Dear Dog

[marni]

dear Rowena,

Cataracts. really? You're only 4 1/2 years old. No wonder your behavior has become more insecure and scared. You have an appointment with a veterinary opthamologist next week. Here's hoping it goes well.

[skhill]

Dear Stella,

Just what was that expression on your face when you saw the alpha cat eating your food out of your bowl? Frustration, confusion, annoyance, a touch of anger? Perhaps we need to clarify something: the rule that you don't bother a cat who's eating doesn't appy when the cat's eating out of your bowl. The cat might have a different idea, of course...

Would you have been so patient if it had been one of the other cats?

[snapdragen]

dear Rowena,

Cataracts. really? You're only 4 1/2 years old. No wonder your behavior has become more insecure and scared. You have an appointment with a veterinary opthamologist next week. Here's hoping it goes well.

Marni - the veterinary opthamologists are amazing. My dog had corneal ulcers in both eyes, it took a bit, but they are all healed. Best of luck to you and Rowena.

[tzvia]

Dear dog,

I wonder why your soul is so restless... I can still hear you walking down the hall at 4:30am as I silently eat breakfast, can still hear you moan as you stretch and plop down on your favorite rug in the dining room right behind me, feet from where your urn silently sits. I swear I catch a glimpse of your dark form as my head turns and for a moment my heart lifts...

Nothing.

Is it my wish to see you again? My inability to let you go, let your memory cross the rainbow bridge? Are you really a restless apparition; that formless something that haunts the corner of my eye and echos down the hall? Something creaks the floor, something shifts in the periphery of my vision; something is making me stop my morning cold for a moment. Is it you, or is it me?

Are you still trying to quietly catch my attention as you did for many years in the wee hours? Shhhhhhh.... Kelev, it's too early for breakfast. Dave will feed you when he gets up. Don't give me those big eyes, you are not starving. I'll give you a hug and a big scratch but I really have to get going...

Bye Kel. I still love you but it's really time to go.

[snapdragen]

Maybe Kel is your guardian angel?

[Wahine]

Dear Fosco,

I know that you were really excited when SB showed up last night. She's cute and fluffy and playful. But did you really need to keep us and SB's fur parents up all night with the whining and scratching because you wanted to play? You were afforded at least 1 hour of playtime before bed and were to be allowed to play to your heart's content in the morning. Why did you find it necessary to keep us up most of the night?

I love you. I love that you adore all other dogs and want to play with them, every last one. It really is a refreshing change from having to manage dogs with dog to dog agression issues. But 2 to 6 AM is really not the time for play.

Sincerely,
Your sleep deprived fur mom.

[snapdragen]

Ooh Wahine, Chloe will do the same thing, only she wants to sleep with the houseguests. Crys and stomps all. night. long.

[Wahine]

Have you found a solution Snap? We have guest over a lot and I really don't need a repeat of last night.

[TsPoet]

dear Rowena,

Cataracts. really? You're only 4 1/2 years old. No wonder your behavior has become more insecure and scared. You have an appointment with a veterinary opthamologist next week. Here's hoping it goes well.

Any word, Marni?
My old guy got cataracts in his left eye. His way of handling things changed, but he still goes and goes. Hopefully your young-one will be well.

[tzvia]

Cataracts? When my then 11 year old Kelev got cataracts, and was overweight, I got an idea. He wants a snack around 11am? Ok. Carrots. He hated them. So I steamed baby carrots, then ground them up in my Magic Bullet. Enough for a few snacks, they stored well in the fridge. I then added like 1/4 teaspoon of canned dog food to 4 tablespoons of crushed carrots and mixed thoroughly so he could not pick out the dog food. Wasn't thinking it would affect the cataracts, how cloudy his eyes were getting and how it affected his ability to be confident going down the stairs, I was thinking a snack that was healthy and not going to add pounds. Within 6 months, I noticed his eyes were clearing and he did loose a little weight. Up until the last 4 months of his life (he lived to be 14) he bounded down the stairs with confidence and could see birds and lizards down the street. Yea he hated the carrots, but his eyes were clear when he crossed the rainbow bridge.

[marni]

Any word, Marni?
My old guy got cataracts in his left eye. His way of handling things changed, but he still goes and goes. Hopefully your young-one will be well.

Rowena had a visit with a veterinary opthamologist last week. The cataract is fading slowy but the lens in being reabsorbed. It makes no difference as it turn out since she apparently has been blind and is permanently blind in that eye . Vet said it was probably some sort of traumatic injury that possibly detached the retina when she was younger, before we got her. It goes a long way to explaining why she is so nervous and hypervigilant.

The good news is that she is incredibly well adapted since we never noticed anything wrong with her movement ever, even with the cataract. She doesn't need surgery sice it can't be repaired. Right now she is on steroind drops to hlep cut the infection and irritation apparently from the cataract. I will be weaning her off of them over the next two weeks. Other than that we just have to watch for changes in the eye that might indicat further infection or glaucoma, get her eye pressures check every six months and watch that she doens't start showing any symptoms of anything in the other eye.

I have dealt with blindness in a dog before, but it was due to old age and general eye deterioration. It's just odd to see it in one so young but it does't affect her quality of life, she still scampers, jumps and scrambles around, loves her pets, being brushed,and going walkies and gets along fine with cats and the other dog who is just old and crotchety.

[Wahine]

Dear Fosco,

You've been quite the handful the last couple of days. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like we won the rescue dog lottery. But did you have to roll in that dead what ever, just before our obedience class such that I didn't have time to wash you before we went? Did you have to mess up on your big recall moment tonight, right after I'd been bragging about how we'd been practicing and how well you were doing? And the whining in the car tonight, oy!

When it came time you did co-operate well with the bathing, even though you didn't much like it and now you're all cute and snuggly on the couch, totally passed out. I guess that makes up for it.

[snapdragen]

Stink = Greatness in the dog world

I remember during "finals" in obedience school with my first corgi, Rikki. She was in a down/stay, looks at me, then rolled over on her back and started "talking".

[Wahine]

Stink = Greatness in the dog world

I tried explaining this to my BF who has never had a dog before. He didn't seem to agree.

[skhill]

Dear Stella,

While your were nose to the ground, tracking where the rabbit had been, I was looking at where the rabbit currently was. Sometimes that nose blinds you to the rest of the world...