Foster Dogs' Namesakes: Kasha

Some of you may remember our foster girl Kasha. She's a beautiful gal who loves her lap time and now lives on Vashon Island in Washington State.

Kasha

So I was very excited to be visiting an equally cool Kasha - her namesake, the Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Ends up this beautiful dog was named after a beautiful place. We drove out yesterday and even just from the parking area there was a gorgeous view.

View of one of the tent rock mesas from the parking area

We weren't stopping in the parking lot though. There are two trails at the monument and the first is just an easy loop up to a cave that was used as a home by some pre-Pueblon person - you can see the blackened roof still from the smoke, and a ledge and small nook. Unfortunately you can also see the graffiti that idiots have carved into the soft stone.

Cave on the Cave Loop Trail

The Cave Loop Trail was a nice little walk but nothing compared the the more strenuous and incredibly beautiful Slot Canyon Trail. It was even mostly in the shade which was nice for a change. The canyon had 20-50 foot walls and at points narrowed to a V where the trail was so narrow that I couldn't fit my Keen sandal in the slot and had to use the walls to keep my balance. At spots we had to crawl under boulders and scramble of rocks. It was fun and mouth dropping gorgeous.

Slot canyon trail

Slot canyon trail

Hoodoos (tent rocks) from their base

And hoodoos from the top

At the end of the canyon the trail climbed sharply up to the ridge and followed the ridge line with beautiful views of Sandia, Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges. 

View from the ridge

Kasha's adopted!

First Hobbs, now sweet Kasha! In spite of Kasha's challenges with a mast cell tumor and the buckshot in her eyelid, her new moms still fell in love with her, willing to help her continue losing her weight and to watch her to make sure there are no future growths.

Kasha's new family has two other sweet, short little Rat Terriers and a senior Chihuahua who she'll be settling in with. She'll live on an island where she'll get to take daily walks on the beach, full of seaweed and seagulls and all kinds of other smelly fun stuff. We know she is going to love it!


Kasha's new home: Vashon Island; photo by danddsummers

So we wish for the most happy times from here on forward for Kasha and her new family. Congratulations to them all!

Kasha hanging out with Frodo. He will miss having such a laid back foster dog around

Kasha's Surgery

It was a nerve wracking day yesterday as we waited to hear how the removal of Kasha's mast cell tumors went.  I first told you about them in this blog post last week. After a long weekend of waiting it was finally time for the tumor to be removed and the eyelid lump to be either assessed or removed as well.

When I put her harness on before we left she figured we were either going to the vet or walking that damned hill again and neither option was pleasant to her.

She was not excited about being back at the place where she had been poked so many times on her last visit and was clearly stressed by our arrival at the office. It broke my heart to leave her there when she was so upset.

By 3:30 pm I was back though, and picking her up. I never thought this would be good news but the lump in her eyelid was actually buckshot and not a tumor. While it is sad that at some point someone shot at this poor girl, if it had been a mast cell tumor it would have been very difficult to get the margins required to ensure that all the tumor cells had been removed which would give her a poor survival prognosis.

Incision under her left eye

The large lump behind her ear was removed and she's got a pretty long incision there to patch the ear back together. The tiny lump that I found a couple days ago on her left side was another tumor that I had just caught super early so that was also removed.

Ear incision from above

Ear incision from behind

Incision site on left side

Both tumors were sent to the lab for biopsies and we should hear back in 5-7 days about whether good margins were achieved, as well as whether the tumors are cancerous or not. Because she's young there's a good chance they aren't so we are crossing paws here and waiting for good news.

In spite of having to deal with 3 separate incision sites, Kasha is charging around the house like nothing has happened. She's a tough little dog and it takes more than tumors and buckshot to stop this girl. As I write this she is stretched out beside me on the couch, her favorite spot, and I feel lucky to have my sweet lapwarmer back at home, safe and sound.

Skype Night

Our son is studying chemical engineering and math at the University of New Mexico so each week we Skype with him to stay in touch. He actually meets many of our new foster dogs this way as they have two laps on the couch to choose from so love taking on lap warming duties while we talk.

This was Kasha's first Skype so at first she was wondering what was going on. She quickly figured out it was pretty boring and involved no food so wasn't worth watching.

"Hey, what's going on?"

 

"Do you know what's going on?"

 

Frodo showed her the ropes of what Skyping is all about

 

And Kasha totally understood

 

For a dog, Skyping is all about the warm laps available

 

 

Hobbs has been here since mid February so he is old hand at Skyping and knows exactly what to do: you grab the cosiest blanket real estate and kick back for snooze time.

Sometimes his eyes were open

 

Sometimes his eyes were halfway open

 

Most of the time his eyes were all the way closed though

 

And then sometimes he had to hide his face cuz some lady wouldn't get the camera out of his mug so he could sleep in peace

 

 

 

 

The Not So Serious Side of Kasha

For the first day or so with Kasha I found her to be a bit serious. She loved people but at times she would sit and just looks so serene and aloof. Not for long though.

Kasha striking one of her contempletive poses

If you spend much time with this girl she'll start to talk with you, play, wrestle and show off some pretty crazy antics.

Last night she decided to try to scratch her back while getting a belly rub. It was pretty funny to see her flopping around like a white and black seal, complete with the groany, barking seal sounds. As she relaxes more I can't wait to see what other fun little behaviors she'll start to show.

It's Nice to be Missed

Yesterday when I left the house to run errands Kasha and Hobbs weren't happy. I was downstairs and they were crated upstairs and this is what I heard as I got ready to head into the garage:

The heartache! The sorrow!!  And my personal dogs Frodo and Tilly slept through it all.

I made it up to Hobbs and Kasha in the evening though when they got lots of couch time and belly rubs which seemed to make it all better.

 

 

Good News and Bad News

In her crate and ready to head to the vet's office

Today Kasha and I took a trip to the vet office to have her microchip inserted and also to update her DHPP vaccination since her last one was in 2010. It was going to be an easy visit - no need to see a vet since she saw one in CA for her health certificate - and then I'd pop her on the scale to see what her weight was.

There's a slight shadow of a waist, starting to form on Kasha

The good news is that this girl who arrived at the shelter weighing 20 pounds when her owner surrendered her is already down to 18 pounds, 4 ounces. Good work, Kasha!  We'll continue her daily walks and her food portioning and the vet said that our goal of 14 to 15 pounds is excellent for her. She said that she'll be a svelte little muscly gal at that weight.

Kasha says "HEY, it's rude to take pictures of a girl's butt!"

While I waited for the vet tech to come and get Kasha for her vaccination she sat on my lap and I noticed a marble sized lump behind the base of her right ear. It was in a section covered in black fur so didn't really stand out well. Crud. Lumps and bumps are always worrisome so I asked the assistant at the front desk if there was any way that she could squeeze Kasha in to be examined by one of the vets. They made room for us and in just about 10 minutes we were back in the room.

Kasha also has a tiny little bump on her left eyelid that I've been watching and thought might be a tick bite. The vet checked her heart (all good) and then felt her all over for any additional bumps. Thank goodness we were just dealing with the two of them. Dr. Vicky was pretty sure they were cysts but said that eyelid cysts that sit on the inside of the lid like hers did sometimes don't resolve themselves and she worried that surgery might be needed for it. Steroidal eyedrops were prescribed that will be given 3 times daily and the cyst will be reassessed in a week.

Applying pressure to the aspirated lump

The larger lump behind her ear needed to be aspirated just to make sure that it was indeed a cyst. So I waited for her in the waiting area and soon they brought her out with some gauze I needed to hold on the ear to keep some pressure on it and stop the bleeding. Kasha was not happy with this and she wiggled and squirmed and groaned and threw her coat so that we were a wiggling cloud of white dog fur. Below is a video of what she sounded like during this ordeal. After the bleeding stopped she explored the office, sniffing things politely but quietly, friendly and interested in her surroundings.

Sniffing what her foster mom calls "junk food"

Greeting a Doodle named Mocha who was a polite gentleman

Then the vet came out to talk to us and unfortunately the news wasn't good. The lump behind her ear is not a cyst, but instead is a mast cell tumor. At this point it is not known if it is cancerous or not but the vet says due to the feel of the tumor and Kasha's age she is pretty sure it is a stage one tumor which has a great prognosis. The tumor will be sent in and checked after it is removed next Tuesday. If the lump on her eyelid has not reduced in size by that time, it will need to be removed at that time as well so think good thoughts for this sweet girl who has had her share of bad luck recently. We'll keep you posted.

If you'd like to learn more about mast cell tumors, here is a great video by Dr. Karen Becker.

Mast Cell Tumors in Dogs and Cats

Talking Up a Storm

Kasha loves to speak her mind. Sometimes, like in this video where I'm leaving for work and she is crated, she is doing a bit of whining to voice her complaint.

But a lot of the time it is just Kasha telling you something in her special Kasha way. There are grunts, moans, grrrrr's, little mini howls and all sorts of little vocalizations. Her different types of talking have all been super cute so far. What a girl!

Sleeping Beauty

I came downstairs this morning and saw what appeared to be a large red slug in a crate.

But then it started to wiggle and a nose popped out.  Then a head popped out.

Not a slug, just a Kasha, getting her beauty sleep!

She loves to burrow under the blankets and sometimes she will stand up with them still draped over her like a chunky little ghost. We loves this cute little character!

New Girls' Arrival

My friend met me at the transport and together we were there to welcome the 3 new foster girls to Washington.  In the past we have always had to reach in and get a poor scared dog out of their crate and the dogs are either terrified by that and growl and snap or else they try to make a run for it.  Recently I was bitten pretty bad and I knew I had to figure out a better way to safely get the dogs into their crates for the ride home.

I really, really despise pulling a scared dog out of a crate and this trip I knew that little Sierra was a pretty scared little gal. Since I wanted to find a way to get her out of the crate without force we used an idea my friend Lynn had and surrounded her transport crate, our crate and me with an ex-pen and opened the doors of both of the crates. This gave us an enclosed albeit cramped 4x4 foot space to work the transfer in.

Since the transporters need us to move through handoffs quickly so that dogs further north can get to their foster homes, at one point I thought I'd have to lasso her with a slip lead to get her out. Luckily, right around when I thought I'd have to do that she decided to come all the way out and instead I was able to just shut the door of the transport crate. When she decided she wanted back in a crate she jumped into our crate to feel safe and we closed the door. Mission accomplished with the least amount of trauma possible. Check out the video my friend shot of the whole transfer.  One thing I realized after watching the video is that it felt a lot longer when I was in that pen trying to orchestrate the transfer than it actually was. I would have guessed it had been about 5 minutes or more but it was less than 2!

Next we transferred Maggie May and she was easy-peasy. After a few seconds she ran out and I was able to pick her up and snuggle a bit before she was recrated. She is a teensy tiny 5 pound little Chihuahua-Terrier mix and super cute. I'm sure she'll get adopted in no time once she's on the Web.

Maggie May meeting me: a little scared but still willing to approach me

 

And then it was our foster girl Kasha's turn. The difference between her and Sierra was night and day. She tore out of the crate and jumped into my arms, covering me with kisses. So we put her in a martingale collar (since she's so chubby she doesn't have a neck) and she got to take a short walk in the rain for potty time and then it was my friend Julee's turn for kisses and loves. She definitely LOVES people and is quite generous with her attention. And she's house-trained! How did I get so lucky?!  Stay tuned for more posts about Kasha as we get to know her better.

Kasha looking for some love

 

While Kasha was still nervous as you can see by the flattened ears and tucked tail nub, she intinctively turned to the humans to manage her stress which is a wonderful thing since it means she can quickly start to feel soothed and settle in.

 

Rescue Railroad: 3 New Girls

After a 3 week break, we've finally got some new foster dogs who will be arriving in Northwest foster homes. Late tomorrow night we'll have three new dogs arriving. Let me introduce them:

Sierra has been waiting her turn to head to the Northwest for quite awhile. Because it was much more affordable to have her knee repaired down in Central California she hung out at her temp foster mom's house and did part of her recuperation there. She had grade 4 luxating patella and because she spent the first 18 months of her life not using her leg, the muscles and tendons tightened and atrophied. Now that her knee is fixed she'll continue stretching and doing physical therapy to regain full use of it. She's starting to put weight on it and before long will be using it more often when she walks. Thanks to her temp foster mom for all the work she has done with her and to her new foster mom who will be continuing that work.  In the photo you see her with her temp foster mom Lynn when Sierra was at a surgery consult.  Sierra weighs about 11 pounds and is 18 months old. Follow Sierra on her foster mom's blog at http://wulfgrl-mydogblog.blogspot.com/

Maggie May is a tiny little 5 pound chocolate cutie who loves to snuggle and is about 7 or 8 months old. She was a stray and we can't figure out who would let go of this little sweetie. My guess is she'll be adopted pretty quickly and this time we'll find her a home that appreciates her wonderful personality and doesn't let her out of their sight. You'll be able to get updates on her foster parent's blog at http://myrat-pack.blogspot.com/

And of course, we introduced Kasha yesterday and you'll be getting to know her here on this blog as we work with her and get her ready for her new forever home.

Our Next Foster, Kasha

So often we have expectations for our dog that we don't actually meet ourselves. And of course, these expectations change depending on our mood and our schedule. Really, if you think about it, it's amazing that there aren't more angry, biting dogs out there considering how annoyingly confusing and misleading our communication and expectations can be. Dog's really are pretty saintly for putting up with us as much as they do.

Our newest foster girl Kasha lost her home because of changing expectations and a human failing to make some environmental changes so that things would work out between the two dogs in the home.

Kasha's shelter photo

Kasha is three years old and she was adopted from the shelter as a pup back in 2010. Later a young pomeranian was added to the household. Of course, Kasha, used to being an only child wasn't especially happy about this. Then she started getting snappy with the other dog when it pestered her to play. It doesn't sound like anything was changed in their environment to deal with the issue so of course things got worse. The dogs were left together during the work day and the owner started coming home to dogs who had apparently been in tussles during the day. They decided, rather than separate the dogs during the day and do some behavior modification work, to take Kasha back to the shelter.

Now instead of a trim active, cute terrier puppy in need of a home, she was a very chunky 3 yr old gal with a history of being cranky to other dogs. Not very likely she was going to make it out this time and after a bit, she ended up on the "last call list." 

Kasha is said to be fine with other dogs that respect her space, although we are sure she'd prefer to be an only dog. She adores people and has never shown any snappiness towards humans. We also heard from shelter volunteers that she managed attending a Petsmart adoption event very well - pleasant with humans and dogs alike there. I have been to Petsmart adoption events and I can tell you that they are even challenging for humans to be pleasant at so this is a big thing. She also was doing fine with the mid-aged female minpin that she shared a run with at the shelter.

We plan on immediately getting Kasha on a low carb, grain-free, portion controlled diet and a walking program to help her shed the extra pounds she has on her. She's said to be 20 pounds and I'm guessing should be at about 15-16 pounds when she's at a healthy weight. Kasha was free fed, a sure path to obesity for a terrier.

I'm sure she's going to hate Langley but he is an acquired taste for most dogs and we're pretty experienced at keeping dogs separated since Langley's been living with us.

The name Kasha comes from North Central New Mexico's Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.  The cone shaped rock formations which vary in height from a few feet to 90 feet tall were formed about 6-7 million years ago during volcanic eruptions. Kasha Katawe means "white cliffs" in the traditional Keresen language of the local Cochiti people.  There is good hiking within the National Monument, but sadly your dogs can't come along with you on them.