dog

If the Bee Stings

A very sick little dog.

Is this the saddest little face or what?

My poor little boy had a rough weekend.  He started it out by stepping on a bee.  I watched him for symptoms like difficulty breathing, swelling, hives and excessive drooling, but he didn’t have any of these.  What I didn’t realize was the tiredness and soft poos he was having were signs of a reaction bad enough that he should see a vet.  (I was blaming the tiredness on Benedryl.)

Should your pup come out the loser in an encounter with a bee, first remove the stinger.  (The pup will not like this.)  Then put a baking soda paste on the wound.  (The pup will not like this.)  Apply ice to help with the pain.  (The pup will not like this).  Then give a Benedryl.  (The pup will really like this if you wrap it in peanut butter!)

Along with the Benedryl, I gave my boy some of the topical cortisone spray I keep on hand for his hot spots.  It isn’t as strong as what the vet would have given him, but it did seem to bring him a bit of relief.

Be safe around those bees this Summer!

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Flashback Friday

Can you find the puppy hidden in this picture?

Carn terrier puppy hiding under a chair.

When Bitey was little, this was his favorite hiding space…until he got too big and needed help getting back out.  Wasn’t he an adorable itty bitty beast?

In instances like these, I try to envision non-linear time.  What might it be like to have your little dog with you as a puppy and a senior and every step in between simultaneously?  I suppose we have that with memory, but to us the points of time don’t fall together but are strung apart.  I imagine that in the world beyond this one, time is non-linear.

I guess we won’t need Flashback Fridays then!   : – )

 

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Guess Where I Went?

To the museum!

Friends will know that I have been wanting to visit the museum for a very long time, and yesterday I finally did.  I wanted something by which to remember my trip, and I picked this little guy to come home with me.

Triceratops pendats from a visit to the museum.

A lot of the gifts in the gift shop were handmade by crafts persons in countries with struggling economies.  I thought this was a great partnership.  When I found this tiny hand carved triceratops made of tiger’s eye, I simply had to have him (or her).

Foolish me, I didn’t realize that there were different types of triceratops.  In movies, they always seem to look the same.  In reality the horns weren’t always spaced the same, and some had curved horns or narrow faces.  It was interesting to see the different types of skulls side by side.

I was only gone for a few hours, and when I got home I immediately grabbed my pups’ leashes and let them out of their kennels for a potty break.  Geordie refused to come and yelled at me that he was very angry at my stupidity!  Stupidity?  What did I do wrong?  Well, it turns out that the first thing he wanted was a drink, not to go outside.  Toby would simply have walked to the water bowl and had a drink before heading outside, but Geordie had to make a point of telling me how stupid I was.

I am glad terriers don’t come with horns.

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Watch Out, Peppermint!

 

Toby and new stuffed girlfriend looking off into the distance.Isn’t this cute?  The two of them are even starting to look like each other!

Watch out, Peppermint.  Someone new is after your man.

This is Toby’s new “girlfriend”.  You may recall from Poopiter that my boy has a particular fondness for his toy peppermint.  Now, though, there is a new lady in his life.  This little gal doesn’t have a name yet, but I think she needs one.  Any suggestions?

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I Got No Boots

Oh wait, yes I do!

Pair of boots sitting on grass.

I hope this picture looks decent.  I am using new photo editing, and the colors seem off on my monitor.

The first time I heard that Mini Cooper commercial, I mistakenly heard the singer say “I got no boots!”.  That prompted me to wonder if that was why she was driving all the time.  Later the song was on the radio and heard that she was really saying “I got no roots” and realized that I am now officially an old person with bad hearing.

I now got new boots because thanks to my awful beasties I wore out the soles on my last pair.  Thanks guys.  I hope that you both realize that these are sh** kickers, and they can be used to “motivate” recalcitrant pups on walks!  (JK)

 

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No Dignity When It’s Hot

Cairn terrier sleeping upside down in undignified pose.

I have seen pictures of “cat thermometers” where the more the kitty is stretched out, the hotter the temperature.  If you have a pup, the more absurd the sleeping position, the hotter it is.  As you can see, we clearly were having unreasonably warm weather this day.

The mercury in the window thermometer reached over 120 in the sun.  It is rare even in August for that to happen.

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Peek-a-Boo!

 

Peek-a-boo!

Aah, this is such a rare moment – Toby looking at the camera instead of away from it.  I must have taken a dozen shots with my uncooperative little guy beating the shutter every time.   I am thinking of starting a folder with just blurry, back of head shots.

Toby got shortchanged on baby pictures since things were so chaotic when he was young.  (It is nearly impossible to take pictures when you have a puppy with a UTI.) I am trying to make up for that a little by getting some nice photos now.

 

Boy's Navy and Copper Suspenders, handmade.

June brings with it a variety of formal events.  Make sure your young man is prepared to look his best with something from the Boys’ Shop at Needful Things of Salem.  With these Navy and Copper Brocade Silk Suspenders your youngster will be ready to conquer any social occasion.

 

 

 

 

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Good News: Follow Up Visit at the Vet

Happy smiling Cairn terrier sitting next to flowers.

Today was Geordie’s first follow up visit after getting his C diagnoses a couple of months ago.  He had a new vet this time because his long-time doctor recently left for an other practice.

The news the new doctor gave us was just what I had been hoping for.  She said that despite the cancer, he is in excellent health!  I was afraid it was wishful thinking on my part and that I was only seeing what I wanted to, but no, Geordie is strong and “healthy” and happy.  She said that whatever we’ve been doing, keep it up.  And, not to get our hopes up, but…if he keeps up the way that he is, Geordie could live one to two more years.

On top of the good news, today was a beautiful, warm, sunny day.  It was perfect for lifting one’s spirits.  I hope everyone reading this had something equally wonderful happen for them too.

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Dog Fight or Aggressive Flirting?

Smiling Cairn terrier boy.

Come on…I can take ya!

As Toby and I were going for a walk, a little boy was walking his dog.  Toby and I have met the pup before.  She is small and full of bluster until she gets close to you, then she is sweet and shy.  Yesterday, though, the little girl pup broke free from her human and came barrelling toward Toby.  She ran into his side with furious growls, and Toby answered her back with equally furious growls.  They spun and twisted and to human eye appeared to be locked in a vicious battle.

I grabbed the little girl’s leash, pulled her back from my pup and handed the leash to her boy.  I looked over at Toby to see how he was handling the situation since this was his first encounter like this. He was panting, had a huge grin on his face and wanted to go back to the little girl dog.

Something similar happened on two other occasions with Geordie and a different girl dog. Both times after the two were separated, Geordie kept asking for the little girl to come back and “play” with him.  (For days he pestered me.)

I am curious if I am reading these situations properly.  Is there such a thing as noisy dog-flirting or are my dogs actually caught in fights?  Each time my boys have come away without so much as a scratch.

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Formaldehyde in Wrinkle Resistant Fabrics

Two Cairn terriers sitting in the grass.

This year for Mother’s Day, my boys very thoughtfully got me a pretty, new set of sheets for the bed.  As I opened the plastic to remove the sheets, I quickly had to set them down because of the itchy red rash I got from touching them.  Not only did they cause redness and itching, but they had a very strong chemical odor to them.

Not sure of what was going on, I checked the packaging and saw that these were “wrinkle resistant” sheets.  I Googled the term and found that what makes a fabric, in this case cotton, wrinkle resistant isn’t the way it is woven (as I had thought) but that the fibers are infused with formaldehyde to cause them to swell and not bend as easily.

I know that formaldehyde can be used in the sizing on fabrics to make them appear crisp when displayed, but I hadn’t known it was bonded to the fibers over something as unimportant as wrinkling.  Formaldehyde can cause skin irritation, breathing difficulties and of course it is a carcinogen.  Since formaldehyde is absorbed through the skin, every time you lie on treated sheets or wear wrinkle resistant clothing, you are exposing yourself to this poison.  Sadly, there is no government regulation requiring disclosure for formaldehyde use.

A big concern should be our children and grandchildren being exposed this chemical.  As a parent, I would not have given a second thought to the term “wrinkle resistant” on my child’s sheets – I would have chosen a print he/she would enjoy.  I would be horrified to find that I had exposed someone I love to something so dangerous.  And don’t forget our furkids.  If your pup or kitty sleeps in the bed with you, they are also breathing and touching carcinogens.

Fortunately there are a number of companies who still sell regular cotton sheets at pretty reasonable prices.  Cotton can be treated with a lot of pesticides as it is grown, so if this a concern look for organic sheets manufactured in the US.  Organic regulations are more strictly enforced for domestic products than foreign ones.

So, if you are making a purchase of bedding or clothing, please be aware of what might be coming home with you uninvited.

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