rotten_two

i think it was all an illuuuuuussssion or that he hit that silly sauce too hard before bed!

yum yum lucky you. are the wipes those nature's miracle ones? we have spray bottles of nm and i just spray it on a paper towel, line em up, and wipe em down. it does a really nice job of getting the funk off!

whoa! you need to be strapped down when you sleep!

still i wouldn't want to put the pups in that situation. better they were safely inside with you mr groggy and still dreaming!

wow! good thing she let the dogs in huh?

whoa! sounds like she could use a vacation from life right about now. can you do anything to help her cope?

i like to go up to people hand them a plastic bag and say your dog left something for you in my yard.

he's so handsome! hey hf do like momma did and just go thru all the names until you get the one you need :D

thanks guys he is back to his normal self tonite! he's even tried to hump gaia a few times so i know he is fine now!

ok so aspen had his skin punch biopsies (oh yes that is plural) yesterday. as i said before this is not our normal vet but this woman does all the surgical procedures at the practice. lemme just say i don't like her! she is late 40s early 50s and oh my gosh she had on hooker red lipstick and it was on her teeth too! she and all the techs could not get over how great aspen was during the procedure. they didn't have to give him full anesthesia so that is a good thing. she shaved a huge portion on his back and she took 2 punch tests, 1 skin scraping and a pus smear. she put metal sutures in to close the holes. metal! metal? wtf? why would you use metal? he could get them caught on his blankie and hurt himself? annoyed i am. i took pictures but i didn't have time to download them yet. he was so pitiful and pretty groggy all day. ok so back to the retarded vet . . . after asp was done and receiving subq fluids she talked to us. remember she is coming in to a game already in progress but she thinks she knows it all. so she starts in on how she read his file and this is what she thinks blah blah blah. then she suggests we might change his food. everybody sit down for a second -- she wants us to change from the honest kitchen freeze dried organic diet to PURINA! i damn near lost my mind! how dare she tell me to put him on purina. i didn't hear anything after that cause my eyes rolled back in my head and i was having full body convulsions. hunny said he knew i was boiling. then she says would you like us to clip his nails? fuck no! bring me my baby this minute. he has an appt with his REAL vet in a week and we can see then what the tests have shown.

interesting!

you think they meant hip dysplasia?

yo this is the everything about dogs section baby bitch! you know literacy is a condition of your graduation to full on dogo bitch! :wink: never heard of hip hernia but i will go look now!

you're tellin' me :roll:

GRRRRRRR! so hunny and i arrange to take the afternoon off we get to the vet and they say um we have to reschedule for thursday. hunny went bonkers and cursed a blue streak. they say they called us several times but only left one message -- however i have yet to find the message on cell, work or home. so i immediately fed aspen. we have to do this fasting again tomorrow as the procedure is scheduled for the am. i don't need this kind of stress :evil: our normal vet is in greece on vacation and this is her business partner (who coincidentally does all surgeries anyway) we're not real impressed!

ok i am off to the vet with my aspy baby!

thanks everyone! i am really starting to get uneasy because i have read about and viewed pics of the procedure. since he will not be completely out they want hunny and me to be in the room with him to kinda keep him calm. i think i will be ok but hunny is not so great with blood and guts. the lesions are along his backbone which is totally freaking me out cause threre is not a lot of skin there to begin with! ACK! one part of me hopes the vet will look at the rash and say she doesn't need to do it while the other part wants a definitive answer as to what the heck is causing the problem.

hmmm was she on leash? very disturbed to hear this!

he loves hugs and kisses JM! i taught him to bump my lips with his nose when i say "kiss" or "i love you" so it looks like he really is kissing me. i admit i am starting to feel a little stressed because like everyone else i hate to see my babies unwell. the worst part is that he has to be fasting in case something goes awry and they have to put him under. so he was so pitiful when he didn't get breakfast :cry:

we could use some positive thoughts today as aspen is going to have a skin punch procedure. he has been fighting what we thought was a staph infection for about 6 weeks now. 3 courses of antibiotics later and it's not improving like we would hope. since he has not done well with anesthesia in the past they are just gonna dope him up good and give a local pain block in order to get the skin sample. i will keep you posted about his progress!

good job! so now i want you to play a little game with her using the take it cue. until now you have handed her a toy and asked her to drop. now change up when, how, where she "takes it." for instance put the toy in your other hand, put it behind your back, hi & lo, under the leg, etc. also change places -- inside, outside, different distractions. keep asking her to drop it and giving her treats when she does. do this for a few days until she gets the hang of it -- this truly tests her understanding of the words 'take' then you can start placing it on the ground and asking her to 'take it' then toss it about a foot away. see where this is going? lemme know how you do :D

you could try laying the crutches flat and putting chicken at various points. don't show re that it is there just let him discover the chicken for himself. do it a couple times a day for a few days until he gets braver. same thing with cast -- use a treat to show him the cast in not dangerous.

where are the pics?

courtnek -- i have rheumatoid arthritis which i realize is a bit different but have had great success with mild diet modification. there are a group of foods called nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers) that seem to aggravate arthritic joints. i have eliminated eggplant, peppers, and most potatoes. i tried taking out one at a time and adding it back in to see what happened. what i found is that for me tomatoes don't flare my joints but peppers & eggplant do. if you search 'nightshades' on the web you will likely find many testaments. it's worth a try!

another word of caution -- if you choose to allow rawhide you need to be mindful that you are there to supervise when she has it. they can chew it til it gets all slimy and they can get pieces caught in their throat. also throw them away before they are small enough to choke her. i will say that in my experience if a dog is gonna guard something rawhide is at the top of the list. also seriously consider positive obedience classes -- they help with socialization for her and instruction for you.