Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Once Upon a Time

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Today we are joining our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs blog for is This ‘N That Thursday.  Because some days you have a little of this or a little of that.  It’s anything goes day!

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Many thanks to our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs blog.

Once upon  a time, in a land faraway (Florida) there lived a beautiful Princess (well actually she wasn’t really a “princess” she was a German Shepherd dog, but she was named Princess) who lived with her loving owner.

One day her vet (a doctor for dogs) found a lump on Princess’ mammary gland.  He aspirated it (drew some fluid) but couldn’t tell for sure if it was cancerous.

The good and wise vet said, “This tumor has to go.”

This decree put Princess’ poor owner (Denise) into despair.  The surgery was going to cost a lot of money that she did not have, but how could she not help her sweet and beautiful Princess?

Princess 2

Princess

Luckily for Princess and Denise, there are some good and kind people at a the Magic Bullet Fund who agreed to pay a portion of Princess’ surgery, but Denise has to raise the rest.  As of this writing she is only $419 short of the $1,600.00 needed!!  The link to donate is here, Princess’ story is the third one on the page.

The rest of the story.

Denise is actually the cousin to one of Blogville’s own, Donna from Donna and the Dogs.  Donna has been working on putting a GSD calendar together to help Denise raise the remaining funds, unless we can raise the funds first.  The good thing is the fund is set up so you can donate any amount!  Why the other night when I was struggling to figure it out (come on, you know how challenged I can be) Donna went in to check and donated another $1, just to check and see if it was working.

So can you spare $1?  Maybe you can forgo your Starbucks coffee today and donate $3.  (How much does a Starbucks coffee cost anyway? I’m cheap, I make my own.)

If you don’t have cash to spare, it’s okay, you can still help.  All you need to do is to share Princess’ story on your social media sites.

What do you say?  Are you up for a challenge?

Oh and just because I can, here’s another cute photo of Princess.

Whadda ya waitin' for? Start sharing!

 Whadda ya waitin’ for?  Start sharing!

Follow-Up Friday

Join me tomorrow for Follow-Up Friday, where I’ll wrap up this week, answer some of your questions and introduce you to a new co-hostess, Dawn from Pet Auto Safety.

That’s a This ‘N That Thursday wrap-up, many thanks to our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs blog.

This ‘N That Thursday – August 22, 2013

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This ‘N That Thursday is the brainchild of Linda from 2 Brown Dawgs; because some days you have a little of this or a lot of that.

Many thanks to our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs Blog.

Lick Granuloma Redux

Sampson had to go back to the Vet’s on Tuesday, he’s been licking at his paw again. 🙁

A close-up of the boo boo while he was being treated.

A close-up of the boo boo while he was being treated.

I wrapped it in a desperate attempt to keep him from licking.

I wrapped it in a desperate attempt to keep him from licking.

 

This time we saw our regular Vet who scraped the spot and checked it under the microscope.

The diagnosis is a lick Granuloma which is now infected because he’s licked it so much.  The treatment is a three week course of antibiotics (Clindamycin), a three week course of twice a week cold laser treatment and a nerve blocker (Gabapentin).

This cold laser isn't so bad, this guy keeps feeding me noms.

This cold laser isn’t so bad, this guy keeps feeding me noms.

 

I couldn’t understand WHY he’s licking it and Dr. Soutter explained it could have been anything that initially drew him to the spot, and once he’s irritated the nerve, it will keep bothering him and he will keep licking. The hope is the antibiotic and cold laser will help the granuloma heal, while the nerve blocker will settle the nerves down.  The goal is to take him off the nerve blocker and the licking will stop.

Paws crossed.

Blogville Calendar

Julie is hard at work resizing the photos for easier display on the blog.  Fingers crossed voting will still begin on Saturday.  If for some reason I can’t manage it, then we will still have a week to vote.

My mom who recently began reading the blog keeps asking me if I’ll show her how to vote. 😀  I’m pretty sure the voting process will be fairly easy, as long as I use the same system I used last year.  But yes Mom, I’ll make sure you know how to vote.

Farting and Douching on Facebook

You know Facebook is a great time suck for me.  Last night feeling highly unmotivated I found myself in an innocent little chat with a couple of other bloggers.  One thing led to another and before you know it, we were talking about farting and shortly after that douching.  This morning the conversation has turned to Unicorns.

You never know what you’ll find on Facebook.  It really helped lighten my mood and I gave me something to add to today’s post.  So thank you ladies, one and all.

Follow-Up Friday

Please join us tomorrow for the Follow-Up Friday blog hop where my co-hostess will be JoAnn Stancer from Sand Spring Chesapeakes.

Bon Jodi

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Here’s a little Bon Jodi to start your week off.  It’s sung to the tune of Livin’ On A Prayer by Bon Jovi.

Once upon a time
Not so long ago…..
 
Delilah loves to walk in the woods
The bugs are bad this year
We’re gettin’ eaten up…it’s not good, not good
Mama searched the web all day
Looking for a way to help keep the bugs at bay,
At bay
 
She says we gotta hang in, we must prevail
If it gets tough we’ve got to wag our tails
They can’t beat us because we’re tough as nails
We’ll switch to DEET if all else fails
 
CHORUS
Whooah, we will get there
Oh oh, we’re one tough pair
Grab the leash and we’ll make it I swear
Oh oh, we’re one tough pair
 

 We’re being eaten alive

We had a rainy, humid June and the bugs are out of control.  Despite spraying the dogs and myself every walk, we still get swarmed by the little……er..buggers.

Last Thursday after our walk I looked at Delilah and said, “WTF is on your face, do you have a tick?”

Sorry for the blurry photo, it's hard to hold her head and still take a photo.

Sorry for the blurry photo, it’s hard to hold her head and take a photo.

 

For those of you keeping score at home, she did not answer me.

Instead upon closer inspection I realized she’d been bitten by some kind of bug right in the corner of her eye.  I immediately text Jenny Juggs and asked what to do.  She suggested Benadryl which I gave to Delilah and within an hour or so you couldn’t see it anymore.

On Friday I made sure to pay special attention to the area on her face and she still came home with bites.  I gave her more Benadryl.

I thought maybe the bugs wouldn’t be so bad if we went earlier in the day.  Saturday morning instead of using the spray I use, I used bug lotion.  I thought I have better control with applying lotion, as opposed to spraying something near her eyes.

Still hard to get a photo.

Still hard to get a photo.

 

The bites were smaller this time, but she still had them and I noticed a few more on her nose.

Know Your Adversary

When talking with one of my friends she mentioned no-see-ums.  They are also known as midges and they are apparently resistant to most insect sprays.

I spent a lot of time this past weekend reading up on this nasty little pests.  Apparently certain people and animals have a chemical make-up that attracts these bugs.  Based upon our experiences in our woods, Delilah and I would fall into this category.

I also discovered these little biting bastards are similar to mosquitoes as they love the damp, wet, marshy areas, and when they find a feeding source, they send out a call to their comrades, “dinner’s here.” Because of all the rain we had, some of the lower areas in our woods have bits of standing water and mud.  Coincidentally these are the trails where we normally walk.

There have actually been times where Delilah has stopped and used her paw to scrape something bothering her.  I felt bad, here I am walking my dog (something she truly enjoys) and yet I’m exposing her to biting bugs and pumping her full of Benadryl when we get home.  I set out to change this.

Yesterday I used the bug repellant lotion, Skin so Soft (Avon) and I changed our route.  We avoided the low-lying areas where we normally walk and stuck to the field and the trails where there was no water.

Yesterday was the first time in four days where I didn’t have to give her Benadryl when we got home.  I couldn’t see any bites on her face. AT ALL.

The problem is, I’m not sure what worked.

So today, we’ll stick to the same trail schedule and I’ll use my bug spray/lotion and see what happens.  Fingers crossed we stay bite free today too.

Do you have a problem with bugs where you walk?  Are there any natural products you use to help repel the bugs?

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