally be onto something that will help him. Wish us luck.

Finally, Miss Morgan. Our little old lady dog has arthritis in her hips, back legs and left wrist. I know the wrist hurts a lot because she is always shifting her weight to try and find a comfortable position. Her back legs are extra weak because she tore both cruciate ligaments a couple years ago.

Normally Morgan loves the snow, but this year it's been very hard for her to walk in the hard crusty snow and she falls a lot. I spoke with Dr B about her situation and we devised a plan to help her and the others who have a bit of arthritis, Tess, Bailey and Fudge.

All my dogs take fish oil daily. We're increasing the amount of fish oil on the kids who have joint pain. We also decided to add tumeric to their diet so today they each started taking a tumeric capsule. We'll increase the days they get sardines with their dinner. In the future, after the diet changes have had a chance to work, Morgan may start having Adequan injections in her hips.

So there we are. That's how we're treating our various aches and pains. Some nice Spring weather may help us all, too. I know Morgan would like to nap in the warm sunshine.

Dr Seuss

We missed the birthday celebration for Dr Seuss the other day. Mom didn't have it on the calendar. We like his books because of the silly rhymes. 

So In honor of Dr Seuss, we asked Mom to write a silly rhyming poem for us to post. Here's what she came up with and remember, we love her but she's no Dr Seuss.


What makes you happy?
A puppy that's yappy?

A tiny grey kitten?

A wooly red mitten?

A soft summer shower?

A peach tree in flower?

 A spin on a bike?

A long nature hike?

 A nap by the fire?

 A breezy kite flyer?

A fluffy white cloud?

 Playing music real loud?

No answer is wrong.
We each sing our own song.

The best thing for me
 A warm head on my knee.

With soft liquid eyes

So gentle and wise.

 A dog's love is the best.

You can keep all the rest.

Happy birthday Dr Seuss.

At The Ballet

Swan Lake?

Or Frog Pond?