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Category Archives: Pets

My mornings on the computer…

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Charlie waits for me at the door to the living room (same exact spot every morning) and when she sees me coming, she starts talking and runs into the office and up into the bed, walking around and around, talking at me, bumping into me and my hand wanting me to pet her. However, that is short-lived as Maggie follows closely behind (having just come in from outside) and wants up in the bed, so I lift her up and put her in—which kicks Charlie out because Charlie doesn’t much like to share, but Charlie still wants attention so she hangs around and sits right there. I managed to snap some pics this morning. It’s the same thing every morning!

Will wonders never cease?

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So Maggie and I don’t agree on trimming her nails: I want to do it and she hates it. :)) I still try to do it every so often, and I play with her feet while she’s laying in her bed next to the computer…just to try to get her used to it. But she never falls for it. Sometimes, I manage to get one or two nails cut before she is too fidgety to control. When Tom is here, one of us placates her with treats (me) while the other person snips (Tom). It’s nearly impossible for one person to do alone—especially since we are always afraid we are going to cut too much and get the quick—until tonight. When I successfully clipped ALL of her nails! I’m not sure why she let me tonight—and there was still some fidgeting—but not enough to deter me! YEA! That’s money saved, as I usually take her to Petsmart to have it done!!

A Busy Day

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So I was finally able to sleep in today—I never seem to be able to sleep in, but I had stayed up later than normal, so woke up when Tom called me at 10am!! 88|

My actual agenda for the day started with a quick pass through the pantry to check for the necessary ingredients for a double batch of Lin’s spaghetti sauce, as well as premeasuring all the spices for two double batches (I like to have one set done ahead of time). But my day actually started by cleaning up nasty piles of Maggie vomit. She apparently found some eggs in the yard and either ate one or it was already broken and she was rolling in it. (I also tried to get a grooming appointment but they were booked.) I am not sure where the eggs came from—there are some birds that are always in our yard, which made me think maybe there was a nest somewhere (our neighbors had a nest in their grass!) but I didn’t see one.

After my spices and pantry-perusing was done, I made my shopping list, and off I went! Since I had to go to Sam’s anyway I decided to get the tires balanced again—I just had it done in April because the car was shaking when braking from a medium speed, but it was doing it again and when I picked it up, they said, yes they were off again. That concerns me somewhat because I am not doing any off-roading or anything that would skew the balance. (I have an appointment Monday morning for the 65,000 mile checkup, so will have them take a look at it, as well.) I also had a stop at Petsmart and Food Lion (for the odds and ends I couldn’t get at Sam’s).

On the way home I stopped at Bryant’s Farm, a roadside fruit/veggie market up the road about a mile. I always forget about it, but our neighbors reminded me of it (I went to dinner there the other night and raved about the strawberries—they were from Bryant’s). There was SO much good stuff there, I spent $25!! 88| The only thing missing from this picture is the watermelon and the piece of strawberry bread that disappeared 10 seconds after getting home!! Everything is soooo good, but the best? Fresh-shucked garden peas…and pickled beets! When I picked up the jar to look at them, the lady told me they were pickled beets—I told her I knew, I was hoping they were, and I hoped they tasted like my family’s beets! (I am sure no one here knows what they are. I can’t wait to try them!) I also can’t wait to have a toasted tomato sandwich, make a tomato/cucumber salad, make a tomato/basil/feta salad, and make a fruit salad!!!

Then it was time to make the sauce! Again, our kitchen is just too small for any real cooking…every counter was filled, the sink was full, and almost every cupboard door was open by the time I was done! I had decided to make lasagna, and of course, my eyes were bigger than my stomach (I wanted leftovers, but I make SUCH a huge vat of it, there is plenty for dinner for four PLUS leftovers for everyone), so I actually put the lasagna in the frig and invited neighbors for dinner tomorrow. 😀

Then it was up to the office to do some work to make up time from my Charleston vacation. I worked on the website, which is something I just don’t have time to do at work. Well, I sorta do have time at work, but I get interrupted so much it’s nice to just be able to do it on my own, at my leisure, without interruptions—it would probably take me twice as long to get the same amount accomplished.

Then I cleaned up the house a bit and finished unpacking from Charleston (I’ve been slowly using things out of the suitcase—I hate unpacking), watched some TV, and went to bed!

Nothing is safe with these cats!

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So we all know that cats love grass and plants—which is precisely why we don’t have any in our house (I got sick of seeing chewed leaves and vomit piles with leaves in them). So guess what I found when I got home the other day? If you’re squeamish, you may want to look away. :>

Yes, friends. That is a leaf from our FAKE topiary in the middle of a vomit pile! 88| Of course there was also a huge hairball, but I am used to those. But a fake leaf? :crazy:

Guess what I just had to do!

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Seriously, guess what I just @$&% had to do! I don’t think you could guess if you guessed for 10 years.

I had to pull grass out of Maggie’s butt because she couldn’t poop it out! 88|

No lie.

I see her out there squatting and straining and I am not seeing anything else come out, so I grab some tissue and head out and I see blades of grass actually sticking out of her butt. So I pull them out and there are more. And I actually had to tug a little—I was actually afraid something larger was in there and I was going to hurt her. Then I pulled out a weed or something that was, no shit, like 4″ long with little bulbs on the end.

Oh.

My.

God.

88|

Talk about instant heart failure!

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My routine rarely varies.

I come home, let Maggie out and play with her, bring her inside, feed her dinner, go out to get the mail through the front door, come back inside through the garage, shut the garage door, then go upstairs to relax for a bit and watch TV.

And today was no different.

So I was upstairs watching an hour-long show (so, with Tivo, it was maybe 40 minutes). Then I splurged and watched a half hour show (so, another 20 minutes). Then I realized I was hungry, so went downstairs to eat dinner, with Maggie bounding ahead of me as usual. As I rounded the corner and headed into the kitchen, I am not sure whether I actually saw what I was seeing or whether my brain just sensed that it was too bright at the front of the house (where normally it would be dark)—but I do know that the next few moments were a blur and I think my heart actually stopped for a brief moment…until it started pounding so hard and so loud I almost couldn’t breathe.

What was so wrong?

THE FRONT DOOR WAS WIDE OPEN! 88| 88| 88| 88| 88| 88|

For a split second, I had thought we had a glass storm door (which of course we don’t), but why else would there be light coming in?

I didn’t even have time to think why the door would even be open—but if that fact weren’t scary (freaky) enough, Maggie was sitting at the threshhold, ears raised, as if she was mere microseconds from bounding outside. I yelled for her to stay and tried to get her to come to me. Luckily she didn’t move, and I was to her in about three strides and grabbing her collar. As I did so, I noticed a cat outside on the lawn (one of the neighborhood cats that is always roaming about) which is what had drawn Maggie’s attention. But what scared me even more?

BELLA WAS ON THE PORCH! 88| 88| 88| 88| 88| 88|

It actually took a good two seconds (I’m guessing) for it to register that yes, this was MY cat on the porch (and not another neighborhood cat). I pulled the door shut behind me and instinctively yelled Bella’s name, even though I was sure it would be pointless. The other cat was slinking away, and I prayed that Bella didn’t decide to be adventurous and chase after her. I made a grab for her and she darted away—thankfully just to the other side of the porch (and not out into the yard) but I knew she could still easily run away. I gently knelt down and she was crouched against the side of the house and as she tried to get past me, I grabbed her and got back in the house.

Then I had another scary thought: OH MY GOD. Where is Charlie? I shook the treat container and thankfully heard a THUNK upstairs, which signalled that she had jumped down off the entertainment center. It was at this point that I think I started breathing again.

I tried to piece together how on earth the door could have come open, and I just cannot fathom it. I always shut the door behind me—and make sure it’s shut—for this very reason, as I am paranoid about the animals getting out. I briefly thought that someone HAD to have opened it—but I can’t imagine anyone opening the door for the hell of it (or left it open if they had snuck in or ran out when they heard me coming) but I did a cursory look around the house anyway (although, thinking back, I probably should have called someone to come look with me, just in case). And how long was it open? I was upstairs for just about an hour—was it open the whole time? The only thing that makes sense is the door didn’t latch and was just lightly pushed shut…but even then, it would have taken QUITE a gust of wind to blow it open (and it wasn’t windy). In my stupor, I thought maybe the animals saw it partially open and pushed it the rest of the way—except when clearer thought prevailed, I realized the door opened inward so they would have had to PULL the door open. Now, I know they’re intelligent, but I doubt Bella could do that on her own.

I am still just in complete shock. And you can bet your ass from now on I will be double- and triple-checking every door, every time.

RIP, Fuzzy

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Also known as FuzzButt, StinkerButt, Pooka, and Fangs That Hang So Low (his indian name).

Today was a normal day when I got home from work, until I went to sit on the couch around 6:15 to watch some TV. I heard a strange noise, which I attributed to Fuzzy, who has been known to breathe heavily and sort of half snore while he sleeps. But it sounded different, so I went looking for him. And when I found him laying in front of the litter box and actually heard the noises he was making, I knew it wasn’t good. It was even worse when I picked him up and he was limp.

I immediately called my vet’s office, since I thought they had late office hours—and I was wrong. I then googled emergency vets in our area and there was one, so I called and said I would be there in 15 minutes. She forwarned me it would be a minimum $85 fee, which I honestly didn’t think was too bad. I was out the door within five minutes.

In the back of my mind, I knew something was wrong with him. He has always been a big cat—our “fat cat”—except lately, over the past 6 months to a year, he has lost quite a bit of weight…like maybe 5-8#. I just attributed it to the fact that he was getting older and not eating as much…but in the back of my mind, I KNEW something was wrong. Earlier this week, I actually told mysef I should take him to the vet for a round of tests, just to know what we might be dealing with. But he was still eating fine and drinking a lot, so I didn’t think about it TOO much.

So tonight, while somewhat of a surprise (he seemed fine when I saw him last night), also wasn’t a surprise.

So I get to the vet’s and the tech took his temperature, and then took it again because she couldn’t believe how low it was. It was 86, and apparently a normal temp should be 102-106 (or something along those lines). She got him a warm towel until the vet came in. One quick listen and she asked me if he had any history of liver or kidney problems (no) and then told me that his heart sounded bad, his lungs sounded bad, he was dehydrated, and he probably needed a blood transfusion. His gums were very pale (almost white), which she said was not a good sign, either. She said they could do bloodwork ($150), but even then, they might not have any good news, and even if they could determine what it was, he would still need a blood transfusion. And even then, he may only have a month or two.

It was at that point I decided it was time to let him go… He’s led a good life with me the past 13 years (the longest I’ve ever had any animal—we adopted him from my aunt and uncle when he was just 1.5 years old) and for all the joy he has brought to my life, he certainly deserved to die peacefully and without any more pain…with me at his side kissing his sweet little face. They gave me some time alone with him, then it was over in a matter of a minute.

Rest in Peace, Fuzzy. You will be missed terribly.

fuzzycostume200

Angel Maggie vs. Devil Maggie

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I had been cleaning the house and vacuuming (and whatnot), so I put all of Maggie’s toys on top of her crate. She physically saw me put her favorite squeaker Dino up there, but she was already in her crate for the night.

So, in the morning, I took her out and let her roam while I was in the shower—our normal routine. When I got out of the shower, I saw her on the bed (which is where she usually is) except I noticed she was chewing on a toy! I knew there were no toys in the bedroom, so I went out to look, and—yes, she had pulled every single toy off her crate, and they were scattered everywhere! I could just imagine the mischevious look on her face as she did this! So I was lovin’ on her something fierce—she was just so cute.

So I keep getting ready and I walked back into the bedroom and she looked guilty as sin. You know the look—ears back, puppy dog eyes, the whole nine yards. I immediately look around the room, expecting to see fluff/stuffing all over the place…but no. Instead? A pile of poop vomit. Yes, folks, poop vomit. She had apparently eaten her poop that morning when I left her alone to put a load of laundry in. (Typically, I stand there and watch her like a hawk, to prevent such things, but I’ve been doing that for months and she’s been good, so I thought I could leave her alone. HA! She fooled me.) So…it obviously upset her stomach and she puked it up. Let me tell you how fun that is to clean, especially as I’m running around half dressed trying to get ready for work—and, oh yes—as Tom was calling as well! So I get it cleaned up and I go in to check my email and—OH. MY. GOD. There was another poop vomit pile. GRRRRRRRRRR. She obviously did that one first and I just missed it.

I have to say I like the Angel Maggie better.

I love a tired puppy!

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So yesterday was a holiday around these parts—for the military, at least. 🙄 I had asked our friends, Tom and Karen, if/when I could bring Maggie over for a play date because she hasn’t played with any dogs in a long time, and she really needed the interaction. Tom, who had the day off, said I could bring her over Monday for the whole day!

And she had a blast, I’m sure—she loves playing with Venus! I dropped her off at 8am and right away, they were crazy dogs and got sent outside. When I got back at 5:15, they were still crazy, but Tom assured me they had been crashed on the couch before I rang the doorbell.

So, as it happens, I had been invited down to dinner at Rob and Cindy’s, so I put Maggie in her crate when I got home at 5:30. (Normally I would feel bad about that, but since she had been playing all day, I was okay with it.) When I got home from dinner at 7, I tried to get her out to eat dinner—and she was having none of it. I don’t think she even opened her eyes! She was just TOTALLY crashed. I left her crate door open in case she wanted to get out later…but she never did. I tried getting her up around 9:30 to at least potty before bed, but she was still crashed!

This morning at 7:30, I had to poke her to get her up and moving…and she stumbled down the stairs (when normally, she races down!) and went right to her food bowl (she missed dinner, you remember). Then she went out, did her business, then want back up into our bed and slept. I had to carry her to her crate when I left at 8.

I LOVE A TIRED PUPPY! (Especially since I was having a tough time walking last night!!) Tom said I am welcome to bring her over more often, and I think I am going to take him up on it!!

GREAT BOOTS UPDATE!

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Tom just called and said the local shelter will take her!!!! He told them everything and they said it will be tough [to adopt her out] but they will take her! We are “donating” the adoption fee, along with food, treats, toys, litter, etc. I am also thinking about a gift card to Petsmart.

Oh, this lightens my heart tremendously!!!

Sad news.

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The short version is that the vet says Boots is most likely suffering from Pariah Syndrome (at the moment, I cannot find any information online so am not sure if Tom heard it wrong, I am spelling it wrong, or it’s something else that sounds the same, etc.).

The vet said it’s a mix of things, including that the cat has been traumatized at some time in her life (which I wrote about earlier) in addition to her having extreme bouts of anxiety and stress, in addition to her not being the alpha female…all of which combine to cause her improper elimination—and it’s something that most likely will never be cured, even if we were to take the cat two hours away to a specialist to get other meds (and then he said we’d have to medicate two cats, and even then it might not be successful).

The vet said we’ve done more than most people would in our situation, and our choices were either live with her peeing everywhere or…..putting her down. So, it’s not looking good… we know what has to be done, and are completely heartbroken over it. It kills us just to think about it…

Boots is back.

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Well, that adoption was certainly short-lived. The woman who adopted her emailed me Saturday morning that she didn’t think it was going to work out. Apparently Boots kept trying to bite her child and swatted at her face repeatedly. And she didn’t get along with the dog, either. And she never used the litterbox once, but peed all over the place.

So we took her back. And it really sucks. I mean, I definitely don’t mean to make light of the situation, but we have already been through 1+ years of cat-fighting and harassment and of another potential adoptive home that fell through—so we were happy she was going (we thought) to a good home. And we had gone through the emotions of both having to give her up and actually giving her up. And now we have her back…and are just waiting for the problems to start again.

To make matters worse, there are other issues. For the past year, Boots has had elimination issues. She has been peeing all over our house and has actually ruined furniture. Most of the times it’s in hiding, but we have caught her in the act. She does use the litter boxes, and she has been to the vet (who couldn’t find any definite problems), so we attributed this to her not getting along with the other cats and just being stressed. Needless to say we have spent lots of money on special cat phermones that are supposed to be calming and help reduce stress. They seem to work somewhat, but they definitely don’t work 100% as she still has some issues. We were sure that putting her in a new home without cats would be the solution. Which it apparently wasn’t. At this point, we are not sure how much longer we can handle her elimination issues. She’s been to the vet, she’s been on medication, and we have the phermones, but nothing has really helped. I’ve had more than one sleepless night over this situation.

What we have determined, however, is that that family we adopted her from (our neighbors)…well, we are pretty sure the kids terrorized the poor cat. We thought it was cute when the little girl came to visit Boots and Boots sort of jumped up at her. We assumed it was playing or recognition, but now we think it may have been retribution! We honestly don’t think the family got rid of the cat due to “allergies” like they claimed.

So we’re not sure what we’re going to do. We’ve pretty much tried all that we can, short of a pet psychic…

A happy day AND a sad day…

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The happy news? Boots went to a new home today. 😀
The sad news? Boots went to a new home today. :'(

As luck would have it, I was getting my hair cut last night and talking to my hairdresser about our zoo (she has her own zoo, and her husband just left December 29 for a year). I mentioned that we actually had one cat we’d like to find a new home for since our other cats were still terrorizing her after a year. She said “Oh! Kathy [our receptionist] is looking for a cat!”

So after my haircut, I talked to Kathy, showed her the pictures online, and she said she’d take her—and made plans to pick her up the following night (tonight). Of course, I was thrilled, because Boots really does need to be the only cat…but of course I was sad, because I love her and I’ve never had to give up an animal before. :'(

I got teary a few times, but managed to not cry… so here’s hoping she’s loving her new home.

A new one this morning!

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So as I’m sure you can imagine with four cats, we tend to get little surprises around the house—we think Bella has gastrointestinal problems that make her vomit for no reason and Fuzzy is renowned for hairballs. (I’m sure the other two have contributed at times, but Bella and Fuzzy are the most well-known culprits—i.e. we physically see them do it.) And of course it’s always a nice surprise when we find one of their deposits…hopefully not by stepping in it first! Sometimes Maggie gets to them before we do, which is gross—but we’ve grown to accept because 1) it’s just food and 2) it’s less for us to clean up. :>>

So after many years of this, I wouldn’t think much would surprise me. I mean, we’ve found piles on the kitchen table, under furniture, on the bed, under the bed, in their beds, on the desk, on the printer, on windowsills—in other words, pretty much everywhere.

But this morning was something entirely new and surprising.

The cats were all whining like crazy, which usually means their food bowl is empty. Except it wasn’t. So what was it? Oh my. Someone (my guess is Fuzzy since it was a hairball) had actually thrown up a hairball in the water dish! 88| Talk about gross—all the food pieces were bloated and had turned to mush, turning the water a disgusting, cloudy shade of tan. Blech!

As soon as I refilled it, everyone was happy!

A lazy Sunday morning with Maggie!

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Tom has duty today, so it was quiet in the house this morning…and I was actually able to sleep in until 8:30! After I let Maggie out, I grabbed her and crawled back into bed to watch some TV—we often let her cuddle with us on the weekends as she loooooves to nap under the covers. Needless to say we both were very comfy—and we stayed there until about 12:30!!

Not quite as crazy as last time…

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We had decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to have another party—this time, because a bunch of guys on our street are all deploying around the same time and we wanted to get everyone together before they all left (and before the holiday season occupied everyone’s schedules). We decided to have deep-fried turkey and make it into a potluck.

Of course, we were totally paranoid about throwing the party. I mean, we knew we had had a successful party in the past, but we are always scared that no one will show up and/or people will not have a good time.

Of course, we had nothing to worry about…we ended up with (I think) 22 adults and 14 kids! It didn’t get nearly as crazy as it did before, but everyone had a smashing time. And the turkey was a HUUUUUGE hit—I was surprised at how many people were trying it for the first time!

Oh, and Maggie? She was in pure doggie heaven—all those kids running around and wanting to play with her! Every time I looked around, someone was carrying her or chasing her or playing with her. One time, the kids were playing tag and were scattered, running all over—and she didn’t even know which way to run!! Towards the end of the evening, you could tell she was getting tired, so we put her to bed a little early and she slept straight through the night and didn’t even BUDGE in the morning!!

We have stupid, stupid cats.

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So this morning there was a pile of vomit on the table. Gross, yes, but something you get used to with four cats. But what was IN the vomit pile, you ask? A leaf. Now, normally a leaf would be nothing unusual…because cats like to eat grass and plants and whatnot. Except that we have no LIVE plants in our house because I kill them. So we have plastic plants. So the stupid cat ate a leaf off the topiary and then barfed it up. :crazy:

Like I said: stupid.

Fuzzy on the loose!

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So, the cats are always at the sliding doors in the kitchen, meowing like they think they want to go outside. And this morning, Fuzzy was meowing and whining louder than usual, so I told Tom to open the door and see what happened. (We have done this in the past, and no one ever makes a move.) But as soon as he opened the door, Fuzzy darted out—and Bella started to as well!

Well, we didn’t want to have to corral two cats, so he grabbed Bella and handed her to me while he went outside to watch Fuzzy.

Now, it’s chilly out—48° to be exact, so I was guessing Fuzzy wouldn’t stay out too long or stray too far. I did tell Tom, however, to stand at the deck steps because Fuzzy can be quick when he wants to be, and I didn’t want him escaping into the yard (although, even if he did, I can’t imagine him squeezing in between the fence boards OR jumping over the fence).

Well, Fuzzy wandered around just a bit on the deck when the neighbor’s dog saw him and started barking…and Fuzzy pretty much made a beeline back into the house! So, in all, he was outside for less than three minutes!!

Did we create a monster?

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So for almost as long as I’ve had Fuzzy, he has slept with me at night. Most of the time, right next to my head, in fact. Until probably six months ago, when he stopped coming in to sleep with us and Bella took his place. Then Charlie took her place. Then, Bella started coming in again. It was like there was some rotation they were on that only they were privy to!

Well, I had started to miss Fuzzy—he rarely even came upstairs anymore! We thought it was because he was getting old and maybe he had arthritis and didn’t like climbing the stairs….but he would come up every so often when his food bowl was empty! And over the past month or so, he has started coming upstairs more and more often. So last night, I grabbed him and took him to bed with me…and he stayed! (I had tried this in months past, but he left as soon as I sent him down.)

To my surprise, he stayed until the middle of the night and then he hopped down. But then hours later, he was back! (Of course, it was at this point that I remembered why I didn’t like him sleeping next to me—the loud purring and meowing and pawing at my face in the middle of the night keeps me awake and makes it really hard to fall back asleep). But he was LOVING IT! Purring to beat the band. And it was a weekend so I didn’t mind too much!

Amazingly, he stayed until morning. But I may have created a monster….

I do not know how I am going to survive…

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I do not know how I am going to survive back in Michigan winters. This morning in North Carolina it is 35° and I am hating it! HATING IT! We didn’t have the heat on, so the house was 51° this morning, I took a 15-minute HOT shower (I’m usually out in under 10), poor Maggie was bundled up under the blankets in her crate (see below!) and did NOT want to come out, she was shivering after 10 seconds outside (as I was!), and I have no good warm clothes to wear (that fit, but that’s fodder for another post).

Maggie wrapped in a blanket

What is up with this cold weather this early? Last winter must have been unseasonably warm, as I SPECIFICALLY remember not having to wear a coat until mid-December, and even then, it was only sporadically.

Way short version of mom and David’s visit.

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As you will read on the 10/28 entry, I lost my entire well-constructed thread with links and pictures…and there is NO WAY IN HELL I’m in any mood to even try to recreate it, so…without further ado, here’s the short version of their visit.

  1. They brought my old dresser and my old toybox because they were cleaning out the basement and I had to take my old stuff. They filled the toybox with Tom’s beer he requested, which I found funny.
  2. We cooked some great meals, as usual, plus ate at our favorite Thai restaurant. David made some yummy soup from leftovers and mom made Tom his favorite scones.
  3. Maggie LOVED grandma and I think grandma was surprised that she liked Maggie more than she thought she would.
  4. We went to our annual Halloween party/oyster feast at our friend’s house. We wore our new costumes and mom and David wore the scrubs that we had been banned from wearing again. My costume still needs some work, as it’s way too big and not slutty enough for what the costume should be (I couldn’t get enough cleavage).

The end.

P.S. You WON’T believe this, but I lost this post as well…another stupid error in the code. GRRRRR. There has to be something wrong with my cookies because this does NOT happen when I write in my blog at work. >:(

I think my heart stopped this morning.

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So Tom and I were getting ready this morning (he doesn’t have to be in until 9am this week) and as usual, Maggie was running loose. Well, I was downstairs getting stuff out of the dryer and I heard racing around upstairs (Maggie and the cats sound like a herd of elephants, I swear!) and as I was walking through the living room, I noticed a blur of movement in my peripheral vision—as Charlie came flying down over the balcony and landed in the foyer with a THUNK!

HOLY SHIT!

I think my heart either skipped a few beats or just stopped completely.

She didn’t seem any worse for the wear and she wasn’t making any noise like she was in pain—but she wasn’t moving, either—she was just sitting there (like normal). I went over to her and she ran away from me (like normal) and when I was finally able to pick her up, she was squirmy (like normal) so I guessed she was just fine.

But it was a good five minutes before my now-racing heart was back to normal.

Overactive brain?

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So I was doing a load of laundry today and I was getting ready to transfer the items from the washer to the dryer—when something brown fell out towards me! 88| I instantly thought OH MY GOD BOOTS IS IN THE WASHER! Of course, that obviously wasn’t the case (it was a brown towel) but still, it’s amazing what your brain thinks in the split second when something unexpected happens! It actually freaked me out badly enough so that my heart was racing!

Snoring Maggie

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Maggie is so damn cute. She loves to hop up and sit in the window (in her bed) when I’m on the computer. (Of course, sometimes it gets tiring, as she wants up, then down, then up, then down, ad infinitum.) But this morning she hopped up, curled up in her bed, and is SNORING to beat the band. If only you could hear her!

Too bad I have to get up and finish getting ready for work—as soon as she hears me, she will get up as well. But then it’s one more potty break and then she gets crated!

Our poor little Maggie!

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So we noticed this weekend (while we were at a friend’s house) that every so often, she was limping—holding her back right paw off the ground. We thought maybe she somehow injured it while playing with their dog, but the next time we looked at her, she was fine—running around and playing with no problems.

We forgot about it until yesterday afternoon, when the limp was REALLY pronounced and she was hopping on three legs. We propped her up on the couch and inspected her entire leg and paw, gently touching every inch, waiting to see if she would wince or whimper (or anything to let us know that was the spot). Nothing.

Her skin looks fine, her pads look fine, her nails look fine, her ‘knuckles’ (are they knuckles in dogs?) were fine—there were no cuts, bumps, or anything that would confirm something might hurt. We inspected between her toes/pads thinking she might have a picker or something in there, but we didn’t see anything. We let her up and she was running around with no issues—the limp was gone.

This continued throughout the night—limping one minute and fine the next. I let her out of the crate this morning and she was fine. I turn around and she’s limping again. I inspected her again—and nothing.We thought maybe she broke a nail tip or something, as she’s started this new jumping thing (when she’s outside and wants to come in, she jumps about 3-4′ in the air against the sliding glass door). But you would think if she broke something, it would be painful all the time, or at the very least, when we touched the affected area. But there’s nothing.

Well…one trip to the vet and, ladies and gentlemen, we have a Luxating Patella.

In some dogs, because of malformation or trauma, the ridges forming the patellar groove are not prominent, and a too-shallow groove is created. In a dog with shallow grooves, the patella will luxate (jump out of the groove) sideways, especially toward the inside. This causes the leg to ‘lock up’ with the foot held off the ground.

In other words, a messed up kneecap and tendons. The vet popped it in and out a few times, and each time he popped it out, she cringed…then he popped it back in and it was fine. Poor girl.

We’re supposed to keep her from jumping and from using the stairs. That’s going to be fun, as she’s crated upstairs but obviously needs to go out…and typicallly has free reign of the house (and LOVES flying up and down the stairs). She is crated during the day (8-5) and I asked if we shouldn’t keep her crated more, but the vet said no, not if you can help it. He said running is fine—just no jumping or stairs. The vet also said that it really shouldn’t be a painful issue, so not to worry too much about her—she just looks really pathetic when she’s limping.

If it gets worse (or doesn’t get better), there are two surgical options—one which cuts the bone in order to keep the tendon in place and one which stiches the tendon together to make it tighter. Here’s hoping we don’t need either.

We are small dog people.

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I have always been a cat person at heart, but ever since my dad had Golden Retrievers I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for them as well. When Tom wanted to get a dog, we both agreed that a golden would be great—except for all the hair! After all, we have four cats that shed—we didn’t really want a dog that shed that much. So, we ended up with Maggie…and she’s perfect.

But I digress.

Our friends Tom and Karen have a lab/boxer mix that Maggie just LOVES to play with. We often take her over for a play date, and they’ve also babysat Maggie twice now when we had to leave town. Well, this past weekend it was our turn to babysit Venus at our house.

We have just one word to say: WOW.

Where to begin?

Those two had SO much fun and played SO hard that, other than putting them in the crate to sleep at night, the first time they took a nap was Saturday at 3! Unfortunately, it only lasted until 3:30 when Tom opened the garage door and they both woke up and started playing again. And I should mention that Maggie generally is a pest—she is constantly bugging Venus, either by biting her legs, trying to bite her tongue, or just generally pawing at her to get her attention (in short, a true little sister). Venus is very good with her and takes all that she dishes out, although a few times she tried to get away by laying between me and Tom. (We also put Maggie in her crate once when Venus seemed to be getting annoyed.) They are just so totally cute to watch…

Maggie and Venue with rings

These interlocking rings are the best!! Venus actually had them and Maggie loved them so much we bought her a set of her own…just in time for Venus to come over and play! For awhile Sunday afternoon, they were racing around the living room, down the hall, downstairs, then back upstairs, around the ottoman, then back down the hall…repeat ad nauseum. If Venus wasn’t on Maggie’s heels, Maggie would stop, turn around with the rings hanging from her mouth, and wait for Venus to follow…which she inevitably did!

Unfortunately, Maggie was sooooo sad when Venus went home. She spent the first 10 minutes looking for her (looking in the room where her crate had been, looking in the other rooms, looking out the window) and then grabbed their favorite play toy (the two interlocked rings) and crashed on the couch, looking the most sad and dejected I’ve ever seen her:

Maggie sad

Poooooor little Maggie. Seeing her that sad and pathetic almost made US cry! Of course, we’d love to get another Boston Terrier, but six animals??? Egads.

All that aside, Venus is a handful. Tom would know how much she weighs, but I can barely keep hold of her, and if she wants to come inside there’s really no stopping her (I don’t know how Karen does it). And big dogs slobber. A lot. And maybe Venus is just messier than other dogs, but when she drinks, she manages to drip all over the floor as she walks away. I about broke my neck one time as I walked across the kitchen floor, hit a puddle of water, and my feet slipped out from under me and I came crashing down onto the tile. And this was just after I had dried of the floor two minutes before.

We love Venus and welcome her back…but babysitting her has definitely (DEFINITELY!) taught us that we are small dog people…

I think hell just froze over.

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So I was downstairs and all the cats were congregating around the food bowl, whining (not entirely sure why, as they had plenty of food). Surprisingly, Boots was right in the middle of them all…and there was NO hissing, NO swatting, NO stalking—NOTHING. An amazing feat in itself, as they typically hate each other. Or so I thought…

Because then I saw something that made me rub my eyes and shake my head in disbelief.

Charlie was…are you ready?

Charlie was LICKING Boots on the head. And Boots was letting her. And this went on for a good 20 seconds. Then Boots rubbed up against Fuzzy and wandered off.

Oh my.

I think they’re finally friends. And it only took seven months.

We should have named her Shadow.

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Maggie is our new shadow (and actually has been for some time). She can be laying/sleeping/resting peacefully in her window seat or on the couch or in our bed, and unless she’s SLEEPING and dead to the world, she gets up and follows us if we leave the room. It’s cute, of course, but when you can tell she’s tired and wants to sleep, it’s sort of pathetic looking (with those tired little eyes trotting after you) so we end up putting her in her crate if we’re busy about the house, just so she can sit still for a bit. (Most times she falls right asleep and other times she just sits there and looks at you. If that’s the case, we let her out again.)

This morning she surprised me…usually you have to tell her to get in her crate when it’s time to leave for work… but after she ate her breakfast and did her business this morning, she ran upstairs and went right into her crate! Without me telling her to! Wow! So I took advantage and locked her in. She’s already sleeping again…and soooo cute!!