Tick – Tock

This is one of those fun stories that turns into a bit of a nightmare. Let’s begin in the living room of our home, where my husband Gordon does his work outs. He is lucky enough to have a wife who arranges for him to have a personal trainer work with him in our home twice a week. It was during one of these work out sessions that Doug Brignole, his trainer was stretching him on the floor, and there it was….. A brown speck. Doug picks it up, and shows it to Gordon so he can see what a “Tick” looks like close up. A tick in our home? Our clean, spotless, scrubbed house is now home to a tick. You know what it means when you find one tick, there of course must be 2,000 (thousand) more close by. They boys alert me to the tick. My skin starts to crawl as I look at the little creature. I’m sure I have an infestation in my once clean home. 

What to do? For me I go straight to the real estate section, ready to move immediately. My husband thinks I am over reacting. You think? Maybe we should check for more. Gordon is on his hands, and knees looking all over the floors for more. After several hours, he did find 1 more small one. 

That’s it! Action is needed for sure. I head out to the pet store, and get some powder you shake all over the rugs, and the floors. The dogs are headed to the groomers for a flea, and tick bath. All eggs to be killed too. Now the house is covered in a carpet of white waiting for Gordon to vacuum it all up. Gordon got a little carried away when he was sprinkling the flea, and tick pesticide all over he covered the chairs, the couches, and anything that came in his path. 

We all survived the tick crisis here at lovely home. My skin did eventually stop itching, and it’s been several weeks without a tick in sight. 

Our fur babies have never had a tick on them, so we hope it stays that way forever.

The Mischief of a Puppy & Her Brother

As our boxer family grows, so does the wild, and amusing behavior. My morning begins with my two fur babies, Kc, and Star waking me for their breakfast. This is somewhere between 6 & 6:30am each and everyday. No problem, I’m a morning person so the 3 of us sneak downstairs while the rest of the family stays in slumber a little longer. Bathroom, then breakfast for the boxers. Star at 4 months will become very vocal if I don’t get her food ready fast enough. Kc stands up on the counter continuously to check my progress while I am assembling their food bowls. Finally I place their food bowls down, and watch them eat like 2 starved puppies. You wouldn’t believe that they were getting 3 big meals a day. Being boxers they are lucky to have a metabolism that allows them to eat big meals, and stay nice, and slim.

Now after their breakfast, we go outside again for another bathroom break, clean up, and back in for my cup of coffee. It’s time for me, after some puppy play, treats, and kisses to go upstairs to get ready for my day. The fur babies cannot follow me up the stairs b/c of their devilish play. Downstairs that have buckets of toys, beds to lay on, and an open door to the pasture, and garden.

They are surprising me for the past 4 mornings on my return downstairs. I might have been gone for 45 minutes. First they bring, I’m sure it is Star, the newspaper in. This is no small feat, because they have to bring it from the front of the house all the way around to the back, and through the back door into the living room. this is where they can take it out of it’s plastic bag, and open it for their Dad to read when he comes downstairs. I think during this process Kc the sweetheart that he is, has been trying to teach Star how to read. This would explain the newspaper being spread all over the living room. Not just the floor, but those cute kids of mine managed to also spread it all over the coach, which is very large, along with both of their beds. Fun, fun, fun.

Of course I come down and look at my sweet babies, who are dancing with joy, and then see the living room. My mouth falls open, with disbelief. Pick up the paper, and tore pieces of plastic, then we talk. Big eyes, lots of kisses, those are from me, and I’m sure tomorrow will be better.

Come One Come All

 

The Puppy Shower pictures and to read how we got Star http://blog.reikifurbabies.com/2008/07/03/with-age-comes-wisdom/

         

         

     

Knowing When To Let Go

This is to all my faithful readers. I’m sure you have followed my many puppy sagas. The death, the loss, the arrivals and the moving of puppies. Whenever anyone meets Star, the new puppy, they say, oh you have replaced Lucy with Star. Alright, back up, back up. Now, I am setting the record straight once and for all. 

I love Lucy, I have always loved Lucy. I have always put my dogs needs- financially and emotionally above my own. 

Lucy was rescued by me as you know.

But she also spent time such as weekends, sleep overs with my BFF Ming, her husband Mark, Sammy Diva and Mochi. Lucy was part of their extended family. But not for Mark. For Mark, this was his little girl. Because he spent a lot of time during the rescue process with her. He took care of her when she was a puppy. He became very attached to her. Ming had Sammy Diva before they were married and they had a very close bond. Mochi seemed to love everyone, you know cats, they do what they need to survive. The one thing Ming and I both noticed was this amazing thing that Lucy did. She had two routines in two different houses which included her eating habits, her walking habits even sleeping habits. The moment she walked in the Brown house, she knew what routine she would be in. At my house, she lived another. What a smart dog, we had never seen this. This must be because she is a rescue dog. 

After Ry’s passing I noticed a decline in Lucy’s behavior. She played a little with KC but didn’t come out of her shell much. Again, down the street (which is only a few doors down) she goes. She seems to find peace there. Its a calming house. Sammy is an older Lab, spends evening time w/ Mom and Dad on the couch watching movies and drinking wine. (not the dog) Also, at night, they pull Lucy into bed since she was so small. Sammy always sleeps on her bed. Mochi also slept at the foot of the bed as well. At this time, I developed my lung condition.  Lucy sleeping in my bed exacerbated my condition. My pulmonologist said no dogs on my bed at all. Another bummer for Lucy. Now, this is a dog that I carried around, held in my arms. Lucy is not a dog-dog . Lucy is a dog-person. So her personality starts to change. Also KC is slowly coming out of his coma and looking for someone to play with. Guess who, Lucy. Lucy enjoys it somewhat. Though Lucy is a Corgi and KC is a Boxer. Imagine what that is like from Lucy’s point of view. KC would sit on Lucy, use her as a ball, drag her around by the collar to play with her. Lucy is a small Corgi. It began to take its toll on her. More nights at the Brown’s. Lucy began to snap a lot more at KC. I began to see her feeling more miserable. During reiki with Lucy, both Ming and I felt what was going on. But we had no solution at the time. Ming was pretty happy with her life, but Lucy wormed her way into Ming’s heart. Ming didn’t know she had room in her heart for one more dog. She was surprised at how attached she was becoming to Lucy. It became harder for her to just pick up Sammy Diva after work and leave Lucy behind. 

I searched my heart. I needed to do the right thing for Lucy. Not for KC or anyone else. I walked down to talk to Ming and Mark. Lucy’s well being was the most important. That was when the decision was made for Lucy to become a member of the Brown household.Well, I think her puppy prayers were answered. She is very happy. We had a great puppy shower to celebrate her move. It was a wonderful time. I don’t think anyone will ever comprehend the sacrifice of giving up someone you love because it’s better for them. 

I am lucky because I see Lucy almost every day and she spends the afternoons with me. So its not a HUGE sacrifice, so please, I never replaced Lucy. I gave Lucy the best most loving home she could have. Because I put a furbaby first. Win, win!

What is it about puppies and parties?

We start with puppy pound cake.  Then we move onto the games, pin the tail on the “kitty” and bobbing for bones. I don’t know about your fur babies, but mine love them. That is why we have so many of them. These photos are from Sammy Diva’s birthday party. Her Mom and Dad were at work. So Sammy spends most of their work days hanging out with us. I take photos all the fur babies and email them throughout the day so Ming isn’t so lonely. Can you tell they like having their hats on and their pictures taken? Probably because I’m laughing my pants off the whole event. I’m usually busy in my office working, in comes one, then another, now the number is up to 4 and they want to just hang out. They’re like kids that way, they sit for awhile and then they want to play. I thought I’d share fun party pictures. I hope everyone has as much fun as we do. Celebrate every chance you can. They bring out the joy and laughter in all of us every day.

My $60,000 Boxer Baby

KC continued to eat slowly, stay shy, and never really get that puppy bounce. He was still going to the Vet weekly, and now to see a series of Vet specialists. I think from reviewing his 2 inch thick chart  he has had to have seen 8 different Vets.  He has had every test, blood work up, etc. that they possibly could do to a fur baby. He still did not get any better. In fact KC  began to lose his hair. I was in shock! He was all red, and became a hairless dog, who was screaming in pain.

 

 

I got a referral to Animal Dermatology Clinic, in Marina Del Rey, CA. Thank God it was close by. Once in for our appointment,  the Vet sees KC she says ohhhhhhh, don’t worry I know what he has, and it’s treatable. I started to cry, holding my sweet boxer boy in my arms. Finally someone knew what was going on with him, and there may be an answer too.  Turns out KC had demodectic mange (aka red mange ). Demodectiv mange is caused by a microscopic mite called ‘demodex canis.’ All dogs raised normally by their mothers possess this mite as mites are transferred from mother to pup via cuddling during first few days of life. (after the puppy is older it is unable to pick up demodex mites.) Mites are not transmitted to people or other dogs, except from mother dog to her pup.The treatment plan was long and difficult. Baths, dips , medications, skin scrapings, and lots of visits to the Vet.

 

 

 

 

In between all this KC is screaming from some type of joint pain. X-rays, specialists, consultations etc. The money just flows from our account to theirs. It never really gets to spend any time with us, so our balances are always down.

The cost of love.

 

 

The good news is after lots of money, and time, and caring Vets,  KC finally recovered from all of his aliments. The growing pains ended, so no surgery was ever required, or even considered for the joints. The mange also with treatment, and time went away. We have had no relapses either, fingers crossed.

KC last week had a wellness check up, and his Vet at Bay Cities Veterinary Hospital, in Marina Del Rey, which gave him a clean bill of health.

Hip- Hip- Hooray-

 

 

 

With age, comes wisdom

By now all of you know that I only have my sweet shy KC living at home. So we are getting a little restless at our house. Once you have had 2 dogs living together, you realize how important companionship is for a dog. So I contacted Ry’s breeder in Canada. I also looked at some other Boxer breeders. But then I remembered Oprah’s show about our responsibility to ourselves and our animals on this planet. Surfing Boxer rescue I went. I found a site called http://www.boxerocrescue.com. There she was. A little “Minnie”, her name at the moment. 12 weeks old, the prettiest female boxer I ever saw. I filled out the application, sent it off and then forgot about it. The other half of my brain is still thinking maybe I should just go with the breeder. I sit and talk to my husband. We look on line again at Minnie and read her story. Her mother Dory was about to be euthanized a couple days before she was ready to deliver her litter because she had kennel cough. Thank goodness BOCAR rescued her. Brenda Kinnie, the founder, rescued Dory and found her a foster home close to where she lived. A couple days later, Dory delivered 9 pure bred Boxer puppies. Unfortunately, 2 of them died. The other 7 were beautiful. What a fool I was all these years to have not rescued a puppy, any puppy. But for me, it was Boxers. I want to tell everyone that this is the greatest deal going. First, you get the most beautiful dog, you are saving a dog’s life, the dog is spade or neutered. Through BOCAR my dog also came with a microchip, food, toys, and complete records. When Brenda showed up with “Minnie” in her crate and 2 of her sisters I could have just screamed they were so beautiful. Each one was different, a fawn, a dark brindle and our “Minnie” Star. Brenda did a complete check of our yard and home to make sure it was adequate. We introduced sweet KC to Minnie Star.  KC seemed to get along just fine. He adapted easily.  I hated to let the other puppies go, but I do know my limits. I made a donation of $600 to BOCAR which I will be doing yearly now. I think the work Brenda and her organization does is so amazing. The reason I added “Star” is because I have a great Aunt Minnie, so just couldn’t call her Minnie. So you guessed it, she became our “Star”. Now we have KC and Star, two amazing Boxers running around. There is a difference between a rescue dog and a puppy mill dog. Star has been with us 3 days now and is open, loving, already trained to “sit”, goes out, sleeps through the night, wakes to a dry crate and plays wonderfully with her big brother. She has such a sweet nature and easy to please. It took me awhile to catch on but I will never ever go anywhere but to a Rescue. I encourage all of you if you are looking for a dog, any size, any kind. There is a rescue that has a dog, puppy, whatever you are a looking for, you will find each other and be so grateful that you did. 

Big Puppy Shower

What an event I planned from the moment I knew KC was coming. Cookies were being made for the guests with KC’s photo on each one. I had four different photos for the guests to choose from. Edwin, my brother catered the festivities. There were 40 or so guests that came to meet, and greet our new boy.

 

This was all planned long before he arrived, and he we realized what a sick puppy we had on our hands. KC did come home from he hospital the day before his big party. He spent the most of the time in the arms a very nice young man named Jared, who lived next door. He slept through the whole celebration. I packed most of his gifts away, knowing there would come a day when he would enjoy them much more then today.

 

I’m sure this whole idea of having a puppy shower seems silly to some people, but for us it truly is a way to get together with our friends, and share a wonderful event in our lives. A time of joy, because we all know there is plenty of time for sorrow.

Caring for KC

KC was such a sweet little puppy, and we fell in love with him from first sight. Maybe because he was such a small helpless, shy baby we sensed he needed extra love, and kindness.

 

The morning after he arrived back in May 2007, I took him in for a check up with my Vet. Our Vet thought when he first saw KC that he was a 6 week old puppy, not 5 months old. He really didn’t believe me until he examined his mouth, and his teeth told his age.

 

I brought all the paper work given by the breeder that I had purchased our little black boxer from. The doctor didn’t trust a lot of the paper work. I don’t know why, and I did ask. He thought it was best to re-vaccinate KC .They also did all the tests that went along with a stool sample I brought in.

Now all along KC is pretty shy, and quiet, which is unusual for most puppies, but especially boxers. They usually are a little on the frisky, and very playful side. The next day KC had become lethargic, and was not eating, or drinking. Getting worse, he begins to vomit, and have bloody diarrhea. After vomiting 5 times I’m pretty shook up. The phone rings as I’m ready to pick it up to yell for help- It’s the Vet with the stool sample results: positive for ‘giardia’. Then I have to go in to pick up the flagyl  to treat this, and have KC examined. The Vet became suspicious of KC having ‘parvo’ because of the bloody diarrhea, drainage from his eyes, vomiting, being non responsive, along with feeling very warm to the touch.  Parvo- Now this becomes a life threatening emergency. They call ahead to the Animal emergency Hospital to tell them I will be rushing over with a baby boxer, etc. etc.

Of course I’m a wreck to think I could lose this little guy, and so scared for whatever he is going through. I call my husband, and fill him in, but I realize he is 2 hours away at work. I call Ming to let her know where I will be, and you know what happens next,  she comes,  driving us to the Emergency Hospital.  Upon arriving at the hospital another Vet is there to examine KC. She determines that he is severely dehydrated from the vomiting, and the diarrhea. She also hears a heart murmur in my little guy. They want to admit KC immediately, so they can start the IV’s, but before they could do that they need to run credit card. Unbelievable… Of course they run the card,  get it cleared, and admit our sweet KC.

  Once they admitted him, he was put in isolation. KC was started on 2 different antibiotics for the giardia, and some IV solution to hydrate the sick little puppy. There is good news in all of this, the parvo test comes back negative.

 On my way out they want to explain the billing system to me. Oh this going to be good….  They will be putting $2,000.00 on my card to start, and will call me to let me know when they will be adding more. Now I go home to my life, and try to wait, I pray a lot too.

 

Later the next day I get a call on KC’s progress, which is none. Still sick, and they will be re-testing him for the parvo, and keeping the fenbendazole, and ampicillin (antibiotics), along with hydrating I.V.’s going. They have moved him into ICU isolation, which I’m sure means my credit card has spent that $2,000.00 and the cost is rising. I now feel I should contact the breeder. Shame on me! After some searching, and some help from friends in the animal world I come to find out this place in Georgia is Not a boxer breeder, but a “Puppy Mill.” This was long before I had watched Oprah’s show on the horrors of these places. Was I ever stupid!! I felt so lied to, and taken advantage of, but nothing compared to my concern over KC’s well being. I just had to let it go, and get on with saving our puppy. I don’t think anyone really understood why I didn’t want to fight with this person over the bills. I did send her all the information, and then ask if she would pay for his treatment. You all know the answer to that. At this point my husband Gordon, and I decided to put our energy into helping KC survive, and not waste any on her, and her puppy mill. We were also embarrassed, and ashamed that we took part, even though it was unknowing in a puppy mill operation. Maybe our redemption comes from saving KC?

 

Don’t worry- we certainly got punished for our participation in the buying from the puppy mill. By the time KC is released from the animal hospital, the bill was almost $8,000.00, and believe me he didn’t look that great after almost a week in ICU. And did he ever need a bath. He was covered in his own poop. Thank goodness for Marina Pet Spa. (Marnia Pet Spa 576 Washington Blvd MDRey CA 310 827 5949) Auggy the owner was still there at 4:30 when I call, and told him of my predicament. He said bring the little guy over. 30-45 min. later KC was all clean, and smelled so much better.

 At  home we have a big celebration planned for KC. A puppy shower to “Welcome” him into our home. You know he’s already in our hearts.     

Naming the little black boxer

 

The night my husband Gordon arrived home after our boxer puppy arrives we have to name the little guy. He is sitting alone on the counter with just the two of us; Lucy is at another sleep-over. Lucy is spending a lot of time with the Brown’s. Mark has been her rescue Daddy since the beginning, and Ming is her Auntie. That’s o.k. because we can focus on this little guy tonight. Naming is something my husband feels he is much more knowledgeable about, then, let’s say me. Alright, just name the pup! He starts with Mickey, Nickey, Jake, etc. I have a few comments to help him reach this monumental outcome for the name. A very close friend had recently passed away, and I wasn’t sure his wife Annie would be happy to know we named the dog after Mickey. So that’s a no. Nickey, isn’t that another word for your Mickey? Jake was the name of lots of pets around us, so go out and call “Jake” and see who appears on our door step. That’s another no. Lets put on our creative, brilliant thinking caps honey, and that’s not a name suggestion either. After hours of this fun and games, and 2 potty breaks for the puppy, we agree on Casey. I love it! No, not so fast…. He wants to put his own little spin on it, and spell it K.C. Get it ! Just use the 2 initials. See, he just has to put his own spin on it. We concede, K.C. it is. He has a name, our little black boxer puppy.