Lexy 10.27.09 RIP

My sweet little Lexy went to sleep tonight at around 5pm. She had multiple seizures (6 within 2 hours) and was in kidney failure. They brought her to me in the hospital and she looked at me and went to sleep. She opened her eyes once more when I told her goodbye and then drifted off peacefully. She was my companion when I had no one - she literally kept me alive during my darkest hours. I can't express how much I will miss her. I will never forget how soft her fur was and the feel of her curled up next to me. And I can still hear her harmonic purr - it was something to hear.

Lexy

I have been struggling with feeling not so good and that is why I have not been posting. But I am all riled up now and want to tell you how Lexy is doing.

2 years ago Lexy had a brain tumor. That big light spot you see in the MRI is the tumor. She was literally at death's door so we had emergency surgery performed as well as follow up radiation. $15,000 later she recovered almost 100%. It was an amazing turnaround.

Last Monday night (10.12.09) I was convalescing in bed and heard a strange scratching sound. I just knew something was wrong and as it turned out Lexy was having a seizure. We wrapped her in a towel when it was over and raced her to the emergency room - same place that treated her for the brain tumor. They kept her for two days and did scads of tests on her and determined that she had elevated liver and kidney values. The type of brain tumor she had 2 years ago does not typically cause seizures so the neurologist thoughtfully is trying to spare us another $1900 MRI and wants to pursue the liver values. So $3500 later we are home with 2 kinds of pills - one of which is ridiculously big to give a cat. We also brought her in wrapped in a towel and never got that back.

I took her back for a recheck today. She had another seizure on Friday, but other than that, she seems like she is OK. The neurologist took a look at her and explained his theories to me and said he thought her blood levels should be rechecked and she should see the internist. He doesn't want to prescribe anti seizure meds unless absolutely necessary because of potential side effects on the liver, which is already screwed up. So I left her there today and just got off the phone with the internist, who redid the blood work but also had ideas about tons of other tests. One of them was a repeat needle aspirate of her liver because they didn't get a proper cellular sample the first time. This is where I got pissed. I said let me get this straight - you want to stick a needle through her stomach and charge me another $300 because someone over there was too inept to get a proper sample?

It was explained to me that it just happens that sometimes the samples are good and sometimes they are not. So - I say - it is quite feasible that you will jab her in the abdomen again, I will be up to $600 for this particular test - and it will still be useless?? Ummmm yes.

At this point I had just had it. She went on to say they would probably recommend a full liver biopsy, which is full on surgery. I said no f'ing way. She is eating normally, she is not showing pain, she is using her litter box. She is jaundiced and has had two seizures and you have done about $4,000 worth of tests that tell me nothing. No one is in the same financial position they were in 2 years ago and we can't bleed money like this. START TREATING HER. If it works, hey you got it right. If it doesn't, try something else. (This is my fabulous theory after watching years of House.) So that is what we are going to do. We're now up to three pills and waiting to see the results of the blood work.

And I want my damn towel back.

Sadie, Cheetah, Belle and Swiffer update 8.30.09

I saw Sadie today and she is like a different dog. She is so much more confident, she has some meat on her bones and she wants to play with the other dogs. She has that doggy sparkle back in her eye. What a difference from the tail tucked entirely under her, wouldn't stand up, emaciated little thing I first met.

I have to tell you, Cheetah was pretty cute with her. There were a good 15 dogs or so in the enclosure today and if someone got too rough with Sadie, Cheetah took it upon herself to herd them right away from her. Cheetah was the enforcer generally. If someone was barking too much - she would get right in their face and bark once sharply and back away. It was as if someone whistled through their fingers (I always wished I could do that) bc that dog would be shocked right into silence. It was fun to watch.

Cheetah was unamused that I was with Belle today. She did not like that one bit. I am HER person and that is that. She has been staying the last few days with Kristina, head of the rescue, to give this household a break. She has always like Kristina and literally (I kid you not) rolled down the car window and jumped out when she saw Kristina when I was dropping her off. Luckily I was going about 1 mph and she was leashed by her harness as opposed to her collar. I was able to release her from the seatbelt quickly and Kristina grabbed the leash with Cheetah none the worse for wear. I usually keep the child locks on the windows bc while she has never jumped out, she has done the roll down the window trick before (damn smart dog), but I had rolled down the front window to talk to Kristina so the child lock was off.

Anyway, she was herding dogs away from Kristina too when she was in the pen. She is crapped out on the floor right now - busy day of protecting everyone for her!

Kristina said she did awesome at her house and wasn't even territorial! Woo hoo! I declare her cured. I think she really would do best in a household with another dog. So Cheetah will be with me for this week, and then Sat night she is going to another senior foster's house so I can take Belle, who needs me more right now.

Back to Sadie, she has had all of her bloodwork and this week has the actual heartworm treatment. This treatment is painful so please keep her in your thoughts. She will also be on pain meds for her hip - I spoke to Kristina about it today. And we are investigating specialists to work on her leg. Our goal is not to amputate, but follow Ashley's suggestion of the procedure with the big long name that will stop bone from rubbing on bone. She is already functioning with the leg. The musculature has healed around it and she has figured out how to work with it. So we just want to deal with the pain it must be causing her. My guess is that it would be cheaper to amputate, but no one really wants to do that.

So Belle. She is a tiny little thing! She's only 35 pounds and looks so little to me next to Cheetah. She is smaller than the other puppies I have seen as well. She is cute as a button and I know there will be a ton of interest in her. As a matter of fact, we already had one application! (3 kids though). I spent about 20-30 minutes with her just getting her used to me, and before we were done, she turned her back to me (I was flattered by this!) and she jumped into my lap and licked my face. So we are buds. I brought chopped up hot dog with me to offer as a high value treat, but she was slow to accept it. She did finally eat out of my hand and we started some basic targeting training. She is not super food motivated, which will make training a little more difficult. But certainly not impossible.

She is very fearful, but not as bad as Cheetah was, nor as reactive. Add to that that she is younger, and I am very confident that I can get her where she needs to be. Here is my plan:

1. Get her spayed ASAP. Her owner was advised by her vet to hold off bc she was so skittish. I don't agree with that evualtion, but regardless, I am of the opinion that now, hormones are exacerbating the situation. Plus, it needs to be done.
   
2. Once she is spayed I can take her to an off leash park - I found this helped Cheetah immensely. Fearful dogs are often more fearful on leash, bc they can't run away if they are scared. This can mean they feel they have to defend themselves, which is never good.
3. Change her food! She is currently on Puppy Chow, a corn based dog food. We have discussed before how corn can block seratonin uptake in a dog, increasing anxiety, fear and aggression. The Rescue has changed over to Blue Buffalo - to which I say BRA.VO. Cheetah has been getting Solid Gold, but I will probably switch Belle to Blue Buffalo for consistency. We'll see how I feel when I go shopping :-)
4. I will start a basic obedience regimen with her. This will cause bonding with me and increase confidence. It will also help me to control situations better and distract her more effectively when we are facing her fears.

Swiffer is still limping :-( We are still on pain meds and I have scheduled an appointment with a different vet in the practice for Saturday. My biggest fear is that she has an injury which is healing improperly. We will likely need to do some x-rays next. She and Lexy had a very nice break while Cheetah was visiting. Lexy followed me from room to room like a dog and Swiffer did too, come to think of it :-)

Cheetah 8.11.09

Saturday night Cheetah did something to Swiffer out in the back yard. The last I looked, Cheetah was occupied chewing a bone about the size of Swiffer on the deck, and Swiffer was wandering around in the yard. But she must've started trying to play with Swiffer bc Swiff was covered in spit. All of a sudden Swiffer started screaming and Cheetah was slinking away - they were behind the big bush so I am not sure what happened. I bolted out there pretty quickly from preparing dinner. I suspect Swiffer pulled a muscle while executing an avoidance maneuver - possibly with Cheetah's paw on her back. She has been favoring her left hind leg ever since, so I made a vet appt for her tonight. Of course she is more terrified of Cheetah than ever. I am keeping them more separated. I can tell it isn't broken or dislocated, and there was no blood to indicate a puncture wound and I checked her foot pads for thorns etc. So it has to be a ligament or muscle. She can put weight on it, but mostly hobbles around on three legs. Poor boo. Cheetah was only trying to play with Swiffer I'm sure. She tends not to know her strength. Swiffer is also a bit of a drama queen, but this is a long time to be in a snit and play on our guilt so we're getting it checked out.

Cheetah is learning not to stalk the cat, which is good. I have found a squirt of water in the snout with a spray bottle is fabulous aversion training. As you know, normally I go for positive reinforcement. But there are certain instances where aversion is the way to go. In this case, Cheetah gets so focused on the cat that her ears don't even twitch when I talk to her. Now, all I have to do is look in the direction of the bottle on the counter or say her name sternly and she will immediately relinquish her post at the basement door. Of course that cat has figured this out and is taunting her. I swear to god it is like having kids.

Note on aversion training - timing is absolutely imperative. If your correction is off by even a tiny amount, you might as well not do it it at all bc the effect will be lost. The dog will not associate the punishment with the crime. You absolutely must read the dog's body language and anticipate their actions so that you can correct the split second they start to do thing you are trying to prevent.

Cheetah big news

I have some news that is probably going to disappoint some of you, because I know many hoped I would keep Cheetah. I wanted to wait to tell you until I was pretty certain, since we have had disappointments in the past. I think I have found a great home for Cheetah.



All of the pictures in this post were taken by her prospective adopter ("PA") this weekend when we met at the dog park.

Let me start by telling you that I came as close as you can come to keeping her. Mr. PM and I had some - let's call them "lively" discussions about it. He strongly felt that Cheetah was not a good fit for us, but he relented if it would make me happy. I was all set to plow through with that. But I also did not feel right about bringing another individual into our home permanently if he was not really on board with the idea. That didn't seem fair to anyone involved. I also felt the annoying grain of truth behind his viewpoint (which pissed me off for the record). In the mean time I got an application on Cheetah, and thought "this person had better blow my socks off or there is no way I will even consider this."

Then I had the week to myself while Mr. PM went to a conference for work and I had some time alone with the animals and my thoughts. I really observed the dynamics of what was going on, trying to remove the rose colored glasses. Here are some of the things I realized.

1. My elderly cat is still stuck in the basement. The only time she comes out is when the dogs go outside. The last time she came upstairs, I picked her up and she hissed at me, because she felt trapped and was afraid the dog would come back. Cheetah now often accompanies me into the basement, and when that happens, Lexy is stuck not only downstairs, but trapped in a room with the door closed so that Cheetah doesn't chase her. If I leave Cheetah upstairs, she cries because she can't be with me. It is a no win situation.
2. Swiffer is still terrified. Yes, she fights back, but all of her body language still indicates fear. I am worried that she is going to start developing permanent issues out of her nervousness.
3. The thing about Mr. PM I already mentioned.
4. We are planning to have a baby. I am not known for my stamina, but I am known for going whole hog and getting completely focused on one person or thing. Cheetah, while a completely different dog than even a month ago, still requires my constant vigilance to control her environment. She is a sensitive, high energy dog and will always require a lot of me, no matter how good she is. I know myself well enough to know that my energy level does not match hers, and I am likely to fail her as my focus in the house changes. I am already failing Swiffer and Lexy due to my focus on Cheetah. I can't take the guilt.
5. Rescue Angels knows that if I adopt Cheetah I was likely to be less available as a volunteer to foster - if I tried to adopt her they were gonna put up a fight (I would've won, but still...)
   
6. I found someone who will love her the way she deserves to be loved if it can't be me.

Make no mistake, this was an excruciatingly painful decision for me. When I came to the realization that this was probably going to be a good home for her, I sobbed for two days, and Cheetah became very difficult to deal with. But as soon as I found my peace with it, she became an angel again. Quite amazing how sensitive she is.

So let me tell you a little bit about this family. It is a single mom with a daughter. The mom (who we are calling PA) lived with her mother (we'll call her grandma) as she raised 2 Aussies. So PA knows and understands the breed. We had some extensive back and forth on email, and I am convinced she believes in the same basic principles that I do as far as training goes: that being primarily positive reinforcement, with consistent, firm but gentle limits.

I am also quite confident that Cheetah would hold a place of priority in the family of which I approve. I think I really knew this was the one when PA asked me how Cheetah reacts to cleaning people. I told her, well, Cheetah tries to make the cleaning people believe that she is going to eat them. PA responded: OK - I don't like my cleaning person that much anyway, I can do without her. Now, I do not expect PA to entirely rearrange her life around Cheetah. But the fact that her knee jerk response would be to do so makes me happy. That was the night I sobbed myself to sleep, and Cheetah slept in the bed with me. :-D

I met PA, daughter and grandma this weekend. PA plans to tell her daughter about the fact that they are getting a dog this coming weekend for her birthday, so we were discussing Cheetah as if they were investigating her for a friend to see how they would get along. PA was already enchanted with Cheetah from her pictures and videos (yes, that is one of the reasons I took more videos last week) and she fell even more in love while interacting with her at the dog park. We spent over 2 hours together and my gut tells me this is a good move. This is not because I feel pressured to adopt her out (which I sort of felt last time). This is me coming from the perspective that I will keep her for better or for worse if I do not find the right fit for her. But I believe I have.

Things I like: (I couldn't possibly list them all but here are a few)

• Daughter clearly loves dogs and is used to being around them. Cheetah is no longer reactive to children (daughter is under 10) and did not mind when she started scampering around. I see potential for a really neat relationship there.
• PA knows Aussies and has realistic expectations about the breed and about Cheetah.
• PA has a bigger back yard than I envisioned when she told me about her house.
• Grandma has SIX (6) dogs, 2 of which are Aussies, so Cheetah will have lots of doggy friends and stimulation.
• Grandma has 5 acres, many of which are fenced, and PA and daughter spend a lot of time at Grandma's.
• Cheetah will be the center of the universe (only dog) for at least a few years, but she will also have a very social doggy pack to play with and lots of room to run around.
• PA has access to 2 dog parks near by.
• I have told PA about every conceivable skeleton in Cheetah's closet. Every behavior issue, all the training I have done, her chance of backsliding a little when she leaves me... everything I could think of. To be honest I kinda thought at first it might drive her away. When it didn't, it convinced me even further that she was going to take on Cheetah in a loving and realistic manner.
• It also made it much easier for me to even consider all of this when PA told me she would keep me updated with whatever I needed: pictures, videos, updates, and even visits once Cheetah is bonded and settled in. So I don't feel quite like I am losing her the way I would if she was just being adopted and spirited away, never to be heard from again.
• I just plain old like PA.
  

Cheetah came to me at a time in my life when I needed her as much as she needed me. She will always be incredibly special to me, and I got her a little medal that says "I saved a human" on it that she will take with her. She really helped me through a difficult time in my life, both by gifting me with the chance to help her whelp and by just being her. I am not sure yet the exact date of her departure. After PA tells her daughter this weekend, Cheetah and I will have a house visit and see how she does. I will go on gut feeling how many times she should see them before she leaves for good, but I am guessing probably Aug 1 or the following Saturday depending on what works best for everyone. I want to do a Saturday so that I am not fighting rush hour traffic (and thus stressing Cheetah out with my own stress) but yet give her as much of the weekend as possible with PA and daughter. PA is also going to try to take a Monday off or work from home so Cheetah can get settled in.

I feel like PA came to me just at the critical moment when I was thinking of keeping Cheetah. I'll be honest, I am not very faithful when it comes to church, god, etc. But it does seem to me like things do work out the way they are supposed to, due to more than just mere coincidence. We'll call it the Universe. They appeared just when I was sure I would keep Cheetah, but something in the back of my mind was telling me it was not exactly the right thing to do. This feels right.

Oh and I am told that Cheetah can attend the litter reunion in April!! :-) :-)

Rough Night

Cheetah is not very happy with me right now. Why you ask? Because I took to my bed at 8:30pm. The rerun of The Office just wasn't doin it for me and it's been a long evening.

CAUTION: some gross content

On my way home (I left the office at around 4:15) I finally stopped at CVS to pick up a couple of Rx. I got in line at the pharmacy and there was a guy there with a shopping cart full of stuff - I shit you not. Once I determined he actually planned to check all of this crap out at the PHARMACY, I huffed off to the magazine isle. We are supposed to look for images that evoke something in us for group, so I figured I would pick up a few. $70 worth of magazines later (yeah I know) I was back in line and finally got my prescriptions.

I didn't actually make it home until almost 6pm. Sigh. The second I walked in the door I knew something was rotten in Denmark. I had no idea what it was, but something was WRONG in here. It did not take me long to figure it out. As soon as I hit the hallway that leads to the bedrooms I got slammed in the face with the stench. Cheetah had a biiiiiiig accident in the master bathroom. Sigh. It was baaaaad. She hasn't done anything like that since she had so many tummy problems after the puppies. I then noticed she had vomited on the carpet in the hall way and on her bed, although there was very little evidence left. I know - ew. But she's a dog - that's what they do. I was thankful that Mr. PM is at a company conference this week. If there is one smell he can not take, it is dog poo. Cheetah thoughtfully managed to stay on the bathmat for the most part, so I just folded up everything she hit and took it down to the basement.

Cheetah is so very helpful. Just today when Zibby's owners mentioned she had done some backsliding on her housetraining, I said, "all dog's backslide once in a while." Cheetah was just trying to prove my point I guess.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what made her so sick. The dog food is the same; although I am playing with the proportion of wet to dry a bit, that should not upset her like this. She had treats in her treatball today - but nothing new there either. I thought and thought about this as I cleaned up and took the linens down to the wash. While I was down there I fed the cat. AHA! I know exactly what it was now! Or at least I had a pretty strong speculation.

OK this is gross, but last night, somehow Cheetah found that great delicacy, the litterbox. I had JUST cleaned it out a couple of hours earlier, but Lexy must've been in there. I caught Cheetah red handed, so to speak. Her breath was HORRIBLE the rest of the night. (Cheetah is one of the few dogs I know who simply does not have bad breath! She also has really white teeth. I attribute this to her age + all the bone and stick chewing she does.)

So anyway, I was glad to have figured that out, but I still decided to give her boiled chicken and rice for dinner to be safe. I figured Swiffer shouldn't have to miss out because she didn't poop in the house, so I made enough for both of them. I used to make this stuff by the vat when Cheetah was nursing. I would literally make 5 quarts at a time.

Of course today was the first hot and humid day in a while - we have been really lucky with weather this year. So naturally with Cheetah getting sick on top of that, I was concerned about dehydration. Chicken and rice is another way to really rally against that. I used 3 cups chicken stock to one cup of white rice and diced the chicken directly into the pot while it was still partially frozen. This way the chicken cooks while the rice boils. Once most of the chicken stock was absorbed, I added about another cup of water. I cook it very low to make sure the rice absorbs as much liquid as possible, and is completely saturated. When I am finished, it is a slightly soupy concoction. This helps to replenish her fluids. I also throw some ice in to help it cool down quickly, so more water. For anyone who has not prepared this meal for their dog before, be prepared to find rice all around the bowl for days. They always root out the chicken first and then go back for the rice.

I am fading fast here, but I have one more thing to tell you. One of our puppy sponsors from overseas is in town and I will be meeting her tomorrow! She found the webcam because she works for a client of my husband's company. As I mentioned, Mr. PM is currently at a conference, which she crossed the pond to attend! So tomorrow evening he is bringing her home to meet me and Cheetah before she heads home. Hopefully Cheetah will have a similar reaction to the one she had when Schroeder visited. We can only wait and see. But I am excited to meet her. I want to say her family bred dogs when she was a kid, but I could be mixing up her story with someone else.

Cheetah is sleeping comfortably now. She still wanted to play a little but she is definitely less energetic than usual. As much as I hate to see her sick, I have to admit it is kind of a nice break. Have a good night all.

Sham-eh

Today was grooming day. I have been prepping Cheetah for weeks, having her jump into the tub any time she follows me into the bathroom, getting in there with her and shutting the sliding door for a few minutes before I shower, and closing her in the bathroom with me when I shower (she often goes and hides when she hears me in the shower.) Needless to say, she HATES to be bathed. So I was using some desensitization techniques to try to make it a less frightening experience.

So first we all went out onto the back deck for pedicures. First Swiffer. When Swiff was a teeny puppy of a mere 2 pounds, I managed to cut the quick on my first attempt to trim her nails. I had been trimming Lexy's nails for years, but Lexy's nails are translucent and Swiffer's are not. Both little puppy Swiffer and I were completely horrified and traumatized by the event. Ever since then, she is a big baby about having her nails trimmed and so am I. For 5 years we have taken her to PetSmart for her claws and done the rest at home. I am not proud to admit that poor Swiffer's grooming has suffered greatly ever since Cheetah stepped foot in the house with her belly full of puppies. Long story short, her nails were very long. So I took her out and stood her on the picnic table on the deck, and trimmed her Elvira claws. Because her nails are so long, the quick is overextended too, so I had to be careful how far back I went. Luckily she has ONE translucent nail on each foot so I was able to guage by that and we had no horrific events out of a slasher movie.

Once Swiffer was clipped, I took heart and called Cheetah over. She does not love to have her paws handled but she will put up with just about anything from me, and a few snips later we were all set. Then came bath time. Duh duh duh daaaaaaaaa.

I swear to god she knew what I was up to from the MOMENT we came in the house. I gathered 4 or 5 towels, plus a couple of the "big size" Sham-Wow's. After covering every square inch of the bathroom floor in towels, and prepping myself, I took off her collar and invited her into the bathroom. NOPE. Now I know you are not supposed to call your dog to you for things you know they hate. But I defy you to pick up a 45 pound dog who does not want to go into the bathroom for a bath and carry them in there. Suddenly they are Sumo wrestlers weighing about 250 pounds. If you do not know how to use a dog's own wieght against them, I highly recomend against trying to bathe them yourself! So eventually I coaxed her in and shut the door to the bathroom. Now she was positive the jig was up.

The repetitive training got the best of her, and when I gave her the signal to jump into the tub, she hesitated, but she did it. Bravo Cheetah. So I got in behind her as in practice and shut the door. If the dogs are too big to fit in my utility sink, I take them in the shower with me. Let's face it, I am going to get soaked anyway, and my presence in there with them usually calms them down. So I spent some time petting her and telling her how good she was and then turned on the tub. She wasn't frantic but it was clearly upsetting to her, so I decided to quit drawing it out and just turned on the shower. Overall, she did better than last time.

Even being the doggy Jedi Master that I am (haha) I make the occassional mistake. I was certainly glad I clipped her nails first, because she stepped on my foot in an effort to get out and it felt like someone was shoving nails through my foot. But other than that we had no major injuries. I found that holding her frontquarters helped both to calm her, and to keep her off balance enough that she was forced to do what I wanted.

So the entire point of writing this drawn out bath story (which has got to be boring the eyeballs out of all but the most devout Cheetah fans) was to tell you about the Sham-Wow. First I toweled her off with the usual towel. She also spent some time rubbing herself on the towels on the floor (which was pretty funny for the record). Once I had the initial water off, I went to the Sham-Wow. Honestly, I did not feel it performed any better than a towel, if that well. I expected it to suck water right out of her fur. Not so much. So my review of the Sham-Wow, at least as far as it goes for grooming, is "eh."

After her bath, since it was so warm out, I let her run her usual adrenaline circles in the back yard. She goes absolutely wacko - again - hilarious. There is the added benefit that she is wet so she doesn't overheat, and she dries off quickly. There is the drawback that she is likely to roll around while out there, but she is a dog after all. It's not like we were going to a dog show. It's what they do. I suspect that the lovely smelling shampoo is rather offensive to any self respecting dog. Happily, she just rolls in the grass (as opposed to poop or dead things) so no great harm done.

My big plan was to work on Swiffer with the mat comb after Cheetah's bath, but I took a break that lasted all day. So Swiffer suffers neglect yet again. My goal is to get her done by the 15th, when she and Cheetah are due for more Frontline. I have said it publically, so hopefully I will do it!

A joyous night in the Pell-Mel household

STEAK NIGHT!!!!!!!

Ecstasy was had by all.