Friday, May 24, 2013

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

Saturday, May 18, 2013

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. :)

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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. ;)