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!