Poor little girls!

As I mentioned yesterday, we've been having a lot of health issues. I was found to have a dangerously low Vitamin D level and am currently on a once a week mega dose for 10 weeks. I was quite surprised to learn that low levels of Vitamin D will not only cause softening of bone tissue, but also causes depression and anxiety disorders.

On top of dealing with that, I went out on the front porch a couple weeks ago to discover my cat, Siobhan, had lost all the flesh and hair from most of her tail! The vet called it "degloving" and poor Siobhan had to have all but a couple inches of her tail amputated. When she came home the day after surgery she looked like she had a breakfast sausage stuck to her rear end!

The stitches came out on Wednesday and now that the hair is starting to grow back she has less of a sausage tail and more of a bob tail (thank goodness).

We also took our two youngest pets, Aislainn and Possum, to be spayed. We are very strong supporters of spaying/neutering as we know firsthand the problem our country has with excess pets and the issues that go along with that - abandoned/dumped pets and the diseases they carry and spread, etc. So off they went on Tuesday afternoon to get fixed. Poor things had to spend the night at the vet's since he was not able to get to them until Wednesday morning, but both were able to come home that afternoon, albeit a little woozy still.

Little Miss Aislainn (right) put up quite a fuss at the vet's office. We were told that she was even nipping at them (which didn't really surprise us...she likes to get her way) and being quite uncooperative. Aislainn has been a sad little lamb since coming home. She spent Wednesday evening napping on our bed and has been very uncomfortable. I've never seen a dog behave the way she does and think it must be her stitches. She'll get comfy and suddenly jump up like a bee stung her. My guess is that a stitch pokes her or she has a pain. I feel very bad for Aislainn and will be happy when she is back to being perky.

Possum has been quite another story. She was a meek little lamb at the vet's which surprised us because she is the Devil's spawn at home and reverted right back to her evil ways once the drugs wore off. They must have done her surgery after Aislainn's because Possum was still pretty out of it when she got home. In fact, she's still sleeping more than normal (and that's saying a lot for a cat). I don't think she's been off Don's computer chair in two days unless he's home and moves her elsewhere. Poor Possum, we will really miss her antics when she was in heat, which seemed to be every other week!

At least the other critters have been sympathetic, as well they should considering they've all been through the same thing! Last night Possum snuggled with Darcy. I've never seen Possum snuggled up with anyone! Darcy, however, is a different story. She loves to snuggle!

Aislainn decided to snuggle with her big sister Maggie who is an excellent snuggler, by the way. Even I like to snuggle with Maggie!

I'm still keeping an eye on one ailing critter. My goat Kenobi has a golf ball size lump in her throat just below her jaw. Now, I know she didn't swallow a golf ball because Don and I don't play golf. I wanted to take her to the vet when the others went, but decided to call first as I didn't know if the livestock vet would prefer to come out to the house. Kenobi is a great rider, so transporting her wouldn't have been a problem. However, the vet told me to just keep an eye on it and as soon as the golf ball softened up to bring her in and they'll lance it. He said it's a common thing in goats and to not worry.

HA...easier said than done!

Little Miss Attitude...

Even with dirt on her nose, Aislinn looks like a sweetie, doesn't she? Well, looks can be deceiving...just ask our vet!

For a couple weeks now I've been telling Don something was wrong with Aislinn's right ear. She whimpered every time she scratched it. When I would rub the ear it sounded squishy, which I took to be a sign of an ear infection.

Don finally had time to take her to the vet yesterday and boy...did he have an exciting time! At first they could not get her out of the crate. They even turned it on end and Aislinn managed to hang on somehow! So a vet tech reached up to pull her out and Aislinn let her know real quick she didn't care for strange hands. Don was finally able to get her out (while wearing gloves).

At this point the vet decided Miss Attitude needed a muzzle and one small enough was found, but it took THREE people to hold Aislinn down and get it on her. Next step was to wrap her up tight in a towel and tie it so she couldn't escape! Even all bound up Aislinn still required three people to hold her on the table so the vet could examine her ears.

Poor little girl...I was right. She had an ear infection and ear mites. Don said Aislinn didn't calm down until the vet put ointment in her ears and began to work it down into the ear canal. At that point she practically purred...just lay there with her eyes closed and made happy little moans and grunts.

Aislinn's chart now has the word "BITER" in big red letters written on the front and we are left to figure out how the TWO of us are going to hold her down (without a muzzle) while treating her ears. If we're lucky, Little Miss Attitude will remember how good it felt when the vet massaged the ointment into her ears.

I'm not holding my breath though...

Drake, our "old man" dog...

Thought I would introduce Drake, our oldest dog, this evening. He's a registered Black Labrador Retriever...the only dog we have that has papers! He's a sweet, gentle dog who knows some neat tricks like speaking, begging on command and shaking hands. Drake is quite a gentleman!

We've known Drake since he was a puppy, but he hasn't always lived with us. He was my sister-in-law's dog for several years, but she had to bring him to us about six-seven years ago. Drake is now 12 years old and, as you can see in the photo, he's really showing his age.

Drake suffers from severe arthritis and takes a daily supplement for it. He's also given an anti-inflammatory when needed, which seems to be more often as the days go by. Drake is also becoming very absent minded and hard of hearing.

When Don fed the dogs last night Drake didn't get up to go eat. That worried us, because Drake LOVES to eat! The poor old fellow wasn't even reacting when Don called him, so we decided to feed him in the house (he usually eats in the garage). By mixing some canned food with his kibble Don was able to get him to eat a little bit of his food.

When we went to bed Drake didn't come upstairs with us. We were sitting in bed fretting over Drake's behavior when I realized that he'd slept all day long...he didn't go out for a potty break until Don got home from work. We were very afraid that last night might BE Drake's last night. Don even got up at some point in the wee hours to check on him.

As you can imagine, we were quite relieved to wake up this morning with Drake sleeping on the bedroom floor. He's been better today, not quite so confused and seems to have his appetite back...evidenced by his begging treats every time I've been in the kitchen!

Perhaps it was just the change of weather. We had storms move in during the night and Drake may have just been achy and tired last night due to the barometric changes. Whatever it was, I am grateful that he is feeling better because it would hurt my heart to much to lose Drake right now.

When the time comes, and I know it's coming, my wish is that Drake slip away peacefully in his sleep (right now he is sprawled out on the love seat snoozing with Conan).

I also hope that he sees one more Christmas...or more!

Smarty Pants...

This is Teagan. Teagan is a pest. Teagan is also to smart for her own good. Teagan's name is Irish and means "beautiful". We made a mistake. We should have named her Miss Smarty Pants.

Before we took Teagan into our home she was hanging out on the rural road where we live with a black dog. I guess they were pals because you always saw them together. One day, coming home from the grocery store, I found them in our driveway. I stopped and put out some dog food for them. Teagan was thrilled to make friends with me and I had no trouble putting her in the truck (where she promptly hopped onto the dashboard to ride up to the house).

Unfortunately, Teagan's friend was not so sure I was a nice person and wouldn't let me get her. A week later she was hit and killed. That made Don and I very sad, but there was little we could have done since there was no way to catch her.

Teagan, being the smart little dog she is, quickly settled in with the other dogs. We feed her, pet her, play with her just like any of the other dogs, but Teagan continues to be extremely needy. It's like she just can't get enough, which makes her a huge pest, especially since she is very persistent and will climb all over you to be petted. Oh, did I mention Teagan is extremely strong for her size?

At night Teagan sleeps in the fenced in front yard with Angus and Caoilainn. She likes being outside at night and does much better there than in the house. If she spends the night in the house Teagan will walk all over us while we try to sleep. Like I said, she's a pest!

Now to the truly smarty-pants aspect of Teagan. She recently learned how to open the front door! We have a door knob that has a push down latch and Teagan has figured out how to push it down with her paw and waltz right in...and she NEVER shuts the door behind her!

After a few mornings of finding outside dogs jumping on the bed (and the front door wide open) we've decided that the only way to fix the problem is to lock our door at night. Living out where we do with all the dogs, locking up has never been an issue. Now we're having to lock the dogs out!

To top it off, Teagan is teaching my little Beagle, Tadhg, how to open the door. He's done it twice. The door is now locked during the day as well!

If you're wondering what breed of dog Teagan is, the vet declared her to be a "genuine Mississippi Mutt" which is just a fancy way of saying she's a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Best buds...

As I sit here at the computer desk Aislinn and Possum are having a grand old time. It looks like our two newest family members are going to be best buddies!

It has always amazed us how the newest addition is always taken under the wing of the addition just prior to them. It's happened since the first two dogs we had...Huck and Becky and has progressed on down the line to Caoilainn and Aislinn. Now it looks like Aislinn is going to take Possum under her wing and show her the ropes!

I can't recall this ever happening between dog and cat before, but perhaps that's because Aislinn is more cat size than dog size!

Oh well, it's all fun and games until someone gets her nose pinched in the crate bars (Aislinn is now pouting in her own crate)!

Remembering Huck...

When Don and I moved here the farm was just a cow pasture. There were no buildings, drive, power, etc. on the place...just ponds, grass and trees. One afternoon in mid December we headed out to meet a man about building our half mile driveway. As we turned onto our road I saw a black speck running down the middle of the road. When we got closer I saw it was a small puppy. In that instant I knew it was our dog Huck. Don tells me that I blurted out, "There's Huck!".

When we got out Don asked the driveway man if it was his dog and he said no, the pup had come from the bridge. I had to wade into the swampy side of the road to grab the little shivering wet puppy, but grab him I did! We stopped for dog food and supplies on the way home and, once there, I spent an hour sitting on the bathroom floor pulling cockle burrs out of Huck's fur. Poor guy even had them embedded in his arm pits (um, guess that would be leg pits).

We took Huck to the vet the next morning and were told he was a Border Collie mix about six weeks old. His intelligence and looks won us over and we have been huge Border Collie fans ever since. He learned things so quickly! Potty training was a breeze. If he went out and did his business I would give him a treat. One day I realized he was going out every few minutes, coming in and running to the counter where I kept his treats. Next time he went out I watched. Smart fellow squeezed out a few drops then dashed in and went straight to the treats. HA...I was onto his game!

On Don's off days we would take Huck out to the farm with us (we were renting a small house in town while our house was built). He would get so excited and run circles around the truck. It got so bad that we had to start spelling certain words...R..I..D..E and F..A..R..M were two of several words Huck soon learned the meaning of and would go bouncing off the walls with excitement again.

The first summer we lived here on the farm Huck was bit by a water moccasin and almost died. He spent a week at the vet's (vet even took Huck home with him over the weekend). The bite on his front leg caused Huck's chest to swell so severely it was compressing his heart and lungs. We were so grateful that he recovered and came home!

Unfortunately our wonderful Huck became ill again the next summer. He was losing weight and couldn't seem to keep his food down. I was in Alabama a lot because my Daddy was losing his battle with colon cancer. It was an extremely difficult time. Six weeks after we lost Daddy in August we lost Huck to stomach cancer. He was just shy of his third birthday. Every year the first of August and the middle of September my heart breaks again.

A couple week's before we lost Huck (I was in Alabama) Don said Huck went out to the edge of the back yard and sat staring into the sunset. When Don called him, Huck just turned to look at him and then gazed into the sunset again. The afternoon we buried him under the persimmon tree there was a gorgeous sunset. We like to think that every beautiful sunset is Huck letting us know he is still here with us on his beloved farm.

I wanna be a star....

As soon as I saw her the theme music to Project Runway went running through my mind. Obviously our pup Aislinn is an aspiring fashion designer. Check out this adorable orange poncho she created in the short time I was outside feeding the ducks and chickens!

While I was outside feeding my feathered friends I was composing today's blog in my mind. I'd intended to write about the corn field being harvested today, the Autumn coolness in the air and it being time to dig up my sweet potatoes.

My mind changed the minute I came in and laid eyes on Aislinn. She was sitting primly in her crate wearing her stylish new poncho. She fashioned it by chewing a hole in the middle of her blanket (which is actually a dust cloth I bought at Dollar Tree). Maybe this is what she intends to wear for Halloween.

Aislinn is incredibly difficult to photograph as she is never still. There's no way I could even attempt to take her photo outside the crate. As soon as she's out Aislinn is off at full speed around and around the house. She has an all out bouncy joyful run that is a delight to see. In fact, Aislinn is just a pure delight and we are very grateful that she came into our lives.

Hmmm...I wonder if she'd make me a new outfit if I gave her a tablecloth to chew?

When it rains, it pours!

I can't help wondering why we made it almost the whole summer without any critters getting sick, snake bitten or injured in some other way, only to have a snowball effect start this week. Molly, fortunately, got to come home this morning and is doing very well after her bout of heat exhaustion. In fact, she's been lazing on our bed all day enjoying the air conditioning. Unfortunately, Eoghan (pictured above) will be heading to the vet's in the morning.

Last night Eoghan had what we believe was a mild seizure. He hopped down off the love seat to eat his dinner and collapsed on the floor halfway to the kitchen. Eoghan's legs drew up and stiffened, his feet curled up and his eyes were wide and blank. He was trembling all over and unresponsive to us. Don sat in the floor talking to him in a calm, soothing voice while stroking his trembling body. The seizure only lasted a minute or so, but it seemed like forever to me. When it was over Eoghan walked around on stiff legs for a few minutes and then seemed fine. He even ate all of his dinner and finished off some of the other dogs' dinners!

Of course, I spent the rest of the evening researching and reading. I've come to the conclusion that Eoghan is suffering from hypothyroidism. He has almost all the symptoms...dry itchy skin, thin brittle hair and weight gain. He's also half blood hound, which is a breed prone to thyroid problems. Needless to say, Eoghan will be going to the vet's in the morning to have blood drawn for testing.

Sigh...when it rains, it pours. I only wish it were the actual wet kind of stuff falling from the sky, not a metaphor for one sick doggie after another!

Missing Molly...

Tuesday afternoon I headed out of town to visit my mom and take some paperwork to my sister. After I left, Don put the dogs in the front yard while he mowed. He didn't think anything would happen...it was cooler than it's been in weeks and he was right there with them.

Sadly, he realized something was wrong with Molly when he brought the dogs in that evening. She was very lethargic and immediately began to drink excessive amounts of water (they had water in the front yard) which promptly came back up. Molly refused her supper, but again, Don didn't think much of it because she does that from time to time. He gave her a treat, which she did eat, so he went to bed not realizing that Molly was in need of veterinary emergency care.

When he got up yesterday he found Molly laid flat out on the floor downstairs and blood everywhere. He immediately rushed her to our local vet where she was diagnosed with Heat Stroke. Ultrasound showed her colon and bladder were full of blood, but the vet said Molly would pull through. They put her on an IV and Don came home. I got home last night and we both spent the evening worrying, especially when we researched Heat Stroke online.

Early this morning Don called the vet to see if Molly had made it through the night and was told she was doing much better. He decided to leave work early so he could stop and see her, plus discuss what we'd learned with the vet (we were concerned about organ failure/damage, blood clotting, etc.). What a relief to hear that they had downgraded her condition to Heat Exhaustion instead of Heat Stroke! Molly had eaten some kibble and kept it down and when Don went back to see her, Molly was up wagging her tail and happy to see her "Daddy".

She's still having bloody diarrhea so they're keeping her through tonight, but Molly should come home tomorrow. I can't wait! Even though there are still 17 dogs here, the house seems empty without Miss Molly.

Please, be very careful with your pets in this hot weather! We thought we were careful because we've been giving all the animals cool water, ice and making sure they had fans, shade, etc. If you notice your pet acting odd in ANY way, stop and make sure they are not to hot. Here are some signs to watch for...

Symptoms of Heat Exhaustion:

• Heavy breathing
• Anxiousness
• Deliriousness
• Dark red gums
• Restlessness
• Dizziness or confusion
• Thick saliva
• Inattentiveness
• Increased salvation followed by dry gums
• Weakness
• Very high temperature
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

Molly did not have all these symptoms, but she had several of them, which Don missed because he didn't recognize them as signs of overheating. Please take time to educate yourself on Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke and what you need to do for your dog should they start showing symptoms. It could save your pet's life!