Busy Weekend

Well, it was a busy weekend. Kathy and I showed off puppies and told people about Ratbone's mission at the Pet Market at Dash Point and at PetSmart, both in Federal Way, Washington. We had 6 puppies with us, so there was a lot of wiping up of pee to be done. Thank goodness a past adopter stopped by with a bag of towels that she was donating because we hadn't brought anything but their blankets. The puppies are all very well socialized and so everyone had a chance to snuggle a puppy and get a few puppy kisses if they felt like it.

We have multiple applications on all 8 of the puppies and the majority of them look really good, so once these little guys get spayed or neutered, they should be ready to head to their forever homes. They are great little dogs (who will be great medium sized dogs in a few months) and whomever ends up being the approved applicants are very lucky indeed. Already they have pretty even, calm temperments and they are only puppies.

Their mom arrives next week, I believe, and she will be doing the heartworm treatment here and not in Texas, so wish her luck as she undergoes this dangerous stage of getting rid of mature heartworms. The treatment kills the heartworms, but because the mature heartworms are lodged in the heart and even at times the lungs, as they die and release into the bloodstream there is a time period that the dog is at risk for heart failure if the worms clog veins. If you live in an area that has heartworm, PLEASE keep your dog on heartworm preventative. It will eventually kill a dog if not treated and treatment and possible lasting health problems are a lot more expensive than a monthly dose of Heartguard plus or Advantage Multi, that's for sure.

Warning: Poo talk

Dog lovers, much like parents of infant children, have this odd fascination with the consistency of their dog's crap and if you spend any time at off leash parks you may regularly be privy to "state of the poop" addresses by fellow dogists. One of these conversations might go a little like this:

Jane: Hi, how's Fluffy doing? (note: Jane asked about the dog, not John. At dog parks it is only required to know the names of the dogs - common dog park etiquette)

John: Well, his energy's fine, but his poop is a little loose. I mean, not explosive diarrhea, but runny. No blood though, thank God!

Sorry if your gut is turning, but most of the people who read this blog are not just dog lovers but they are crazy dog lovers, so you're just nodding your head going, "Yeah? How is this weird?"

Now, in case there is some lone cat person who accidentally stumbled upon this blog thinking they were visiting the "Rescued Catties" blog or something, you should now exit the blog because I am going to delve into actual dog poo talk now, not the imaginary stuff, and it might be a little too much for a cat person to handle. Consider yourself warned.

Anyhoooooo... This has all been a lead up to a very disgusting post about the state of my current foster dogs' poop. As you've read in past blog posts, when Nova and Astro first arrived here they were loaded with worms. The worms have since been shipped off to the landfill, since the pups have had their 2nd dose of Strongid for the roundworms and hookworms, and then a shot of Droncit for the tapeworm issue. But recently, another Ratbone volunteer who is fostering 4 pups from the same litter said something about wondering whether they also had coccidia. She said that I should watch their poop for mucous and blood and also sniff the poop to check if it smells worse than usual. Yeah, right.

Now, I've mentioned before my very active gag reflex. Because of this I don't make a habit of breathing through my nose when I'm in the back yard on a scooping mission. I mean, I do get a little obsessive about the thought that by breathing this way I'm sucking poop molecules into my mouth... but I digress. So now I've got to figure out if the poop smells worse than regular poop that I haven't been smelling in the first place. How does one go about doing this? Once I start gagging, I'm not able to rate anything on a 1 to 10 scale and since normal poop makes me gag, I'm at a loss.

Astro is making this tough too because his poo will seem like normal dog crap one time and then the next time the poo will be all runny. All I'm asking for is a little consistency! (No pun intended.) I think I'm going to give up on trying to self diagnose the poo and just take some into the vet's office, pay the $25 and let them deal with it.

So poo issues continue here in rescueland. Until resolved we will continue with our routine of wandering around in the yard until they poop so we can go to the off-leash park without worrying about spreading our little potential bacterial sidekicks. The state of the poo is - unknown.

The Fun Police: Frodo on patrol

Frodo has this need to control any fun that is being had by dogs at our house. If there is one other foster then he refuses to play with it unless he initiates the play. The poor pup is left to go chew on a toy or convince one of us that it is time to dog wrestle. But when there are two foster dogs at the house Frodo has a dilemma. They go off and play together and could care less that he won't play with them. He's left standing on the deck looking down imperiously, irritated that the pups would dare have fun when he has not initiated the wild romp.

At 8 weeks, Astro and Nova are all about wrestling and chasing. They tumble through the back yard, crushing plants, hiding in the decorative grasses running under the dripping rock sculpture water feature in the Japanese garden - these are some wild and crazy pups.

Frodo has decided that it is his job to police any fun that is being had in the back yard. Now 1/2 lab Nova weighs almost as much as he does so this can be tricky for him - he needs to keep a safe distance in case she decides to take him down. The photo above is a perfect capture of the three in action.

In it you see the puppies wrestling: Astro on the attack and Nova putting on her crazy eyes and getting ready to flip and pin little Astro. Pretty much this is what they are always doing - except when they are sleeping. Actually they sleep curled up together so they look a bit like this when they're sleeping too, minus the crazy looks on their faces.

Frodo is in perfect form: a safe distance away in case they unexpectedly tumble in his direction, legs flexed and ready to run should they misinterpret his bark as an invitation to play, and mouth open in the middle of a disapproving bark. He allows them to wrestle, but if they start to make any noise while wrestling then he is there in a heartbeat barking his fool head off.

He follows them everywhere. Even in the rare moments that they lay down on the lawn to rest, Frodo is there looking on, ready to show his disapproval if they decide to play again. Life is rough for a persnickety terrier who is old beyond his 2 1/2 years.

Worms, Worms and more Worms

Frodo and the past fosters haven't had bad infestations of worms, so this is my first time dealing with them. I knew that roundworms were likely a problem thanks to the tell-tale bloating of their tummies so I gave them Strongid-T which I thought would take care of everything. An email from Kathy and more surprises in Nova's poop this morning have let me know that there is work yet to be done. Coccidia and tapeworms may also be an issue.

So we are off to the vet this afternoon for a shot to deal with the tapeworms. I will be glad when this is over because it completely grosses me out. Never the possessor of a strong stomach, I am regularly having gag-fests in the backyard each time they poop.

Otherwise they seem like typical, healthy, roly-poly puppies. We are really enjoying their silly antics and sweet natures and hope to quickly find placements for them.