Rest well, Aggie

We lost Aggie this morning.

After several months of dealing with her dementia on top of her neurological issues, it became more and more obvious that it would soon be time to help her to the Bridge.

So, this morning, we helped her on her journey.

Aggie came to us over two years ago from a shelter in Oklahoma, by way of a very kind lady who does much rescue transport. We met at McDonald's in Hillsboro, and saw Aggie for the first time. She was what I would call a Deagle (Dachshund x Beagle) and was a deaf senior. Sadly, at the time, we didn't realize there was a neurological component involved as well.

Over the last two years we've all dealt with Aggie's quirks and difficulties, and I'll be the first one to say she was a very hard dog to live with.

Whether it was her deafness or the neurological problems, Aggie didn't interact much at all with people and virtually not at all with the other dogs. In a lot of ways, Randall and I feel guilty because we couldn't do more for her. We gave her two more years, but all I can say is she was allowed to live them on her own terms.

I wish we could have done more, but when the morning was gone and Aggie with it, I knew there would be a very different dog at the Bridge. Young, healthy, no longer deaf, interactive and, most importantly, mentally healthy and at peace.

I wonder if, when the time comes, I'll recognize her. I hope so. And I hope she recognizes me.

Rest In Peace, sweet girl.

Someone you don't hear about much....

This is Aggie. She's one of our permanent senior fosters through ATDR. Come Labor Day weekend, she will have been with us two years.

You don't hear much about her because, well, she's really rather difficult to live with. Fostering can sometimes be a crap shoot; sometimes you win and sometimes the house wins. The house won in this case.

As you can see, she's not full Dachshund. Best guess is she's a Deagle - a Dachshund/Beagle mix. We're not sure how old she is, because her natural coloring has a lot of white. Her face was white when we got her and her legs had a lot of white on them as well. Her body color had a heavy roaning, so our best guess is she's maybe 14 now.

We're not sure of Aggie's story. She came out of a shelter in Oklahoma to the shelter at Wichita Falls, and we brought her in that fall. Little Aggie is deaf, though we know she can hear some stuff. She's also got a neurological component as well. I jokingly say she was dropped on her head at birth, and that sort of describes how she acts.

She has never really interacted with people. At most, she sees us as food providers and doesn't understand affection. Occasionally she'll react when you pet her, but when she's had enough, she just sort of drifts off. Rather like a cat in some respects if the cat never had much to do with people during its formative years.

Her interactions with the pack can be trying at times, too. I don't think she was ever around other dogs before, and while I know the deafness contributes to some of the behavior, I don't think that's all of it. Fortunately everyone here is pretty laid back and they know she's "different" so they overlook most of her behavior.

Things are a bit more difficult with Aggie now because doggie dementia is setting in. She's on Cholodin and Anapryl, and both of those help a lot. Without them, I'm not sure what we would do. We've had senior dogs with dementia in the past, but Aggie's is particularly challenging because of her hearing loss and people/dog skills.

But she's here. We'll provide a home, love and food for her for as long as she needs it. She's safe, and when she's ready to go to the Bridge will let her go with a hug and a kiss. She's been safe with us for two years, and I know we've given her everything we could.

Poor Buddy

We've rocked along pretty good with really no trouble from Buddy. He's responded beautifully to his heart medicines and you just couldn't ask for a better boy.

Last night around 2:30, Randall got up to take him out for his middle of the night potty break. Completely uneventful. Comes back in and shines the flashlight on Buddy's pallet so he can see to climb on it, and starts screaming "Blood! Blood!"

Now I'm a very sound sleeper normally, but I also wear ear plugs which blocks out most ambient noises, and last night I had a pain pill around midnight, so I was REALLY deeply asleep. And let me tell you, hearing that screamed in the middle of the night is just NOT what you want to have happen.

I got up and Randall had the light turned on and by the time  got my glasses on and got across the room to where Buddy sleeps on his pallet I could see this wasn't just a few drops. Blood had pooled all over one side of his pallet and up the closet door. There were large drops of blood clustered every few feet, and you could see more blood coming out the left side of his mouth.

We got him into the bathroom and I started trying to track down the problem. It looked to be on the left side of his mouth, and the good news was it looked like the flow was lessening. I was able to clean him up and when I looked inside, it did look like whatever had happened had happened in his mouth and this wasn't coming from further down his throat.

Huge relief there.

So I changed the pillow case on his pallet (I have it wrapped in a garbage bag so it's waterproof), and Randall got all the blood cleaned up. Poor Buddy thought he'd done something wrong, so I had to spend some time slobbering over him and reassuring him that we loved him and there was nothing wrong.

Late this morning I got a good look inside his mouth. There was a huge abscess on the cheek on the left side of his mouth. His teeth looked good and there was no inflammation around the gum line. It looked as if what was going on was independent of a tooth, and there had definitely not been any of the visible swelling you get with a problem tooth.

So sweet Buddy is going to be on some antibiotics for the next 14 days. He may need a dental, though with his dicky heart that's problematic. His teeth were in fine shape when he got here, and what I saw last night looks like just a simple cleaning would handle it. I'm going to wait several days and see if I can't brush them. Much of what is on the teeth is simply residue from the canned food he eats. So once the antibiotics have a chance to work, I'll see what I can do.

Meanwhile, he's off is 1/2 a baby aspirin. If he does end up having surgery of some sort, he doesn't need his blood thinned.

I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

Buddy Update July 27, 2013

I'm a bad, bad, bad blogger. No Buddy update in weeks. I promise I'll get a substantive post done in the next few days, but the quick and dirty is that Buddy marked his 6 month anniversary with us on Wednesday, and since he as listed as 15 1/2 at the Irving shelter when Dawn pulled him, I decided we'd make it a doubly special day by having it be his birthday. Probably not exactly on the mark, but we're close.

He's also doing very well except for one minor issue....this 16 year old, congestive heart failure, NEUTERED dog has gotten it in his mind that the 13 year old, SPAYED dachshund bitch is in season. Go figure.

So tonight, Dixie was unceremoniously dumped in the sink and bathed. And right after that, the distinguished, but much misguided, senior Buddy got one as well. You know what they say about cold showers....

Anyway, these illustrate beautifully what Buddy thinks of the entire bath business.

And the afterbath...

Today is a special day....

It was four months ago today that Randall and I picked up Buddy from Dawn Enriquez after he became a Bark N Rest dog.

He has made tremendous strides health-wise. He was always an absolute sweetheart, but his congestive heart failure and advanced heart murmur made his life miserable. His coughing and hacking and trouble breathing just broke my heart.

Fortunately after about a week of being here and on medication, his CHF was under control and life improved. You can still hear his heart go "Swish. Swish." and he does exhibit the usual cough after drinking water and when he gets excited, but things are much easier on him.

He's put on weight since being here. He was 11 pounds when he got here and, while not starvation weight, was definitely too thin for him. He's now at 13 pounds and it suits him. It's also not causing problems with his heart condition, and that's always a primary concern. There's a little padding on the ribs, but you can still feel them there. 13 pounds looks good on him and he wears it well, so that's where we're going to keep him.

He does now get 1/4 of a 5 mg Prednisone daily. I made the call to add that to his medicine roster when he began having problems breathing with the increase in oak mold in early spring. I've tried taking him off it since that's now gone, but he's less comfortable. So while there's the possibility of organ issues in the future, I'm willing to risk it. Giving him 6 months more of life when he struggles to breathe isn't worth it. I made this call with our previous heart dog, Elvis, and didn't regret it. So the Pred stays. Buddy is nearly 16, and we're going to keep him comfortable.

Buddy gets along famously with the other seniors here in the house. He's easy going, loving and really a very nice boy. It's hard to believe his owners left him at the shelter.

So anyway, we're now at the 4 month mark with this little guy, and we're so happy he's here and doing well.

Buddy in the Irving shelter January 2013

Buddy chilling on his pallet at home

Photoblogging...Grammys!

As Buddy has spent more time with us, I've come to recognize some of the things that really rock his world.

Of all of those, his first true love is his Grammy's Pot Pie.

So I thought today I would bring you a special photoblogging session of the process. Something, I might add, that didn't meet with Buddy's approval because each step of the process was dragged out while I got photos. :)

Let's begin here, shall we?

First, we see the Monitor is fully ready to WATCH THE PROCESS.....and should he not fulfill his duties, you can see the Backup Monitor is deployed as well.

Step 1. Grammy's in it's pure and unadulterated form (and from Buddy's point of view pretty useless since it's in an unopened can.)

Step 2. Now on the saucer, one of the more important steps begins...identifying the Evil Green Things, aka EGTs (known to you and me as English Peas).

Step 3. Identification has proceeded to separation whereby the EGTs will be tossed unceremoniously down the garbage disposal.

Step 4. Appropriately divested of EGTs, the next vital step in the process is warming the Grammy's in the microwave.

At this point in the process, our intrepid Monitor is getting just a bit antsy.

Step  5. Transferring of perfectly warmed Grammys to a clean, stainless steel bowl.

Step 6. Satisfaction....or "If I drag this out in further, I may well have to deal with a Buddy on the counter."

Needless to say, Step 6 was the most popular, though it didn't last nearly long enough from where Buddy sits. :)

Unexpected Yummies

One of the things I really enjoy about bringing a new dog in is discovering just what it is that is going to be their favorite yummy.

For Penny, it's peanut butter. This little girl will turn herself inside out for it.

Dixie loves cooked carrots....something I'm happy about because Haley, my senior senior dachshund I lost last December loved her orange noms.

Skeeter, the Chihuahua, is known as Rice Boy...there's something about small, Skeeter-sized edibles that just turn him on in the worst way.

Buddy is, of course, the lover of chicken livers, but he's also stunned me by absolutely loving apple. It's to the point he follows me around the kitchen after he's had is Grammy's wanting his bit of apple. He won't leave me alone until he gets a bite. I have no idea what I'm going to do when this batch of apples is gone. Guess I may have to have Randall buy an apple each week so Buddy can have his fix. ;)

Pulling back into shape...

All the old fogies here were really bent out of shape over Ariel's short stay with us this week.

Saturday morning, Randall took Ariel to meet up with her ride to San Antonio, and the relief around here was palpable. Soooooooooooooooooo happy to have things back to normal.

I never realized just how much the seniors don't want to be around a puppy...even an older one. A 10 month old dachshund has boundless energy. And poor Ariel actually got depressed and stopped eating because no one here wanted anything to do with her.

The two senior dachshund fosters, Aggie and Dixie, were the most affected. Dixie is quiet and timid and really didn't like being poked by a puppy. All she wants really is to be left alone with a pillow and blanket. She was mortified when she corrected the puppy. For all her senior pep at times, she really is a reserved and gentile lady.

Poor Aggie was bereft. She has some neurological issues to go along with her deafness, and she simply couldn't resolve the active puppy with her routine. She sat in the hall with her back to the bedroom and pouted. She just couldn't accept this.

Buddy wasn't really impacted by Ariel's stay except he couldn't move freely through the house, and by Friday night he'd had it. When we got ready for bed, he curled up and faced the trash can near his pallet. Usually when I get on the floor for a goodnight cuddle, he eats it up. Friday night he wouldn't make eye contact with me, and he actually growled at Randall when he was prompted to go outside for one last potty break. Randall said he thought for a minute he might bite. HIGHLY unusual for a very even tempered older gent.

So this little experiment in short term fostering was a mixed blessing. The foster parent reports Ariel is eating and having a blast with her other blind dogs. For us, well, I don't think we'll be willing to bring in another puppy unless it's urgent. Our guys just can't face the sort of behavior and energy the young kids present.

Young dog...old dogs

There is a rule to live by: Old dogs do not care for young dogs.

Truly, I speak from experience. Current experience. Ongoing experience.

Randall and I are puppy sitting a 9 month old double dapple puppy until she can be picked up and transported to her foster home in San Antonio. Little puppy Ariel is very cute and very friendly and VERY energetic.

And the old dogs think that just really sucks.

She's also blind which means many bumps into old dogs. Coupled with much wagging and wiggling and kissing.

The collective group of seniors at the Hurst-Stukey Retirement Home are bent well out of shape.

Currently, Ariel is camping out with Randall in the den and so are Penny and Dixie. I figure it's better for the toothless dogs to be in that room. Penny is alpha and she's had a few things to say to Ariel, but with no teeth there's not much more that she can do. She's pretty incensed about the arrangement since she's usually in here with me (alpha dog goes with the pack leader who is me..so she's not a fan).

Dixie just thinks she's being horribly abused and she's had to chastise Ariel a few times. That worries her, so she is rather quiet and intimidated right now. Dixie is a meek and quiet soul, so to tell this puppy, "NO." isn't something she's too comfortable with.

All the dogs with teeth, Buddy, Skeeter and Aggie are sequestered with me in the bedroom and hall.

Skeeter is particularly not a fan of this arrangement since he belongs to Randall. It doesn't help matters that Ariel climbs in his basket. Skeeter is going to be pissed for a week.

Poor Aggie is all confused and insecure. She doesn't handle this sort of thing well, and she really doesn't understand a puppy that keeps running into her. Aggie sat in a corner of the den, facing the wall and pouting until we made this separation.

Buddy is OK with the arrangement because he's where he always is...on a pallet next to my desk. But he's not a fan of 9 month old bundles of energy, either. He's gotten all manly and authoritative and stomped around the den stiff legged...and considering he's rather stiff legged to begin with is saying something. He sort of looks like a Buddy body on stilts.

Fortunately, Ariel's stay here should be short. She was owner surrendered to Fuzzy Friends Rescue here in Waco and is now in the ATDR program. Not sure what her availability will be, but she is happy, friendly and not particularly handicapped from having no eyes. She should do just fine in a home not filled with geriatrics.

Ariel's Intake Photo at FFR

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've not written much about the senior foster failure, Penny.

Penny was a foster failure within the first 10 seconds I laid eyes on her. My words to my husband when she came around a corner at the vet clinic in the arms of a tech was, "Oh. She's a foster failure." "You don't know that.", said my husband. "Yes. I do." said I.

And I was right. :)

Penny is a gorgeous mahogany miniature longhair dachshund who is just this side of what I would look for in a show quality mini-long (OK. I would expect one to have teeth, but that's not Penny's fault.) and she makes my eyes very, very happy. She also has one of the happiest and most engaging personalities of any dachshund I've ever been around. She loves the world. She loves everything in it. And, of course, she expects that love to be returned. She waltzes through life with a wagging tale and doggy smile on her face.

So last Thursday, we took her, Skeeter and the deaf Deagle, Aggie to a low cost spay/neuter clinic to update rabies shots (McLennan County is in something of a mini-epidemic where rabies is concerned).

I won't bore you with the long, tedious details of the back breaking wait, but 40 minutes before we were seen for the shots, I had Randall bring Penny into the clinic so she would be first in the shuttle from the van to the examination room.

Now, I'm sure you've sat with a dog in your lap at a vet clinic. And your previously happy, well adjusted dog turned into a quivering mass of "TAKEMEHOMERIGHTNOWIHATETHISPLACE!!!!" We've all been there, and despite the fact the folks working in the clinic have seen it before in almost every animal that walks in the door, you still feel embarrassed and you say things like, "I have no idea what's gotten into her. She's such a good dog and loves everyone."

Meanwhile your pride and joy is cowering behind your legs looking for all the world like it's about to be beaten half to death and then thrown into a pot of boiling water.

So that's what I expected. I knew Penny would come in and immediately turn into some unrecognizable creature. Like pretty much every other dog I've taken into a clinic does.

No. Not in the least.

For 40 minutes, I set with a wiggly, squiggly mini-long dachshund who whined and tried to jump off the bench and wagged her tail and wormed and squirmed. Everyone. And I mean EVERYONE from the badly behaved husky puppy to the terrified Am Staff to the patently unhappy cat to the woman with the walker to the kid with the cell phone to the woman behind the counter were there to see HER!!!!!!!!!!!!

And she talked about it the entire time. And anyone who made their way over to see her (and there were quite a few) got greeted like they were the most wonderful person in the entire world and it was even better because they were coming to see her.

I've never seen such a case of MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME!!!  You're here to see MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME! And yes. She was thrilled to see the techs in the exam room.

I just hope that everyone who had to be at the ABC Clinic Thursday morning felt the love. Because little Miss Penny did everything in her power to let them know how much she loved them. :)

Saying it with pictures...Buddy style

I wonder when it will be time  **sigh**

Soon????  **sigh**

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Ahhhhh...Time for my afternoon nap

Buddy told me to tell the nice person who donated the two cases of Grammy's Pot Pie that he REALLY appreciates it and he's putting it to very good use.

Nail Clipping.....

.....You know how you see dogs with long toenails and you cringe? Yeah. I do, too.

Except there are dogs whose nails ended up growing to awful lengths here at the Hurst-Stukey Rest Home because sometimes, it's just not worth the problems that crop up when you try to get nice short nails.

Buddy is a good case in point. His nails had gotten kind of embarrassing, so I decided that while we had the nail clippers out for the Demon Chi (that would be what my husband's Chihuahua, Skeeter, morphs into when he sees the clippers come), we'd go whacking on everyone's nails...well, except for the deaf Deagle, Aggie. That takes much mental preparation in advance.

Everyone was kept out of the bedroom during Skeeter's toe amputation, but the screams and screeches alerted everyone to the dire happenings taken place on the other side of the door. Obviously, the humans were UP TO NO GOOD!!

Buddy was first in line. And guess what? He was really, really good. His eyes got real big and you could tell this ranked right up there with cherry flavored cough syrup, but he didn't move. No struggling. No whining. Stock still.

Until we put him down.

Then the coughing started. And it was never going to stop without chemical intervention, so I went straight to the Torbutrol. Within about 20 minutes, the drug had kicked in, the coughing was over and Buddy was stretched out in a state of utter bliss.

The problem isn't stress, which is sort of surprising. The problem was that Randall had to hold him for me and the way he has to be held is with his front end higher than his rear end. And there's an arm wrapping his rib cage. That body angle has cause problems for him in the past.

So Buddy's personal grooming routine will include toenail clipping months apart. If the nails get so long they give him trouble, I'll clip them. Otherwise, I'm not going to worry about it. I'll keep an eye out for the rear nails since he's got some rear assembly problems at times, but that's the only thing that will trigger more frequent trimmings.  It's just not worth it.

Buddy must have heard me...

yesterday when I said I needed new photos.

These weren't exactly what I had in mind, but when Randall saw him this afternoon, he grabbed the camera.

In the two months he's been here, he's never once offered to get on that pillow. He's not real steady on his pins, so it's easier for him to get on his pallet, but apparently the pillow beckoned him this afternoon and he just couldn't resist.

We'd laid down for a nap, and Randall said he didn't know where Buddy was because he wasn't on his pallet...little stinker apparently climbed on to the pillow and got comfy. LOL

Buddy Update 3/23/13

Just one of those updates you like to read because things are going well.

Buddy is doing very, very well.

The only problem I'm having is it's oak mold season and he's reacting the way my last CHF dog, Elvis, acted with some wheezing and coughing. Right now I've started him on 1/4 of a 5 mg dose of Prednisone at night before bed. This gives him enough Pred that he's sleeping most of the night and coughing hardly at all. Just as importantly, I don't hear the clicks, clacks and wheezy/labored breathing. It gives him enough help during the day, too, that there's no resumption of those problems.

We live in a live oak grove, so to speak, and all the trees are 50+ years old. That means LOTS of leaves and lots of "green hairies" that show up after the old leaves fall. Generally, we're in the throws of this from late February until May. Once the trees are done with their spring thing, I'll back him off the Pred. I tried an every other day dosage, but that didn't work well or consistently even with 1/2 a Benadryl, so it's every day for now. You have to weigh the possibility of internal organ issues with Pred, but with a 15 1/2 year old dog with CHF and a grade 5/6 heart murmur, I absolutely have to look at quality of life. An extra six months is pretty meaningless if every breath is a struggle. The Pred means he doesn't struggle to breathe, and that's what's important.

So for now that's where we are, and the only negative side effect I can see is this boy is HUNGRY. lol

We're getting him settled on his feeding routine. His weight has settled between 11.5 and 12 pounds. It's a good weight for him, and we keep a close eye out because weight gain in a CHF dog can be fluid and that is  NOT what you want. He gets breakfast at 8:30 (meds are at 8:15), lunch around 1 pm (which is significantly less than his breakfast), dinner at 5:30 (about as much as as breakfast). His chicken liver is his snack after our dinner (about 7:15 or so). Evening meds at 9:15 and a bit of kibble to snack on at 10 pm before we head to bed.

Randall has had to give him some kibble in the middle of the night when Buddy wakes up to go out and potty. The Lasix (and Pred) has him drinking quite a bit of water and, well, what goes in must come out. (I have no salivary glands courtesy of 30 radiation treatments for oral cancer several years ago, and I drink a lot of water all day to compensate, so I can sympathize.)  Once he comes off the Pred later, the snacking will be cut back until it has stopped. For now, though, he won't settle if he's hungry, so we give him a bit to tide him over.

All the mechanics aside, Buddy is as sweet a boy as you'd ever want to meet. He divides his time between the kitchen when I'm in there fiddling around or here next to the PC on his pallet. He doesn't like to be separated from me, though he's not obsessive about it so it's not a problem on the rare occasions when I have to leave the house, and he is unhappy if either Randall or I are behind a door so he can't get to us. Mind you, he doesn't HAVE to be next to us...he just wants that option in case he wants it. :)

He's also a dog that thrives on routine. Upset the routine and he gets unsettled. It may not amount to more than some walking around pouting, but you can tell he wants things the same. The most endearing example is at night, when I shut the PC down and get ready to head across the room to get ready for bed, I absolutely HAVE to kneel down and cuddle him and fuss over him. Five minutes or so and he's set...his eyes get all squinty and his body relaxes and his ears flop. He's a happy and contented boy.

The nights I forget to do that are the nights he doesn't want to settle on his pallet and then Randall has a hard time getting him settled back down once he comes in from his 2 am potty break. So this is something I am going to HAVE to remember to do...for all our sakes!

I'm hoping to get some updated photos this next week or maybe a short video if Buddy will cooperate. Whatever it is, I hope it will be something other than him napping on his pallet. After all, how many photos of a sleeping Buddy do we all need to see?

So we're just really thrilled to have this sweet boy here and doing so well. It does the heart good to know you're made a big difference in the life of a special needs senior.

Buddy Boy. Buddy Boy. Buddy Boy....Should Read "Foodie Boy..."

The Buddy Boy is learning. He's broadening his horizons and becoming a gourmand right before my eyes.

When first we met Buddy in the kitchen, he just wasn't too sure of people food. Yeah. Sure. It SMELLED good, but once the plate got down on the floor it was "WTF IS THIS?????" accompanied by a hurt look, a cold shoulder and retreating butt.

Fast forward a few weeks, and Buddy is positively relishing new food experiences. He's learned white corn tortillas are really yummy. Many varieties of home made soups are made for drooling over and scarfing down as fast as possible. Home made treats smelling of peanut butter, vanilla and banana are to be consumed quickly before an intruder makes off with it. And well, then there are the Cracker Jacks...there is absolutely nothing better for dessert.

But...really...seriously the BEST stuff is bowtie pasta with some pumpkin sauce and Parmesan Reggiano cheese grated on top.

That said, this boy simply will not touch the peas in his Grammy's Pot Pie and the evening ritual of everyone snacking on  piece of banana just leaves him positively cold. Somehow I doubt his horizons are ever going to be broad enough for that. :)

(And for those of you wondering how his medical issues are going, he has good days and good nights/bad nights. He's got some allergy issues that kick off his coughing, but overall, this dog is doing just beautifully. We know that can change at any time, but for the time we have him he'll be loved and pampered and Randall and I both consider ourselves fortunate that Buddy has let us be part of his life...for however long we're all together.)

Gigi is moving on....

Bittersweet news.

Gigi will be leaving us Sunday afternoon and heading to Houston for her date with the oral surgeons and Linne. Once she's done there, she'll move on to her new foster home while she waits for her forever family.

This is what was always planned for her, so we're both happy that she's beginning the next chapter of her life, and sad that she's leaving this chapter of her life with us behind.

Unfortunately, her dental was completely cancelled this week. The oral nasal fistula was just gapingly huge and there is a second one coming up on the other side of her mouth. I wasn't at the clinic at the time, but did talk with Dr. Walthall and she was not happy with the way she looked. Her feeling was she needed to go under once and only once to have the cleaning/extractions/repairs done, and the repairs needed to be done in Houston.

Also, she went ahead and pulled blood and the anemia was showing as roaring back. As in the number showed her as having lost 2/3 of what she was in February. That right there would have slammed the brakes on, but couple it with the fact this dog does NOT look or act anemic, and it's led us to think there is something else going on.

Regardless, this is something best addressed in Houston where she can get the kind of care she can't really get here if it's related to her mouth.

So Sunday afternoon we'll hug and kiss little Gigi goodbye. We'll miss her, but we're also hopeful this is the second step in her journey to a permanent home.

Postponement..

We've got a brief postponement in the Gigi dental department. They weren't sure whether or not we knew they weren't doing the fistula repair (we did), so they delayed starting the dental until later this afternoon. Randall can't get back over there this afternoon, so I'll call them in the morning and schedule a pickup time. :)

Gigi and her mouth...

Well, today is Monday, March 4, and tomorrow, Tuesday, March 5, sweet little Gigi is heading in to my vet clinic for a good, and WAY overdue dental (I also would like them to clip her nails way back while she's under).

She was in a couple of weeks ago, and her anemia is to where my vet feels comfortable doing her mouth work. We've had her on an increased dose of Clindamycin for two weeks, so her infection should be lessening. And all in all, I'm really looking forward to getting this done.

Gigi needs to move on to Houston for her oral nasal fistula repair and then to her new foster home while she awaits adoption. She's a sweet and happy little girl, but we currently have one dog more in residence than my husband feels comfortable handling. Plus, Gigi isn't going to be healthy until those teeth are taken care of.

So tomorrow is the big day for this little girl. I will try to blog a quick update tomorrow afternoon after she comes home, but it may have to wait until Wednesday.

Short Buddy Update

(Yes, I know. I've been bad. No updates to speak of.)

Fast one for Buddy. He's settled into his routine, we've got his meds down to where they need to be. His feeding where it needs to be (Buddy will dispute that and tell you it should be a lot more than it is). His weight is good and his attitude is good.

The boy feels quite well.

So well, in fact, we had a loping-through-the-house Buddy this morning in the hopes of speeding up my process to the kitchen and his breakfast.

He's doing good. Responding very well to the meds. It's amazing, really, when a heart dog responds well to drugs. It's a night and day difference. And right now, Buddy is sitting in the sunlight of response. :)  I couldn't hope for anything better for this boy.

The New and Improved Dixie Chick

Really hard to improve on this dog, but...............................................

Dixie has lost her rather Rubenesque figure and is now sporting a more slim and trim silhouette.

Back in December around Christmas, before she came to us, the vet clinic in Tyler had her weight at 15.8 pounds.

Our scales had busted, and it was a bit before we could get new ones in, but we got them in in early January, and her first weighing was 13.8 pounds, so she had already slimmed down some. But she needed more off. She still had no waist line, and Dixie is one of those dachshunds whose extra weight goes right to her neck and shoulders, so she was definitely overloaded in front.

I'm pleased to announce that just under two months here in Waco, her weight is now right. 12.2 pounds...give or take an ounce.

Sadly for Dixie this doesn't mean the end of her diet...she just moves into maintenance mode which means she may get a little less today and a little more tomorrow. It just all depends on what I see from day to day, and how she tips the scales on her weekly weigh in.

I'll try to get some new photos of her soon, but it all depends on the weather. In Dixie's mind, there is not such thing as "too warm", so the sun will have to be out and the mercury up before she'll spend any length of time out from under her blanket. :)

Buddy: Two steps forward...one step sideways

**sigh** Why can't things be simple?

Buddy has responded like a champ to his heart medications now that I've got them regulated and he's got a consistent schedule.

In the morning around 8:15, he gets 1 ml Robitussin DM syringed down. And a bit later, he gets a food ball with 1/2 Enalapril and 1/2 Lasix. The only drawbacks are he just absolutely hates the Robitussin (don't blame him...how many adults do you know who were traumatized as children by cherry-flavored cough syrup?), and the Lasix tablet does NOT halve...despite the little dividing line, what it does is crumble. So I split it on a small piece of wax paper and eyeball it.

Then at night about 9:15, he gets the same series of medicines.

And let me tell you, the difference in this boy today compared to how he was when he got here 11 days ago is like night and day. There is little to no coughing during the day. It's mainly when he drinks water, which is very normal for a dog with his condition. He feels like exploring the yard. He goes into the kitchen and monitors the cooking. He comes up for attention. He interacts with Randall and me and the other dogs. He is just generally feeling good. He does cough at night when he shifts position or gets up for water, and again, that's typical for a CHF dog.

I'm also pretty sure his collapsed trachea is in the early stages. I believe what the vet and Dawn were hearing was the CHF cough. I may get the deep, hacking cough once or twice a day at most and some days not at all. And when I press on his throat, there is no reaction whatsoever; his breathing is deep and rhythmic...not the labored or shallow breathing he had when he first came here. No panting and his gums are a good, healthy pink.

So with all this good news, you knew there had to be something negative going on.

Well, he's lost his appetite. The ACE inhibitors all have various side effects, and the one Enalapril has that seems to be raising its head is appetite suppression. As the medications have begun to work their magic, Buddy's appetite has gone south...each day he's been less and less interested in food.

Yesterday when he turned down chicken livers and Stumpy Snacks, I knew we'd reached the nadir (or at least I hope so because if there's worse to come, I don't know what I'll do. For awhile, I toyed with the idea of taking him off the Enalapril and just keeping him on the Lasix and cough medicine, but he has responded SO well to it, that I really wanted to try to work around it.

What has happened is that he does get hungry, but he doesn't have much appetite and, since he's not like any of my dachshunds who wouldn't stop eating until they popped, he walks away when he feels full. Yesterday he got MAYBE 1/4 can of Pro Plan down him. And that just isn't enough.

So this morning I tinkered with a menu, and so far, he's eaten most of each of the two small meals he's been given. I won't keep him strictly on canned food because I hate the stools dogs that are on straight canned food have. Clean up has got to be easy.

So what I've come up with for the daily meal is this:

1/3 can Pro Plan classic beef/rice
1/2 tsp canned pumpkin
1 Tbsp rice
1 oz Cooked chicken liver
2 Tbsp Purina BeYond Chicken and oat meal kibble

This gives me about 3/4 cup of food, and I'm splitting it into three meals a day. I'm hoping the rice, pumpkin and kibble will help firm up the stool. I'll know more tomorrow.

Anyway, other than the eating problem, this boy is just doing great. You couldn't ask for an easier going dog. Sweet. Loves attention. And now that he's not feeling crappy he's enjoying being a part of the family.

GiGi and her ears

For the last week, GiGi has been mysteriously yelping.

I say mysteriously because she'd do it for no apparently reason. Another dog walking by. Randall carrying her out to potty. Me washing off her mouth after yogurt. Nothing really made sense as the trigger or I thought it was caused by something else.

Until last night when I looked in her ears. Now why in the hell I've had that dog a month and never peered inside is beyond me. That's normally a part of the bath routine. But I hadn't, and there has been absolutely none of the usual signs of ears causing problems. No head shaking or rubbing. No pawing at the ears. Nothing.

OHMIGOD.

I have never, and I mean NEVER seen the sort of ears this girl has. There is thick, dark, smelly wax literally coating the inside of her ears. Nastiest stuff I've ever seen. And if there's not some sort of infection in there, I'd be hugely surprised, but since she's on Clindamycin for her mouth and Prednisone for her anemia, I suspect it's being suppressed just enough not to cause any of the usual signs.

Last night, I had Randall hold her while I shined a spotlight in each ear and started cleaning them out...which she hated, of course.  I can tell this goes way down into the ear canal, and I won't start digging in there. That's for the vet. Once I got as much out as I could in one go, I dribbled in a 3:1 peroxide/water solution. I'm hoping that with that the the head shaking she did, it will loosen up more of the wax.

Today I'll take another run at them and see if I can't get more out.

I've got to call the clinic tomorrow to set up the time for the blood test. I'll let them know her ears are going to need attention, too. I'll tackle the stuff on the outside that I can get to easily, but she's going to need a vet to work on the rest, and probably prescribe some drops when she's done.

Other than that, little GiGi is doing really well. I've got her back down to 9.5 pounds from the 10 pounds she was at last week, and she looks really good. Despite some of the medical issues she has/has had, she is a very happy little girl.

I would love to get a few photos of her outside, but like every black and tan mini-smooth I've ever had here, she hates being outside. Hopefully we'll keep having good weather and I can manage to get her out there for more than 5 minutes. :)

Dixie...The Whirling Dervish

This wasn't nearly as fast as she normally goes because she was distracted by the camera. She also has learned to keep an eye on her position relative to the cabinets...having nearly knocked herself out one morning on the way to her crate. :)

Buddy's improving situation

Buddy Boy has been here now for four whole days, and he's been on his current medication now since Saturday.

Currently, he's getting Lasix, Enalapril, Robitussin DM and 1/4-1/3 a baby aspirin (for inflammation of the trachea) twice a day.

And he is doing really, really well.

We still get the cough that comes from the collapsed trachea, but it's less frequent, and I'm hearing a WHOLE lot less of the cough that was coming from the heart condition. Let's say on a scale of 1-100, his cough is at about 35. And that's really significant. Before the medication kicked in, I'd have put him at 85.

What I get now is the cough after drinking water, but not eating. Stress isn't nearly the factor it was originally. He's calmed way down. He's also not coughing every time he moves around. I hear it occasionally, and he still does it during the night, but it's a whole lot less often and the intensity and duration of it is much less.

Night time is still the roughest on him. He now settles right down on his pallet with nary a cough. If he moves some during the night, he'll cough, but it's light and lasts less than a minute. But once a night, generally between 2:00 and 3:00, he gets up for water an that's the bout that lasts the longest - a couple of minutes.

He also got through a bath this morning with no coughing. Very unhappy that The Foodlady would stoop to such mistreatment of him, but he got through it. Of course, being given a Stumpy Snack after the fact made the whole ordeal almost worthwhile.

You also can see shades of a younger Buddy when he's hungry or motivated. He really wants to jump up on his hind legs for attention and treats and because of what looks to be an old injury, I really have to watch how much he does that. He gets very, very attentive during snack time and the years just melt away. It can be hard to believe he's 15 1/2.

I've got a weight on him now. He's 11 pounds. I think Dawn said he was 10 pounds at the clinic, so if that's right (there's no weight listed), he's put on a pound. This is good because he's really too thin...even taking into consideration he needs to be on the thin side. Main thing is I now have a baseline to use to keep an eye out for water weight gain.

Temperament-wise you just couldn't ask for a sweeter boy. Very easy going. Loves attention. Enjoys being groomed (haven't cut his toenails yet, but the brushing is just ducky with him).  Really enjoys being outside just poking around or laying in the sun. Scratch him and he'll just close his eyes and sort of lean into it. Very good manners.

I've got to head down to Petsmart tomorrow to pick up some canned food. He's protesting the kibble if it doesn't have something added to it. I keep cans of Pedigree on hand to make the Stumpy Snacks out of, and I put a couple of tablespoons in last night's dinner and this morning's offering to see if that helped. Much improved vittles according to Buddy. So we'll get some canned food in here that's good quality and add that to his dinner. I'm also going to just let him have a couple of tablespoons in the morning since he really isn't all that hungry then. And unlike my dachshunds, when he's not hungry he doesn't eat.

I'll leave you with some photos from this afternoon.

A definite sense of entitlement...

...either that or just a picky eater. :)

Mr. Buddy isn't a big fan of most of the handouts the rest of the household gets. As a matter of fact, today he turned down a boiled egg, something I don't think I've ever had a dog do. However, he is a REAL BIG FAN of boiled/baked chicken livers.

I was trying to mix up the diet today. Dog food by itself, which had previously had a chicken liver in it. So he got the liver and egg as a snack around 1pm. Totally rejected the egg. Scarfed down the liver like normal.

Then at dinner tonight, he turned up his nose at his kibble until I gave in and added a liver.

Honestly. This boy.

I've also taken to giving him his Robitussin by mouth rather than mixed with food. And he hates it and I don't blame him. Why or why can't they make this stuff in a flavor other than cherry? As much as he hates it, though, at least I know how much of it he's getting.

Seeing less coughing now that he's getting the Lasix, Enalapril and Robitussin on a regular basis. It's still worse at night (and after drinking water), but last night was better than the night before, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed on this. As long as he can be kept comfortable, we're doing good.

This is where you can find Buddy most of the time...he's got a nice cushy blanket/towel combo down next to my desk. It's his spot during the day unless he's in the kitchen with me and it's his spot at night (we gave up on the crate...too much stress).

Buddy's Story

First some back story.

Randall and I originally began fostering in July 2009 when we took in Elvis, the puppy mill refugee from Waco, who was a permanent medical foster. Elvis was basically sent home with us to die, and no one expected him to live more than a few weeks...certainly not two years. And when we lost Elvis in Summer 2012, we kept on fostering with our focus being on dachshunds (my breed) and seniors.

Fast forward to December 2012. We lost Haley, my 17 year old standard smooth dachshund who was the last of my breeding from the days when I showed dachshunds. Randall and I had talked about fostering another special needs senior, but we knew our time with Haley was limited and we needed to focus on her. Also, five dogs is really the limit for Randall since he has ADD, and more than five really stretches his ability to keep track of them.

We had dog sat for Dawn Enriquez last summer, and we had talked about fostering through her group since Bark N Rest pulls the most senior and special needs of small breeds. She's in Azle, so we knew that it would take some coordination to make happen, but things looked to be working out, and we expected to have a foster dog from her probably in early February.

OK. So we're just a bit early, but whose counting? :)


Dawn contacted me a couple of weeks ago to see if we were ready to foster. There was a candidate at the Irving shelter that she had her eye on. His stray hold wasn't up for quite some time, but if Randall and I were ready to take on a new foster, she would tag this boy. At the time, she was told by the shelter that he was 15+, but relatively healthy (as you'll see in a bit, that's patently untrue). So tagged he was with his stray hold up on 1/17.



 Buddy enters stage left.

At the shelter in Irving

At the shelter in Irving

 And a very unhealthy little senior he is, too. This is the type of dog Dawn pulls, but still it bothers me that the Irving shelter was so far off the mark with him (Caveat: I have a personal history with Irving. I did their adoption portal work from August 2011 until May 2012 when the volunteer situation blew up and many of us left. So I have a history and it's pretty bitter.)

Sweet Buddy's medical situation isn't good. It's remarkably similar to Elvis's medical problems, though, which was one reason Dawn wanted to get him here as soon as possible.

Start with the good news...he's neutered and heartworm negative.

Then the bad news. He is late stage heart murmur (grade 5-6/6) moving into congestive heart failure. He is also late stage collapsed trachea.

So Buddy wheezes like a bellows, and he's got the rasping cough that goes with his condition. But he's here and he's got a host of medicines we're working with. Currently, he has Lasix, Enalapril, Robitussin DM and Vetmedin. When we picked him up from Dawn yesterday, she'd stopped all his medicines because he wasn't reacting well to them. She wasn't sure what was causing the problem, and he'd only been on them a day, so she decided to skip his morning medicine.

Having watched Elvis react badly to Vetmedin and hearing some of what Buddy was doing, I decided we'd start with Lasix and Robitussin we got him home and then get him on Enalapril today. So that's where we are. The Lasix is in tablet form, so I don't have the luxury of giving him a bit more if he needs it, but Dawn is going to send me some Guafenasin  and Torbutrol to help with his cough if it gets out of control at night. Some of that is related to the trachea collapse, but some is also his heart.

His rear assembly has some problems and you can see it in the stiff legged gait. It looks as if an old injury didn't heal right, but it doesn't really seem to bother him. We'll just be sure he doesn't over do it...now that we know he doesn't always limit his activities (see photo below).

Buddy showing us he still has some moves

He's also quite thin, and we're going to work on that too. He's got a good appetite and he picked up on the fact I'm The Foodlady just about immediately. So while he does like Randall a great deal, my stock rises astronomically when I head into the kitchen.

Personality wise, you just couldn't ask for a sweeter boy. He came in and everyone took to him immediately. Even Skeeter, the resident Chihuahua, hasn't had too much trouble adjusting to him. He's fine with the cats....he's eyed Howdy with some interest and I told him that was a really bad cat to test the waters with. So he's left both Howdy and Ollie alone.

He won't really tolerate a crate. So, like Padre before him, he eats in one, but that's it. He likes the dog pillow here in our room, so since that's where he's comfortable, this is where he can sleep. When he gets agitated or stressed, the wheezing and coughing kick in, and I really see no reason to put him through that. He's more or less house broken....I waffle on that because the boy IS on Lasix, and since that's a diuretic, he's going to need to pee a lot. We have hard surface floors throughout the house, so it's no big deal if he can't make it outside all the time.

Watch the birdie...errrr....treat

So here we are with Buddy, a needy senior who will live out his days here for however long he chooses. When it's time, he'll let us know and we'll let him go, reluctantly, I'm sure, but he'll leave us knowing he's been loved and cared for. And we'll let him go knowing we've been blessed with the love and joy that we can only get from loving an old dog.

What's this...

you ask? Someone new? Who is it? Where'd he come from? What's his story?

Stay tuned for more details....

GiGi Update

(I swore up and down this blog would be for more than just health updates, but that seems to be what's happening right now!)

Gigi has pretty well kicked her infection. She's been on the Clindamycin now for around 10 days, and the drooling has virtually stopped. Her breath is much better (sort of a relative description) and her energy level is quite good.

She also has reached the benchmark weight of 10 lbs, and I think it's safe to say that her weight should range between 9 1/2 pounds and 10 or so. She's fleshed out, though I suspect she will continue to add weight in places as things continue to shift around.

One thing I'm not seeing is a filling in of the hollows on her skull right above the outside of her eyes. As far as I can tell, that's remained the same. I'm unsure if it will always be there or if it's just the last place to fill in. Poor GiGi is the obvious product of bad breeding, and this may simply be a structural issue of her conformation. Regardless, she's a sweet little girl, so if you like her personality, that's not going to make a bit of difference.

Her diet is still being supplemented. She's getting 1/3 cup of food twice daily. In the morning, she gets fish oil and half a boiled egg. In the evening, she gets 1/3 cup of food with 1 oz of chicken liver added. She gets yogurt with her antibiotic, and she's a big fan of low fat vanilla yogurt. :)

(In my experience, dogs with bad teeth or no teeth seem to gravitate to sweets. LOL)

I also think she's about ready to have a blood test done to check the status of the anemia she was suffering from. If she's got good numbers, she'll be ready to go down to Houston to Linne so she can get her dental and go into another foster home.

Personally, I think she's adoptable. She's got a fine temperament, and is very friendly once she has a chance to size you up. She likes laps, blankets, cuddling and affection. Not much wrong there.She will make a nice pet for anyone looking for an older girl.

She is, however, NOT a fan of cold weather, as you can see from these photos. :)

Dixie Doll

I honestly can't remember having a foster dog that was this easy.

The only place I really fault Dixie is she's a bit pushy. I get the feeling she was an only dog, even though she has slid right into the pack hierarchy, she tends to not be really aware of boundaries. With Penny, it's OK. She really doesn't care. With Skeeter, the Chihuahua, he's a bit less tolerant. And Gigi. Well, Gigi I think has also been an only dog and her acceptance of another dog pushing her boundaries is a bit more expressive. Nothing major between the two girls, but Dixie isn't as close to her as she is to Penny and Skeeter.

She is just fine with both the cats here, too, and I wouldn't have any qualms putting her in a house with dog friendly cats.

I think, too, she prefers men. She's just fine with me, but she really gravitates to Randall. Of course, that could be because the den where he is, is warmer than the bedroom where my computer is, and there's a basket in there she can sometimes co-opt from Skeeter if she's fast enough. It would be no problem for her to go into a home with just a woman, but I think Dixie's dream home would also include a man to go with a comfy basket and lots of blankets.

Being on a diet is paying off. I've seen a gradual weight loss. She's down to a bit over 13 pounds. I still can't feel her ribs, and I'd like to see another 1/2 pound off her, but she's headed in the right direction and is looking good.

February is Senior Month at ATDR, and I'm going to try this week to get some good photos of her. As much as I would hate for her to leave, this girl is absolutely adoptable. Being crate trained and house broken helps widen her appeal, so if anyone is looking for a super senior, take a look at Dixie.

Updating Little GiGi

Wow. What a difference a week makes. From a very sick little girl last Saturday who barely had the energy to crawl out from under a blanket, to a little spitfire who has a ton of energy and really seems to be enjoying life.

She's had 7 days of Doxycycline and Prednisone. She's eating a bit less than she was when she got here (she was up to 1 one cup a day - a HUGE amount for a little girl), but she's also getting the Miracle Food combo of boiled eggs and chicken livers. Some yogurt to help her digestion along in the presence of antibiotics and this girl has gone from lethargic and just the other side of skin and bones, to happy, energetic and 9.4 pounds.

I really would like to see her at 10 lbs before I decide how much more weight she needs. She's one of these dogs who actually looks like she weighs less than she does. She has sunken in spots on either side of her skull right above the eye sockets, and I'd like to see those filling in.

Her breath is still bad, but not anything like it was, and the drooling is less, too. I'm hoping another week to 10 days of antibiotics will kick the majority of the infection and those two side effects will improve too.

Not sure when she'll go in for bloodwork. I'd like to aim for somewhere around the 28th of this month. That will give her a full month on antibiotics, Pred and the Miracle Food. See where we are with the anemia. Nothing much can be done until that is under control.

Once it is, then this little girl will wave adios to Waco and head down to Houston. We're in no hurry to get rid of her, though. She's a sweetie and her personality is really beginning to shine.

Updating Miss Dixie...

I continue to be impressed with just how sweet this dog is. And easy going. And accepting of change. She really is a trooper. She hadn't been here all that long herself before a new and needy foster came in. She handled that transition pretty well. There was a little insecurity as everyone tried to figure out the daytime sleeping arrangements and who was going to be in which room, but now that we've got multiple pillows and blankets, she's a happy camper.

Dixie pretty well goes on the the motto of  "Home is where the comfort (food) is." Give her a pillow and a blanket, and she's good to go. Her only real obsession is food. Some of that may be because she's dieting or it may simply be she's a typical dachshund who can pack away any amount of food/treats you care to hand out.

When she came to us a few weeks ago, the clinic had weighed her the day she left and she was 15.8 pounds. Our new bathroom scales came today, and she's 13.8. That's a pretty significant loss since she got here on December 17. Basically 2 pounds in 20 days. I would like to get her to 13 pounds and see what her body looks like. Right now, she's got a waistline, but there's still some extra padding on her ribs. Once that's gone, I think she's going to be close to where she needs to be. I originally thought she'd need to weigh a lot less, but as what she has moves around, I'm reevaluating that.

So, the good news is she's looking good, the bad news - for Dixie - is the diet isn't done. :)

Meanwhile, crate trained, house broken, easy going, likes other dogs, ignores cats, leash trained, spayed and heartworm negative. What else could you ask for? So if anyone is looking for a perfect senior girl, you really need to meet Dixie. Even the lack of teeth isn't an issue for her for the most part.

New Kid On The Block....

I really hadn't planned on bringing in another ATDR foster dog quite so fast, but Dixie is without question the most easily assimilated dog I've ever brought in here. She slid into the pack hierarchy and people routine without even blinking. Seriously a good little girl.

So.....................when Denise Wilson, who connected Dixie with me, told me there was a sickly mini smooth who absolutely had to get into a rescue group ASAP, I told her to talk to Linne (ATDR's president) and let her know we could take the girl as a temp foster while she was getting over what ails her.

Things meshed again, and we picked up GiGi from the woman who had taken her off the streets and rushed her to the Tyler clinic where Denise works.

And what ails this girl is a whole lot. She's a big old mess. She was first treated in mid-October, and was in such bad shape the clinic gave the option of putting her down then and there. Melissa, the woman who had her,  wanted to attempt to save her, so work got started. The first step was bloodwork that showed she was horribly anemic...so much so she received a blood transfusion then and there.

GiGi is a little bitty girl. The clinic has her weight at 8.7 pounds, and maybe she is, right after eating, but when I look at this girl I see smaller than that. That aside, though, and in addition to the anemia, she tested high heartworm positive and with a raging mouth infection.

She was given the transfusion, started on Prednisone (to suppress her immune system while working on the anemia situation) and antibiotics for the mouth infection.

Unfortunately, a month and a half into treatment Melissa's senior senior dachshund was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and her attention was shifted from GiGi to him.

So when we picked her up from Melissa on Saturday, we took possession of a very sick little girl. Without running a CBC, I was just going on the assumption she was pretty much back to where she started (albeit probably not as anemic).

Denise was mailing some Pred and Doxycycline to me as part of the agreement with ATDR to bring her into the program (as I write this it's not here yet because of the holiday), but I have Pred here on hand, and some Doxy that is a bit old, but I figured would at least get her started until the good stuff gets here. I've also emailed Linne an update on her and requested she send 28 days worth of Clindamycin and more Doxy so I'll have it on hand once the stuff Denise sent is used up. Clindy should kick the mouth infection which is causing some seriously foul breath. She has very bad teeth (what are left) and a huge oral nasal fistula that needs to be closed....all of that will need to wait until she's well and can head to Houston.

So now I'm waiting for meds.

Meanwhile, GiGi is getting her dog food that I've split into two meals a day. With that, she's getting a little over 1 oz of baked chicken liver and half a boiled egg (aka Magic Food Stuff) with each meal. With the anemia present, the liver and egg should giver her a much better chance of kicking it quicker. And, well, GiGi is in LOVE with the additions. I've told her the high quality protein will help what ails her, but she doesn't seem to care much as long as she gets it. LOL

And after just 2 days of antibiotics you can tell she is feeling better. Even though she has staked out the big pillow in the den as her spot, she runs into the kitchen if I go in there for any length of time. She also comes in here into the bedroom where I have my computer to see me. She likes Randall, but you can tell she's really a woman's dog (being The Foodlady doesn't hurt my standing either) and she perks right up when she hears my voice.

So, what I'm hoping and planning is we can get a good 3-4 weeks of antibiotics and Magic Food Stuff down her to help her beat the anemia. She'll have a CBC done after that to see where she is. If she's improved enough, she'll head down to Houston where Linne will get her teeth and oral nasal fistula seen to and then she'll go into a new foster home until she finds a forever home.

Here are a couple of photos of this little girl and one of her and Dixie together. There will be a link in the Places To Go list before long, too.