Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wordless Wednesday/The Morning After/Tail






(Betsy is an excellent patient)                                                         

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Cat Games

China Girl never ceases to amaze us as she sneaks in front of the girls like they don't see her.  All eyes are upon her and the Siberians are just twitching with excitement.  China Girl does not give them the thrill of the chase.

We let China Girl think she is sneaking past us!

Excuse me, did someone say "cat"?

Monday, March 26, 2012

Happy Monday!

I am enjoying my Monday and dreaming about our fun weekend. Tomorrow I undergo surgery to fix my "happy tail". Mom says by Wednesday morning I will be feeling much better.

We walked so far that we had to take a break, drink some cold water, and enjoy the sunshine. 

We took another break and dad pulled out the big snacks!

Hurry with those snacks!

Wouldn't it be great if weekends lasted all week!


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I Think I Can, I Think I Can !

I really, really want that dog biscuit!

Maybe it I try on my tippy toes.

I can almost taste it Phoebe!

Sometimes it just doesn't happen.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Not Again!


This morning I thought maybe if I closed my eyes and opened them again Monday would go away.

Guess what happened? It didn't work!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Family

We really enjoyed the March/April 2012 edition of the AKC Family Dog because of the articles "OUR DOGS give us SUCH PLEASURE" and BODY AND SOLE.  My favorite was of course "OUR DOGS give us SUCH PLEASURE".  I never read  much about General Custer other than the Battle of Little Bighorn so I was quite surprised to know that he and his wife, Libbie, were avid hound lovers. At one time his pack numbered approximately 80 dogs!  I can not imagine being responsible for 80 dogs in the mid 1800's. My first concern would be how am I going to feed them?  I would be lost without the petfood industry. What would you do during a medical emergency and what about vaccines?  General Custer and Libbie became experts with canine medical issues and sharing food.  Being childless, their dogs were their family and shared their home which often was a military tent.

I love my little pack as family and could not imagine life without them.  My home would not be complete without the girls.







You can read about General Custer and his wife Libbie's dogs here in the March/April 2012 issue of AKC Family Dog .

Enjoy your Sunday!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Interesting Smells of Spring

If only I could catch the squirrel who plays all over this bench!

I can tell the deer have been here for a nibble.

Isn't it amazing they did not eat the flowers?

I think I will track those deer.

Hooray for Friday!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mom's Bracket

Mom works with a basketball expert who always gets an office pool together for the National Basketball Championship. She has been studying some of the teams and has decided to toss a coin for her picks but we won't tell the expert this tidbit of information. Tonight's picks are Miss.Valley over W. Kentucky and Iona over BYU.    

 Who do you think will win tonight?

Monday, March 12, 2012

Daylight Savings is Definitely Not for Dogs

I don't want to get out of bed.  It is still dark outside and it is MONDAY!!!

This is too early! Dad tomorrow morning take us outside after the sun comes up!


Monday, March 5, 2012

What A Week!

Last week was  medical education week at our house. We have never heard of "Happy Tail", have you? Happy Tail occurs when a dog with a long wagging tail beats it on everything causing trauma to the tail. The tail tip is usually the place of injury. Some tail tips split and others are severely bruised which can lead to tail tip necrosis if not given a chance to heal. Tail tip necrosis results in removing the injured part of the tail which of course starts the cycle all over again. Most of the time the tail is completely docked to remedy the condition.

Betsy injured her tail and we just happened to notice blood on her tail tip. The tip of her tail is bruised and hopefully will heal with taking an antibiotic treatment. There is no way to keep her from wagging that tail!  I thought her tail tip had turned black however our vet thinks it is just bruised. We are praying that 10 days (2/day) of Cephalexin 500 MG will help keep the bacteria away.


Betsy is a happy girl and constantly wags her tail.


The next medical education was on canine pedal furunculosis - a deep tissue pyoderma. Phoebe has some sort of boil lesions on her feet that will not heal. Some short haired breeds are predisposed to this condition. Canine pedal furunculosis manifests as a single to multiple lesions firm to fluctuant on the feet usually in the interdigital areas. This is usually caused by a persistent autoimmune disorder. Our vet and I have decided to initially treat with 3 weeks of Semplicef, biopsy, and go from there. If this is an actual autoimmune response then treatment will be life long. Our goal will be to get it under control and then decide on a preventative maintnenance.
The lesion is not a paw pad - it is a huge fiber cystic hard ball between the paw pads. This is on the bottom of the front foot.


This one is on the back foot. The other back foot has a smaller one.

Phoebe will take this antibiotic for 3 weeks and then a decision will be made on other treatment options.  
The good news is that prognosis is good to fair.  Lifelong medical therapy may be needed to maintain remission.  I always say it could be worse.

Have a great Monday!