Suki's playtime

This was a little wrestling match that Suki and Frodo had today. As you can see Suki was a lot more interested in the wrestling than Frodo was. My favorite part is when Suki does a full roll and surprises herself.

The Dynamic Duo

I'd love to say that Frodo is loving being a furry foster brother, but he is not at all enjoying this gig. He's a persnickety little guy - "two going on 12" we like to say. Although Suki isn't one of those crazy, spazzy puppies, she's a puppy nonetheless and that means she wants to play 24/7.

Frodo would rather NOT play with Suki. She tries and tries to get him interested, jumping up with him to his favorite spot on the back of the couch and giving him a nip on the tail, to which he responds with a lip curl, a snarl, and by jumping off the couch. She won't give up that easily though, so down she goes and chases him for a lap around the living room until he jumps back up on the couch. And then it starts all over again. And again. And again....

Every time she shows the slightest interest in a toy he decides that it's his favorite toy in the entire world and he MUST have it that very moment and rushes over to take it from her. Unfazed, Suki wanders off and chooses another of the many dog toys littering the living room. Frodo looks over, sees her new toy and decides that THAT toy is his favorite now and he needs that one. He grabs that toy and Suki goes back to grab the one she wanted in the first place, and so on, and so on...

I think the problem is that Frodo spent the first two years of his life being a pure-bred, pure-spoiled, dog and now he's got to put up with these fosters slobbering on HIS toys and HIS couch, and peeing in HIS carpet. I mean isn't it his job to pee on the carpet?

His nervous disposition and inability to adjust to change has made this rough, but not so much so that I would consider not fostering. My hope is that Suki will loosen him up a bit, but we'll see. She's got such a great disposition that at the very least she won't drive him to start marking or something awful like that.

In the photo above I have interrupted their endless battle to be king of the couch. It's the beef jerky that was hanging from my mouth and not the camera that got their attention so well.

Scratch-proofed Suki

Suki is doing much better and is back to her perky self after her recent illness. She still coughs when she first wakes up or when she gets excited but it doesn't seem to be bothering her much and the antibiotics she's taking for the recent infection should keep any bronchial infections at bay.

The problem we were having was her persistent itching caused by the mange. Her skin is looking much better than it was, however her scratching irritates some of the worst mange spots. To solve the problem we've been keeping her in her little hoodie that "The Pet Market" gave her and also in a doggy diaper to cover the spots she bites at. She's tolerating it well, and it has definitely helped with the scratching, however she looks a bit like a girly-girl, as you can see in this photo. But the end result is that she's more comfortable and that's what counts.

A scary day

On the 17th, Suki gave us a big scare. She stopped eating and drinking and became extremely lethargic. It was so out of character for this little energetic chow hound that we decided to take her to the vet. In the car it was getting difficult to keep her alert at all. So SCARY! They ran a couple tests and still couldn't figure out what it was. So they put her on antibiotics and said to call back today if she still wasn't taking food or water by Saturday.

We were worried about her getting dehydrated so we used a tiny syringe and would give her a few mililiters of water at a time. That evening she came out of her crate voluntarily, although only for a minute. On Friday, however, she was ready to play after only her second dose of antibiotics. Thank goodness it was something simple and she is back to her happy self. I couldn't sleep at all Thursday night, worrying about her.

Today the vet said she could restart the ivermectin medication for the mange so we've done that and are hoping that will help some of the itching that is bothering her.

Suki gets spoiled

Today Suki went with me to our local indie pet store, The Natural Pet Center, and boy did she get pampered. After I picked out some great vitamins to help her heal up from her mange, the owner treated her to a cute little hoodie that says "Spoiled and loving it" - complete with pink rhinestones. Then she clipped her nails for me (phew - I get nervous doing that) and gave her a pigskin knot for being such a good girl. All this after she had an hour of play time at the park. Life is good for little Suki now, and it will only get better.

She was at the vets yesterday and they said hers was the worst case of mange they'd seen in quite awhile. She has her medicine now that she'll be taking for 90 days, I believe, and some salve. He said it will take awhile because she has such a severe case. But I think the love and snuggling and playtime that she's getting are going to help her kick her immune system into overdrive and beat this thing in record time.

We'll keep you updated on her progress. Here's a pic of her in her new hoody with her yummy pigskin chew.

Ratbone Rescues day at Goodsearch.com!

Don't forget! Today Ratbone Rescues is the charity of the day on Goodsearch.com. If you do a search on goodsearch (powered by yahoo) then Goodsearch will give a penny for each search that you do with Ratbone Rescues chosen as your charity. Every penny adds up and last year the group made over $500 that went toward vet bills for rescued dogs. Thanks for helping out!

Suki: New Kid on the Block

After anxious anticipation we have finally welcomed home our new foster dog, Suki. She is a very lucky dog. You see, she was brought into a shelter in Texas, which is a strike against her to begin with, because she was an unaltered dog with a severe case of demodectic mange. A dog can't be spayed while they have mange, and the shelter couldn't afford to hold her for the 6-8 weeks until she was free of the mange for the surgery, so she was scheduled to be put down. A Ratbone Rescues just happened to be checking on another dog who ended up being adopted. The shelter workers mentioned Suki as an afterthought and the volunteer told them to hold her. It just so happened that the local Ratbone volunteer was taking 2 other dogs to the airport to fly to Seattle foster homes and a third dog, the same exact weight, that was booked in cargo for the flight couldn't get a health certificate. So Suki was able to take the other dog's spot and last night arrived in Seattle, hungry and terrified.

At first we thought we would have our hands full. She barked and snarled and wouldn't come out of her crate. But once she was fed and had some water she started playing with our dog Frodo and doing rat runs all around the house. In spite of the sores all over her body, she plays like any puppy and she is such a little lover. As much as she loves to play with Frodo, if there's a lap open somewhere she'd rather crawl up and snuggle with the humans.

She looks to be a pure bred rat terrier and will likely get up to around 15 pounds. She's a piebald tri-color type and her six big black spots are nearly symmetrical - almost like a ladybug's would be. The type of mange she has doesn't spread to humans or other dogs, other than from mother to pup.

The word "suki" is Japanese and loosely translates to liking or being fond of someone or something. It seemed perfect for such a loving little girl.

An easy way to help!

Here's an easy way to help raise money for rescue dogs with no work on your part and no money out of your pocket. Sound too good to be true? It isn't.

The online search engine, goodsearch.com, allows you to pick a charity and then everytime you do a search from their Website they give the charity 1 cent. It doesn't seem like a lot but those pennies quickly add up. Last year Ratbone raised over $500 through this program and that was the first year they started using it! If everyone keeps spreading the word that number will keep going up.

What you need to do is go to the goodsearch.com home page and you'll see a spot that says "Who do you goodsearch for?" Choose "Ratbone Rescues (Jacksonville, FL)" and then contine on with whatever it is you are searching for. To make it easy to remember to use Goodsearch.com you can download a Goodsearch tool bar or a smaller search box to fit in your current tool bar. Another option is to save it to your "favorites" after you have chosen Ratbone as your charity. That way everytime you open the page from your favorites it will open with the charity already chosen.

Just so you know, Ratbone Rescues is based out of Jacksonville, Florida, however the group actively rescues dogs throughout the United States and in parts of Canada. Because the group is entirely run by volunteers and the dogs are kept in foster homes there is no overhead so all of your money is "going to the dogs," so to speak. (pun intended)