Waiting......

Not a lot going on here. We are just waiting..... Waiting for Suki to finish her season. Waiting for her mange to heal up enough so she can be spayed. Waiting for the new mange meds to come in the mail.

The mange is actually doing better (knock on wood.) I looked in the Ivermectin bottle and noticed that there were these crystal things at the bottom. I've been shaking the bottle well now before sticking the syringe into it, so maybe that has helped. A more likely reason though is her change in food and all of the supplements that she's getting. I know that within a week her coat was noticeabley silkier. The mange is still there, but the angry redness has subsided to a pink color and she only has a couple of the bumps that I call "mange pimples."

She's doing great with her house training and we're working on the "leave it" command now. She immediately understood this because I've trained her to wait until I say "okay" before she gets to eat the food that I've set down in front of her (we did this to assert to her that we controlled the food, not her).

The photo above is of my sister's dog Phoebe, and Suki (in her doggy diaper complete with pantiliners) longingly watching Frodo, who's outside.

The heat is on

On Saturday Suki went into heat. I've never had a female dog before so this is a novel experience for me. She was just fine Saturday morning, but we noticed the bleeding in the early afternoon and by late afternoon we definitely noticed a personality change.

My sister and her husband were visiting with their 2 female dogs and Suki, after playing happily with them the day before, suddenly went ballistic and started a dog fight when she thought one of them might be moving in on her rawhide treat. The result was a bloody finger for me and a time out in her crate for Suki. That was the worst of it though. She settled down after all the rawhides were put away and after that she has only been a little snippy.

We are keeping her on leash in the back yard during bathroom breaks and her daily trip to the off-leash park with us has been put on hold until further notice. I felt so bad leaving her home today because she loves the park and when she saw we were getting ready to go she ran to her travel crate, thinking she was going with us. Poor thing.

So she's back to wearing a doggy diaper. I'm hoping that as soon as this is over her hormones will balance out quickly and her body will be able to get the mange under control. Her family will be ready for her in about 3 weeks when they finish their move to Colorado and I'm hoping that Suki will be ready to join them in their new home not too long after that.

The photo above was taken a few hours before Sweet Suki turned into Monster Suki. She is happily off-leash in the back yard partaking in her favorite activity, chewing on sticks.

Health Update

So I'd love to say this is an update, but not a lot has changed. The mange is stubbornly hanging on. It has stopped getting worse since we started the additional natural health treatments, which is a good thing as she had gone from almost mite free to seeing irritation all over her body again.

Her new family told me about a treatment that is approved in Canada and Europe, but not in the U.S. The medicine, Advantage Multi, is used in the US as a topical flea & tick treatment, and also for heartworm, but isn't yet FDA approved for mange treatment. After reading a few studies about the stuff, I figured it was worth a try. So now I am just waiting for it to arrive in the mail (it's so new that none of the vets in the area carry it yet). Oh, and a BIG thank you to her new family who sent a gift certificate to buy the meds and also a carry bag to transport her in when she's ready to be flown home.

So for now she is getting the Omega3 & Omega6 supplement, pre and probiotic supplement, buffered vitamin C powder, and today I'm going to start adding a little bit of sesame oil to her food. I read on a couple naturopathic pet Websites that the oil is good for the skin and immune system. Kelp is something else that is recommended, but her dog food, Orijen, already has kelp and seaweed in it. Oh, that's the other change that I might not have mentioned. We've switched her food from VF Holistic Puppy to Orijen. Orijen has no grains (70% meat and 30% fruits and veggies) which some people at Ratbone have noticed slow down healing of demodex. She's still on the Ivermectin, however, we will stop that once the Advantage Multi arrives.

When I fix her food in the morning I feel a little like a mad chemist - a pinch of this, half a capsule of that, a spoonful of the other stuff.... Luckily she's not a picky eater and still quickly sucks down all of her food.

Food Fight

Well, it wasn't actually a fight, however Suki was getting VERY snippy about food time. I'll set the scene. The kitchen has baby gates on the two entrances, which can't keep Suki in, but if there's someone in the kitchen will keep her from wandering. When it's feeding time I mix up the food and vitamin supplements in the kitchen. Starting last week, Suki started rushing the baby gate and growling at Frodo whenever he got too close to the gate for Suki's taste. Of course, Frodo wants to stare longingly through the gate at the food being poured into his bowl and I didn't want Suki to start thinking she was top dog because she got to be in the kitchen during meal prep.

So out came the squirt gun and next barking fit she got a blast. This didn't seem to be effective, so next time I put her in her kitchen crate and made her sit in there while I fed Frodo. She whined and cried like she was dying in there.

The final step is something we've done with Frodo since he was a puppy. We put him in a sit-stay, set down the food bowl, and make him sit there until we release him. We're not trying to be cruel, we just want him to know that we are the boss and there's no better way to make this clear to a dog than to control the food bowl.

So, I let Suki out of the crate, put her in a sit-stay and set down the food bowl. As expected she rushed the bowl. I reached down and held her back and she nipped at me, so back in the crate she went. For a minute. This time after being put in the sit-stay she again tried to rush the bowl and again, I foiled her attempt. The third try's a charm, so again she was told to sit, and this time she sat there, every muscle of her body quivering and her eyes locked on mine, waiting for the signal that she could eat. I said "okay", our release word, and she charged the bowl, a little wiser for the experience. I still make her do this now, but she knows the routine and although she doesn't like having to wait the extra 15 or so seconds, she knows that I'm the boss of the food and unless she recognizes that, the food won't get to her stomach.

Suki's gift from the Easter Bunny

On Easter Sunday Suki received an unexpected gift from the Easter Bunny. As our son was hunting eggs in the living room, he pulled up a couch cushion and along with a Cuz and a Kong, found a half chewed nylabone - a favorite of both Suki and Frodo. She raced over to the nylabone, oblivious to the candy filled eggs, grabbed it before Frodo even noticed it and slunk under the coffee table to hide and enjoy a good fix of nylabone. She stayed under there for the entire egg hunt, the opening of candy, a couple jelly bean spills and more. Frodo on the other hand was riveted by the candy filled eggs, constantly looking for a chance to sneak in to score some chocolate or a Peep chick. This photo isn't the best, because it's dark under the coffee table, but here you see Suki enjoying her nice delicious Easter nylabone.

Suki: Training and playtime updates

We've been working with Suki on basic commands and she picks things up very quickly. She knows sit, stay and shake now, but the "lay" command has been difficult. Even on soft cushy carpet the best we can get is a crouch. Frodo is usually taking part in the training too, and while I am working on lay with Suki he will walk in front of her lay down and look up at me expecting a treat. When it isn't forthcoming he will roll over, and then sit up and put his paw up for a high five, licking his lips and looking hopefully at the treat. In the meantime Suki has gotten so excited that she is jumping up and down in place. Oh well. She knows shake now though! I suppose it would be less distracting to have Frodo elsewhere, but if I put him up in the bedroom he will just whimper and make me feel guilty.

It was nice (i.e. dry) on Sunday so they were outside with me while I was weeding the back yard. Frodo tends to forget that Suki annoys him when they are outside and will actually initiate games of chase by walking up to her with a pinecone in his mouth and then go into a crouch, ready for the chase. Around and around they go, beauty bark flying, soaring off the rock wall, leaping onto (and off of) the deck without using the stairs. It is hard to watch it without laughing.

Finally Frodo found a nice fresh, juicy stick and boy did Suki want it. She tried staring him down, pouncing on him, then staring and whining, and finally after about 15 minutes he let her have a quick chew on the end that he wasn't using. The photos below show her slow progress.


Staring


Pouncing


Begging


Sharing! (for a few seconds at least)

Shopping for Dogs

Every once in awhile I like to drop by "Tuesday Morning", a discount store that sells close-outs, to check out their pet section. Although the place is filled with crap, and I get a little claustrophobic there at times, they often have some great finds - including good deals on dog gear.

I've been needing a new comfy bed for the nighttime foster crate (now occupied by sweet Suki) so I could return some of the gear that the Ratbone state adoption coordinator lent me when we started fostering. I found just the right comfy, cozy bed for only $10 - it has nice stuffed and padded sides, a pillow that fits in the base and it's corduroy so it should wear well. Suki kept going in and out of the crate and laying down, which she rarely does, so I think she approves. In fact, she has been snoozing quietly this morning, which is a rare thing, so it must be pretty cozy.

We also found a gorgeous little collar marked from $9 down to $2.50 for Suki that looks very stylish on her.

But the deal of the day had to be the 100% biodegradable poop bags that I typically spend $10 for a 6 pack of rolls. They were $2.99 so I bought up all 5 packages. With as much time as we spend at the park or taking walks, you can never have too many of these. There was a good quality airplane doggy carry-on bag that was nice for $15, but it was a bit too small for ratties. Oh well.

The problem is that all of these deals are addicting for a bargain hunter, so watch out. But if you have a little time to spare while you're out running errands, consider checking this place out.