Thus Says Suzanne...

Bina goes to the vet, again

I swear, this dog is going to send me to the poorhouse.  Over the last two or three days she hasn't seemed quite herself, and for the last couple days she's been off her food which for her is a sure sign things are not going in a good direction.  Yesterday she kept going to the water dish but not drinking, which also is not good.  Though the vet was fully booked for the rest of the week when he learned it was me calling he agreed to see her in the afternoon.

Turns out Bina had an abscess under her tongue in the neck area.  I'll spare you the details but after I made the call to the vet I checked on her and it was clear that something had just ruptured.  The good news is that she started feeling better pretty much right after that.  She's now on double antibiotics and we're hoping that will resolve it.  If not, then next week he'll have to do exploratory surgery to see if he can find what he belives is probably a foxtail that burrowed into the skin in that region. 

So, another $150+ later Bina has once again been to the vet.  Sigh. 

Bina is sick again

It's starting to look like Bina has developed some kind of chronic condition, perhaps involving her pancreas.  When I took her in this afternoon for emergency care (again) the estimate was (again) for over $600.  Fortunately this time I caught it earlier and we were able to avoid an overnight hospitalization, and keep the damage to under $500.  She perked up considerably after getting a couple liters of IV fluids, and she will (again) be getting a rainbow of pills for a while.

If your vet gives you his personal cell phone number and says to call him if there is a problem over the weekend - he's a one-man clinic and doesn't do weekend coverage or on-call coverage - that probably the vet version of frequent-flier miles, right?

the doves are back

My doves are back after an extended hiatus.  I was about to give up on them but now I'm glad I saved the safflower seeds for them. 

$620.30 and an E-collar

Bella came home from the vet yesterday (courtesy of a transport from my mother) after having a mastectomy for cancer, as well as removal of two other cysts.  Biopsy results should be back next week and we'll know then what her prognosis is.  So now both dogs have had problems with cancer.  Joy.  She seems to feel pretty sparky so that's good news.

The bad news is the E-collar.  She's ramming into stuff all over the place.  I thought she was just having a hard time adjusting to it as it rests on the top of her ears, but that's not what's going on.  She wants it off and she is just trying to get it off by slamming it into anything and anyone available.  I finally put her in the crate so she would settle down but we'll have to go to the pet store later this afternoon to get a new collar as this one will be toast about that time. 

$642.11

Bina is home again.  The news is good (except for the hemorrhage of funds from my checking account).  Turns out she ingested something which looks suspiciously like pillow stuffing, which got stuck in her guts and caused her to almost die.  Fortunately I still have the best vet in the world and he saved the day, and Bina's life.  She's rehydrated, pumped full of drugs (with plenty more to take here at home).  I have instructions on special diet for the next couple of days, and she has a recheck appointment on Monday.  We believe she's on the mend and expect a full recovery. 

two hours at the vet

Bina has not been feeling well this week, and finally was completely off her food, experiencing some labored breathing.  I managed to get an appointment at the vet yesterday for her to be seen, but apparently between the time I made the appointment and the time I got there his schedule picked up considerably and I ended up spending two hours at the vet. 

Bina's situation is pretty grim right now.  We're not sure what's wrong with her but she stayed overnight for some IV fluids, she'll be under observation today and receiving more IV fluids.  If she makes it through the day then I'll fetch her home at the end of the day, and she'll go back for a recheck on Monday.

The youngster is really freaked out by the whole situation and is very afraid that this dog will die in the same way that Deli did last year.  It's hard to reassure her when it's not entirely clear that she's wrong.

Speedy's remodel/upgrade

The cage on the right is the original cage we got for young Speedy.  Kinda cool, huh?  It's got a twisty slide, an exercise wheel up in the tower, and a compartment upstairs.  Unfortunately when she wakes at night she's clearly bored because she's doing some strange biting, biting, biting on the metal rungs of the cage all flipping night long.  I'm starting to wonder if she's trying to communicate in Morse code or something.  So, since this style of cage can be connected with tube tunnels that's exactly what we did.  The thinking is that with more to do she may not be so wound up at night, or at least she'll have something to do besides bite the cage.  Here's hoping. 

And, in case you're wondering, we're not done buying components for this system yet.

Doggies

It turns out that Bella is a wonderful dog.  It also turns out that she has some issues, but we're working on them.  The cats still don't trust her, which goes to show they have excellent judgment.  She's getting better but every once in a while she will hover at my bedroom door and bark loudly at Zorro who is the only one who will venture close enough for eye contact to be made.  Naughty Bella.  She's still slightly confused about who is pack leader around here so we're working on that too.  I've never had a dog take this long to catch on to the house rules of no chasing cats but we'll get there.

As for Bina (or "Little Bean") is this the face of a sweet dog or what?  She's really too sweet for words.  And, the cats like her so she is permitted to be in the bedroom with me (and the cats) whenever she likes.  Her big issue is that of counter surfing and though it's far less concerning to me than Bella's issue with the cats it's still something we're working on.

adventures in hamster care

During the night the cats roam the house so Speedy's cage comes into my room to be placed on a high shelf for safety.  Unfortunately hamsters are nocturnal.  Of course, they're small so how much noise could they make, right?  Well, when the little thing stuffs her exercise wheel full of stuffing to make a bed, she can't use it for exercise.  Hamsters without adequate exercise become very restless.  Holy smokes.  At about one o'clock this morning I couldn't take it anymore and finally put her in her ball so that she could roam the house for a while and work off some of that energy.  Half an hour later she was ready to go back to her cage, but I was awake until three o'clock (I get up at four). 

In semi-related news, I just ordered a new camera so hopefully by early next week I'll have pictures to post then (including the hamster). 

Speedy (the hamster)

It's apparently not enough that we have two dogs and two cats, the youngster really wanted her "own" pet.  I'd been tossing the idea around and finally decided I could agree to a hamster.  I didn't just go out and get one though...I used it as currency to motivate her to use her skills and improve her behavior.  About a week ago we got the cage and all the other stuff a hamster apparently needs.  We set up the cage on the dresser in her room and let her get used to that for a few days.  Monday we got the hamster (a female) who she has dubbed "Speedy."  Typically I'm not a fan of anything even remotely resembling a mouse but I used to pet-sit a friend's hamster when I was a kid in Germany so I figured it would be fine.  Mom was here yesterday and commented that she looks like a miniature chinchilla.

I can report that Solo took an immediate interest in young Speedy.  Relax...young Speedy is safely in her cage and Solo was not permitted to venture too close in spite of his intense desire to do so.  Zorro seemed to not notice until this evening when I thought I might have to put him in a cage for a bit.  Sheesh.