Ouchy

An unplanned visit to the vet this morning. Suka popped up with a bloody wound and ragged fur on her right rear leg, on the muscle pad of her thigh just above the stifle joint. A quick call, and a trot over to vet, to determine that she's got a classic 'hot spot' injury, which she has worried at until it was bleeding freely.

Ouchy.

So, spent some time, and she got clipped, and and cleaned up, and some steroids (Prednisone) and a goofy collar which is giving her no end of grief in navigation. Poor girl is getting hung up on everything... Even the ground. She lives to sniff stuff, and likes to do it at a trot... But when she lowers the cone, it snags on anything, including polished floors, and suddenly stacks Suka up on end.

Ouchy.

All told, US$223.01 I wasn't planning on spending.

Ouchy.

Suka looks like a dork today.

Poor girl - All the other dogs are laughing.

Classic hot-spot, with minor self inflicted lacerations:

Shouldn't oughta do that to yourself, girl!

Another day at the vets...

There's a wave of Bordetella (One of the agents responsible for Kennel Cough) working through the kennels in the area... Normally, I wouldn't much worry, as my dogs don't get that much chance to mingle, and I've never had to kennel them. But the A/C is straining in the heat and humidity (Well over 30 days in excess of 90deg(f), with high humidity, and it's not yet August!). If it were to ever fall over, the house would quickly become a life-threatening environment for dogs (and cats). Tuxedo is easy - He's a friendly booger, and there are lots family and friends whom would put up with him for a few days. The girls, OTOH... They're a bit more of a challenge. I started checking for kennels with space and flexibility to take short-notice drops-in. Oh, and made sure they had A/C!

Of course, with bordetella on the loose, can't take any chances, so a quick call to check - Sure enough, they're due for their updates.

*sigh*
Off to the vet.
Again.

Just me with the girls... Everyone else were at my mother's place. So, a bit of management, but able to get them in, and no drama until I'd actually settled them in the waiting room. Dakota made friends with an elderly man awaiting his wife and their dog, calmly resting her head in his lap and accepting his attention. Suka was her usual stress-puppy snoopy self, trying to get her nose into every corner and nook. Everything more-or-less under control.

A random samaratin wanders in with a dog to get it chip-checked. Seems he's plucked it out of the middle of a very high-traffic road, and wants to find if it's ID'd. It's a nice, mannerly older pibble-mutt, with a very good collar. And no damn tags. What The Hell, people?! Clearly, this isn't just a random stray - It's a well-cared-for (though slighty portly), neutered older dog wearing an expensive, high-quality collar, not a fighting dog, nor an unwanted pup. Someone took care of this dog. Why doesn't he have some kind of tag? MAYBE the finder will hold onto the dog. Clearly he loves dogs, but he already has two. MAYBE he'll post flyers. MAYBE someone will see them, and collect their dog. Or, more likely, this dog will end up in the county shelter, and there MAYBE its owner(s) will find him in time. Or maybe not.

This dog is in peril - Needlessly. A simple tag with basic info costs maybe ten bucks. Or less. Boomerang Tags (http://www.boomerangtags.com/) charges US$9.20 for a basic stainless steel tag that has enough space for all the key info. It's cheap insurance. Someone out there is missing their dog, and may never see him again. All for the lack of a simple metal disc.

Oh, and the mandatory (and not costly) county dog liscense (and tag) was also not present. That also would've solved the 'lost' issue. Why does somone risk having their dog lost to them forever for the lack of an inexpensive hunk of steel?

Grrr.

Anyway, got the needles in the dogs - They were both sweetness personified during the whole business, though Suka would've happily have been anywhere else. Dakota was just calm and dignified, as she usually is at the vet. Neither one even thought about snarking at the other or at the tech, nor did they tangle leads or otherwise act up.

As I was checking out, a casualty rolled in - A woman came in, in tears, and the techs ran out with a stretcher, though it was already too late. An elderly yellow lab in convulsions, died en-route. I fled the scene with my dogs, glad they were alive, healthy, and protected in every way I can manage, including a backup plan if the heatwave(s) continues and my A/C falls over.

One day, I will be that devestated person with the elderly dog - It's inevitable. But I won't be in mourning for the lack of vaccinations or for the lack of an inexpensive hunk of steel.

What a life...

Suka and Dakota are doing well. Very well. :) Recent checkup shows them both to be in perfect health, and they charmed the socks off the vet & staff. As usual. ;)

On walks downtown, they do the same to passers-by, every time. Between Suka's lively charm, and Dakota's calm dignity, they've something for every dog lover. :)

I'm not doing entirely so well, though... Family issues (no, no one is getting divorced!), and work... I'm responsible for items that could literally cost my company a billion US Dollars, if I were to fail. Plus cost my job. ;) Family comes first, but clearly, the job is running a close second. :p

When I have time, I'll add more. Until then, just know that I have my nose to the grindstone and, to a degree, my back to the wall.

Dog Day Weekend, redux

So, once more unto the breach!

Sarah contacted me, asked for a special run down to The Farm, to get things squared away. Times are tough, volunteer hours are down, intake requests are up. And we've gotten a couple HUGE runs full of dogs from things like Hurricane Gustav - the Humane Society of South Mississippi brought us a truck full of rescuees, for instance. And more are coming...

So, down to The Farm, to do a little scoopin' and scrapin' and whatever else needed done. Got there early enough that 'Yappy Hour' was still going on, but things were looking a little unsettled, so I didn't take Suka into the field with the rest of the resident pack; A couple of the dogs seemed to be having status issues, and Suka wasn't keenly interested in joining the ruckus. That's fine - I was there to work, anyway. So, walked Suka about, then crated her up and got to work. About that time, the rain arrived. Oh, wait - Did I forget to mention that it was a grey, dreary kind of morning? Well it was. Until it started to rain. Then it was a grey, dreary, WET kinda morning.

There are a LOT of puppies at The Farm right now, though I think they're secretly a genetic experiement gone wrong - They've been crossed with cow DNA. I can think of no other explanation for how something so small can poop so much! The cute little buggers are pooping at twice the rate (and volume!) as their older counterparts! Oh, and they've got sharp little claws, too! So, I'm in with the pups, scrapin' and scoopin' as fast as I can, before the rain turns their mess into something truly horrible... And the pups are all jumping and clawing and whining for attention, and, oh, incidently, covering my boots and pants in kennel muck - which contains pretty much what you think it does. Once the kennel runs are clean, time to clean the pups, and their bedding. Then feed and water them... OK, done, and on to the older dogs, whom have the sense to 1) stay out of the rain, and 2) not stomp in their own mess, and 3) are generally much better behaved. Except one - Him, I had to save from hanging himself. This is a dog who comes from an area where bull-headed BCs are common, and he's stronger than most. Plus, I think he's a retriever mix, too. He's managed to pry up a corner of the heavy-duty chainlink fencing of his run, and shove his head through. In the process, he'd hooked his collar on the wire, and was well and truly stuck. I have to say, he took the indignity of the situation with fair aplomb - Waiting patiently for me to come in and unclip him from his self-inflicted peril. Whereupon he immediately sat on my foot and grinned at me. This is why I'm thinking "retriever mix" - He's got zero sense of shame. "Whoo-hoo! I jest 'most died! Let's play!" Clearly, this is a redneck dog.

So, into the kennel house with him, while I break out some fencing wire and whip the bottom of his kennel fencing to the bottom rail. When I way "whip," think whipstitch. With fencing wire. Which means taking a seat on the ground with a spool of wire, and sewing the chainlink fencing down to the bottom rail. Did I mention it was raining? And I'm sitting in wet, muddy grass and/or streaming wet concrete? And there's guaranteed to more poop in the squishy/streaming mess, somewhere. So, a couple flesh wounds later, Bubba the Redneck Pooch ain't gettin' out of this kennel, nor can he hang himself on the bottom of the run. I've no idea how, but I'm sure he'll find some other way of getting into trouble, though. Probably while yelling the canine equivalent of "Hey, lookit me!"

Carrying on, did a bit of laundry to get some more bedding clean and ready - they're gonna need it! Also fixed a couple gates for the main fences - these are big stock gates, the kind with wheels to support the open end whilst they're being swung. Had to replace the support wheels where time and circumstance had managed to destroy them. More sitting on the ground. In the mud. And rain.

Along the way, Sarah stops me. "Is Suka in heat?"
!!
Gods, I should HOPE not... I'd been told she was altered - But something is definately up! All the classic external signs of the early stages of heat, and now that I was thinking on it, many of the emotional ones, too - She'd been much whinier, much more clingy than is her usual, and much more submissive than usual, too. Damn... Now it's time to confirm what I *thought* I knew... And come to find out, I didn't know as much for certain as I thought. What I thought I knew turns out to be "whisper down the lane" kinda information, and not as reliable as it might be. It's possible she was never altered. Or it's possible some ovarian tissue was missed. Whichever, I've got a new mission - Keep Suka away from male dogs, especially intact male dogs, until I can get her to a vet to confirm her status! Yee-haw! Just what I needed - I'm soaking wet, covered in mud and the kind of sludge you find on a working farm, and now I'm paranoid, too!

Well, that was pretty much the capper for me - The chores were done, and I wasn't hanging around in the rain to socialize, not with a possibly intact bitch in heat by my side! Fortunately, I brought a tarp to cover the seats of the car - I left smudges when I sat down, but a tarp is easy to clean.

Oh, and by Sunday, the external signs were no longer "maybe" but rather "Oh, yeah" obvious. This isn't an anal gand infection or a UTI - It's the real deal. She's either intact, or there's definately some ovarian tissue floating around inside her still. Just what I was looking forward to... Not.

I hope my vet has a sense of humor, cause she's gonna need it.