Christmas 2009 Update
Wow, another year has gone by. I just don’t get the time to update as I would like to.
Terra, our beautiful little girl, is about 3 ½ years old now. She is still the most lovable dog. She will lay with you and let you pet her for as long as you want. She just loves it when anyone pays attention to her. She loves going to the Promenade Shops to walk around and suck up any attention that people give her. Even when we go for walks at home; it doesn’t seem to be the walk she enjoys. It’s the people that stop to pet her that she enjoys most. And, the wonderful part is when we see her make someone smile who seems like they could really use it. She’s such a smart girl too. The pictures of her with the bone inside the tire…the first time she did that, we thought it happened by accident, but we have since seen her on many occasions pick up a bone and look for the tire and go put the bone in it to help support it for her. Terra is like a princess, but she can be a tomboy too when she rough houses with Cody. Of course, she’s not rough, but she can certainly take it from Cody. All of our animals teach us something. From Terra, we learn how to be happy even though you might really feel like crap some days. There are days when we know she isn’t feeling so well because of the diabetes, but we can generally get her to play anyway, and if she sees someone on one of those days, she still wears that beautiful smile of hers.
Cody certainly challenged us at the beginning with his house training, but he has turned out to be the best dog. He is with us two years now. He has his quirks, but he teaches us to be grateful for what we have. We see in him all the time how grateful he is just to have a home and the things we give him. His one little quirk is his acting out when he’s fearful. It generally occurs with other dogs; he starts barking like crazy. We have noticed it’s with mostly larger black dogs, but it does happen with other types sometimes (when they appear threatening). He is getting better though. It happens less frequently, and when it does happen, Tim gets him under control much more quickly now. Sitting in the vet’s waiting room is always training ground and walking the Promenade Shops is good training for him too. His other quirk is that car rides (which he absolutely loves) seem to make him have to go to the bathroom even if he has gone right before we left home. It must be the vibration of the car. Cody loves to run and retrieve. He seems like more of a retriever thanTerra is. She will run and play with him for a few minutes, but then she’s interested in whatever she can find to eat in the yard. Cody loves to wrestle with Terra. With his agility, Terra has no chance of winning.
Roo has been much more energetic (explained later) in recent months. It’s so nice to see her playful again. Roo is our mellow, laid back cat. She just takes whatever comes and is never nasty. She doesn’t like having to get put in her carrier to go to the vet, and that is the only time she puts up a fight. She loves to be out on our 2nd floor porch watching the birds. She will stay out there for hours if I let her. Recently, I went to check on her, and I see her staring with such intent toward our neighbor’s yard. I look over, and there sitting on the fence is a huge hawk. Hmm, no wonder I didn’t see any birds around. Roo loves Cody. It took her quite a while to warm up to him when he first joined us, but now, when he’s calm, she will go to him and rub her head on his face and even lick him. She then puts her head to his face. We believe she wants Cody to lick her, but he just isn’t a licker. Cody just lays there with big eyes seeming amazed at the attention Roo gives him.
Tigger is the queen and she rules the roost. Tigger has a habit of being nasty sometimes (I believe this is partly due to when she’s not feeling well). Then when she wants to be loved, she doesn’t understand why everyone backs away from her. Tigger tries to snuggle with Terra, but Terra doesn’t always let her because Terra is afraid of getting swatted if she moves or does something Tigger doesn’t like. She gets nasty when we try to do anything with her like trim nails, check her mouth or even brush her. She actually has made it worse on herself because she has to be taken to a groomer or the vet to have these things done. If you’re looking for a good groomer, see Dawn at One Stop Pet Shop in Emmaus. Of course, Tig doesn’t like going to those places, but there, she is so scared that they can do anything they want to her. I believe fear is a big part of her nastiness. Because she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s fearful, she plays the mean role (at home anyway). I always tell Tim that Tig is just misunderstood. She just wants to be loved. Tig is also the hunter even though she doesn’t roam outside. She likes to be out on our first floor deck so she is leashed. And, she manages to catch rodents while she’s on a leash. I totally freak out when she’s standing at the door with a mouse or mole in her mouth.
In April, my friend Joanne visited with her son Cody and her grandson Jay. Jay loves dogs, but sadly he is allergic to them. He breaks out in hives if he gets their saliva on him. So, we had to be careful that neither Terra or Cody licked him. I didn’t think it would be a problem because they don’t usually lick. But, for some reason, all Terra wanted to do was lick Jay’s hands. Cody wasn’t a problem though. He enjoyed having Joanne’s son Cody to rough house with him.
Medically, this year has been better than previous years. We’ve had our tough things to deal with, but we are ending on a good note. A lot of the credit for that goes to Susan Davis, a certified clinical nutritionist in California, who I found on the internet in May. I was researching to find something to help Roo with her high creatinine counts because they were continually increasing on blood tests that were done every few months. I found Susan’s website (see link on right side of page) and scheduled a phone consultation with her for Roo. She recommended a raw food diet and some supplements. The one in particular which we believe has really helped lower Roo’s creatinine is Renelix. It is a detoxifier than we give her every day, and what a difference it has made. A few days after we started giving it to her, she totally changed. She used to spend most of her time hidden away in a bedroom or the basement sleeping. Now, she is playful again and has so much more energy. Susan posted some comments from me with Roo’s picture on her website under the Renelix product.
Tigger had a blood test in October, and she also showed a slightly elevated creatinine count. We have been giving Tigger supplements also, and in a re-test that was just done this week, her creatinine has also come down. The change we see in Tigger is that she is not as nasty as she had been. I guess when she isn’t feeling well, she takes it out on everybody by being mean to them. We have seen much less hissing and swatting than we had been seeing.
Cody is doing much better with his low platelet counts from his autoimmune thrombocytopenia. Once again, this is thanks to Susan Davis. Cody is still on a very low dose of Prednisone every other day, but his platelet counts have increased dramatically. Susan recommended Marrow Plus which uses time-tested herbs that help to support the regeneration of blood. Cody was to take 1 tablet twice a day. Two days after we started it, he started vomiting and had diarrhea. Susan told us to discontinue it because some animals just can’t tolerate it. This devastated me because I was sure if Susan recommended it, it would help. After a month or so had gone by, I wondered if I could get Cody to tolerate it by giving him a much lower dose and very slowly increasing it. I thought, what do I have to lose, so I tried him on ½ of a tablet every other day. Initially, I think it did upset his stomach a bit because he would lick his lips and seem to not feel quite right. I gave him this dose for two weeks, and in that time, he didn’t seem to be nauseous anymore. I then gave him the ½ tablet every day for two weeks. I then went to ½ tablet one day, whole tablet the next day for two weeks. I continued very slowly increasing the dose until we got to where he should be. The low end of the normal range for platelets is 175,000. Cody’s platelets had been hovering around 100,000 on most tests. On his most recent test, his platelet count was 160,000. That is a 60% increase. He is almost into the normal range, and he has never really been there. We have recently added a product for Cody called Immune Harmony which is supposed to help balance the immune system. Cody’s immune system overreacts, and a lot of products boost the immune system which isn’t good for Cody. His immune system needs to be balanced, so with any luck, this will help do that. We would love to be able to get him off or at least reduce the Prednisone even more.
As in previous years, Terra has had her share of issues. Controlling the diabetes has been difficult, and I often thought it had something to do with the Vetsulin that she was on. In early November, production on Vetsulin was stopped because it wasn’t meeting specifications. This could cause hypoglycemia, and it explained why we were having issues with Terra going too low at times. She has been on Humulin N (a human insulin) since the day after Thanksgiving. She is not quite as low as she needs to be yet, but we are seeing much more stable numbers. It is a very good thing that Vetsulin had this problem because I believe Terra will be much better off on the new insulin. Recently she has been having issues with cysts. She had one removed in early October from between her toes. That’s the picture with the hot pink bandage. It took weeks for that to heal. Then she had a small one taken off her ear. Currently she has a nasty looking red lump on her lip which has been there for about six weeks. A sample of it was analyzed, and there are no cancer cells so we are trying to let her immune system take care of this one. Of course, with the diabetes, things heal very slowly. We are starting Terra on the Immune Harmony that Cody is taking so maybe it can help her immune system too.
We started going to Quakertown Veterinary Clinic (link on right wide of page) about a month ago. When our previous vet hadn’t decided what insulin to put Terra on two weeks after the news about Vetsulin came out, we decided it was time to change vets. On the recommendation of Margie from R Furry Friends Doggie Daycare (link on right side of page), we scheduled an appointment with Dr. Barin. Dr. Barin, Shauna, her assistant, and the other staff at QVC are great. Everyone is very friendly and acknowledges the animals while we’re waiting. Dr. Barin has seen all of our kids except Roo. Since Roo has been doing well, she isn’t due for anything for several months. Dr. Barin got Terra on the Humulin N insulin and never liked or used Vetsulin at all. Finally, someone agrees with the instability that we saw in Vetsulin. She is working with us to get Terra on the correct dose. And, Dr. Barin, we appreciate that you are interested in knowing about the things that we have learned in our research. I could never understand why other vets wouldn’t want to know what natural products we were using if they were producing good results in our pets so they could possibly help other animals that aren’t responding to conventional treatment. We also love that QVC is a 24 hour facility. That’s beneficial if we ever have an emergency because of Terra’s diabetes or anything else for that matter. If you are a patient there, you pay normal fees even if you have to go in on off hours. There are also a number of specialists on staff there, one of which is an ophthalmologist. This is a good thing in the event Terra ever develops cataracts because of the diabetes.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. It is always my intention to update more often, and it never seems to happen so this update ends up being very lengthy. I will end on that note.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. We wish you all a happy, healthy New Year filled with peace and love.
Pat, Tim, Terra, Cody, Tigger and Roo
Christmas 2008 Update
Last update was over seven months ago. So much for doing more updates this year, but it’s been another hectic one which seems to be normal for us.
Terra had her anal gland surgery in May, and the operation went fine. Her recovery period didn’t go quite so well. We found out that Terra has a low seizure threshold. She had two seizures apparently caused by the pain medication she was on. We had been through seizures with Casey, our previous golden, but none of his compared to the ones we saw with Terra. They were awful, the grand mal seizures where her body went stiff and she just shook and repeatedly bit her tongue. How awful to watch and be totally helpless. When she came out of it, it was just as bad because she didn’t know us, and she initially got aggressive and then cowered in the corner of our yard as if she was terrified of us. It was about an hour until she finally came totally out of it and knew who we were. She was full of blood so we cleaned her up and made the 30 minute trip to the vet. Just as we were walking her in and getting near the door, she had another one. Thank God, this one was much shorter and the after effects were the same, but didn’t last near as long this time. She was admitted and kept over night and put on Valium. She didn’t have any more, and hasn’t had any since so we are sure it was the pain medication that caused them.
For weeks after her surgery, she seemed to be mopey, and we attributed it to the surgery and the fact that Cody was not energetic because of his autoimmune disease. One weekend in late June, Terra started drinking unbelievable amounts of water and going to the bathroom at least every hour and even while she was sleeping. A test on that Monday revealed that she’s diabetic. Yes, another unbelievable thing. Terra is so young and thin and does not fit the typical profile of a diabetic dog. It’s been difficult to say the least. It took months to try to get her stabilized, and it seemed every time that we thought we were getting close, something would happen to cause it to go haywire again. We’re actually battling another upset right now. Terra’s one ear got all red a few weeks ago. I tried treating it topically like I treat any of her other allergic reactions, but this wouldn’t clear up. So, we went to see Dr. C to make sure there was no inner ear infection. There wasn’t, and he also thought it was an allergic reaction. He gave us a topical steroid which he said could raise her sugar. It didn’t, but it didn’t clear up the redness either. After two weeks of topical treatment, we now had to go to an oral steroid. It was only 1 mg, but her sugar soared. Now we were back to excessive drinking and peeing. We had to stop the steroid, but fortunately, at this point, the ear was showing some improvement. This weekend after coming off the high sugar numbers, it is now too low. I tested it this morning when we woke up, and it was 47 (dangerously low) after being 260 before we went to bed the night before. Now we had to drop the insulin down. Diabetes is a very frustrating disease to try to control, and Terra’s allergies make it even more difficult.
Cody has been with us for a year now. Things for Cody have been similar. It’s been eight months since Cody’s episode that made us aware of his autoimmune disease. We are still battling it. We went through months of weekly trips to the vet for blood tests. As there was improvement, the blood tests were gradually lessened to two weeks apart for a period of time, then three weeks, etc. At one blood test, his white cells changed for the worse, and Dr. C felt we should do a bone marrow biopsy because he feared cancer or some other disease was finally presenting itself. The biopsy came out ok, and we still don’t really know what caused all of this other than the chronic battle he had with the Giardia. Once the biopsy came out ok, Dr. C felt better about challenging Cody in reducing and eliminating the medications. We went from seven meds initially, and we are now down to 2.5 mg of Prednisone every other day. The medications, of course, had side effects, and we are dealing with those also. Cody had gained a lot of weight, and then was losing it. He went from being under weight to over weight, and he is now under again, but not as bad as he was when we got him. We are now trying to get weight back on him. He does seem to be slowly gaining. All the time on the Prednisone caused problems with his thyroid so he is now on medication for that. The steroid also has caused him a great deal of hair loss. His next blood test is Jan 5th, and we’re hoping for good results so we can get him off the steroid. We are seeing the real Cody now that he is almost off the medications. He is very energetic, sometimes too much for Terra when she’s not having a good day. He is quite happy now and loves to go for walks. He also loves to retrieve balls. He is more of a retriever than Terra is. She would rather play “keep away” with a ball than retrieve it. Cody is the only one who stands up to Tigger. Tigger can be a real lover, but she is moody. She hisses and swats when she doesn’t want to be bothered, and Terra and Roo leave her alone, but not Cody. He stands up to her.
Tigger and Roo had to make sure they were in on the action also. They had their yearly check-ups in September. Something told me to ask to have blood tests done on them. Tigger’s came back with high calcium which most commonly indicates cancer. Roo’s came back with high creatinine which indicates a kidney problem. Dr. C said the high calcium can also be an indication of a kidney issue so they were both put on kidney diets. They were re-tested early this month, and Tigger’s counts are back in the normal range. She is the one we were worried about, and she’s fine. Roo, on the other hand, is another story. Her creatinine rose even more since the other test. We then had to get a urine sample tested, and she is not concentrating her urine. She is now on medication and will be re-tested again in six months. This is upsetting that her kidneys already aren’t functioning well because she is only four years old. So, it’s more researching for me. On a good note, Roo has really come around with the dogs. She hangs out and lays with them a lot now.
I’ve often asked what my purpose in life is. I guess it’s to take care of special needs animals. Even though this all sounds bad, the furry kids still enjoy life and have fun. I think the pictures indicate that.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
The Afflerbachs – Tim, Pat, Terra, Cody, Tigger and Roo
Things are going well….
Just a quick update; sorry, no pictures this time….
Cody had another blood test this morning, and Dr. Cummings said his numbers are coming up nicely. Since we lessened the frequency of one of the meds, Cody seems to be showing a bit more energy. His next scheduled blood test will be Tuesday morning when Terra goes in for her surgery. If we see any signs of Cody not doing well, then we would have to take him in sooner. If the numbers have gone up more by Tuesday, Dr. C said we may try to reduce the dosage of the Prednisone. Cody has also made it through the night the past two nights without having to go to the bathroom.
Terra is doing ok with her allergies this week. We have seen a slight increase in itching, but it hasn’t been enough to cause any sore spots. She is very happy that Cody is showing some interest in playing with her. We’re happy to see that too because we assume that means he’s starting to feel more like himself. Hopefully, after Terra’s surgery, we’ll be on the road to a more normal life.
“You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Terra is almost 2 years old, Cody still stable…
The pictures above are also from the past two months before Cody had his episodes. If anybody has any suggestions for captions to any of the pictures, please let us know.
We had a bit of a scare Tuesday night (4/29) with Cody. Cody seemed really scared and was acting weird so we were worried one of those episodes would happen again. After we went through over an hour of him with a scared look on his face, a rapid heart rate and just not acting like himself, I gave him 1/2 of a valium. About 20 minutes after I gave it to him, he started to calm down. We’re not sure if this was just anxiety, if it’s due to all the medications he is on, or something else.
Cody had his fasting blood work done on Friday. We were hoping to see his platelets and red blood cells continuing to go up, but they remained about the same. Dr. Cummings said we should not be concerned because it can take time. On a good note, they did not drop. Cody was out of danger last Monday when his counts came up. He is in the very low normal range, but they still need to come up farther into the normal range. Dr. C called us around noon on Saturday to say that Cody’s liver enzymes are up (not a good thing) which is either from the medications or the autoimmune disease itself. So, we have to lower the dose of one medication, and we had to go pick up two new medications that are being added to protect his liver. He has also added another vitamin supplement. Cody goes back Wednesday morning for another blood test. As far as at home, Cody no longer has diarrhea, but things aren’t quite normal yet either. His bowel movements go back and forth between close to normal and then really soft. He still isn’t showing a whole lot of interest in playing. This battle he’s fighting must exhaust him, yet sometimes it seems that he isn’t getting really good sleep (probably the meds again). He also is drinking a ton of water and has to go out frequently (even during the night). I’m not sure what his weight is, but Cody is obviously putting on weight from the Prednisone. I can really see it when I look at these pictures that were taken a few weeks ago.
Terra seems to be depressed because of Cody’s situation. She has spent quite a bit of time in her crate this weekend. Generally, she only goes in there when she’s not feeling well or to get quiet time. We keep trying to coax her out to play, but she doesn’t even always come out for that. She will come out for food though.
Terra is going to be dealing with her own healing next week. She has had trouble with her anal sacs ever since the allergies started over a year ago, and it is getting progressively worse. She has had to have her anal sacs expressed more and more frequently. They had to be done at least once a week the past few weeks. When she starts chewing her tail, we know they bother her. So, even though we hate to put her through it, we have decided to have the anal sacs removed rather than go through this for the rest of her life. Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13th. We decided since Cody is still not very playful, now would be a good time to have this done for Terra since she’ll have to be calm for a while afterward also. They can sometimes lose bowel control for a few days afterward so I will be taking some time off while Terra recuperates. After she is healed from the surgery, and since Terra will have no discomfort from her anal sacs, hopefully there will be no reason for her to chew on her tail.
Terra will be two years old on Sunday, May 11th (Mother’s Day).
HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TERRA LYNN!!
Cody is improving…
Cody had his appointment at the vet this afternoon. His blood test showed that his counts are coming up. He still has quite a way to go, but Dr. Cummings was pleased to see the numbers going up. It’s obvious he’s fighting a battle because Cody is sleeping a lot. We also spoke with Anita Curtis, an animal communicator. She confirmed that Cody is feeling better. According to him, he feels he is out of the woods, but he is still a bit woozy. He attempted to play with Terra this morning, and it wiped him out. Terra keeps trying to entice him to play because she misses her buddy; she believes playing will cure him according to Anita. If only it were that easy!
On Friday, it’s back to see Dr. C for a fasting blood test. In addition to checking the platelets and red blood cells, they will be looking for any sign of damage that all these medications could be causing. All the thoughts and prayers are working. We appreciate all the strength Cody is getting through your thoughts and prayers. The next hurdle is making sure no damage is being done to his organs because of all the heavy medications.
Earlier this month, Oprah had a show on puppy mills. It was heart wrenching to watch, but I watched it through tears. It’s unbelievable the way the dogs are treated. Some of them are kept in crates and never let out. They don’t even know how to walk on grass or normal floors. The show also discussed the unbelievable number of animals that are euthanized each day because of the puppy mills, irresponsible breeders and because people don’t spay and neuter their pets. I couldn’t imagine being the people who have to decide which animals to euthanize because they don’t have enough room for all of them. If you haven’t heard about this show, check out www.oprah.com and search on puppy mills to see pictures and read about the show. When you decide to get an animal, consider adopting from a shelter or rescue group, or at least do your research and find a responsible breeder who wants their dogs back if you ever have to give them up. I imagine some of you will be thinking, why would I rescue a dog after hearing what you’re going through with your rescue dog. Because, it’s a wonderful thing to do, and Cody makes it so obvious how grateful he is to be with us. And, God only gives us what we can handle. There have been times during Cody’s illness that Tim and I have said, how are we going to do this? But, we’re handling it. Special animals are put in our care because we have the time to devote to them, and we love doing it. The love and joy they give is indescribable and makes it all worthwhile.
“Adopting One Dog Won’t Change The World, But It Will Surely Change The World For That One Dog”
Cody is home…
I had some problems getting the pictures from Bubblehsare to show up on this site and didn’t have time to figure it out. That is why there is only a link to pictures. The pictures in the attached link were taken over the past two months before Cody had his episodes last weekend. For anyone who hasn’t heard (skip to next paragraph if you know about Cody’s episodes), Cody had three episodes which we initially thought were some sort of panic attacks. Cody was frantically running and seemed fearful and panicked, all the while he was barking, yelping, crying, and howling like he was in pain. His eyes were very bloodshot and almost bulging. He was coherent because there was a time I walked outside (Tim was with him through it), and he temporarily stopped barking to look at me. During the first episode, he wasn’t on a leash, and he was running around the yard, and he ran right into our glass door trying to get in the house. During the second one, I was able to calm him by holding him. He also lost bowel and bladder control at the onset. The first two on Saturday lasted about ten minutes (the second one may have been slightly shorter). We didn’t time them because we didn’t even know what was happening. The first time we thought he got stung by a bee, but when it happened again a few hours later, we realized that wasn’t the case. The episode happened again Sunday evening and this time lasted 45 minutes. It began in the house this time, and after he lost bowel control and got it all over the kitchen, Tim took him outside so I could start cleaning up the kitchen. He kept trying to get out of the leash in a panic and was trying to get out of our fenced yard by squeezing between the gate and the fence post. He also tried climbing the fence. It was terrifying for all of us because we didn’t know what was happening and why. Terra was also very scared, and she was crying.
Cody spent four days at the vet. His platelets were low on Monday; on Tuesday they dropped more, and his red blood cells also went down, and he started with diarrhea. On Wednesday, his counts stabilized, but they have not gone any higher. His immune system is attacking his own cells. There still is no definite explanation for the episodes that occurred last weekend or if they tie in to what is going on with his low counts and diarrhea. We discussed an MRI, but that can’t be done until his counts come back up. Cody came home Thursday evening with a combination of 8 medications and supplements (6 to be used regularly and 2 as needed). He is getting steroids and another drug, which we have to wear rubber gloves to handle, to suppress the immune system to stop attacking his cells, but his last test still showed Giardia as being present, and that requires the immune system to fight that. We’re stuck in a vicious circle. He also has 2 medications for the intestinal problems, enzymes to help digest his food and some vitamin supplements. We have Valium for anxiety as needed. Based on other symptoms and counts, Dr. C expected a problem with the pancreas. A test was done for his pancreas, and Dr. Cummings just notified us that it was fine. Cody’s cobalamin (B12) is low, and he has bacterial overgrowth in his intestines. Dr. C thought the Prednisone would help inflammation in the intestines and that the diarrhea would be getting better by now. He goes back in Monday afternoon for another blood test.
As far as his spirits, he was thrilled to see us and come home on Thursday night. On Friday, he was anxious, and his breathing was very rapid. He also seemed like he wasn’t sleeping well. Those symptoms have all gotten better so those were probably side effects of the steroids that he had to adjust to. He is not himself in that he only shows occasional interest in playing. That is probably from his lack of energy due to all he has going on. Terra, of course, wants to play with him all the time, but we have to keep him calm to retain his strength. Our instructions were Cody is confined to home, and he is to go out on a leash only to go to the bathroom. He does seem more relaxed today. Hopefully, we’ll see blood counts going up with the blood test on Monday.
Other than missing her buddy, things are the same for Terra. Allergies continue to be a battle. Ever since Friday a week ago, she has been very itchy and has new rashes and red sore areas showing up every day. This was a bad season for her last year too. Hopefully, once we get through the tree season, things will calm down for her. Terra looks forward to her walks and playtime with Sally since she hasn’t been to daycare in about four months. Walks and playtime with us just don’t seem to be enough since we’re not able to do it constantly.
Thank you for all of your kind thoughts and prayers and concern for Cody. Please continue the prayers since he’s still battling his problems. I will try to update this site each time he visits the vet. This week he is scheduled for blood tests on Monday and Friday. I will also include some pictures with each update.
“He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me… whenever… wherever – in case I need him. And I expect I will – as I always have. He is just my dog.” – Gene Hill
Happy Doggies…
I forgot to include the picture of Terra with Santa in my last update. Santa was at R Furry Friends, and we took Terra to have her picture taken with him to benefit the Greater Lehigh Therapy Dogs. It was an adventure. Terra barked at Santa and did not want to go near him let alone have her picture taken with him. It took coaxing by quite a few people to get her to be with him, and the shot you see was a lucky one.
Terra is enjoying having Cody here. We are as well. Cody is a very intelligent and lovable dog (sometimes too intelligent). We’ve had a few issues with house training, but he has gotten much better very recently. He was too smart to be crated; he just peed outside the crate. Because it seems like he just couldn’t hold it as long as we expected and the fact that he has grown since we’ve gotten him, we’re wondering if he isn’t younger than he was estimated to be. He actually is a bit taller than Terra is now. He still looks skinny (partly because of the Giardia and partly because he’s growing), but hopefully we will be able to get a little more meat on his body soon. Overall, things are going well. But, we’ve been warned that you sometimes see a change in rescue dogs once they are sure this is their forever home. Supposedly, this could be several months away yet. We see more border collie than spaniel traits in him. We hope in the future we don’t have to deal with some of the horror stories I’ve read about border collies destroying things, etc.
The pictures you see of Terra with the reflections on the carpet don’t really show how obsessed Terra is with these “dots” as we call them. The first time this happened I believe I was dusting, and the sunlight coming through the window hit my watch and made a reflection on the walls and ceiling as I was moving. I didn’t realize it until I was trying to figure out what Terra was staring at. To tire her out, we use a watch and make these dots for her. She gets so excited; it is just indescribable. She chases them and pounces on them, and her tail whips back and forth constantly while she’s playing. As soon as the sun is coming through a window, she is looking on the floor, the walls and the ceiling for the dots to appear. This and playing with Cody in the house seem to be her two favorite things. She also loves laser pointers. We used to use laser pointers to exercise the cats, but once Terra saw what they are, she took over. The cats don’t have a chance of attacking the dots with Terra around.
Cody, on the other hand, would rather be running outside. Cody will just run back and forth in the yard until we make him come inside, but he does love just snuggling with us on the sofa too. He seems to be happy as long as he is with us. While he’s running outside, Terra is usually looking for something to put in her mouth whether it’s snow, ice, grass, dirt, leaves or whatever she can find. I think we’re coming to the realization that she will never outgrow this. We had hoped that getting Terra a buddy would busy her enough that she wouldn’t do this and wouldn’t chew and scratch herself so much from the allergies. Dealing with the Giardia, of course, hasn’t helped either. They haven’t been to daycare since Christmas, and we’re not sure when they’ll get to go back. They are both still having bowel issues. They have greatly improved, but not back to normal yet. They were even given an antibiotic that we had to have compounded because it isn’t readily available here. Cody had not responded well to the normal protocol used for Giardia. Terra responded and tested negative, but she was still having loose bowels. We were told maybe she was lacking fiber because the food she’s eating because of her allergies is strictly lamb and rice. Our vet told us to give them Metamucil. I was a bit concerned to try it because the main ingredient is psyllium which is a grain. Grains are common allergens. Terra did react to it so we were dealing with another allergy flare-up for about a week. We are now trying pumpkin for fiber. We’re hoping they’re finally on the road to recovery. Since they don’t get all the exercise they would when they go to daycare, we have someone come a few times a week and run them. Sally, who we know from working at One Stop Pet Shop, comes and takes Terra and Cody not for a walk, but a run several times a week. We are so grateful for that because neither Tim nor I would be running with them. Even though Terra and Cody are stuck at home, they are happy having each other and love when Sally comes to take them on their runs.
Until next time,
Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. — Milan Kundera
The big news…our new addition
It’s been over seven months since the last update. Back in May, we took Terra to Petco to pick out a toy she wanted. She picked the squirrel you saw in the pictures. It was the neatest experience. She pulled it out, and then she looked at a bunch of other things, but ultimately she came back to the squirrel. She carried it through the store to the register, and then she carried it all the way out to the car. She looked so proud as she was walking with it in her mouth. A lot of people found it quite amusing.
Terra still seems to be having immune system problems. She had kennel cough in August and had to be out of daycare for two weeks. Then in the beginning of October, she came down with Giardia which is a one-celled microscopic parasite that lives in the intestinal tract. It can be difficult to get rid of, and Terra was out of daycare for almost two months with it. She wasn’t sick for all that time, but she was on 3 rounds of antibiotics, and then we had to wait until 3 weeks after the antibiotic ended to be tested again. The picture of her getting a hug from Theresa at the daycare was the day she returned. We’ve been battling the allergies, and we think we have finally found a food that agrees with her. She has been eating California Natural Lamb and Rice for about a month now, and she hasn’t had any skin breakouts in that time. We tried many very good quality foods, but each of them must have had an ingredient that she couldn’t tolerate. She still is somewhat itchy, but she is on hardly any Benadryl right now. We’re thinking her itching now is from our carpeting which we hope to replace with some other type of flooring in the near future.
Picture #21 with the caption, “What are you looking at?” was taken from the ground, and Terra is looking down between the railing and the floor of our 2nd floor porch. Tim loved how she looked when he looked up at her so he took several pictures of her like that.
Our latest news is our new addition to the family. Cody is about nine or ten months old, and he is assumed to be a spaniel/border collie mix. We found him on Petfinder, and he was a stray who was living in a foster home through the Second Chance Pet Adoption & Rescue out of Bartonsville, PA. We brought him home on December 8th. He made himself right at home, and he and Terra became fast friends. They play together all the time. Quite a few people have said that Cody is a really good match for Terra. By the way he acts, it seems that he wasn’t abused, but he was neglected. He craves attention and loves to be petted and just loves being with us. He is fascinated with the cats. Tigger has already put him in his place with her. She lets him know by hissing quite loudly when he’s doing something she doesn’t like. Roo was a bit slower to come around, but she has too. She is opposite of Tigger and runs when she’s uncomfortable which isn’t a good thing because then Cody chases. Cody already has several nicknames from us — Cody Bear, Codeman and Codester. He is very comfortable with us and let me brush him, clean his ears and cut his nails within the first few days.
We’ve had a couple weeks of adjusting (mostly us to what to expect from him). When we decided we were going to get a buddy for Terra, we knew we wanted to rescue a dog, and we said we would not get another puppy because we didn’t want to deal with the training. And, what did we do? For a while, we were getting up during the night to take him outside, but he now makes it through the night. We’ve been dealing with excitement urination with Cody. He is housetrained for the most part, but if he has had too much water in a small amount of time, he leaks when he’s playing. We’ve learned to deal with that by allowing him to drink no more than a 1/2 cup of water at a time and to take him out more frequently when playing. We have also been working with him on commands, and he knows sit and stay, and we’re working on down and stand. He was a bit food aggressive at first, but now he sits and waits with Terra until they get the ok from us to eat from their bowls. We’re also working on getting him to let us know when he has to go out, but that one is going a little bit slower. He is very intelligent and is learning quickly overall. He’s learning some things we don’t want him to. He figured out how to get around the barricade we had which always kept Terra out of the basement. We are also seeing traits of the border collie. We noticed when he’s playing, he nips at Terra’s legs which is what border collies do to herd, and he circles the perimeter of rooms and the area where they do their business. He looks so cute when he puts one ear up and has the other one down, but we haven’t captured that in a picture yet.
Cody got to enjoy daycare for about a week. He was playing a bit rough at first with his biting. Terra tolerates a lot because of her thick skin. He was learning quickly at the daycare too. But, he and Terra now have Giardia and are out of daycare again. Cody started with diarrhea two days before Christmas, and Terra started vomitting on Christmas Eve and then also had diarrhea on Christmas day. On Christmas Eve, mom, once again, slept downstairs on the floor with Terra by the kitchen to avoid vomitting on the carpet again. It was like having Parvo all over again. Cody seemed to be getting better, and so did Terra the day after Christmas, but Thursday morning Terra didn’t keep her breakfast down. So, we took her to the vet along with stool samples for both of them. Amazingly, Cody tested positive for Giardia, but Terra didn’t yet she’s the one with the worst symptoms. The company who makes the test said Terra may have been in a window of 5 to 8 days in which it wouldn’t yet show up on the test, so they are now both being treated for it. We have to wash and disinfect things regularly and hope once they’re better that they don’t get this again. Other than those couple days at Christmas time and the fact that they don’t have normal stools, they are both feeling fine and playing like normal. It’s just a matter of how long it takes to get rid of it and the 3 week wait to be tested until they can go back to daycare. We had planned to take both Cody and Terra to a training class in January, but we will have to postpone that until they are over the Giardia.
We really got lucky with Cody. He is such a good boy. He listens well, comes when called, and seems to act like he is so grateful to be here. Tim was very reluctant at first with the idea of getting a second dog, but after realizing a buddy for Terra would be a good idea, the search really got serious. Tim took to Cody quickly. Cody responded to him quickly, and Tim was hooked.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I lost my dad to cancer in October. During the last months, my priority was spending time with my dad which is why I hadn’t updated this site for so many months. Hopefully, 2008 will bring more updates and healthier, happier times for all of us. Terra and Cody will definitely be happier (and hopefully healthier) having each other.
Till next time, Happy New Year from all of us.
Pat
