It’s The Little Things…

Over the last few weeks, Reyna has shown more signs of getting worse. There are several little things that she’s been doing (or not doing) that tell me she’s not feeling like herself. One change I’ve noticed is that her tail is much cleaner than usual. Which means its not all crusty and covered in dog spit. That’s because she’s not sitting on it and licking it as much anymore, which is because she has a lot of trouble catching it now. Even though she still wants to spin around the living room, she’s not doing it nearly as often. I think somewhere in her doggy brain she’s realized that slipping and falling is not a fun thing to do.

Another change I discovered a couple of weeks ago when we had a nice warm weekend. I gave the dogs baths, and for the first time ever, Reyna didn’t spend the entire time trying to get away from me. At one point, she actually sat down while I lathered her up with the shampoo. That’s just not like her.

Her hips have started shaking every time she stands still and she occasionally has trouble getting up the ramp to the deck. That’s not a good sign. She’s also started licking more and chewing on herself. The lick granuloma on her wrist is twice the size it was two weeks ago. Some of the chewing may be due to allergies, so I’ve got her on Benadryl to help with that. I’m afraid most of it is because she’s hurting and frustrated at her inability to do what she wants and her obsessive-compulsive brain is acting out. If she starts fixating, we could have some real trouble. She has an appointment Monday with our regular vet to get on Clomicalm, an anti-anxiety med. Since the Prozac never caused any obvious behavioral changes, we’re trying something else. With luck, the new meds will calm her down and keep her from obsessing over licking or chewing certain spots. And she can stay on it through the surgery and recovery period. I also talked to the vet today about getting a sling for her so I can help stabilize her when she has trouble walking. He actually recommended a special harness instead of a sling, which makes more sense to me. A hip sling would very likely cause more pain, particularly after the surgery, and I’m not sure that Reyna would tolerate a belly sling. She’s used to wearing a harness for SAR, though, so this shouldn’t cause her any stress. And its designed so that she can wear it all day, which means I won’t have to go looking for it when I want her to use it, or worry her by putting it on and taking it off repeatedly.

We’ll see how the new meds go, and maybe the weather will warm up some and help ease some of the pain. Right now, my goal is just to get to the pre-op appointment without losing so much bone that the surgeon says she can’t have a new hip.

A Howling Good Time

We don’t hear many sirens at our house, but when we do, the dogs tend to ignore them. At most, they might look in that general direction for a few seconds. Tuesday was different. Lots of sirens went by our cul-de-sac three separate times, and each time it was several vehicles, not just one. The first time, about 3:45 (yes, I went home early), Reyna ignored them and Duncan just raised his head and looked. The second time, about 6:15, Reyna raised her head and looked and Duncan actually wandered over to the fence to see what he could see. The third time was a whole ‘nother story. It happened at 10:40, and the sirens lasted for several minutes. Duncan shot through the dog door and proceeded to howl until all the sirens had stopped (Duncan has never howled at sirens before, but he does howl at other things). Reyna’s response had me laughing. She went to the kitchen windows and started barking. But her bark was different than usual. After a couple of normal barks, she changed to shorter, higher-pitched barks that sounded exactly like a stuttering howl. This was the first time in her life that she’s howled (or close to it). Can’t wait to hear what happens the next time we hear sirens!

In Response To Sam's Comment...

I couldn't find a soft copy of Mikey and Loki under the lamp, but I did find this one (also taken by Sam). And if it doesn't scream illicit love, I don't know what would.

Kitty Love

With a clowder of six indoor cats, the relationship dynamics can be pretty interesting. It seems that there are occasional changes, but a lot of their preferences stay remarkably constant. For example, Belle hates everyone else. That really never changes, although she will occasionally share the bed with them instead of doing her normal growl-and-run. Mikey likes to make Belle crazy (usually by sitting on her head), and Loki just loves to make Belle so mad that she, well, growls and runs. But that’s been a constant since the boys joined our family years ago. Something that has changed, though, is who Mikey prefers as a cuddle buddy. When I first got Mikey, he would often sleep snuggled against Loki. Loki seemed to only tolerate this, not really enjoy it. Now, though, Mikey sleeps next to Per’la. I’ll often walk into the bedroom and see them curled together, sometimes facing each other, sometimes spooning, sometimes nose to butt, but always some part is touching. When I pet one, they both purr. They are the only two who consistently sleep together; the others more often prefer their own space.


Interestingly enough, the kittens' personalities have developed over time to match up with the adults. Per'la is most like Mikey, Parm is like Loki, and Khar'pern is an orange and white version of Belle (except she doesn't growl and run. Yet.).

Handicapped Accessible

John came over Saturday afternoon to build Reyna’s new ramp. He got to the house at 3:00, made a quick run to Lowe’s and Papa John's about 8:00, and we were finished a little after 11:00. This came just in time, too. Reyna's had a rough few days and has been limping quite a bit. John mentioned a couple of times that she was worse than he'd ever seen her.

Here’s a “before” photo of the deck.


After considering what would need to be done to the support boards if we wanted to keep the steps, we decided to just get rid of the steps completely.


John dug a hole for the end of the support boards. Duncan wasn't sure if he was supposed to help or not, so he decided to guard the pile of dirt.


"Mom! He's touching me!" John decided to have a bit of fun with Duncan and a tape measure, but Duncan didn't find it quite as funny as John did....


Reyna and Duncan, both watching John work.


Reyna was very pensive the entire afternoon and evening. I think she was concerned about how she was going to get back in the house.


Every now and then, Reyna would go over to doorway and act like she was going to try and jump up onto the deck. She acted upset that I wouldn't let her try it, but I don't think she really believed she'd make it all the way up.


John used cement to brace the supports and the bottom rail post. I’m pretty sure the ramp isn't going anywhere any time soon.


Almost done! I'd told John we had to have a hand rail (mostly for my benefit) and pickets to keep Reyna from taking the shortcut and trying to jump on and off the ramp halfway up instead of walking all the way to the end.


And here it is, the finished ramp! The ramp is 8’ long, so the slope is fairly shallow. All that’s left to do is paint the railing white to match the deck and stain/waterproof the ramp.


Thank you, John, for spending your Saturday afternoon and evening doing this! I'm so grateful, and I know that somewhere in her doggy brain, Reyna is, too.

Surgery Schedule Update

Everything has been finalized with the vet school (finally). Reyna’s pre-op appointment is still scheduled for Monday, March 30. Her surgery has been moved out one week to Thursday, May 7. She’ll come home either the 8th or the 9th, depending on how she does.

Picture Night

Wednesday night was GSD club night, and it was picture night, which means Reyna got to go. The pups went to camp for the day, in hopes that Reyna would be more relaxed than usual that evening. She was actually very well behaved during the meeting, and only tried to eat one dog’s head when she showed a bit of dominance to Reyna. Reyna doesn’t tolerate that, especially not from some young thing barely old enough to breed.

Some of the pictures came out a little fuzzy (Mary is still working on her photography skills), but we got some nice shots.

Poor Girl

Reyna’s having a rough time these days. I wish I could say I don’t know why, but only because denial is occasionally less stressful. It looks like the grace period we had from late December through last month is ending. For the last few days, she’s had more difficulty in getting up and down, and she’s started falling several times a day. I just got off the phone with the vet school, and her surgery is now on the calendar for April 30, with a tentative pre-op appointment March 30. The pre-op is tentative only because her surgeon will be out of town most of March, so she’d be seeing a different orthopedic vet. The school is going to confirm with the surgeon that he doesn’t have a problem with that and call me back this afternoon. During the pre-op, they’ll take x-rays of her hips and determine if she can have the cementless hip or if she needs the cemented hip (not our preferred choice because of increased potential for complications). Reyna will also have her cardiology consult that day. Wow. Just having it on the schedule has increased my stress level...now I have an actual date for when I’ll be handing over lots and lots of money. But, its good that its on the calendar. Now I can solidify plans with my boss and make sure work doesn’t book any trips for me.

In other news, Reyna and Duncan are at day camp again today. We have GSD club tonight, and its picture night, so Reyna gets to go with us. I’m hoping the day of camp will ease her insanity level down a notch. Paws crossed...

Why I Should Not Have A Camera

Since Mary and I discovered our mutual love of cropping last spring, we’ve been getting together once or twice a month to work on our various projects. Because of that, I’m almost done putting my trip to Hawaii in a scrapbook. Yep, the trip I took in September. Of 2007. It’s a good thing I haven’t had any out-of-town vacations since then. Part of the delay with completing the book is that I can only work on it at my house, since I need access to my printer. Of course, that lets me work on the dogs’ books at Mary’s house, so its not such a bad thing. Lately, though, I’ve been bogged down by the sheer volume of pictures. For example, I just finished cropping the pictures I took at sunset on my last night there. It took a bit of time to sort out which pictures I wanted to use, but I finally narrowed it down to 52. That may sound like a lot, but you have to consider that, in a 30 minute period, I took 340 pictures. After my initial review, I only printed 297. So 52 really isn’t that many.

Finally Over

Update: Okay, I didn't actually get to leave work until a few minutes before 5:00. But thats still a LOT earlier than I've left during the last few weeks. I even made it home before dark!

Its Friday afternoon, the customer is leaving, and I get to go home really soon! Yay! I’m so glad this week is done. All the free food was nice, but I really need a break. And some rest. Next week will be back to the usual insanity, but that’s no big deal. At least I can take my time getting into the office again and I’ll be able to leave when I want (for the most part).

The results of my not-so-scientific experiment are in – Reyna needs at least two visits to day camp before she gets to a tolerable (for me) energy level. Poor girl, she certainly won’t get that on a regular basis. The PetHotel folks told me last night that Duncan played soccer again for most of the day. Reyna apparently did most of her playing in the morning and spent more time relaxing during the afternoon. Duncan was comatose for most of the evening (no surprise there), and even Reyna was fairly relaxed. She was feeling good enough that we actually spent about 20 minutes retrieving the soccer ball last night, which is a game we haven’t played in a very long time. Paws crossed, she continues feeling this good for a long time. If nothing else, that would give me more time to save money for her surgery.

Owie

You know, I love the benefits I get from my quarterly shot, but I really hate that it makes half my butt hurt for three days. The nurse suggested taking the shot in my arm, but I can't imagine that would feel any better (and probably hurt worse). I guess three days for three months is a reasonable price to pay, but still... Good thing the chairs at work are comfortable!

Not As Urghy

The week is almost over (glory, hallelujah!) and has actually gone fairly well. The testing has been successful in the sense that our equipment works and the problems have all been proven to be caused by other vendors’ equipment or firmware. So, our customers are happy with us, and that’s taken a lot of the stress away. We still have about a day and a half left for the customer to play and try to break the system (less if they decide to leave early tomorrow), but today has been a lot less intense. We even managed to get out of here at 6:00 last night. Our visitors are going to the hockey game tonight, which means we have a great excuse to get them out of the building by 5:30.

The pups had a blast at day camp on Tuesday, and they’re back there again today. One of the girls at the PetHotel told me that Duncan played soccer with her and another dog for nearly an hour Tuesday afternoon. Naturally, Duncan was the goalie. When I called to check on them today during lunch, the girl said that Duncan had been playing soccer again and that Reyna spent quite a bit of the morning playing with several other dogs. This is a very good thing, because I desperately need Reyna to be a bit more chilled out than usual tonight. Of course, I also need some time at home during daylight hours, because the yard could really use a good scooping.

My Hero

I almost forgot to write about how my co-worker, Kevin, saved my thumb from infection, gangrene and almost certain amputation (well, maybe not gangrene or amputation, but definitely a nasty infection). Monday night after dinner I was reaching into my purse for my phone and managed to jab the tip of my mechanical pencil under the cuticle of my right thumb. Naturally, the lead broke off and stayed trapped under the skin. I was too tired to deal with it Monday, so I poked at it a bit Tuesday morning. By then, the skin was red and irritated, and it was easy to feel the lump where the lead was wedged. Being right handed (and really tired), I couldn't get to the lead very easily, so I gave up. I showed my thumb to Kevin when he got to the office (he was with me when the injury occurred), and he promptly pulled out his pocketknife to try and remove the lead. He seemed rather surprised that I gave him my thumb – I think he muttered something about me being too trusting... He couldn’t remove the lead with his knife, so we checked the first aid box and found splinter removers (yes, that’s what they’re called). We took one of those and an antiseptic wipe and went into the lab to use the magnifying lamp. Within a minute, Kevin had pulled the piece of lead out from under my cuticle. Now, a day and a half later, the skin is still a bit red and sore, but definitely much better than it would have been if I’d just waited for the lead to just work itself out.

Urgh

I know its only Tuesday, but this has been The Week That Never Ends, starting last Monday. Well, Wednesday, actually, since I got to stay home Tuesday and play in the snow with the pups. I did work from home some, but still, Tuesday wasn’t a bad work day. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I was in the office until 7:30 each night. Back in the office Saturday morning at 6:30 (yes, 6:30am) for several hours, then working from home Saturday evening. Back in the office Sunday afternoon at 1:00, left around 6:00. The customers for my big project flew in Sunday afternoon for a week-long visit, so I was in the office yesterday morning at 7:15, getting the equipment room cleaned up for their visit. We had a good day – all the equipment worked like it was supposed to – and then we had a group dinner last night. I didn’t get home until 10:30 and by that point Reyna was in full-out lunatic mode. I knew it would just get worse as the week progresses, so the pups are spending the day at the PetHotel’s doggy day camp. I’m hoping Reyna will burn off at least a little energy. I’m also hoping we’ll be out of here today by 6:00, since I’ve been here since 7:15 again. And tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, I’ll be in between 7:15 and 7:30 each morning. Even if we’re wrapping up each evening around 6:00, I’m still going to be pooped. I’ve been so tired that I’m having trouble getting warm, and I keep having really wonky dreams. Sunday night, I dreamt that Jean-Claude Van Damme told me that I “really looked 30.” I was a bit annoyed, until he explained that he was saying that, since I’m 32, I look younger than I really am. I let him get away with that because, after all, he has a really cute accent. Did I mention I’m really tired? Fingers crossed that all the remaining testing goes well and the customer decides we’re done early Friday, because when they leave, I’m leaving. And I am not working from home this weekend.

That Makes A Weird Sort Of Sense

So I was reading an article about German shepherds today and I came across this quote about GSDs and herding: “…and even when you walk them, they will tend to go a little ahead, but keep checking back with you and circling you to make sure your perimeter is secure.” And that’s when the lightening hit. I’d commented a couple of weeks ago about Duncan’s new trick of walking and weaving behind me. It suddenly occurred to me that’s his version of herding me while we walk. The weaving he was doing was exactly like what he does when he’s moving sheep from one point to another. I don’t know that he’s necessarily checking my perimeter, but the result is pretty much the same.

In other news...

Reyna’s been feeling pretty peppy lately, so I thought we’d give a walk a try today. After all, I’ve been working some late hours, including going in to the office today for about 4 hours, and another 5 or so on the schedule for tomorrow, and a really long week coming up. Because I’ve not been home much, she’s been nuttier than usual (hard to believe, I know). Anyway, the three of us started to walk through the neighborhood, but Reyna showed signs of difficulty almost immediately. We turned back towards home, but decided to take the scenic route through the woods. We haven’t been in the woods behind the house in nearly a year, primarily due to Reyna’s condition. She did pretty well, though, and both pups had fun playing in the nasty stinky pond. They didn’t seem to enjoy getting hosed off in the yard quite as much... Reyna’s been a little limpy since we got home, but at least she managed to burn off some energy.

A Different Sort Of Thing

I thought I’d post a few more pictures from Tuesday’s snow. Instead of more dog pictures (although I have plenty of them, so don’t tempt me), here are a few of the cats and the local birds.

If you look closely, you can see the bright red cardinal.

Per'la, Khar'pern and Parm were fixated on the birds.


Here are several of the birds just waiting for the dogs to be distracted.


Watching anxiously....


I had to refill the feeder twice Tuesday because so many birds came to visit.


Mikey, checking to see if its safe to come out.


Okay, so just one dog picture....

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Today was absolutely wonderful! I don’t know when the snow started, but when I woke up at 3:30 the ground was already covered. It was still snowing when I woke up at 6:00, and didn’t stop until nearly 2:00 this afternoon. Based on various measurements around the house, we got nearly 6 inches. It was a light, powdery snow that made pretty swirly patterns when the wind blew. I know a few folks went into the office today, but I was not one of them. I did get quite a bit of work done, though, including a conference call. But most importantly, I spent a lot of time outside playing in the snow with the dogs.

The blowing snow turned Duncan into a complete goofball (more so than usual). He bounced more than he walked, talked Reyna into playing several times, and thoroughly enjoyed chasing the birds away from the feeder. He played hard every time we went outside, and he’s currently sound asleep on the couch, with his head in my lap.

Reyna also had a great time today. She ran and played, and chased her ball and the birds. Her hip didn’t seem to bother her at all. It was really great to watch her have so much fun. I also enjoyed watching her nap most of the evening.

Here are just a few of the many, many, many pictures I took today.

Making snow angels...

Getting rid of the birds...

Let's play!

Not sure what Duncan is pointing at in this one...

A Six Cat Night

This past weekend was definitely a chilly one. Based on the animals, I’d say Friday night was the coldest. Mind you, I was perfectly comfortable with my heated mattress pad, flannel sheets, quilt and afghan. The cats, not so much. I think they decided they were too far away from the heated mattress pad, because when I woke up at 3:00 am, I discovered that my afghan was on the floor. And I was trapped. Belle was tucked up on my left side, Loki was curled up beside my head, Parm was wedged in my lower back, and the other were all at my feet (one on each side, and the third between my feet). Its probably a good thing they’d pulled the afghan off the bed. If that had still been on top of me, I probably would have been roasting.

My poor little heat pump had a rough time with the temps, too. Saturday morning, the temperature was still 55 in the house when I got up - it should have been 64 by then. When I realized we weren’t making any progress, I turned on the fireplace and put a big pot of water on the stove (its better than a humidifier, since it also adds heat). By 11:00, the temperature was back to normal.

Mary came over for a day of cropping Saturday. I think she made some progress with her stuff, and I finally finished my Germany/France book from 1993. Now I can go back to focusing on Hawaii. I admit, I took too many pictures there. I’ve been very good at thinning the stack, though. For some reason, Reyna has decided that she won’t stay in the house with us when we crop. She kept to that Saturday, even though it was so cold outside. She had a very hard time with her hips over the weekend, poor girl, and I doubt lying around in the yard helped much. I convinced her to stay in for most of Sunday, though. We spent the day being lazy (not hard to do). She was still having trouble walking this morning, but hopefully she’ll be better when I get home.

Now, everyone cross your fingers and paws, and hope we get some decent snow tonight. I’ve already been told I can work from home (which I’d planned to do, anyway). I’d love to get some pictures of the pups playing in the snow this year.

These are my all-time favorite pictures of the pups in snow (notice Duncan in the background of the first picture):

PediPaws

Mom and Ronnie bought a PediPaws nail trimmer before Christmas to use on Sugar. It is essentially a low-power dremel tool with a cap to catch nail dust. It didn’t work like they’d hoped, so when I visited at Christmas, they gave it to me to use on the dogs. I’ve spent some time since then getting the dogs used to the noise and the general feel of the PediPaws, with moderate success. Duncan doesn’t like having it actually touch him while its on, but he’s interested in it and not scared of it. Reyna doesn’t want it anywhere near her and generally just shoots it dirty looks. Last night, I finally used it on Duncan’s nails. It works, in the sense that the nails I used it on are now shorter than they were when we started. The problem is that it is extremely slow to actually file the nails down, and anything more than just the slightest pressure from the nail causes it to stop spinning. I’m sure I could have eventually filed all of his nails down, but it would have taken a very long time. And the way the cap is shaped, its hard to get the edges of the nail or to see how far they’ve been filed down. This might work for a small or medium dog, but its just not powerful enough to really handle the thick nails of a big dog. On the upside, it does work as a light back massager.

Brief Harmony

This is the closest we ever came in our house to something similar to Max and Fawn. It certainly didn't last very long.



And, well, this one is just really cute.