Category: pets

Alki in the hospital, Barclay eats an egg

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, barclay, jack, petsLeave a comment

Last week we tried a new antibiotic on Alki, because the vet thinks she has a kidney infection. Unfortunately it upset her stomach and she became reluctant to eat. Then the vet gave us some medicine to help her stomach, and some anti-nausea meds on Saturday, and she ate fine. But Sunday she threw up her food, and Sunday night she woke me up at 4AM throwing up. I tried to give her the medicine and a little bread to settle her stomach but she threw that up too. So I called the vet first thing in the morning and she said to bring her right in. She put her on IV fluids and took a urine sample to send to the lab to determine exactly which antibiotic she needs, and gave her a shot to settle her stomach. When we visited in the afternoon the vet said Alki had settled right down in her kennel and was resting. They had just taken her for a walk to go potty, and we could visit her if we wanted, but I didn’t want her to get all stirred up again. She said it was a good thing she was deaf because none of the noises around the busy vet hospital were bothering her, and although she had been nervous and shaking terribly when we brought her in, she seemed to be relaxing and just hanging out now. Tomorrow the vet wants me to bring her some of her favorite food and if she can eat it and keep it down she can come home tomorrow.

It’s so weird having her gone. It’s quieter around the house, and a bit more relaxing not worrying about her all the time, but I keep looking for her. I know this is what it will be like when she’s gone. It will still take some getting used to even though we’ve had almost three years to get used to the idea. But hopefully this crisis will pass and she’ll be home tomorrow and recovering from this little setback.

Meanwhile, out in the yard, I played with Barclay and gave him an egg to eat.

 
  
  
Jack didn’t get an egg, but he was curious about it.

 
Instead I called him over and practiced some obedience while Barclay was busy with the egg.
 

So he got some jerky, which was just as good to him, he can’t figure out what to do with eggs anyway.

Barclay portraits

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, pets3 Comments

Barclay came into the office and said ‘if I pose for an awesome picture will you get off your duff and come outside and play with me for a bit?’

I said ‘well..if it’s awesome…’

I love having such photogenic animals around!
These were both taken with him sitting by my computer desk, and the only light in the room was the desk lamp. Better yet, I took them with the point-n-shoot because Dave has my fancy camera at the theater today working on his time lapse project. I can’t believe how nice these came out!
And yes, I did take him outside and play 🙂

Cats

On By stefrobrtsIn mighty, mouse, petsLeave a comment
 Mouse and Mighty.
Even though they are sisters and we bought them to keep each other company, they have decided they HATE each other. Just the other night I let Mouse in, then called Mighty and as she ran up on the deck Mouse ran back outside and tried to run her off! They get in scuffles all the time, which Barclay loves to break up. I don’t know why I happened to get a picture of them standing this close, I’m guessing there was about to be a fight, but since the dogs and I came outside they decided to take it up again later.
After Mouse disappeared I got some nice shots of Mighty:
 
 
 

A good recall

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, pets2 Comments

After two years of working on ‘come’, Barclay has really been doing well at it, even coming back in the house when he’d rather stay out and play – which I try to make very rewarding for him. Today at dusk we were out in the pasture, and I was sitting under the cover taking pictures of the rain running off the roof, and Barclay and Jack were way out at the other end of the field in the rain. I called Barclay, twice because it was raining so hard, and he perked up and heard me, turned to see where I was, and then RAN back to me at TOP SPEED! He was probably 200 ft away sniffing around with Jack, and he dropped everything and came running back – I was so proud of him! And of course I didn’t have any treats, so we played for a bit instead, which made him very happy – he’d rather play than have treats anyway 🙂

Barclay gets stuck

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, pets2 Comments
 If only he had stayed in bed! But instead he went out this morning and chased the stray cat who lives in our hay shed and went right under the floor of the shed – where there was apparently a cat-sized exit hole, but not a dog sized one! So while the cat skedadled off and dissapeared, Barclay was left under the floor, crying and whining. I called him, but he just cried back. I pulled back all the plywood panels to get access under there, and I could hear him, but I was hesitant to climb under there in the dark, spidery recesses. I went and got a flashlight, with his cries in my ears the whole way and ran back, but flashing it around and calling him, I still couldn’t see where he was. Then I thought ‘If I crawl under there and get stuck…’, so I left the flashlight under there and ran back to the house to call Dave who was on his way into town. Just as Dave answered his cell Barclay come running out of the shed at top speed – still looking for that cat!
So a happy ending for all, but I don’t even want to think what if he had really gotten stuck – I suddenly had images of disassembling the shed on the spot! Or if he’d gotten stuck down there when nobody knew where he was. I guess that will be my job for tomorrow – seal up the hole that goes under the shed better, and find out if I can get a trap for that damn cat!

Alki!

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, petsLeave a comment
Nice shot of Alki from our photo session tonight. She’s still hanging in there, tinkling on the floor, blind, deaf, and cranky – does what she dang well pleases! She’s at that age where she would wear purple and a red hat and if you don’t like it – tough!

Barclay and Alki

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, barclay, pets3 Comments

Alki has been worrying me a bit. The other night she didn’t follow me around while I made dinner, and didn’t come sit with us while we ate, which is pretty unusual. Instead she was asleep on the doggie bed in the office. Then last night she was scratching at the front door at 4am, and when I went to see what she was doing she seemed a bit lost and confused. She seemed fine this morning. I don’t know if it’s a side effect of her cancer meds, but I’d swear she’s getting a bit of doggie-dementia. Of course in a few months she’ll be 15, so I guess that’s like 105 in dog years, so she’s entitled!