Update on Stray

Well, the vet that I liked wasn't able to see the dog (he had to go home sick) and the other one was tied up in emergency surgery, so they had me sign a paper permitting sedation (just in case) and had me leave him for a few hours.

When I came back about 4 hours later, the vet came and spoke to me. He said he couldn't find any obvious injury to cause the swollen chest and that the abrasions on the back legs were nothing to be concerned about. I asked "what about the matted and discolored fur at his neck". The vet didn't know anything about it. I TOLD the vet tech. Something is wrong here.. there's severe miscommunication.

Anyhow, the vet went back to try to look at him and the dog did his "yipe yipe yipe yipe" routine that he does when he's very frightened. Vet came back and said he couldn't handle it.. that he would have to sedate him to examine him. (Wasn't that what I signed the paper for???) And it being so late on a Friday, that that would get into boarding fees.

I am rather unhappy with this vet and will mention it to my regular vet when I get the chance.

The final verdict is that we decided to take him home (the vet did give him a rabies shot and a long lasting antibiotic) and see how he did. If he was still doing poorly on Monday, I would bring him back in.

I got him home and let him out of the carrier into the bathroom.. he promptly threw up on the bathmat and then went outside. LOL.. thank goodness the bathmat is washable.

We kept him in the bathroom/small yard the rest of Friday and all Saturday.. finally let him go on Sunday afternoon. He's doing alot better.. still not 100%, but better. He's running some and tried to jump, but when he landed he hollered.. so I guess he's still some sore.

I at least feel better to know that he has had a rabies shot since he hangs around my dogs and my house so much.

Gone to the Dogs

Decided to make today a dog day. Here's some photos of our beloved schnauzer, Sasha and the neighbors dog (who has no tags, so we don't know anything about him. We call him Pogo.. because he bounces like a pogo stick ..LOL)











They play a little rough, but no one is injured.. at least we've yet to find an injury. Pogo is generous..he brings over bones to share. We're finding all kinds of bones in the yard that we know we didn't give to Sasha.

We're still a bit afraid to let Sasha roam completely free.. the one time I did try, she took off and I had to go chase her down. We try to give her lots of room on her lead though.. we have 3 20 foot leads joined end to end.. and then whatever length her leash is.. so unless she's gotten herself tangled, she has at least 60 feet to wander. And we check on her frequently when she's outside.. she has a water dish outside and we go out and untangle her when needed.

Sasha LOVES DentaStix (I forget who makes them.. pedigree I think). Anyhow.. she gets one every night as a bedtime treat. She has learned to recognize the package and when we get one out and say "time to go to bed Sasha".. she RUNS for her crate (which is in the dressing room next to our bedroom). It's so cute!!

She also gets a small piece (about 1/2 inch or so) of hotdog twice a day. One of our other dogs has a seizure problem and we give him his meds in a piece of hotdog. Well, we can't leave the other dogs out.. so when Tux gets his medicine hotdog, Fancy and Sasha get a piece of hotdog too. And Sasha likes raw carrots and baked sweet potatoes. She gets small samples when we have these for dinner.

As you can tell, she's not spoiled at all. LOL. When we first got her, the vet weighed her at 9lbs. When we picked her up yesterday from the vet, the info sheet gave her weight as 17lbs.. wow. And she has learned to lie down and shake on command. Now we're working on beg.. shouldn't be too hard.. ::grin::

Ok.. I have to quit having fun talking about my dog and get back to kitchen and laundry detail. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Dogs and Friendship

Madchen (the sick doggie from the previous two posts) is still at the vet. When I called yesterday about 4pm, they said she was still having seizures, but at the moment was resting comfortably. They're trying to get the seizures under control.

I'm so afraid that she's dying.

Yesterday before I took her to the vet, she was doing strange things. She tried to walk into the pantry.. never did that before. I took her into the bathroom with me while I was getting ready because I was worried about her. While in the bathroom she tried to walk into the shower.. and she HATES the shower. She was walking into walls and into things. She also peed on me as I was carrying her to the car, which is not normal for her.

Last night I dreamed of her, healthy, happy, ready to play. I don't know if I will get that happy dog back from the vet. I'm so scared. I think I'm experiencing anticipatory grief.

Well, on to happier subjects.

Two of my sisters had birthdays this month, I finally got their gifts in the mail, so now I can finally post pictures.

The first one is for my oldest sister. It's called a Celtic Knot Shawl and the pattern is at www.friendshipshawl.org

I know the picture is dark, sorry. There's a better picture on the website. I'm hoping I can get my sister to model it after receipt.






I made it out of Caron Simply Soft in Dark Sage. The picture on the friendshipshawl site shows it in soft sage, which is ok, but I liked the dark better. I didn't measure the shawl, but it seemed to come out very large. I think if I ever remake it, I will try it with dc's rather than the trc's that the pattern calls for.

The next one I call a Seashell Shawl (quite a tongue twister, no?) and it went to my youngest sister. Very apropros I think as she lives not too far from the coast.

It's called Seashell, because that is the color name of the Caron Simply Soft I used. Which I believe Caron has discontinued. Me and my luck with Caron.. sheesh. Seashell doesn't look impressive in the skein, but when it's made up, it just glows!!






The pattern is also available at www.friendshipshawl.org