P*A*R*T*Y !!!!!

Hey everybody, come party with us!

Today is our birthday. Mom remembers it as the longest night followed by the longest day ever in history. Tess was born on the 25th just before midnight and the rest of us followed.  Norma Jean was the last one to arrive around 7:30 the next morning.

So, today we're having a party in the back yard. Instead of cupcakes Mom bought a huge bag of animal crackers. She said we always swallow the cupcakes and ask for more, so this way we can have a bunch of little animal cookies. Good thinking, Mom.

Then after we play and rest we're having a special dinner of sardines. Oh yum, those are our very favorites and Mom's been saving them for this special occasion.

We wish all of you could come join us on this beautiful day. Since you can't get here, maybe if you ask nicely, your peeps will give you an extra cookie today, on us.

Of course our Dad, Fudge will be joining our party as will our brother Sebastian and the little pains, Sydney and Mackey. They all do love to party.

Mom says she can't believe that eleven years have gone by since that exciting night. We've all had a lot of fun and we're happy that we can share it with you.

Mistaken Identity

Wait a minute!

 Hey Dude, are you wearing my sweater?

 Oh, OK, I guess Mom made you a sweater just like mine.

 I think Mom even made you and you look a lot like me, but not as handsome.

 My little knitty friend has a sweater just like mine. We're trendsetters.

 Actually we're not setters at all, just a doggie joke.
Sebastian
 

We're Ready...

It's been very summer like here during the daytime with temperatures in the 80s. A couple weeks ago the evenings started cooling off significantly until we were getting into the 40s overnight. Then Saturday night Fall hit. We had a thunderstorm with lots of wind and today the temps are much cooler. The forecast says we'll be in the 30s overnight.The pear tree in the front yard dropped all it's leaves overnight and many of them landed n the porch to greet us in the morning. We even switched from air conditioning to heat.

  The dogs really enjoy the cooler temperatures and are spending a lot more time outside. Sebastian  also likes this weather better and he's looking forward to lots of walks at the park now that it's more comfortable for the humans. I started a sweater for him last week. Remember this?

 Well, here he is trying it on for the first time.

 As you can see the street is littered with leaves and he's ready for his first walk.

He was a little reluctant to put it on, but I think he likes it.

I think he looks pretty sharp.

Berries = Yummy #Chewy Influencer

Hi Everybody,
Thanks to all my Bloggie friends for asking about me. I'm feeling much better. My legs still don't work quite like they used to and sometimes I even fall down, but Mom is there to help me and the pain medicine that Dr B gave me is helping a whole lot. 

  Mom gives me special stuff to help my legs get better, like extra fish oil and glucosamine. That's pills made from shellfish and you know how much I love fish. She's giving me raw goat's milk too. I don't know if that helps my legs but I sure do like it.

For a long time Mom has been giving me berries. She says they're really good for my mentals. She and Dad eat lots of berries like strawberries and blueberries and she gives them to us, too. Sometimes it's hard to get fresh berries around here so then Mom gives us berry capsules. The ones I've been taking are blueberry and cranberry because of the infection I had a while ago. She says that cranberry helps me pee. 

Now Chewy sent us some berry treats. They're Zuke's Superfood Blend with Bold Berries and they taste great. 

These are made with cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries. I start drooling just thinking about all those delicious berries. They are only 4.1 calorie per treat and Mom thinks the little size is super for training. They also contain cinnamon which is so yummy and tumeric which helps our joints feel good and rosemary which smells really good. But a warning, rosemary can bring on seizures in dogs like Mackey who are predisposed to seizures.

Noah  happened to be there when Mom opened the package so he got to taste them before any of the rest of us. He thinks they are super delicious and said he'd like a whole bowl of them. Mom said no.

Zukes makes very good treats and we've used them for years. The berry ones might be our very favorites. We do have just one complaint, please Zukes peeps, can you make them bigger? Our Mom likes the little size pieces but we'd like them about three or ten times bigger. Can you work on that?

Chewy sent us this bag of Zuke's Bold Berries at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review.
Your pal, Fudge

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

In this case the old dog is me. It's been an interesting couple weeks and I've been forced to slow down and get organized. Fudge is confined to the living room during the day and because he wants to follow me wherever I go, I am also confined to the living room. Rob doggie sits him while I do the essentials on the computer because my office is in the basement and Fudge isn't allowed to do stairs.

Fudge is actually doing better. He has a very bad limp that I'm guessing is permanent, but he is able to get around better than two weeks ago. I do notice a clicking sound in his leg when he walks and I don't thank that's a good thing, but he doesn't seem bothered by it. He's on leash at all times except for bedtime, then the door is closed so that he's stuck in the bedroom and can't roam. His appetite has improved and although he groans when he gets up and down, I don't think he's in much pain now.

Noah's colitis has been bothering him again. I can't seem to get his poop problems cleared up. Just when he seems better and I think we've got a handle on it, it flares back up. Taking a cue from a Blogville friend, we located a lady nearby who raises dairy goats and sells their milk. We bought a gallon and tried it on Noah's dinner. For several days we thought it was working well, then another poop explosion happened. We decided to give it a longer try and yesterday we went back to the farm and spoke with the goat lady. She suggested making Kefir.

OK, I knew that Kefir was fermented goat's milk, but that's all I knew. So this old dog hit the internet last night and now I'll be making my first batch of Kefir next week, as soon as my supplies arrive. Apparently Kefir from goat's milk is high in probiotics, vitamins, antioxidants and everything else that's good for you.

In the meantime I'm giving raw goat's milk to Fudge for his joints, Sebastian and Lola for their digestion, Noah for colitis and the others for their pure enjoyment. Such a happy group at dinnertime.

The weather here has been funky, hot during the day and actually cold at night. I decided that Sebastian might like a sweater for his evening outings, so I looked up some patterns. Trouble is that it's mostly little dogs that wear sweaters and most designers only have patterns for dogs much smaller than Sebastian. So this old dog picked a pattern that I like and I'm improvising as I knit. If it doesn't fit him, it should fit one of the others. If it doesn't fit anyone, I'll just unravel the whole thing and start over. It's a way to spend the time while sitting with Fudge.

 So, I'm learning some new tricks about nutrition and maybe some new tricks about changing a knitting pattern. Who said I couldn't do it?

Something New #Chewygoodiebox

My dogs love presents. I'll bet yours does too. I like to give presents. I'll bet you do too. Now it all got a little easier.

So, lets' say a friend just adopted a dog from the shelter. Wouldn't it be nice to send a little gift to welcome the new family member?

Wouldn't it please Aunt Tilly to remember her kitties with a little something for no reason at all?

I think Fido would be disappointed if there was no special present under the tree for him.

Why not remember all of them, plus of course, you very own faithful furkids with a surprise gift that doesn't require a trip to the pet store or any bother at all on your part. Intrigued yet?

Chewy has a new offering to help solve your gift giving needs and they sent us one to try out. They're called Chewy Goodie Boxes and you can order them at the same time you place your regular food orders. They come in these cute little gift boxes and there are three varieties. There is one for cats, one for small dogs and we received the regular dog box.

So what's in these Goodie Boxes? All this! We got a great selection of treats that really grabbed the attention of my dogs.

In our box was a bag of I and Love and You nice jerky treats in chicken and salmon flavor You know how much we love salmon.

Next was a bag of Greenies breath buster bites. These will be perfect for Mr Sebastian whose breath gets a little doggy at times.

There was a bag of Starmark interactive dog treats with over 175 treats in the bag and they're under 3 calories each, perfect for our dieters. These are great treats by themselves or they work with the Starmark treat dispensers also available at Chewy. 

There was a bag of Hill's Ideal Balance soft baked naturals with chicken and carrots. They're grain free with no soy, wheat, corn or artificial preservatives, colors or flavors.

There was a bag of Halo healthsome vegan biscuits with peanut and pumpkin. We love Halo products and who can argue with peanut and pumpkin?

Finally, from USA Bones & Chews there was a six inch bully stick. None of my dogs has ever had a bully stick though I've heard from lots of people just how much their dogs love them. My Porties really aren't chewers and neither is Sebastian, but my hound girls love to chew and so Sydney will get the bully stick this time.

This is a very nice treat box that I'm sure would be appreciated anyone who receives it. Be sure to check it out next time you log into your Chewy account and add a few to your holiday gift list.

Chewy sent us this goody box at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review and my dogs  think it's absolutely wonderful.

What's Wrong With Fudge?

Maybe you've noticed that we haven't been around much lately. There's a reason for that. Something is wrong with Mr. Fudge and it's had us pretty worried.

Fudge has always been a wild and crazy guy with his spinning and jumping and his anything for attention attitude. Then two years ago a stroke left him with a spinal injury, a weakness in his left rear leg and his spinning and jumping capacity diminished. Still, it didn't completely tame the boy, he continued to find new ways to show off. Instead of spinning down the stairs on the way to the back yard, he started running down backwards.

 One day his weak back leg slipped and he fell down the stairs. It was not a pretty landing and when I helped him up, he seemed shaken. It didn't last long, he continued running around the yard and generally being silly. I soon put the misadventure out of my mind.

Then a couple weeks ago Fudge started limping on his right front leg. It was just a mild limp at first and when I examined the leg and foot, I didn't see anything amiss. But the limp continued and started getting worse. Last week he was limping badly and carrying his front leg at a strange angle and his foot was turned inward. There was a lot of swelling in the carpus region.

I did what I do and asked Google what could be happening and I did not like the answer. The result that kept coming up was osteosarcoma. We've recently watched a friend go thru that with her beloved dog and it's a terrible disease with a very poor prognosis. Fudge seemed to fit the symptoms perfectly, so Rob and I began steeling ourselves for the inevitable. There was another possibility though, it could be a torn carpal ligament. I remembered the fall and wondered it it was responsible for the limp.

On Saturday morning we took a very sad Fudge to visit Dr B. We had to lift him in and out of the car which he did not appreciate. When Dr B came into the exam room he sat down and watched Fudge move for a few minutes. Then he examined the leg. He started feeling around the swollen area and applying pressure, a lot more pressure than I used. He said he felt some popping in the area that shouldn't be there.

After the exam we discussed the possibilities. Yes, it could be osteosarcoma, it's the right area and Fudge is the right age. But, he thinks in this case it's either a torn ligament or a bone fracture. In either case we're treating it the same way. Due to Fudge's age, we're not considering surgery. Dr B thinks that splinting or casting the leg might cause more damage to the other side of the wrist. He gave Fudge an injection of Adequan and told me that he must be on leash at all times inside and out. His movements are to be severely restricted. Fudge is also taking the highest dose of Rimadyl that he can safely take. In two weeks we'll reassess the situation and he'll have another Adequan injection.

If Fudge shows improvement in two weeks time, we'll know we're on the right track. If there's no improvement, we'll do xrays to see what else may be going on. In either case, our goal is to keep him as comfortable as possible.

On Saturday when we got home, Fudge was tired and slept all day. On Sunday he was about the same. Then Sunday evening Rob and I both noticed that he looked a little more alert. On Monday it was obvious that Fudge was feeling better. He was eating better and was interested in what the others were doing. He also wanted to bounce when I took him outside. Bouncing is not allowed, but try telling him that.

Today Fudge's attitude is still continuing to improve. It's going to be hard to keep him quiet for two weeks and that's just the start. If this is a fracture or tear, it will be a lengthy recovery. How do I tell Fudge that his days of bouncing and running backwards are over.

We could use some Power Of The Paw if you have some available. Fudge isn't out of the woods yet.