*tear*

It's not a good time to be a furry friend in our house.

About a month ago Nicole Joan (aka Nikki; aka, Radar; aka Sweet Pea; aka Granny Panties; aka... you get the idea..) had a slew of issues in one week that we later found out amounted to a mini-stroke.  Apparently the blood clot dissolved on its own.

Good news, right?!

Well, in the three weeks since she first appeared to get better.  At least better than she'd been that first terrifying week.  But everything was different.  We now had to make and feed her a special diet (rice and either browned ground beef or chicken).  We had to figure inventive ways to give her the meds she used to take with no issues.  This eventually turned into putting the meds into a cocktail weenie and shoving down her throat.  She hated it.  I hated it even more.  I would think it's like doing something similar to a baby.  It makes them cry (or worse), you hate doing it but you know it's going to make them better. But they don't understand. The worse part of the medication routine was that it wasn't just a series of antibiotics or something.  This was going to be our new "regular" routine.

Last week the hubby was out of town for work.  I took the cats in for a routine check up.  Jax, FIV+ kitty, had a severely abscessed tooth.  Four teeth needed to be removed.  I decided to do it ASAP because I figured he was in a lot of pain.  That was a mistake for me.  I was a little over my head in trying to take care of everyone on my own.  I admit - there was a lot of frustration, sadness and tears.  It's very upsetting to see your beloved doggie decline before your eyes, refuse to take her medication, and have to force feed it to her.  All the while try to medicate a cat by sneaking it in soft food while trying to keep the other cats out of it (and the dog).  Of course I started putting the dog meds in soft cat food so that helped a little but there was still one pill that she refused to take in any form.  So I still had to wrestle with her twice a day.  Very sad indeed.

All the changes in Nikki appeared to be neurologically related to her stroke.  She had marked weakness in her back end and looked to be in considerably more pain.  She had also developed GI issues that stemmed from her brain not communicating with the rest of her body.  This all in addition to the regular old aches and pains of almost being 15.  It was clear she had no quality of life. 

I really hate having to make these kinds of decisions.  Why don't animals just die on their own anymore???  Why couldn't we have woken up one morning to a dog that had peacefully died in her sleep?  Not only is it heart wrenching but the fact that we JUST went through this three months ago was almost unbearable.  And just a little over a year ago we had to make the same decision for our Cabby cat!  Ugh!! 

Since we obviously have had old dogs for a while (so it's no surprise that we are now dog-less) people have asked if we're going to get a new dog.  I say no.  At least not for another 10 - 15 years.  I just can't do it.  I know people will tell you to get another dog soon.  But I can't.  I just can't do it.

I apologize for such a "downer" post.  But this past month has been quite the emotional roller coaster.  Frankly the past few months has been a doggie emotional roller coaster.  I needed to do a little emotional cleansing.  Thanks for listening.

Where would I be without Stanley Steemer??

Have I mentioned we have a zoo at our house??  Needless to say we should have bought stock in Stanley Steemer a loooong time ago.  I'm sure I've blogged about this before (or at least some of this) so hang in there with me...

It's that time of year again where our back yard is a green swampy mess.  Good because the snow is gone and the grass is now green!!!  Bad because the ground is saturated and easily turns to mud.  Like when Liam jumps off the end of his ramp.  He now jumps into a mud puddle he's inadvertently made.  Nice...  We have a steam cleaner for spots and "in between" cleanings.  But it just doesn't get the job done like Stanley.

Even though we try to wipe off their paws and try different products (like the balloon-type paw covers) our carpets look AWFUL!!!  It's an annual ritual that we have Stanley Steemer come and do the downstairs carpets.  Usually I wait until the end of May but I have to host Bunco the second Tuesday in May so we're bumping up the cleaning schedule.

But one twist we've thrown into this whole carpet issue is aging dogs.  Read: incontinent dogs.  Yep.  I am admitting to this on my blog.  And I understand you may never want to come to our house after you read this.  Although I define "good friends" as those that overlook your mess anyway.

Nikki had "picked out" a spot in the living room to sneak and pee when she wanted to be passive aggressive.  This spot turned into the place she went when it was raining outside and she refused to pee outside.  (cranky old lady...)  Finally we smartened up and started buying "pee pee pads" and laid them over her "area".  Takes 2 pads to cover. 

Although I admit not smart on our part - but we NEVER trained the dogs to use the pads.  However, they both figured it out!!  (fakers.  they keep acting dumb to get out of trouble but they're a lot smarter than they let on....)  It started with Nikki peeing on them.  Well, kinda.  She'd squat on the edge.  Not all would get on the pad but the majority would and that made cleaning the rest with our steam cleaner a lot easier.  She's since gotten better with her aim although she rarely needs to use the pads.  But they are a good back up plan!

A year ago we had to put Liam on a reduced calorie food.  Apparently it works but packing the kibble with TONS of fiber.  Poor guy now poops 4 - 5 times a day.  Seriously.  There have been times where he hasn't "told" us he has to go and instead has just walked to the pee pee pads and pooed right on them instead!  I find it quite amazing since we never trained him to use them!!!  There have even been 2 or 3 incidents where we've found where he's stood over the 2 pads and perfectly peed on them too!! (They are super absorbent pads designed for adult dogs....)

Ok, so enough about the bowel movements of my canines.  Because now I fear I'll never see any of you ever again in person....

Dogs and Soup - but not together

Since I have been using my side of the garage as a "workshop" for my Murphy bed I have been parking in the driveway.  This has brought on an unexpected difficulty.  Now I usually opt to go out the front door in the morning rather than through the garage.  As soon as I open the front door Liam is up and at the door like lightning.  Ok, not really lightning...  but it's what I consider exceptionally fast for him.  And usually I would be quick and nimble enough to open door, step outside in one fell swoop and quickly close it again probably before he could even mange to get his rump off the ground.  However, in the morning I'm usually juggling a purse (yes, I do actually carry one these days), a bag full-o-stuff (usually my lunch and snacks) and on occasion - my computer backpack.  It all makes me quite unwieldy.  and slow.

The past few days Liam has managed to make it to the door so fast that I assumed he really needed to "go".  So I let him out and keep an eye on him while I load up my car.  Except Tuesday I noticed that he wasn't really going and he wasn't particularly interested in going back inside.  I had to call the hubby to come and get him.  This morning I figured out why.

He wants to go with me!

Of our two dogs he's not the "oooh! oooh!  lemme ride!!!  lemme ride!!!" dog.  That would be Nikki.  But it seems Liam thinks I'm going somewhere in the morning and he wants to come too.  When he wouldn't go inside this morning I went in to get the hubby.  When we came back out we saw this:

I think it was his way of saying "Mom take your time.  I'll be right here waiting to go when you're ready."

Last night I made my famous "Quick Chicken Soup".  (maybe the rest of world doesn't know it's famous but I think it is...)  It calls for a rotisserie chicken picked-thru, chicken broth, pre-chopped bag of celery, carrot and onion and orzo (small pasta).  Let's just say that I put in waaaay too much orzo.  I usually do - but this time it was even more.  So this morning, after sitting in the fridge all night, it looked more like a casserole.

I scooped some out to take to work for lunch for the next few days.  I also took 2 cans of chicken broth too.  So now I can choose to have soup or casserole.  That way it doesn't feel like I'm eating the same thing for days in a row!!  Genius!!!