Charlotte: Foster Five

Charlotte was our fifth foster - a blue tick coon hound stray that had just had a litter of puppies. She was emaciated; might have had worms; and her teats were chapped, full of milk, and obviously hurting her. Plus she smelled really bad. See her ribs in this photo?


While she was recuperating, she enjoyed sitting on the couch...


Sitting on the couch some more...


And wagging her really long tail. In fact, she wags her tail so much that she cut the end of her tail (what can I say, she was tragic), which then sprayed blood all over our walls and furniture at knee-height every time she wagged. I took a picture of this for the blog, but it was kinda morbid so I didn't post it. Sufficient to say, it looked like there was an elfin massacre in our living room.

This is called "happy tail" or "split tail," and is pretty common apparently for breeds like Great Danes. It's really tough to heal. Fortunately, Charlotte let us bandage her tail.


First we cleaned the cut with alcohol. Then we put on a neosporin-type antibiotic cream. Then we added a piece of gauze and wrapped it in athletic tape (the cloth type so that it breathes a little). This was changed daily.

Some dogs chew off their bandages. For them, people have developed crazy methods of tail-hiding, such as this one which requires a trip to the hardware store.

Her tail seemed to be healing but we don't know for sure because Charlotte was adopted; our first dog to get a new home while still in our care! She's got a great new family, a nice fenced back yard and a cat.

Heidi update

Columbia Second Chance was able to take in Heidi and get her taken care of. They think it isn't cancer, but a salivary gland infection. Apparently it's healing up quite well and she's now listed on their Web site as adoptable.

Hooray!

Gracie Ann

Hmmm, this is quickly becoming my foster dog log...

Here's Gracie Ann. Our third foster dog, she's been with us the longest because of a series of health problems beginning with kennel cough.

If you look at the full size version of the picture above, you'll also see that her one eye is a little red. It became very eventually. Now she has to wear an Elizabethan Collar, or e-collar (so named because, like Al Bundy, Elizabethan-era Brits were prone to scratching themselves and, thus, needed to wear these crazy collars).

Also, she keeps breaking it, so now it's pieced together with duct tape. It's pretty hilarious looking in a pitiful sort of way.

Of Bears and Barf

Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head), or beheading, is the removal of a stuffed bear's head. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, guillotine or terrier.

In some instances, technically speaking the body is actually removed, merely leaving the head as in this example.




In the event of a bear-decapitation-by-terrier, first, look for other bear remains. If the limbs and torso are missing, the recommended course of action is to induce vomiting to prevent a bear-bowel-blockage.

Force feed the terrier several teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide and wait up to 20 minutes.



Mmmm... yummy. As a result, Buddy's not feeling particularly lively this evening.

She's not fat, she's my Bailey

Went to vet today.
Weighed Bailey.
She's lost over 10 lbs!

The secret:

• Diet
  
• Excercise (In the form of a younger dog - Buddy - who is enamored with her and won't leave her alone)
  
• Thyrotabs

It's a much healthier weight for the old girl.

Pedicure

Well, hi there Buddy. Why the long face? What's that? Is there something on your nail? Is it ketchup? Is it blood? Is it... Oh christ... it's nail polish! Did she try to give you a pedicure?



First the gonads, now this... it's a hard knock life.

Kong Squeakers

Kong Squeakers
These are ingenius; they're tennis balls that squeak. Ideal for the attention deficit puppy.

Tip: Pack them away when not in use. Buddy demonstrates the alternative above.

Sock It To Me Bailey

We have a special needs dog. Bailey is a retriever/retreiver mongrel. She has allergies. She's chubby. She also seems to suffer from some sort of attachment disorder.

And now she has a licking addiction.



She licks at her paws. A sore forms. She licks at the sore. It gets worse. It's a vicious cycle. She goes to the vet Friday to find out for sure, but through the diagnostic power of the Internet, I'm betting on acral lick granuloma.

In the meantime, we've devised a nice scheme to keep her from attacking herself comprised of:
-one pad gauze
-ten feet of medical tape
-one tube sock
-two feet packing tape



Ain't she p'rdy in her nice white sock?