hole in my head.

well, we have been fostering a "special needs" big German Shepherd Dog Nikita, (& i mean BIG... she is like a cruise ship!). she is not too friendly. i have already put her in her place several times, even though she is three times my weight. well, she got uppity again a couple of weeks ago, & mommie stepped in. this prevented me from dodging the way i do, (Blue Heeler talent), & i got a nice hole from her fang in the side of my head, with a bunch of air bubbles, too. sigh. i have had to have wet cotton strips pushed into the hole to have it heal correctly, & i had to wear this *&!$%! Elizabethan collar around my head, because i do hate that bandage, & i rip it off every chance i get with my dexterous paws, (another Blue Heeler trait). well, when i came home from Auntie Gloria;s saturday night, i was happy to see Mister Sixx & Ghostie! they were really happy to see me, & i was glad that mean German Shepherd was finally gone, (she found a wonderful home on a great farm with horses & goats.) well... Mister Sixx rushed up to say "hello!" & while we were all squirming around, this plastic thing on my head -- the *&!$%! E-collar -- cut a ;piece of his ear right off. oh, there was sooooo much blood; he was just drenched like a sundae. mommie took good care of him & now, well we both have silly bandages all over our heads. he does not pull his off however, & this is making me look reallllllly bad. mommie is soooooo upset about his ear, (you know she has those symmetry issues, just ask poor Ghostie! with the crazy eye). i feel so badly for my brother, & i wish i could take his pain away & give him his beautiful ear back. )): he is getting lots of treats; i am not. i guess it is because he is good & just lies there, whereas i am a trickster & rip off my bandages all day.

Miss Maggie Mae!!!

maaaaaaah-gee MAY.... maaaaaaaaaaah-geeee MAY!!!

boy, oh, boy... what a visit Mommie had with Maggie & Auntie Amber. yes, indeed! i almost feel like second Heeler around here she was in so in love with the two of them!!! (i am hoping part of it was just the weather.) but seriously, folks, Mommie does love her doggies, & Maggie is a fine, fine little Heeler. (i say little because she turns out to be a bit smaller than i, & not just because of my low-thyroid fatness, which is now under control, but she is a cute little mini-Heeler.) she got tons of great lamb & chicken liver cubes, (in the recommended amounts, of course), & i sent a Snib-scented plush "crawfish" along. (it was really a lobster, but i had to work with what was available.)

anyhow, they all just had the best, best, BEST BEST time, & i sort of made out well since Daddy went on a junk-food binge in Mommie;s absence, & there was lots of beef jerky & those sorts of things here for a change.

i just can NOT wait to play with Miss Maggie!!! she is a real firecracker from her videos that Mommie has. that is in the works, for sure. plus, she is part blue, so i love her even more! i got to see her playing with a Gretchen-looking dog; how funny!

i am having a grand ol' time watching SillySixx with these crazy bouncy bouncy balls; he is on a steep learning curve lately though, except Ghostie keeps stealing & hiding them: Ghostie is a true Interloper, (hence the nickname). i was willing to catch a few, by my forte' is catching edible items; Mommie & Daddy are less than pleased about that. i guess between the weather & the sneaky thyroid problem i got a little off of my game; i have to work on that.

Tante Amber sent home the most wonnnnnderful treats, along with the bouncy balls -- & they alone are enough entertainment: watching Sixx work himself into a tizzy. these pig ears, let me tell you. they were two to three times the size of any pig ear i have come across in my days; Holy Crow! that was one fabulous evening. there are also some great dog frisbees that i cannot wait to try; hopefully i will not again land on my throat -- (don;t ask).

there is ONE pig ear left, & i am using all my Snibby powers to earn its rights; say a little prayer for me, eh?

Maggie is just a little darling, & her Mommie seems to be amazing: truly special, amazing friend, needle in a haystack; thank you Dogster! this place is a dream-come-true: two happy-as-can-be Dogstresses loving dogs all day! they had lots of fun back home in the French Quarter, meeting lots of great dogs, great times together at home, & had a big crawfish party where lucky, lucky Maggiesnoote got to meet a real live one; if only i had been there! i could have shown her a few good moves from my days wrangling fresh seafood creatures in the Bywater & Marigny... not to mention when Mommie came home with stuff from K-Jean!!! we would have been showing even Maggie;s Daddy a few things!!! well, someday very soon! very, very soon!!

good GRAVY .... !!!

well, Mommie was correct, hairline fracture; "heeled" up (ha-ha!) in no time with crate rest & the Rimadyl. but guess what? they stabbed my poor blue arm & did a "mini wellness panel", (remember the cool purple Prince bandage?), before they put me on the medicine. although, it was a Saturday, the results would not be back until Tuesday, so what is the point, as i would ALREADY have been on the Rimadyl for three days?!?! duh. anyhow, the thing showed my kidneys were just a tiny bit up, which is most likely because i was in the crate since the night before & not drinking AS much. plus, PLUS, there were really not many other values available, ("mini"), & without that it would be hard to know what it meant, since calcium, phosphorous, amylase, & albumin would be very helpful in figuring out what this is. anyhow, i, & Mommie, are pretty sure it is just the mild dehydration. anyhow, guess what? my thyroid was pretty low!!!! RATS!!! this explains those 5 extra pounds i have put on, because Mommie is super careful with foods & our weight. (Gretchen was the sleekest wienie around!) Mommie just knows it is from that rotten, horrible, God-awful, hellacious Immiticide treatment i had to get right after Mommie got me. the first person that had me for a few months did not give me heartworm medicine, & EVERY DOG in Louisiana -- Mosquito Heaven -- will get it if they are not protected. it was a nightmare!!! kill the wormies & they break off & get absorbed & excreted. & things that harsh, other toxins, etc., can blast the thyroid. mine is a 0.7 with 1.2 being the lower-limit of normal. they want to put me on thyroid pills twice a day for the rest of my life. ICK! Mommie wants to give me some natural thyroid boosting pills & drops first, because, my thyroid is working, it just needs a little support, & we will see where i am at. those thyroid pills can be tooo peppy, & we do not want that. the natural booster compounds will make it shape up & get back to work, while the replacement pills will just make it lazy(er). this sucks, though. ughhhhh. this does not surprise me tooooo much, because the vet DID forget to give me the pre-med anti-inflammatory before my awful, awful Immiticide treatment AND they gave me too much. i was literally writhing around on the bed & clawing at the walls & crying all night; Mommie was beside herself. THEN, i had to stay like pretty much crated for eight weeks, because it can give you a blood / worm clot in your lung once they break free, so you have to stay quiet & not get the blood going too quickly or forcefully. ICKKKK! but you are supposed to be perfectly healthy after treatment, so i guess it was good. if only they had not blown my thyroid!!! we will work to get it back to normal. it was funny, when Mommie asked about retesting & getting the other lab values that happened to not be included in the "mini" panel, the vet said, get this, that we could get the rest of the tests from the blood that was left in the lab. HUH??? this was after they already talked about the fact that i was DEHYDRATED when they drew the first blood! so, why get more tests on blood that was not a good sample in the first place??? ughhhhhhh again. there are WAY too many vet mistakes; & these are different vets; not even differences of opinion, just out & out mistakes. anyway, we are going to just get my thyroid boosted up & see what happens then. i even stopped taking the Rimadyl as soon as they got the telephone message about my kidneys, before Mommie was able to get them on the phone to nail down what was happening; even though Rimadyl is mostly with the liver, NSAIDs & kidneys do not mix well. four days after the message, Mommie figured it was from the mild dehydration, but before that she had already just stopped giving it to me, not knowing what the kidney "problems" were.

on the upside, my leg is just fine, fine, fine; no pain at all. so hairline fracture it was; all that rotten crate living & "no furniture" helped. yaaaay.

Ouchy New Year!

we all determined something was wrong with me Friday night when i screeched & squealed a lot as i moved around in certain ways, or even got myself up from lying down. Mommie knows all about medical stuff, & went over me with a fine-toothed comb, trying to reproduce my squealing since i could not tell her right out what was wrong -- so frustrating. however, it was not easy, & pretty inconsistent, so we were going to the vet for sure. i was able, thanks to Aunty Gloria pulling some strings, to get in to see a veterinarian early Saturday morning, as it was getting worse overnight. the lady did pretty much everything Mommie did, except she also took blood; but i got a nice purple bandage, so i got to look like Prince. yaaay. they did not find much of anything, & Mommie was secretly angry. i think Mr. Sixx was jealous of my bandage, & i KNOW Ghostie was. they were not sure what the problem with me was, but i have to take Rimadyl & stay in the crate. they do know it is not my back or my important knee parts, so that is a relief. it is still a little tender, but i am getting better; or maybe that is just the Rimadyl? this happened to Gretch when she took it for her back, leaping around like nothing was wrong. Saturday, not long after getting in from the vet, i was going back into my cage, i turned around, & OUCHYYYYY!!!!!! well, that was all they needed to know: hairline fracture. Mommie is pretty sure of it. all the pushing & pulling makes no difference, but if i turn wrong: OWWWWW! plus, it gets worse after i am in the crate for a while, not better. but this was the first day, i am not in just about any pain now, except for the pain of not being able to sit on the couch or on Mommie;s lap. :(( no one has any idea how i did this to myself, including me. probably from the stampedes; those boys can get pretty crazy sometimes. ugh. i only have to take Rimadyl for another week, & then i will get out of this crate, too. i get to come out every few hours on a leash & lie on a dog bed near Mommie, to make sure i do not play with anyone or get stampeded; they all weigh a bit more than i do, but, i rule the roost, even from the crate, as they wait for me to come out & eat before they touch their food. it is good to be Queen! well, at least it is TOO COLD to go outside & have much fun anyway, so i guess i am not missing much. & i did get a fabulous, wonderful RAINBOW from my good friend Maggie-Mae, so life could be worse.