The Reaction

It's hard to tell, but the shiny is where his skin was dying

It's been a harrowing two weeks and a days.

It all started simply enough. Its summer time and with warm weather comes longer time spent out of of doors. With more time spent out of doors, comes more time to roll and play in things like garbage and poop; to put it bluntly.  On this particular Saturday Texas did both. Roll in poop and play in the garbage. So I did what any indoor dog mom does, and promptly bathed him. Both times.

It wasn't until early Sunday morning I realized something was very odd about Texas' fur. It was almost wavy ... as if perhaps the skin underneath was wavy.. but that couldn't be right. He must have gotten some grease on his fur, and if I rinse it of perhaps that will do the trick.

Fast forward to Monday night, when it finally came home to me that my dog's fur wasn't stuck together with grease, but something more serious was going on. This wasn't going away on its own. Tuesday morning dawned with Texas barely walking and his leg had swollen over night.

By the time I got to work I was hoping beyond hope that this was something simple, but when the doctor rushed to the front, telling me auctioneer style what was going on, before rushing back to the treatment area. My heart sank. I think I sat with my mouth open for ... a really long time.

What shampoo did you use? Don't ever use that stuff again! Your dog has a temperature of 105 that skin is (to paraphrase as I don't remember the exact words) dying and we're going to try and save it. HOwever I think we may actually have to remove that skin ok? I'm going to give him an steroid injection and some antibiotics to help his fever go down and we'll go from there.

We went home, sorrowful but with some hope. But by the time our scheduled recheck on Thursday appeared, we were grasping at straws. Wednesday had seen Texas trying to chew [the skin on] his leg off, which he almost did, prompting me to make a mad dash to Pets Supplies Plus for an e-collar and some gauze. Though I was afraid of that being the wrong course of action, I saw no choice.

The screaming on Thursday afternoon found me cringing behind the reception desk. Please don't let that be because of me? It was. Dr. R suggested we try soaking the skin in <insert technical term here> on a daily basis to see if that would help. However go ahead and prepare for surgery Monday morning.

Monday dawned with a very hungry and annoyed Texas as we made the 15 minute drive to work. Shortly there after I walk into treatment and see him out cold on the wet table, with his fur being shaved off. :(

Good news is, he doesn't look to bad without some of his fur ...Bad news his skin had to be removed. At that point the Dr. took about six inches total off his left side and sutured him back together with the remain skin. Since he didn't have enough to completely close the wounds, there were some holes. Monday we'd due to surgery again to close those holes, once the skin had some time to grow.

Since then we've been in for a bandage change on Thursday, in which they removed the sutures as that skin had died, and took some skin off the right side. Thus ensconcing him in bandages.

I now affectionately call him my little tootsie roll.
I don't think he enjoys it much.

Needless to say we've got a long road ahead of us.

He's can walk around, though doesn't like to do it much; and is eating and drinking regularly enough that I know he'll be fine. He's just miserable. He's struggled for about the last 20 minutes with his itchy bandages and not being able to itch himself; and it just breaks my heart.


So if you think about Mr. Texas, please pray that his skin grows back quickly and he can be back to his normal bouncy self!

Thanks So much.

Erin

Shampoo Used: Oster's Oatmeal Shed Control - 99% Natural

Cuddling

Hi, my name is Erin and three weeks ago I got this teeny tiny puppy. 

But sometime during that time I lost him somewhere. 

In the weeks that have passed since we brought Monkey-Moo home, and life has settled back into a ...more predictable..routine. I keep having to beat this into my head, but each puppy is different, and while some puppies I could just go out and about with from day one, Rob is not that way. 

Its not that he's not a confident dog, nooo, but let's just say he doesn't like HAVING to stay with ME. There is so much to see and do in these new places, what puppy would want to be still and quiet?  So this time around, we feel its best to solidify somethings at home, versus in the judging public eye.  However, this is not to say that Mr. Rob doesn't go anywhere, according to his FourSquare account, we've checked into at least 12 different places in the last three weeks. Not too shabby for a 10 week old puppy. 

He attends college classes with me, as I fear I would be murdered if I left him at home, and choir practices on Monday nights. This week was my spring break, and though I didn't have much of a break, we were able to squeeze in our first vet visit. The vet is really pleased with his weight (12.6lbs.) and says he looks great. He was so busy with his chew toy, provided by the vet, that he didn't even flinch when his temperature was being taken, or while the vaccinations were being administered. 

Rob sits on the examination table

Granted, we've quickly found out that he has a really high tolerance for pain, as he loves to pull things down on himself. 

If you can't tell by the photos, he's doubled his size in the last couple of weeks, leading me to believe, he may be my biggest, GDF pup yet. We'll see though. Pompei is currently holding the record weighing in at 73.0lbs with Midnight (Rob's Mom) and Rei (2nd puppy) leaving me at or around 60lbs. 

Anyway, Spring break is over for me, so its back to the "grind" of classes this week. Already I am looking forward to the weekend. :) 

Just a week and a half ago, they were the same height. 

  Erin

Hellooo??

Hey guys I knowed you'd been missin me and everythings (cough)Puddles(cough) butt I've been in JAIL!!!!!!!!! Fur Four very long days.


Mom is supposed ta bail me out today when she gots offa work and stuff but it has been horrifyingable. They poked me wit poky needles and stuff and mom is hopin dat I didn't bites anyone about dat. Whatever lady like I has EVER done that!? Mom says dat she was surprised dat the prison guard, was able to carry me out wit out me barkin and stuffs and I just gave her the stink eye for not thinkin good about little ol' me. But after paying like $1,600 ($161) to get me outta of there I was sooo so so relieved dat I had to sit on her lap and give hers lots of kisses, even though I was still mad at hers. 


Then we had to go gets Pompei cause he gots to go to a friends house and have FUN..so I wasn't very happy to see him at first cause, it wasn't even fair and all dat. Butt the sitter people said that the was a very good boy and that they are super sad cause that is da last time they will get to see a'fore he leaves for the New York place. Intiwayssss I'm super glad to be back in my own house cause dis is where I belongs at. 

Texas

Randoms...March 19, 2010

I miss having four dogs.

I feel ridiculously lazy with just these three.

Bubbles and Texas probably require at MAX 30 minutes of exercise a day to be mentally satisfied, though they didn't quite a bit more…

Pompei is still young so about 20 minutes of walking, and he's out for the rest of the evening.

Over the last 6-8 months, I've been used to about two hours of hard walking, or play times just to get the house semi-calm in the evenings, and then lots of training and food toys to keep these little minds busy enough for me to relax a bit.

Yes there were some days I wished it weren't so, but for the most part I loved the work of it.

Now when my dogs are snoozing the evening away, I sometimes wonder if its because they are actually tired, or just because there is nothing else to do.

I know I know. Who cares why they are sleeping.

It's just that were constantly running nowadays, I don't feel we're getting out enough for them to be tired..though I time myself.

I am thinking about sending Pompei and/or Texas to daycare at least once a week, but have some concerns about that…1 Texas doesn't "meet and greet" really well, and two when he was with me at when I worked at doggie daycares he alternated between sleeping or "screaming at the gate"…so I don't know how well that would go over with daycare staff…

We'll see about Pompei, he could use the dog socialization and I could use the savings in gas money…


I cAnNoT wait for summer.


But in other news.

Pompei is officially legal in the shots arena.

We went to class this morning, and then wandered around that side of town for about 4 hours until our appointment time at 2:30pm. (Our vet is near my school, which is about 35 minutes away from my house) We walked around the trails on campus; (No Dogs allowed there so we were safe.) went two a couple of stores looking for house décor…Pompei were really pushing some boundaries with his sniffing today. Gotta work on that. A couple of times I literally pried his nose away from a display full of breakable items…as he wasn't budging. We got some down/stay practice in as well.

Short Shopping Blurb:
Most of my puppies have considered shopping, and extremely boring event, so I'll normally put them in a down/stay at some point in the aisle (depending on the crowd in the store) and browse at my leisure. So far no "run aways":)

Anyway after that, we got some lunch..er.. I got some lunch and went to the vets office to wait for our appt time…only about an hour and a half away. The weather was BEATIFUL, and there was a huge field next too the office, so Pompei and I got out and walked. And walked, and walked, and then sat in the sunshine, Pompei in my lap…I love this dog. For real.

We got back to the car and sat there and waited for the last 15 minutes..I think Pompei recognized where we were at this point, as he started to get antsy and wanted to leave the car. When we finally made our way into the building, his little tail went crazy in anticipation of the "love session". The receptionist comes out to "love on him" then, he'll cast loving looks and wiggles to anyone else in the lobby who succumb to his charms quickly. Then its his turn and he bounces to the scale and tries to throw himself at the vet tech, while I'm holding him in place. J

Then we move into our assigned room, where the vet tech will give him lots of hugs and kisses while the tech surreptitiously tried to take his temperature.

Any Concerns? Nope

Diarrhea cleared up? Yep!

Sneezing? Coughing? Over amounts of urination? Normal amount of water intake? Eating Good? - Nope, Nope, Nope, Noope, YESssss,

{Pompei lies in the floor facing the door, hoping for another human victim to succumb to his charms}

One question that always makes me…I don't know wonder is even though I've been there almost every three weeks they still ask if he's only Heartworm and Flea meds…somehow I was under the impression that they lasted for thirty days…

Silly Me.

Anyway the vet came in, and basically repeats the above question, and plays with Pompei…

Then its shot time!!

This time Pompei actually noticed them shots as he was uber excited to have TWO NEW PEOPLE touching him AT THE SAME TIME!

Wiggling + Shots = Puppy feeling the Pain.

So he was biting at his butt area for a few minutes after the procedure was over. Tsk tsk.

But his attention was quickly placed else were when the vet presented him with a a RAWHIDE (AH AH AAAAH sung in heavenly tones)

He was loathe to part with his new toy, as we bagged it up for the trip home.

But after a firm command from me relinquished it for a cookie.

We came home and played the afternoon away.

{Pompei being held still while his callous mother takes a photo of him}

Trained for part of our dinner, and then "worked" the other part out of our Tug-A-Jug toy..

And he's been sleeping a very tired puppy induced sleep.

Aah.

Impromptu Vet Visit

Nothing serious, but we had to get Pompeis....well poop checked out to make sure he didn't have any parasites causing him diarrhea, I knew there weren't but it was just a precaution.
He got a clean bill of health, some meds and lots, and lots of lovin'. But his last set of shots was pushed out ONE.MORE.WEEK. As the vet was afraid that giving them today, would just worsen the diarrhea situation. *sob*
I am dying to get him and the other dogs too a park, or something!! Out of our yard and doing something fuN!!!

*sigh*
But I'm glad our buddy will be feeling better, whether he knows it or not.

Shots & Car Seats

Today was slated to be Pompei's last round of shots, but somehow, somewhere,something was not read right...so yeah we still have his Rabies to get taken care of. I am a little disappointed as I was looking forward to hitting up some parks with him this weekend.

Ah well.

After we got finished there, we headed to the pet store to pick up some cleaning supplies, and of course, dog treats! While I was in there, I browsed through the car travel section, and came across a "seat", on clearance... hmmm....

I went ahead and purchased it, along with our other "goodies". Texas and Bubbles had rode to the vets office with me, and were waiting in the car to try out their new seat.....quite impatiently.

Well Texas was impatient anyways.

With a couple cookies in hand, I tossed them in, and placed him in it afterward. Right off I could see that this was was probably too small for him to fit comfortable, and was very poorly made. (No wonder it was on clearance!)

Texas didn't appreciate being confined, but he didn't try to get out...too hard. I will probably wind up returning it, as it sorta fell apart when I took him out of it later. But I really wanted it before this weekend.

We'll be headed over the mountain, for Pompei's second puppy meeting, and I didn't want to have to deal with wrestling my puppers out of my lap, while going through windy roads. That and Texas does.not.like to be still. He wants to run from the front seat, to the back, to the window ledge, to my lap.....

So we have to do what we have to do!

Texas: "My Mom hates me."

Pompei Posts #3

Hi Guys!

I really like this bloggin and tweeting thing! Kind of cool! So....today I got to go to the vet place, that I've been talking about! It was pretty fun, Mom carried me into this place, and than had to fill about a bunch of stuff, while a very nice lady petted me.

{Pompei sitting on the vets table}

Than we had to wait fur a looooooong time, and so I laid down, then this fuzzy grey thing came in, and I really wanted to play with it cause it looked like a nice toy thingy; but it didn't want to play back, so I told him my name but he didn't say anything back. Mom says i have to be quiet and can't talk to strangers.

{Pompei and I at the vet, Pompei is looking away from the camera, while I am leaning into him, smiling}

WhatEVER!

Than mom put me on her lap, but it was kinda hard to stay up there cause she has a little lap...(Erin: Or maybe its because you are too big!) Mom did say she was proud that I didn't even try to get off of her lap to get at that dog. And I did speak to him anymore either cause he was rude.

{Pompei laying on the vets table}

'Than we went into another room, and mom put me up on this high place, and we waited and waited ...and mom brought out her camera thingy, and clicked it a LOTTA TIMES, and than we waited some more.

I 'nother nice lady comes in and talks to mom a lot and pets me a lot, so I think I like her. Than she she started pulling my legs and doing other weird stuff, I decided I didn't like her so much and went back to hide by mom.

BUT MOOM Gave me BACK!?!?!?

Than the lady left and came back with a guy who has. *Gasp* Coookiessss!!!!!! Mom says I got a shot when I got the cookie, but I didn't even feel it. They told me I was a very good and calm boy. I told them DUH! I already KNEW THAT!!

After that I had to wait someMORE so to make sure I didn't feel sick or anything. And I didn't. So we had left. And I got in the car. And went to sleep. ANd when I woke up we were home!

THe end.

{Texas and pompei laying in a blue and brown dog bed, which is on top of a blue and greyish dog bed Texas is trying to lean as far away from Pompei as possible}

{Pompei is laying upside down, with legs extended and face hidden, in the blue and brownishgreen dog bed}


Paw.Script.(someone stole my car dog bed RIGHT OUTTA MOMS CAR!??! If you see someone with it could ya please tell them to get it back? Thanks. P)

Pompei Posts #2

Hi Guys!

Mom has been telling me allll week that today I had to go and get some medisine that is supposed to help me not get sick when I go outside. I was a little skared but my tweeter friends told me it was not too bad.

1. LittleRedDog 
     
   @GuidePupPompei Shots dont hurt as bad as everyone says they do so no worries. Plus you'll get TONS of treats afterwards. Totally worth it!2:48 PM Jan 25th from UberTwitter in reply to GuidePupPompei
   • Reply
   • Retweet
2. Persephoneie 
   @GuidePupPompei My shots are always followed with a treat!2:42 PM Jan 25th from UberTwitter in reply to GuidePupPompei
3. shelby05 
   @GuidePupPompei there's no good way to say it - shots suck. But they're normally followed by treats so that's cool!

So than I was excited about it!! ANd I waited and waited all day so I could go to the place and get my treats!    ..and my shots too.

But when we got there the people didn't want to send the money paper all the way to the Guide Dog Foundation, they wanted mom to pay for it right than. But mom says she gots me cause she didn't have to pay for that kinds of things, and cause she doesn't have that money.
So she called my aunt Libby, (Note From Erin: She's our Area Coordinator for the GDF) who talked to the vet lady and another lady for a while, but they still did not budge. So Mom and I left, cause there are lots of other places who would probably want our busyness.

So after that we went to Wal-Mart AGAIN. Mom let me walk for a little bit, and I was doing real reall good, cept I just had to taste everything we walked by, so she put me in the buggy thing.

I didn't really like that cause it was more fun to see things on the floor, but it was cool to fasst!!!!

Mom swiped her card thingy and we got in the car, and than we were home! (I went to sleep on the way back).

Uh mom? You forgot something!!

Anyway mom says I'll get my shot treats later on this week at a different place. Oh boy I can't wait!!!

Gotta go nap before dinner!

BAYL!