Costello wins Best in Show at the AKC Eukanuba National championship dog show in Tampa!
This never happens! Alaskan Malamutes are seldom put up in the working group, never mind BIS. He also went Best Bred by Exhibitor, BBE Group, BBE Breed. Congratulations, Costello (Ch. Nanuke's Snoklassic No Boundaries) and Sandra D'Andrea, and the Peels.
Here are some pictures: http://www.akc.org/nationalchampionship/summary.cfm
And of course the infamous Fark photoshop contest
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Thursday, December 22, 2005
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-(
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-(
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
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 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!
Sunday, December 04, 2005
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!
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!
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Blood work
To K9KidneyDiet:
Her Excellency Alexandria the Malamute just had her regular check-up. The vet was pleased, said she seemed healthy and that her blood values were pretty good, considering. I am HORRIFIED! I thought she would be getting better, not worse, with all we are doing differently now. And her awful blood values do not seem to reflect how well she seems. Allie is prancing around like a puppy, performing on drill team and eating everything in sight. She gets the homecooked chicken/veg/rice diet with some egg white, is on daily 250 ml saline. Supps: omega 3, CoQ10, B-12, B-50, MSM, parsley herb mix, calcium carbonate, digestive enzymes with probiotics. Since her electrolytes are okay, the vet says we can go to LRS if there is any reason to.
Here are Allie's current values compared with August after 6 wks abx and 2 weekend iv treatments. Is it time for another? Please let me know what I should be doing differently. Or, I guess I have to ask, am I kidding myself? At what point do we slip into denial?
As always, thank you all so much!
C, with Allie the love of my life
11/10 8/17 Ref. Range
Lipase 741 712 100-750
Total Protein 6.1 6.1 5.1-7.8
BUN 60 91 7-27
Creatinine *4.0* 3.8 0.4-1.8
Calcium 11.5 10.5 8.2-12.4
Phosphorus 4.1 6.3 2.1-6.3
Her Excellency Alexandria the Malamute just had her regular check-up. The vet was pleased, said she seemed healthy and that her blood values were pretty good, considering. I am HORRIFIED! I thought she would be getting better, not worse, with all we are doing differently now. And her awful blood values do not seem to reflect how well she seems. Allie is prancing around like a puppy, performing on drill team and eating everything in sight. She gets the homecooked chicken/veg/rice diet with some egg white, is on daily 250 ml saline. Supps: omega 3, CoQ10, B-12, B-50, MSM, parsley herb mix, calcium carbonate, digestive enzymes with probiotics. Since her electrolytes are okay, the vet says we can go to LRS if there is any reason to.
Here are Allie's current values compared with August after 6 wks abx and 2 weekend iv treatments. Is it time for another? Please let me know what I should be doing differently. Or, I guess I have to ask, am I kidding myself? At what point do we slip into denial?
As always, thank you all so much!
C, with Allie the love of my life
11/10 8/17 Ref. Range
Lipase 741 712 100-750
Total Protein 6.1 6.1 5.1-7.8
BUN 60 91 7-27
Creatinine *4.0* 3.8 0.4-1.8
Calcium 11.5 10.5 8.2-12.4
Phosphorus 4.1 6.3 2.1-6.3
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Rowan and the vet
Well, Rowan had his long-overdue 2-week (hah!) vet checkup and is doing well. The wormer worked and he is now free of his heroic case of tapes, negative on the fecal (whew!). He has gained 2 pounds and is now at 62! The vet wants to see him closer to 85-90, but concurs that we should move slowly. His bloodwork is pretty good. (Rowan's, not the vet's). He is slightly anemic and his electrolytes could be higher. I am increasing his B-12 and working on hydrating him more. The new pail should help, since he can't use it as a frisbee ;-). He'll find some creative use for it, I'm sure. Enzymes etc. are all normal. Amazing considering how emaciated he is. The vet feels that his physique and coordination will improve tons with exercise and just hanging out outside, but says not to set expectations too high and that he'll always have some trouble with things like stairs and corners because of the chondrodysplasia. His feet just aren't where he thinks they are. So no agility for our Rowan. But as he gains muscle tone, he should be able to handle regular walks, curbs and things normally. My job is to be patient with him and not push him too hard on heeling, figure-8s, etc., and always make sure hills etc. are easy for him to negotiate. And to start doing some research on chd. Rowan's eyes and ears are admirable as are his lungs and heart, and his tummy is super active and gurgly, he has to be fed several times a day, preferably three (I'll try to figure out how to do that). It's too early for his coat to have improved much. His teeth are a train wreck, so I'll have to get him used to the brush.
The vet called him a Very Pretty Dog, and every one at the clinic Ooohed and Aaaahed over him, and of course he acted like a total ham, grinning and fluttering his eyelashes at all the girls, waving his big fluffy tail like crazy and strutting around like Mr Big Stuff. He did scare the living daylights out of a teacup chihuahua when he put his snout in the thing's carrier, but those things don't count as self-respecting dogs anyway. Good think Rowan didn't inhale. He loves our vet, ran up to smooch on him this visit, basked in all the attention and squeezing. He likes riding in the car, I guess because he thinks it means we're going to go see his buddy the vet! There are a couple of guys who live up the street who are usually home when we walk by; we always visit with them, and Rowan adores being in the limelight. He really comes out of his shell when people are cooing over him. Not that he has much of a shell, Mr Friendlypants. I'll have to see if I can get him trained up for drill team -- he has such a star mentality. Or maybe I'll install a spotlight in the living room -- "Heeeere's Rowan!"
The vet called him a Very Pretty Dog, and every one at the clinic Ooohed and Aaaahed over him, and of course he acted like a total ham, grinning and fluttering his eyelashes at all the girls, waving his big fluffy tail like crazy and strutting around like Mr Big Stuff. He did scare the living daylights out of a teacup chihuahua when he put his snout in the thing's carrier, but those things don't count as self-respecting dogs anyway. Good think Rowan didn't inhale. He loves our vet, ran up to smooch on him this visit, basked in all the attention and squeezing. He likes riding in the car, I guess because he thinks it means we're going to go see his buddy the vet! There are a couple of guys who live up the street who are usually home when we walk by; we always visit with them, and Rowan adores being in the limelight. He really comes out of his shell when people are cooing over him. Not that he has much of a shell, Mr Friendlypants. I'll have to see if I can get him trained up for drill team -- he has such a star mentality. Or maybe I'll install a spotlight in the living room -- "Heeeere's Rowan!"
Monday, October 31, 2005
Malamutes and Drill Team, hmmmmm ....
Two concepts intrinsically alien to one another. Case in point: on Saturday we attended the Travis County Kennel Club dog show. Allie was gorgeous and shiny, not a whiff of the chicken entrails she had rolled in, since I was able to get her an emergency visit at the groomer's on Friday. I won't say she was fluffy -- next to the show-mutes, her funny cowlicks and stegosaurus ridge look somewhat less than plush. But she was adorable, had nicely clipped claws and a perky red bandana. And that certain gleam in her eye. It should have warned me. We were called for one p.m. and were kept waiting interminably, and Allie got more and more Malamutey, while my back was aching and I was developing some 'tude of my own. After several eons, we finally entered the ring. To my shock, Allie did not immediately throw herself onto her back and present her tummy to the admiring multitudes. Instead, she was a perfect angel and performed the first half of the routine dead on. When we got into the big circle, however, and I put her into her "down," she did not settle all the way down, and I should not have had any confidence in her stay. As I moved away to walk around the circle, I glanced back, and of course Allie had broken the stay and gotten up to meander after me. The expression on her face was pure-as-the-driven-snow innocence. So of course I had to return to her and stand with her, face burning, while everyone else completed the manoeuvre. Fortunately, the next part is a comedy bit, so Allie and I had basically loosened the audience up ... we should probably have done a little schtick, if I could have thought of something. Of course, of all the parts of the routine, the down stay is one she NEVER gets wrong in practice. Malamutes! She was very tired afterward. The diva slept like a log til morning.
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