Mother Nature is making me grrr

Last Sunday morning I was shivering and mom covered me up with blankets and moved me near the heater. Last night, barely a day later, I woke up panting and was too warm and mom had to let me down off the bed so I could drink water. I was restless last night cause I was too warm. (Mom’s scheduled groomings for me and Shakey for Saturday btw.) What’s up Mother Nature? I thought we were pals! One day you’re making me shiver and the next day you’re making me overheat. Make up your mind, sheesh! No love, Lacey the nature girl

Still have all my teeth!

Blech. I hate dentals. But I still have all my teeth! I just got gobs of tartar cleaned off. Mom says I needed it and now my breath will no longer smell like… hey, mom, this is a family site! Anywoof, I’m home and I'm pretty out of it. I was snuggling in mom's lap by the window but she had to get up and make dinner. I'm gonna curl up in my bed and take advantage of my pitiful state and whine and demand pets and scratches, not that I don’t do that on a regular basis anyways, BOL.

Two days of torture!

Mom owes me big time. Today she gave me a bath. Tomorrow I'm getting my teeth cleaned. Ok, I'll get lots of soft food out of that last one, but still, dentals are never fun!I know mom's going to worry about me tomorrow, espawcially since I'm almost 11, and mom is a worrywart. I'll see if mom will let me type in my diary when I'm all doped up, BOL!

BOL, mom's boyfriend just said I'd be ok tomorrow cause I'm too ornery! He's got a good, true point! BOL!

I sniffed live pre-bacon!

Mom took me and Shakespeare to the indoor Pet Expo this past Saturday. We’ve been going for a few years, even before we moved here. Heck, I was even in the fastest tail contest a couple years ago – I did not win cause I do not do anything anyone tells me to do. I do what I want! Anypaw! We were walking around and there was a booth for a “Virginia Alliance for Potbellied Pigs” group. Well a piggy on a leash came near me and sniffed at me, so I sniffed back at it, and let me tell you, it did not smell like bacon! Of course I BARKBARKBARKED at it! I put my front paws down and backed up and BARKBARKBARKED! Mom says I looked like the pig freaked me out, but she did a terrible translation! I was telling the piggy it needed to go be made into bacon treats right away! (No, mom, that is not mean!)

Oh yah, and do you know my mom doesn’t like bacon?!? She is crazy! Oh well, more bacon for everyone else!

Looks are deceiving

Me and mom went to the vet’s office yesterday so I could get bloodwork done before my teeth get cleaned on Monday. We’re waiting in the lobby and a nice lady who tells mom she has a schnauzer too, the lady oohhs and ahhhhs over me, as of course everyone should do. So naturally I jump on the nice lady and she pets me, and then, BOL, then she tells mom “she doesn’t seem like the type that barks a lot.” BOL BOL BOL!!! Mom replied “actually it’s the complete opposite.” Wait a sec! Ok, ok, it’s true. And I proved it cause the lady’s schnauzer girl came out into the lobby and I barked and barked my head off at her! Then her schnauzer barked, and she and mom shrugged all like “yep, schnauzers, what are ya gonna do?!?” BOL

I don’t look like I bark a lot, funniest thing I’ve heard all year! BOL!

Medical Mumbo Jumbo

Me and Shakey wrote about our misadventures at the v-e-t but mine were way worse. The v-e-t poked and prodded around my eye, which doesn't have goop coming out of it anymore but it still annoying the heck outta me and I gotta paw at it. Grr! Mom's been giving me eyedroppies since then and that annoys me too. I dunno how my cousin Sam puts up with it all the time! Maybe if mom gave me more treats… Anypaw!

Cause I'm still model-thin, BOL, the v-e-t also tested my pee and blood yet again. I'm having trouble reading mom's notes here - you'd think a squirrel wrote this mess! So, ok, there was a little blood and a little protein in my pee, which would mean bladder stones, but I'm not having trouble peeing and I don't need to more than usual, so the v-e-t told mom to just keep an eye on my plumbing.

My ab-u-men level was still low "barely within normal", a 2.6, but it was up from a 2.4 from my results last month. V-e-t says that means I'm probably not losing protein in my urine or it’s not pawsistent at least.

My glob-u-len level was still high. Appawrently this can be a sign of increased antibodies which means something's stimulating my immune system.

My CPK levels are elevated.. mom wrote this is a muscle enzyme, and elevated levels mean something is acting on my muscles. The v-e-t said normal levels are between 300-900 and mine is 2900. Wow. Wait, mom wrote that the v-e-t told her he once saw a Jack Russell with CPK levels of 30,000, and that doggy had a rare disease in which the body attacks the muscle tissue. Poly-something or other. V-e-t says this can be diagnosed in a muscle biopsy, but since it's rare he doesn't recommend doing that now. Whew!

And one of my liver enzymes is up. But all my other vital signs are normal, so that's good.

V-e-t reminded mom that he and our howlistic v-e-t had noticed my lymph nodes are enlarged, which means my lymph nodes are being reactive, which means immune system is overreacting to something, and maybe a lymph node aspiration could tell them something.

Yah, there's a lot of vagueness here, both in mom's notes and what dots the v-e-t can connect. V-e-t says the gist of it is that I have a high CPK, I look and feel like I have muscle wasting (weight loss), and there's evidence of stimulation to my immune system, but there's no obvious reasons why. And the poly-whatever muscle disease is really rare so I dunno.

V-e-t recommended a lymph node aspiration in a couple weeks. Oh, and for mom to keep "pushing the groceries" and beef me up with treats (beef treats!).

Thanks pals! (and a funny mom story)

Woof! Thanks to all my pals for my barkday presents! I have the bestest pup pals!!!

I need to get mom to fix my Dogster info cause my barkday is actually May 21. That's ok cause I got to pawty for another day! We didn't pawty too much though. We only had a short walk cause it was sprinkling. I got Wellness Chicken Stew for breakfast and Merrick Venison Stew for dinner. We ate lots of treats like chicken jerky and beef jerky (good brands like Zukes cause only the best fur us! And frozen pizza for mom, BOL!). Mom even baked biscuits and used her schnauzer and bone-shaped cookie cutters. We didn't eat but a bite of those cause we were full and napping! Yah, yah, we're a house full of seniors, BOL! (It's funny cause it's true! Me and Shakey are 10 and doggy roomate Bela is 10 or 11.)

Which all reminds me of a conversation I overheard a few weeks ago. Mom and human roommate had some friends over, and one of them had a human baby named Sophie. Mom was rocking Sophie in her carrier thingy (and even making goo-goo eyes, but mom'll deny it, BOL), and she remarked how she didn't feel any maternal instinct doing that. Moms' friends all LOLed! They said you have lots of maternal instinct, look at how you treat your dogs! BOL! Mom does call us her furkids and spoil us and she does carry me like a baby up and down the stairs. Uh oh mom, BOL!

I'm a runway model, BOL! (and another v-e-t visit)

Ok, I'm not really a runway model, altho I am photogenic and look pretty in anything! Woof! Mom says I've been "skin and bones" these past few weeks, which in human terms means I could be a runway model, right?!? BOL! Mom's been trying to fatten me up with extra treats, but it hasn't been working. So yet again she took me to the *sigh*.. v-e-t.

This vet is a new vet in our new city, but it's the same office our howlistic vet works out of. They weighed me, and I've lost .8 lbs since I was there 6 weeks ago. I'm a tiny 10 pounder (who ever heard of a 10lb mastiff?!? I think they left off a "0"!), so the vet said that much weight on a "tiny" (BOL!) dog like me isn't good.

So the vet checked me out, and he agreed with the howlistic vet that the lymph nodes on my hind legs are a little swollen. But none of my other lymph notes are swollen, so the vet said the hind leg swelling wasn't necessarily a sign of *whispers* lymphoma. He told mom dogs he's seen with that are really ill, and I haven't been *knock paw on wood*.

Anypaw! My appetite is fine and there's no change in the amount of water I drink, and I don't have any extra urka gurkas or *privacy please* problems. So that meant they did some tests. *sigh* I don't have parasites (I get heartguard the 1st of each month, duh!) or lyme disease.

They also tested my pee (mom thanked dog that she didn't have to get that sample!). I don't have glucose in my urine, so no diabetes. But the vet said there was a little blood in the sample, which is a non-specific sign of inflammation. There was also an "intermediate" level of struvite crystals, which could mean bladder or kidney stones (shout out to Fizzy, BOL!), but the vet said some in the urine is normal. The vet had mentioned to mom at the appointment that I might have a problem with malabsorption, and protein would show up in my urine, but my test results showed my microalbu..er.. protein levels were normal. So there wasn't anything "glaring" in my urinalysis at least. (Mom got scared when the vet said he'd seen similar signs in dogs who ended up having *whispers* bladder tumors. But I'm not showing any other signs of that, so *knock paw on wood*.)

So fur now, the vet said to give me as much food and treats as I want to see if I can put on weight. Canned yummy goodness all week, arooo! Vet also told mom to keep an eye on my plumbing, like I have a flushing mechanism or something, BOL. He wants me back in a week to check my weight and repeat my bloodwork.

Oh, one of mom's friends on the book of faces suggested feeding me bacon to fatten me up, wouldn't that be yummy!! But mom said no way cause it's not good for me. Geez!

I need more treats!

Seriously, I do! Mom was petting me and said she could feel my hipbones and that I needed to gain some weight. I don't think too many pups ever hear that! I was only 10.8 pounds when I was weighed a couple weeks ago, and I should be 11 or 12 pounds. What can I bark, I'm not very food motivated. I'm only motivated for certain treats, like Charlee Bears (only 3 calories per treat, so I need LOTS! BOL!) and peanut butter and ok, most other treats. Pawsome, mom just put a handful of Charlee Bears in front of me. Shakey and Bela only got two, and I got a bunch. I need to gain weight, lucky me! Woof!

No howlistic treatment for my swell self

But I'm on bed rest with good drugs, BOL! Seriously though, the nice howlistic vet pushed and pulled on my leg, and poked and prodded at my back and hind quarters. She couldn't find anything wrong by doing that, altho she felt swelling below my knee. So she did xrays and nothing stood out, which was good cause that means she didn't see tumors or breaks or anything (whew! *knocks paw on wood*!). Her well-educated guess was that I hurt or sprained my cruciate ligament cause lots of little (little?!?!) pups like me do that a lot. And cause I had some swelling. So she gave me pain meds with anti-inflammatories and told mom I should have lots of bed rest. She told mom to "baby me," which mom is pawsome at! And of course which I like, except for those times when I want to assert my independence.

The howlistic vet also did senior bloodwork on me cause apparently I'm a senior (I don't look a day over 5, geez!). All my bloodwork came back good, woof!

I also made a new friend with a Great Dane who was waiting in the lobby with her dad. It's cause we're both the same size, BOL!