Pupdate & More!

Puppies:

Well, the puppies went to the vet today. They got their last vaccination. So, they are now donning their new collars with their tags. They had to get their ears plucked, too. (Any dog that's got poodle in them has to have this done routinely. Hair grows so thick in their ears. Wax can turn rancid... Which can start some nasty problems.) In the upcoming pictures Brian is administering their ear drops... There's also some playing, too. :)

Charlie weighed in at 28 pounds.
Henry weighed in at 27 pounds.

Since we're still having problems with potty training and discovered that Henry is a "submissive piddler" we have to have the pups tested for UTI's or anything that could be bothering them.

Their next appointment is May 6th. They'll be going in for the "snippety snip." They'll be 6 months old then. It's the best time for neutering. If you get them neutered before 6 months the lack of testosterone can effect their growth. And if you wait too much longer after 6 months, they can start becoming more aggressive and marking their territory. Needless to say, Brian and I cannot wait. They'll be a little more mellow afterward. :)

Kitties:
The cats are doing really well together. We bought this product called Feliway (look for it on amazon.) Feliway re-creates the pheromone that cats give off as they are rubbing their faces on you (when they're happy.) So, we've been spraying it on their common areas and on areas that they used to scratch on. We've noticed a huge improvement in their behavior. Cognac and Cheech still have their little squabbles, but everything else is going really well.

Maggie has adjusted really well here, too. She kind of declared Cheech her boyfriend... The feelings aren't mutual. :( She keeps trying. She pretty much loves all the other cats. Her and Georgia are cuddle buddies. :)

I know it seems crazy, but Brian and I will most likely be getting another cat. Brian and I love animals. We have such a large house to accommodate them. The new cat (I mentioned in my last post) is named "Festival." When we adopted Maggie the price for adopting 2 cats was the same as adopting one cat. So I asked her if she had any special needs kitties that people wouldn't normally adopt. She told me a little bit about Festival. He was basically abandoned at a festival in August. His foster mom found him and noticed that he was incredibly sick and that he had a fairly serious eye infection. After treating the infection and nursing him back to health he was tested for fe leuk and others. He was negative for all of them. They later discovered that the infection most likely made his cornea burst and his eye was causing him a lot of pain. Last Tuesday he went into surgery to have the entire eye removed. I heard on Thursday that he was doing much better. We meet him this upcoming Saturday and we'll most likely be bringing him home. While I know that I'll never be able to replace Aesop, Festival is also a black and white kitty without sight in his left eye. Knowing how amazing and wonderful Aesop was, I'm not going to turn Festival away.

Also, Brian and I are thinking about re-naming him. We don't want the constant reminder that he was abandoned at a festival. We were thinking maybe Fievel? (Referencing the movie "Fievel Goes West." Yes, I know it's about a mouse... But it's close to Festival.)

Any name suggestions?

Amy & Brian:

Brian and I are doing really well. Since the doctors found out what was wrong with me, I've been doing SO much better. In my last post I mentioned that I was going to the doctor to see if I'd lost any weight. As of February 15th I had lost 11 pounds. Wooooooo! I go back in April to see how much more I've lost. :)

Pictures:


Charlie getting his ear drops.


Eating.


Wrestlin'. :)


Cogs.


Cognac and Georgia. Buddies for life. :)


Cheechers.

And the best photo of the night...


I was trying to take a picture when Charlie came at me at full speed. :)

Mags

So, a few nights ago Brian and I went into Pet's Mart to buy some science diet for the cats and puppies. We decided to look at the cats in the adoption area...

With Aesop's death still so fresh in our minds, we weren't planning on adopting.

...Until with met Maggie. She has no tail. She was basically undesirable to most others. But not to Brian and I. Since the cost of adopting one cat was the same as adopting two, we put in for adoption for another cat, Lizzie. From birth she had a really nasty ear infection causing her head to permanently tilt.

I submitted an adoption application online and I got a call back from an Eileen the next day...

She said we got great reviews from our vets. Upon talking to her about Aesop, Amelia, and Cognac's struggles with blindness she told me that it was just so refreshing to talk to someone like me. She told me that I lived up to my name since Amy means beloved or to love. On my list of references she called my Mom. She didn't even ask my Mom anything. Eileen told her that she had raised a wonderful daughter.

While talking to Eileen she told me that Maggie had been in foster care for a year. It seemed that no one wanted her because she didn't have a tail. Shame on them. Brian and I don't really think of it as a mutation or a defect. We think of it more as a rarity. Eileen informed me that Lizzie had been adopted. She asked me if I had any other cats in mind since the price was the same... I asked, "Do you have any kitties with special needs?" She informed me of a cat dubbed "Festival." He was abandoned at a festival in the area and is really sick. She said he had an eye infection so bad that it caused him to be blind in one eye. I told Eileen that Aesop was blind in one eye and that we already had experience with it. She put our names down for Festival. However, he isn't out of the woods yet. He has a little ways to go. But if he passes a fe leuk test and makes a full recovery, he'll most likely be ours, too.

But for now, meet Maggie...










She loves our huge windows.

Update & Pupdate

Where to begin...

I've recently had some testing and things aren't going that great. I had to have a stomach emptying test about 3 weeks ago. The test showed that when given a "normal" sized meal my stomach takes just over 4 hours to even start emptying. yay.

Last week I had to be sedated for an upper GI scope. That was a trip... The doctor, an animated man with what could have been a fake southern accent, told me that I need to eat maybe 4 small meals a day and to stay away from fried foods, fatty foods, and roughage. (I already do.) While I was out he took some biopsies of a few things he didn't like and I should be getting the test results in the next couple days. He also said that my stomach was inflamed. (Mainly from my stomach taking too long to empty and stomach acid just sitting there.) He's also testing me for a bacteria that could be present and causing some inflammation. I also have some stress induced gastritis. (This is something I've had since childhood that flares up from time to time.)

I also learned that I'm hilarious under sedation. For instance, while I was waking up I was telling Brian the recipe for egg salad. I also tried IM'ing my Mom as soon as I got home saying, "my tum ibflamed."

I go to see my family doctor today to talk. And hopefully I've lost weight. I've dramatically changed my caloric intake and I've been exercising when I get the chance.

The puppies are doing really well. They have learned how to come, sit, lay down, and roll over. They are incredibly smart. I absolutely adore them. They are up to about 20 pounds each now. (They should be about 55-60 pounds as adults.) We've almost got potty training down. Henry alerts us when he has to go... Charlie doesn't. :/ But all in all they are doing well. They are just big puffy balls of cuteness.

Here are some recent pictures:



Georgia sleeping.



Cheech sleeping.



Cognac sleeping. (Notice a pattern here?)



Here is Bella fake sleeping.



A while back we babysat Natilee for a night. She loves those blocks. (Brian picked them out because he personally loved them growing up.)



Natilee again.

And now... PUPPIES.



Charlie.



Charlie again. (He's very photogenic. It's harder to get pictures of Henry since he's all black.)



They had just gotten back from the groomer... All puffed up. :)



"Mmmmm.... rawhide..."

He Was Perfect

I'm sad to announce that Aesop did not make it. It's so frustrating. He died on January 18th 2011. That morning when he came upstairs from using the litterbox I noticed he was really out of breath. Worried, I called the vet and made an appointment for 11:00 a.m. We got him to Dr. Hart and they did a chest x-ray. The x-ray showed that Aesop had at least two good sized tumors sitting on top of his heart pressing down on it. They could have been causing his heart murmur. Also the tumors were pushing up on his trachea.

We were told that we could have taken him home that day and that he could live a little longer, but he was likely to have a stroke, a heart attack, or suffocate. We put him down to prevent him from suffering. It would have broken my heart if Aesop had a stroke and had to wait 8 hours before we came home.

It's been one week. It has been so hard. In a few weeks I'll post a "Remembering Aesop" blog with pictures including the last picture that I took of him - Just like I did when Amelia passed on. Right now it's far too difficult to look at pictures.

Aesop was such a huge part of my daily routine. He was my shadow. If I turned around he was always there.

It also pains me that we had to put him down the day before he was to start treatment for leukemia. I plan on writing a letter in the near future to our past vet that told us we could do nothing for Aesop and Amelia. I'll explain to him why he will no longer be getting our money.

My heart is broken and I know that in time I will heal. Having two cute, cuddly puppies has helped somewhat. And even though we have 4 other cats, it seems like the house is so empty.

He was absolutely perfect. I miss him. In our final moments with him I told him that I was so proud of him and that he made it so far. He did and I am proud. There will never be another Aesop.
9/7/09 - 1/18/11 (16 months)

Aesop Update 2

Well, this weekend was rocky. Literally an up and down emotional roller coaster. I thought we were going to lose him at one point.

I believe Aesop's infection in his mouth has subsided. We'll continue the antibiotics until the bottle is empty. He hates the taste of it, though. It's bubble gum flavor.

Last night I saw him run to the sectional and get on it. And he was also lounging on our chair and a half and I hadn't seen him on it in DAYS. So, I think he's becoming more spry.

We're not out of the woods yet, though. There's still a long road. I cannot wait until Wednesday to start Aesop on the Alpha Interferon. It'll give him a daily boost to his immune system. I am PUMPED to start this treatment. I feel like we're doing EVERYTHING we can do for him now.

:)
Please pray and wish us luck. I know have been.

Aesop Update

We've switched veterinarians - Sort of. When we got the puppies Brian and I decided that we wanted to continue taking them to the vet that the breeder took them to. The puppies had to have their second round of vaccines yesterday and while we were there I asked the vet about Aesop. (Lately - since getting the puppies - Aesop has seemed down. I looked up cat depression and found that he showed one symptom. I was still really worried because he's feline leukemia positive.)

The new vet, Dr. Hart, informed of us of two treatments you can give feline leukemia kitties to help boost their immune system and help keep them active. It won't cure feline leukemia, but it will prolong their lives and make them happier. Our old vet never mentioned this to us. Frankly, I was upset. (I mean, would Amelia have lived longer and happier on these treatments?)

So, Aesop went to see Dr. Hart today. Within the first couple of minutes he checked Aesop's heart beat and said, "So, you're aware of the heart murmur?" Brian and I were like, "No..." I got to thinking, the last time Aesop was at the vet was 4 months ago... I don't remember them ever checking his heart. Brian doesn't remember either. Dr. Hart informed us that the heart murmur would have taken longer than 4 months to develop. So, still mad at the old veterinarian.

He discovered an infection in Aesop's mouth. Just a slight one, but still worrisome since he's fe leuk positive. So, Aesop is on an antibiotic for the next 7 days. He also got an injection of vitamin B that will give Aesop more energy. Brian will administer another injection at the end of this week. Aesop will also start treatment on Wednesday of something called Alpha Interferon. It will be given to him daily and will be a boost to his immune system every day. So, it'll help prolong Aesop's life. He'll be more active and he'll have daily doses to boost his immune system.

As for the heart murmur, we have to watch it closely. In the future Aesop will go to a specialist and have an echo cardiogram.

For now, we're going to get his infection taken care of and continue his other treatments.

Our old vet only had us giving Aesop a medicine called viralys. We found out from Dr. Hart that it's not really going to help Aesop. Viralys is more for upper respiratory problems. It does nothing for the immune system.

So, I'm still mad.

Wish us and Aesop luck. I can't imagine losing my little man. He's so special.

So, when I say we've switched vets, I mean only Aesop has switched so far.

Aesop still has a long road ahead, though.

Introducing...

Brian and I made the decision a long time ago that we wanted a dog. It took us SO long... What breed? Should we rescue from a shelter? We had talked about adopting an ex racing greyhound... And even though that is still in the realm of possibilities in our future, we held off. I also put in for adoption of "Lenny the Pitbull" (find him on Facebook.) Lenny is still in much need of socialization training and still has a long way to go in his life's journey since being rescued in August of 2010. I still talk to the woman that rescued him and I wish her so much luck.

So, here they are... (Oh yeah, did I mention that we got TWO?)

Charlie and Henry!



Charlie is the brown one. (Get it? Charlie Brown...) And Henry is the black one. (Nothing witty for his name. We just think that's a really adorable name.)

We actually ended up finding a breeder of Labradors and Labradoodles. We decided to stop and take a peek...

Brian and I adopted, what we feel, would have been the less desirable puppies in the litter. Charlie is a runt... Very small... And in the 3.5 days that we spent with them before coming back to work we've noticed that he's a little behind Henry developmentally. Which isn't bad... He'll get there...

Henry was injured when he was around 4-5 weeks old and the skin between his nostrils was torn... Probably by some other puppy. (There were 9 in the whole litter - big wrestling crowd of puppies.) So, he had his stitches removed last Friday morning. He'll have a permanent scar. We don't mind, though. :)

Here are more pictures:


Cuddling on the puppy blanket that I made them. Cute toes, huh?


Well, here's a close up.


Annnnnd an even CLOSER close up. :)


This isn't the best picture of Henry... He had just gotten his stitches removed and was super sleepy... But this shows you his scar.


Charlie.


And here's Brian with them.

They are cute little cuddlebugs. They'll play, play, play on the floor... But the minute you pick them up, they just melt in your arms and want to cuddle.

You're probably wondering how the cats are adjusting... Well, they are tolerating the new additions. I thought Aesop would be best buds with them since he tried being Cheech's BFF when we first introduced him into the household. But.... No. Aesop senses they are not cats... So, he's hesitant... But he's also a little curious. Bella, who has been around dogs before, is the only one that has gotten the closest to them to investigate their unique aroma. :) I'm sure they'll come around.

For now, we're dealing with the potty training. They're getting better every day. We love our pups.

I keep telling Brian, "We got the coolest puppies out of the entire litter."