Final Post

I know it's been a long time since I posted. I wanted to make this the final one.

On Thursday, July 21st, I had to let my boy Lucas go. The couple weeks prior he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and had fluid in his lungs. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. After just over 2 weeks we finally got him stabilized. Five days later he didn't want to get up to walk. He's always had issues with his rear, with arthritis and whatever neurological issues he had with his right side. X-rays showed severe arthritis in his left hip and two fused discs in his lower back. He was a strong boy. Never showed no pain, but his body showed it to me. I couldn't let him suffer so I lost my heart that day. We adopted him November 6, 2004 from rescue.  I will be lost without him for awhile. My life revolved around him for almost 10 years. May he rest in peace and I pray I will see him again.

Hearts and Hips

Lucas has been struggling with his arthritis, and his back end in general. I decided to talk to my vet about Adequan injections since I have a few friends who have used it on their pups and have good results. He had his third injection today. I think I might have noticed improvement this morning as he was doing things he hasn't done in awhile. I've read that it could take up to the first months treatment to really see improvement. He gets 2 shots a week for 4 weeks, then once a month. Hoping for good results for my boy.

He also had his six month cardio workup done about 10 days ago. He shows stable which is great.

Last year both my dogs were in a DCM study at the University of Florida. About 7 months ago Holly had a gene test done which at that point, they didn't do further tests. This past week I received an email from the UF stating that they sent a holter monitor to my vet for Holly. We had it put on her yesterday, and boy was she relieved to get it off today. She was stressed yesterday it zonked her out for the night. Hopefully we will received good news after they review it. Here's Holly sportin' her UF colors with the vest they sent to cover the holter.

Here's my two little piggies, Pugsley and Gomez (he has his head way down deep in the bowl). I've cut their food down as Pugsley has just blown up since I have them on this prescription diet. Don't know where else to look for the right food. They're on Royal Canin SO Oldfactory. It's for cats that are prone to crystals and it has no chicken or chicken meal in it (Pugsley gets the runs from chicken). I tried before to switch them back to their previous food but crystals came back in the urine. So of course now I'll need to keep them on special food.

Here's little Miss Wednesday looking all cute. She has many names in this house. The most current one is fleabag. Going on 3 weeks now and we still find a couple on her just about every day. They all get their flea meds next week again, and we'll set off a bomb again. I've been using Borax on my carpet (which is only in the bedroom). The rest of the house is tile. I've let her out into the population (as my husband puts it) only a few times. I just don't want them to spread any more then they already have. In 24 years we've never had to deal with fleas like this. Little bastards.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Can't believe it's already February next week!

Happy New Year - Welcome 2016

The holiday have come and gone and I hope everyone had a beautiful, safe one!

Lucas and Holly in some costumes that the rescue bought them. The elf one was so funny.

Our new addition, Wednesday. She is about 9 weeks old now. Just a little thing full of so much energy. Bouncing, running, biting...repeat a hundred times. I didn't want a kitten, but long story short, she's here forever. She hasn't met the boys (Pugsley and Gomez) yet. Need to get her tested for disease in about 2 weeks. She has no problems with the dogs. Holly just loves her and wants to play with her. Unfortunately for Holly, one swat of her paw might break or kill the little one, so I have to watch her. She's only 2 1/2 pounds. Lucas isn't too fond of her as she has a tendency to go near his face, which is a big no-no with him. He's snapped at her several times but never got her. The other night she was bouncing around the bedroom and she was getting too close to Lucas so I put my hand down to block and push her away. Well she did jump towards his face and he went to snap and bit my hand good. I've never felt that pain before. I'm finally able to close my fingers. I've never left them unsupervised, and I never will. Accidents happen and she is like lightning. She loves playing with toys. Especially a purple mouse that was given to Pugsley and Gomez by The Quilting Doberman. Here's some pics of our new girl.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoping everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Well I'm not sure about the "having fun" part of the post, but time sure does fly by.

Went down to my parents to celebrate my dad's 82nd birthday. Took him to the casino to play slot machines, then we had lunch. It was a nice day. I also took my mom to her heaven...a huge candy store. I'm sure I'll be taking her a lot since we know about it now.

We've had a couple of dog visitors over recently. The little puppy is my brother-in-law's. He got him for his son's birthday. He is a GSD/Aussie mix. He was the darn cutest little thing. Holly just had a ball playing with him which really shocked me. I'm glad she had fun, even though it was only for 10 minutes as he was just passing through. Lucas wanted nothing to do with him. lol Gotta love my Lucas.

Yesterday a friend came over to have my husband do some work on her truck. She brought her aussie mix named Pepper. She was very, very sweet. Both Lucas and Holly got along with her, which was another shocker. Lucas really liked her. Here she is giving my husband a kiss.

I've been struggling with work, still. Won't go into a long boring description. I'm just trying to hang in there for as long as I can. My boss has mentioned a couple of times about getting a bigger bonus at the holiday this year, so that motivates me more to see the goal to make it until then at least. I did put on my list of things to do, to do a resume. I haven't had one in 20 years. The hardest part is to figure out what I'd like to get into. That's why I'd like to get a resume done soon, in case I do see something that perks my interest.


It's a rainy afternoon here as usual. I love when it's overcast. Way too hot when it's not.
Hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend!

Happy 4th of July!

We started early (as usual) with the fireworks. Those started last weekend. Today is going to be a rough day for Lucas. Even worse since it started thunder and lightning about 8:30a.m. It never starts this early, yet this is the second time this week. I put a Thunder Shirt on him to see if it helps, and I have Benadryl for backup later.


Thankfully I closed the office yesterday. No thanks to my boss. He never called to tell me to close, so I made the unanimous decision to close. :) I'm starting to burn out and need some days off.


In a couple of weeks Lucas goes in for his 6 month cardio workup. I finally made a decision to find a local Cardiologist to take him to. My vet did his first one. They had people come in to do the tests then sent the results out for a Cardiologist to read. The University of Florida did the second one as they did the free DCM screening back in January. I was debating to go back to UF, but an 8 hour road trip really doesn't make sense to have them be his regular Cardiologist. I really did like them though.


Holly was actually called back by the University to continue with the other tests she had done, even though her first came back normal. They had us do a swab test on her first for the PDK4 gene test. These were her results, along with explaining the results:

Results:
DOBERMAN DCM Positive - Heterozygous
COMMENTS Positive Heterozygous (1 copy of the mutated gene and 1 copy of a normal gene) Dogs that are positive heterozygous should be carefully evaluated for signs of disease (Holter monitor and an echocardiogram). If abnormalities are detected, possible treatment options should be discussed
with your veterinarian. Adult dogs that do not show signs of disease and that have other positive
attributes could be bred to mutation negative dogs. Puppies may be screened for the mutation and
over a few generations, mutation negative puppies may be selected to replace the mutation
positive parent and gradually decrease the number of mutation positive dogs in the population.
GENETIC INFO Dilated cardiomyopathy mutation (dcm) is a form of heart disease in the doberman pinscher dog. It is inherited and our laboratory has identified a mutation responsible for the gene in some doberman pinscher. However, it should be noted that in human beings with the same disease,
there are many different genetic mutations which can cause this disease. We do not yet know if
this is the only mutation in the doberman pinscher or if there will be many different mutations.
Please keep in mind that we are continually learning about this disease and recommendations will
be altered as we obtain more information.
Currently our interpretation of the test is:
Negative results:
The absence of the mutation in this dog, does not mean that it will never develop the disease. It
means that it does not have the only known mutation that can cause the disease in the dog at this
time.
Positive results:
Dogs that are positive for the test will not necessarily develop significant heart disease and die
from the disease. Some dogs will develop a very mild form of the disease and will live quite
comfortably, some may need treatment.
Importantly, breeding decisions should be made carefully. At this time we have do not yet know
what percentage of doberman pinscher will be positive for the mutation. However, removal of a
significant number of dogs from the breeding population could be very bad for the doberman
pinscher breed. Remember that dogs that carry this mutation also carry other important good
genes that we do not want to lose from the breed.


Really doesn't make all that much sense to me since even negative result dogs can still develop the disease.


Took them both to work the other day for bring your dog to work day.

Yesterday I had a peeping tom in my bathroom window. This happens once in awhile. I have to laugh while I'm on the potty seeing them. It's a lizard, if you can't tell what it is.

Well I hope everyone has a fantastic 4th! Be safe, and remember, don't drink and drive!

Saying Hello

Nothing exciting going on this last week. Holly just wanted to pop in and say "Hello". Notice Lucas in the background. That's where you'll find him 90% of the time.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cartoons

Last Sunday we had family over to celebrate my hubby's birthday. It was a nice visit with them. By the end of the day I was ready to kick them out though because I was so tired. Hubby is in the black shirt.

Last Monday the rescue stopped by for a potty break for the dogs on his way back from Miami. It's a 4 hour trip for him one-way. He picked up a girl that was used for breeding. We named her Wilma. He also picked up two males. The owner has advanced Alzheimer's and the daughter gave them to rescue. The owner insisted they were both females and he called them names of his dogs that have been deceased many, many years ago. They were in pretty good shape, except for being underweight, and are really friendly. They are believed to be father and son. We named them Fred and Barney. The rescue asked me for names and I pretty much suck at picking names. So I went after the Flintstones. I have to remind him the next female he gets needs to be Betty.

Here's Wilma.

Here's Fred (docked) and Barney.

Yesterday I did absolutely nothing. Oh, wait, I did take my chunky monkey cats to the vet for their annual check-up and shots. I had to put them both in one carrier as I don't have 2 large ones. Let me just tell you I laughed from the time I picked up the carrier in the room until I got to my car because of how heavy it was. I know it's not funny, but it was. I didn't get lectured too much, but I know Pugsley needs to lose a few pounds. Right now I feed them both what one cat would receive a day, which is about what I've been doing for awhile now. So it's really hard to understand why he's gained weight. Guess I'll try a little bit less and see how they do.

Well I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend! Don't work too hard this week!

Short Road Trip

Last Sunday my husband wanted to go look at a car for sale. Well it was just over a 2 hour trip there. It just happened to be in the same city where Lucas' foster mom and dad live so we decided to surprise them. Here's the fur-kids with Lucas' foster parents.

The last couple of days it has started to get warm out again so Holly decided to stay inside more, and stay comfy and cool.

Well I hope all the mom's out there (both of human and furry/feathered ones) have a wonderful Mother's Day! We'll be headed down to take our mom's out for lunch. Have a great weekend!

Toads

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. It's been a quiet week. Slightly cooler the past couple of days, at 80 something degrees instead of mid to high nineties. It's like summertime is here almost with some of the storms we've been getting. Lucas has a habit of digging in the carpet when he's nervous. In my closet I have a nice hole in it. One of the main reasons I won't be replacing it any time soon.

With the warmer weather has come the darn bufo toads. Holly got herself hold of one the other day. Foaming at the mouth. Thankfully she was okay. We wiped her mouth out several times. She looked a little delirious (which I've read it's kind of like a high) but was acting better before we left for work. I hate those darn toads.

I saw an injured cat at my work this week. It's from right paw. He/she was holding it up, so it wasn't the entire leg that was injured. I borrowed a trap and set it out for two days hoping it would come back but it didn't. I didn't think it would. I will still keep an eye out. I feel bad.

This is the other night when it was nice outside.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Bird Watching

Nothing much new this past week. Went down to mom and dad's today and did a little shopping with mom. Had a nice day. I feel like it's almost back to work for some reason. I used to love Sunday's growing up. Now I hate them.

Here's Gomez and Pugsley bird watching. There has been this little bird that has been coming around this past week, and he goes on out front porch. His chirp is very loud, so when Gomez hears it he goes to the front window to watch.

Hope everyone has a great week next week!

Waiting

It's been a fairly quiet week. Had a recheck on my dental implants. All looked good, as per the doctor, and I go back in 2 weeks.


Last week I received an email from the University of Florida. This is a copy of the email:
                 

"Thank you for bringing your dogs to participate in our Screening Clinic.

Due to the large number of affected dogs that we identified during screening, we are calling back some of the normal dogs to increase the number of dogs in our control group. We would like to see Holly again.

We are offering a free PDK4 genetic test and if the test comes back negative we will perform a free Holter exam.

You will need to agree with the biopsy before we can schedule Holly.

If you agree to participate we will send you a cheek swab for you to collect sample and send back to us for the genetic test.

If it comes back negative we will send a Holter to your local veterinarian to place on Holly and you send back to us after 24 hours. Everything including shipping is free of charge if you decide to participate."

It's actually quite sad that so many are diagnosed positive. They are sending us a swab stick next week, then go from there. We will have to bring her back up to Gainesville one more time. I had to make sure hubby wanted to go. He said he would. If for some reason he can't, I'd just make it an overnight trip.

Here's Lucas at work with me last week. I've been getting laser therapy treatment on him for a few months now just to help him some with arthritis. She's been coming to my work since it's closer to her.

Holly has a habit of sitting in our bathroom window waiting until her daddy comes home. I usually only get an inside shot. This time I quick ran outside around the house and did an outside shot. Whenever we drive home we can see her in the window. When she sees us, she jumps down and goes back and forth between two other windows. She cracks me up.

Last night I watched "The Conjuring". Every time I watch a scary movie lately, I expect something to bang on the window or start slamming doors. At least I didn't have nightmares this time.

Well I'm off to do whatever I need to do today. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Hopping Along

Had a nice Easter. Went to my parents for lunch/dinner. My dad put my husband to work by changing out their hedges out front. I helped some by shoveling. We did it first thing before it got too hot. Then we ate (too much) as usual.

Holly napping before lunch, in her favorite chair.

I keep filling up our bird feeder and it's usually empty within a day thanks to the squirrels. I usually yell at Holly for chasing the squirrels. This time I told her to watch them...so they keep away from the feeder. Of course it doesn't help when we're not outside, but she likes chasing them anyway.

Just a random bird on the car next to me. I love watching birds.

One on top, on underneath. Lucas hadn't eaten for a couple of days, and this is the way to get him to eat. Not sure if he was just off, but he's back to eating again.

A few weeks ago I finished my dental implant, the one where I had to have a darn flipper tooth, the one with the doctor I loathed. It feels so good to have a tooth there again and be able to eat in public again. Now...last December I had 2 other teeth pulled. One was giving me excruciating pain and the other was always infected. So out they came and two bone grafts were put in. This past Thursday I had the implant put in. I was extremely nervous about the one area that gave me such pain that he offered to put me out at no charge. Well next time I don't think I'll be such a chicken. I was sick and nauseous for about a couple of hours afterword. It was the spinning sensation that made me sick. I slept pretty much all day and felt better that night. I also had him take out another tooth next to the one that was always infected as that one was cracked. A bone graft was put in there for now. In about 3 months I'll get the implant put in. With the first two that came out, they should all be done this coming December. I'm beginning to feel like it's a never-ending issue with these teeth. I should just get them all pulled at once instead of taking years to do this. Such a long process. And so costly. I've parked a new car in my mouth so far. And to think my car is actually 13 years old and I'm holding out as long as I can for a new one.

Well I'm off to start laundry and the usually weekend stuff. My stomach has been messed up with the antibiotics I'm on so I'm pretty sure I won't be going anywhere. Have a great weekend!

Pink Poodle

The other week Lucas went up to the University of Florida for his DCM screening. Some of the tests they were going to do, they did not do. Their findings were that he has a leaky heart valve. They did not find evidence of DCM because of the way the left ventricle contracts. No arrhythmia. They won't rule out DCM though because of the breed. They said the medicine he's on now is also good for treating the leaky heart valve. He is still supposed to do a cardio workup every 6 months. Next time I will either be bringing him back up there for his checkup or to a cardiologist. The last time I had it done at my vets office. They set up appointments for specialists to come in to do the tests, then send the findings out to a specialists to read. I'm not trusting them anymore. For some things I can still do that, but for others, like Lucas' heart, it's not worth saving the extra money. I have been told by both the UF vets and my own, that the leaky heart valve is better to have than DCM. I'll take that as a good thing.

I gave Holly and Lucas a couple new toys this week. I should say just Holly, as she steals them all in the end. The rescue guy came by with his 2 dogs this week and they shared Holly's pink poodle. Holly had already taken the nose and part of the ears off.

Little pest Gomez. When he gets on a roll, he just won't leave you alone.

This is 3 years old but I wanted to share for the upcoming Easter holiday.

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Semi-Spring Cleaning

I have to admit. I've never done a Spring cleaning in my life. When I'm in the mood to do different cleaning, I just do it. Right now, over the (probably) next 6 months, I've decided to go through drawer by drawer and clean out what I don't use. As much as I have a problem of letting some stuff go, like stuff I really like, if I haven't used it by now, it's going in a garage sale bin. I have 4 bins so far. Not all are full. I've kind of separated them by household items, holiday stuff, clothes, etc. Today I will probably go through a small cabinet where I store holiday stuff. Just kind of thinning out the crap we have, plus I could really use some extra money to go towards either my dental bills or vet bills. No easier way for extra money than a garage sale. My goal is to have one in October. I think it'll be too hot until then. I told my hubby he needs to go through his garage stuff and put at least 1 item a week in the bins. So far he's put 1 thing in. I'm rolling my eyes, you just can't see it.

Next week we are taking Lucas up to the University of Florida. The Doberman DCM screening clinic upped the age for Dobermans, so the doctor called me last week and asked if I'd like to include Lucas. He was already diagnosed with DCM last year so they will be doing the second part of the screening which will include the gene test and the holter monitor. I didn't even ask (or want to) about the holter monitor. If it's a 24 hour thing, I'm just wondering how I'm getting it back up there to the college as it's a 4 hour one-way trip. I wonder if they'd let me UPS it back. Not going to worry about it until we get up there. My hubby is taking the day off so he can help me drive. Last time I almost made it the whole way, until I was about 2 hours from home. Next week is there last week of testing. He said they might extend it one week but wasn't sure.

Well I'm off to start checking shelves for the garage sale stash. Then hopefully a relaxing day after that. Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Results

Finally received the results back from Lucas' trans-tracheal wash. It came back normal. No signs of infection and no cancer cells. Yay! But we still need to keep an eye on him in case something comes back. They assume most of the whitish color is probably scarring from heartworms head had before he came into the rescue. I'm okay with that. He's kicking butt on a lot of things through his life and I always expect him to. We also had blood work done and a urinalysis. The blood work came back good but the urine came back with a lot of white blood cells and bacteria. So here we go with number whatever UTI. I had a culture & sensitivity test done on Wednesday so we can figure out which antibiotic to put him on. If I don't do it, I seem to waste my money on the wrong antibiotic.

My one owner of my job is still in the hospital. He's still on the breathing tube. I've been told by others he has not gotten worse. Whether or not he's getting better, I have no idea. I actually stopped by the hospital yesterday on my way home. He's awake but can't communicate. He was awake when I got there. I talked to him for about 30 seconds and I asked him if he was okay or if he wanted me to leave him alone. I figured he can't talk, he feels like shit, helpless, who knows, so I asked. He shook his head yes for me to leave, which was absolutely a relief because I had no idea what else to say. So hopefully next week he'll start showing some signs of improvement. I have no idea how long one can stay on a breathing tube and be awake. I would want none of that if it was me.

Someone share this link on Facebook last week. I just have to share. It's the story of ""the dog no one owned but everyone loved". It's a heartwarming story.

Rare Sighting, Bandanas, and Oz

Another week gone. I had a cold and it finally started going away Tuesday. Feeling much better now. No matter what I take, it never seems to help what symptoms I  want it to help.

Went down to my parents yesterday. The last few times I went down I haven't been taking my dogs. This is a good thing for their cat Kitty Star. That means she gets to come out. Even though I've yet to have her warm up to me...after 4 years.

I had ordered some doggy bandanas for 2 rescues here in Florida. They come from a fellow blogger who has an Etsy Store. It's Cindy's Thread Craft. I would highly recommend you check out her items. She does beautiful work and has many options you can do. Both the rescues received their bandanas and they love them. They'll be using them at their adoption events. Here's a photo of one modeling the bandana when he received it.

I really need to get some red, sparkly shoes. This is the second kitty I've had the "house fall on".

Saved the worse for last. Friday, my first phone call at work was a hospital telling me that one of my owners was in the hospital and that I needed to find someone to bring his mom there because he was on life support.  Long story short, he needs to have his gall bladder removed but they can't do it yet as his heart is not strong enough. They inserted a drain in his gall bladder Friday to drain out the infection. They don't know how long that will take. They have a breathing tube in him because his lungs are not getting the air they need. Yesterday someone updated me and said the drain is still in and he also had a mild heart attack. He's hanging in there. I really didn't know what happened when they told me he was on life support. So many things went through my head. He was in a car accident. He overdosed on something. I didn't find out until his mom went to the hospital. Both my owners are addicts. This one has not done anything in a long time, but he did enough damage to his body where his health has always been shit. The other one is still a on again, off again crackhead (to put it nicely). I honestly couldn't believe it was him in the hospital. If you pray, please say one for him too. He's going to need it.

Day at the Museum

I've been wanting to go see an exhibit at our local museum as it is only going to be there until April. It's called the Afterlife: Tombs & Treasures of Ancient Egypt. So I decided to drag my husband there on Valentine's Day. I enjoyed it. He was yawning three quarters of the way into the tour. They also have a small aquarium there. Here's some pics. Hope you enjoy the quick tour. It was hard to get good pictures as most everything was encased in glass.

 Doesn't this one look like it's smiling?

 A Hawk mummy. Period is 664-30 BC

 Front is Bronze figure of Bastet. Age is 664-525 BC

Rear is a cat mummy. Period 664 BC - AD 100

 Set of Canopic jars. Age 1186-715 BC. These jars held the

internal organs from the body during mummification.

 Panesittawy Coffin and wrapped mummy. Age 1069-322 BC. This coffin

belonged to a man named Panesittawy but the mummy inside was that of

a woman. Apparently it was common for this to happen.

 This is the mummy of a 2 1/2 year old girl. Age 100 BC- AD 100.

It was determined she died of appendicitis. A CT scan also showed

that her hair had been perfectly braided beneath her gilded mask.

 This mummy was discovered to be the man of the son of the 

great Pharaoh Rameses II. Age 1295-1186 BC. His body was discovered inside the

coffin (underneath him) of the Chantress of Amun Tayuhenet. He lived 300 years before

her. It is believed that the coffin was used to rebury him or possibly was just placed

in the coffin to make it more interesting. Like I was told, this seemed to happen a lot.