For animal lovers

[doxie]

*aside to Doxie* I don't think MIFFED is a strong enough word.

I agree - I just couldn't think of a word that I could type here that would reflect how Rosie is going to feel about this

Henry is in his "tunnel" under my desk. He is angry! I turned OFF the electric blanket so I could wash the sheets and then Mr. Doxie yelled at Henry (that does not happen often). Of course, Mr. Doxie now feels guilty and Henry is working this big time! Henry has been promised a birthday hat, a cake AND possibly a cheeseburger for his big day next week. I will make sure to take pictures!

[MRD]

We washed sheets today too and that really upset Rosie. Miffed is NOT a strong enough word. She still HATES Waldo after 2 years.

Rosie and Bogie have birthdays and we celebrate them as well. Back in Florida when my daughter was younger, we used to actually have parties and I'd ask my friends kids and lucy's friends over and we would do a party with cake, party favors and gifts for the dogs. It was a scream. One year for Bogie (and his sister who a friend has) we did a whole Wishbone themed party. Back when Wishbone was popular. Our friends would bring their dogs too. We are fools for dog parties.

So I had to work tonight and I have promised Waldo he will get his day tomorrow. Rosie will be 12 on March 11 and Bogie will be 10 on April 23 and we will celebrate those days as we do Waldoday.

Nothing else has been said about the 2 dogs, and hubby and I are not in favor of this at all, so hoping that we dont' end up with them. But I'm a big softy too and hate to see this pair broken up if they get sent to the pound for adoption. But I really don't need 2 more dogs and one of them pregnant. It's a difficult situation and we've contacted several people we know and put feelers out and are hoping that someone will take them in and give them a good home.

It can be difficult with 3 dogs (mostly because Rosie won't quit snapping at Waldo) and the boys roughhouse. But as much as I've joked about being the crazy dog lady with 10 dogs, I don't really want that many.

So the knot in my shoulder is now back. Massage doesn't work when major hassles follow. So any ideas for what I should name this big knot? I'm going to look like Igor soon if it keeps getting worse.

After we washed the sheets today, the comforter was not quite dry. We spread it on the bed and turned the fan on to help finish it. Rosie went to bed and managed to scrunch the covers up geting under them and away from the fan, so it's still damp in spots thanks to her now. But I also had the mattress heater on and that's what she was trying to get too. Just like Henry.

Poor Henry getting yelled at today.

[Gutmutter]

What a day, MRD! (by the way, if you insert the right vowel sound into those initials it's a French swear - just sayin' ). Were cell phones part of the equation at all? I would have been a little miffed at the boyfriend showing up after all that. But then he went to help rescue your car, so I guess that makes up for it.

[MRD]

What a day, MRD! (by the way, if you insert the right vowel sound into those initials it's a French swear - just sayin' ). Were cell phones part of the equation at all? I would have been a little miffed at the boyfriend showing up after all that. But then he went to help rescue your car, so I guess that makes up for it.

Oh, there were lots of Cell phone calls going back and forth. The bf has our old car and it was having a legitimate problem of it's own. My husband just got it fixed yesterday, it was a pully something, but he couldn't turn the car off or it wouldnt start again. So my husband had sent him to our house where my husband was going to fix it, while I picked up our daughter, but when he got there and no one was there, he called my daughter nad found out she was waiting because I had run out of gas, so after being told NOT to drive the car until my husband could fix it, he thought he was helping by going to pick up my daughter because I was stuck on the side of the road. Some miscommunication there. The only good thing was that they were selling girl scout cookies at the gas station, so I did get to drown my sorrows in a tagalong or 2.

We have a weird family cell phone dynamic in our house. My daughter won't call me on my cell phone. She calls her dad or bf and gets them to call me. She says I don't know how to text and there are times she can't call but can text and since I refuse to text, she can't "talk" to me. She also says that I can't hear so she doesn't like to talk to me on the cell phone as she has to shout and it's embarrassing, so fine, we communicate through 3rd parties and so sometimes the communication gets garbled. I just realized that I don't think I've called her more than 2 or 3 times either. Weird, but she and I do not talk on the phone.

[Cootie]

MRD, thanks for sharing your Waldoday story...not much Waldo, but quite a story! There is nothing like a wasted massage, that is for sure. Or being stranded on a busy road. Thank goodness you did have the cell phone!

Our now single cat Buddy is thrilled to have my daughter home for the weekend. He is a purr monster right now and so happy to be back in her room (which we keep closed up when she is gone). It is cute to watch them together.

MRD, your pet parties sound like lots of fun, something most people need more of. Buddy will be 10 in August, could be an excuse for a cocktail party for the Cootie family and for some extra Greenies for Buddy!

[MRD]

Hey, now that my daughter is grown and we don't need to do kid parties anymore, sounds like the upcoming birthdays of Rosie and Bogie would be perfect excuses for a cocktail party. THanks for the idea.

No, not much Waldo and it would have been as my original plan was to go to the grocery store, and come home and make dinner and he would have gotten a cupcake and treats and we would have ALL stayed home. But you got to admit, that's boring compared to what REALLY happened.

As one of my friends says: You just can't make this sh** up!

[queenb]

Nothing else has been said about the 2 dogs, and hubby and I are not in favor of this at all, so hoping that we dont' end up with them. But I'm a big softy too and hate to see this pair broken up if they get sent to the pound for adoption. But I really don't need 2 more dogs and one of them pregnant. It's a difficult situation and we've contacted several people we know and put feelers out and are hoping that someone will take them in and give them a good home.

I think you should stick to your guns--it seems mean, but remember what you just had us read about "Dave's" whining--the dog situation could not possibly ever turn out well if they come to your house. Are you prepared to deal with tons of doggie drama from your present dogs? Can you afford emergency vet care if the mother dog has trouble delivering? Are you ready to housebreak a large litter of puppies, and can you afford to feed them all if no one wants them. Bear all this in mind before you meet these little dogs and cave in. I've often considered fostering a pregnant momcat as it's so heartbreaking to see a litter of tiny kittens or puppies in the shelter, but I know that realistically, as long as BooBoo is alive and needing medication, I don't need to take anything else in. (I can't wait to get BooBoo out of the vet's boarding cage tomorrow either..I need my kitty!)

[MRD]

Queenb, you're right and we are not taking them in. As much as my heart wants to help out, my brain as already been through that scenario. We found a wonderful organization called concerned citizens that has a no kill shelter and a very good adoption program (home visit, interviews, application) and we told the teacher about that that they would be very good to her two babies. I can't imagine what she's going through right now either. I know it has to be hard.

[MRD]

Latest update on Bogie and the teeth. Well the first vet told me he had abcesses, needed several extractions, his teeth were horrible and the cleaning was going to be expensive as the teeth were so nasty.

I opted out on gut instinct. Second vet saw him, said it wasn't that bad, we did antibiotics and were going to schedule the cleaning. Well in the meantime my husband and my daughter talk to friends who RAVE about this vet who they use who is also a pet dentist. So I tried last week to make appointment with the 2nd vet and they have "staff issues" and couldn't get us in. So over the weekend Bogies breath gets really nasty again. I call the 3rd vet, we went in today and here's why his breath is bad.

He doesn't have abcessed teeth. He doesn't even need any extractions. He needs a cleaning, but it's not severe as the first vet said. And heres the thing that both vets MISSED. The cause for the bad breath and infected gum? He had (sorry this is gross) hair that had gotten in a clump in a "pocket" in his gum over a back molar and was just infected and causing the gums to stay infected. They used a pair of hemostats, removed the hair "mass" and the "infection" came with it. They put him on antibiotics again just to be safe and showed us how to use a wash cloth to clean the area, gave us a "rinse" to use and said he's FINE. He needs a cleaning, but it's not going to be anything but a regular cleaning. Oh and he has an overbite. He should have had braces. But the overbite did cause some tooth damage to the bottom front couple of teeth, but nothing severe.

Anyway, now that the cause of the infection is gone, we don't have to worry anymore as we know what to look for. And this vet found it immediately. And couldn't believe the other 2 vets didn't see it. As soon as she pulled his lips back, she said: Oh, here's the problem right here. Showed us and then removed it. Once I was shown it, I could see it. I said something about missing it and she said: don't worry, most pet owners do not look that closely at the teeth. And here's the best part. The entire staff was all over Bogie and all the other dogs in there. I did not get that from the first 2 vets. They did their job, but they didn't act like animals were their "love". This vet and the vet tech, were super nice to us and to Bogie and praised him and us. Said he's healthy as can be. Spent a LOT of time with us and just generally won us over. THIS is how a vet and a pediatrician should be with their patients.

So the cleaning is scheduled for the end of March as they are all going on a "mission" trip soon to Honduras which sounded really cool to help villagers and to help villagers take care of their animals. The whole staff is going. I wanted to go too after I heard about it.

And this is the kicker too. The first vet wanted to charge roughly $700 (I can't remember exact amount, but it was a lot and included unnessacary extractions) but no xrays. 2nd vet wanted to charge about $500. This vet is only charging $254 and will xray the teeth and clean them. If they find anything else, they will call us before they do it, but they said they really do not see the need to extract any teeth. When I told them how the first vet had scared me about septicemia and what they wanted to do and charge, this vet just shook her head and said: sadly, a lot of vets do NOT get extra training in animal dentistry and overtreat just to cover themselves. They have all had extra dentistry training and said that they know that extraction is the last resort as it can hurt he quality of life of the pet if they can't eat well because of losing teeth. And said that overcharging tends to keep people from having the pets teeth cleaned as regularly as they need it, so they try to be reasonable so the pets are seen more often.

And when we told them who had referred us, they immediately knew the names of the friends dogs. That tells me something right there.

Also there was a Great Pyrnees in the office. OH man, gorgeous dog, but HUGE!!! You could have saddled him and ridden him. LOT of hair, I wouldn't want to deal with that as the hair we now deal with is too much. But gentle dog and so friendly.

So we have a new vet. Bogie is going to be fine. We can treat him for the hair problem here. AND they only charged us $60 today for the office visit, antibiotics AND dental rinse. I'm not trying to be cheap, but my husband had to have an oral surgeon extract a tooth on him about 5 years ago and it was only $400. And the first vet wanted to charge a lot more than that and so did the 2nd vet and both wanted to remove teeth that don't need to be removed. Anyway, we feel much more comfortable with this office. With the vet and with the prices and the referrals. And the people in the waiting room were all raving too while we talked to them.

I couldn't believe how much time the vet actually spent in the room with us. First vet was in and out in less than 5 minutes. 2nd vet not much longer. This vet was with us at least 15 minutes and we feel like she now knows us and Bogie well. And HE loved her, until she expressed his anal glands.

So things are good here and we have the mouth odor mysterie solved and know that it isn't going to hurt Bogie or our wallets.

[queenb]

A good vet is priceless, MRD, and I'm glad you've found one. As is a good dentist for humans, or animals! I've got my BooBoo back today, and I'm enjoying all the kitty love. I needed the break, but missed my fur baby! I think I've been missed too, because I've been having to rub the tummy all afternoon!