Xmas Meds

How about this weather?? My dogs think they're puppies again!

Here is a message I sent to the Austin rescue list, in response to the usual warning about holiday dangers. The poinsettia hysteria is largely debunked -- they will cause gastric upset, which is not pleasant in Mals ;-), and are very bad for cats, but usually not automatically lethal. Still, best not to have a bunch of them sitting on the floor.

New adopters or fosters of large dogs may not be aware that some like to snack on low-hanging ornaments and boughs. Pine needles present a grave danger of choking and can create havoc in the GI tract, resulting in high-$ surgery. Anyone who has a tree indoors with large dogs should familiarize themselves with basic first-aid techniques and have the emergency vet's number to hand.

You may need CPR (refresher at http://members.aol.com/henryhbk/acpr.html). Obviously the Heimlich will NOT work with a pine needle, and it is usually too small for a fingertip, and must be removed carefully with tweezers or forceps or similar. Prop the mouth open with a roll of Vetrap (should be in every First Aid kit anyway). Speed to the vet is of the essence.

If you are looking for Christmas gifts for your best friends, instead of a bunch of squeaky toys or dubious rawhides, how about a useful first aid kit? I've been looking around for a good one, and am leaning toward the sporting dog one at http://store.yahoo.com/moravia/spordogfirai.html, or LL Bean's, although for the price they could have added Benadryl, boxed long-life water and soap or soap towelettes, and a few splints. This one at Cabela's seems like a good base kit if you add antiseptic towelettes etc.:

A decent list of contents for a make-your-own seems to be http://www.afn.org/~afn26752/firstaidkit.html. You'd want to add something to measure out ml, tsp, tbs, etc. I always have a water bowl, leash and towel in the car as well, and use Rescue Remedy.

Connie (veteran of trips to the emergency vet 8-(

Rowan's new tricks

Rowan keeps getting cuter by the minute. He has a couple of new tricks up his sleeve. His sleeves, by the way, are thick and wooly, and he trails clouds of pink undercoat as he goes. Fortunately, he likes to be brushed!

Rowan has learned the ambush kiss. He waits until I am concentrating on something -- weeding, or fixing the lawnmower -- then he sneaks up and sploosh! a long pink tongue right in the ear! He always looks very pleased with himself and dances around grinning and bowing to his applauding audience. Considering that he eats poop, I'm not always in the mood to applaud, but it's awfully cute.

Rowan also has a voice. I was worried that he'd been debarked, since he usually only squeaks or grunts, but the other day a fire truck came roaring by with the sirens going full blast, and Rowan plunked down on his butt, stuck his nose in the air and let loose with a yodel that was perfectly in tune with the sirens. He kept going long after the fire truck was gone, with me and Sascha the Ridgeback mix howling right along with him. The other Mals just looked at him and went back to sleep, but Rowan is now a confirmed siren-howler, and we all look forward to fires and accidents!

Rowan is blowing coat

Rowan is blowing coat and he's RED. Oh my doG!!! There are CLOUDS of PINK fluff thickening the air, clogging my air filter, up my nose, between the sheets, between my teeth, in the fridge, and killing yet another vacuum cleaner ... I swear I'm getting a Dyson one of these years. The other two haven't started shedding yet, but they have regular short hair and only turn into cotton ball dispensers that is easy to rake off. Rowan is relatively long-haired and boy does he shed! He's outdoors now enjoying the cold and turning the yard pink ...

Now to find a spinner and weaver or knitter to make me an awesome variegated scarf -- white from Ghost, cream from Allie and PINK from Rowan!