Nursing

As we have mentioned, the people came back from their trip sick. They were lucky on the trip to not be too sick, more like a cold. Lady says maybe they drank a little less and went to bed a little earlier, nothing that really impacted there adventures. For Man, he started to get really sick on the last day of the trip, for Lady it was the first night home.

Man had a terrible cough and a sinus infection and was very exhausted. 5 weeks later, he is mostly better. He had to take an extra week off for being sick. Almost 3 weeks after getting sick, he had to go to the doctor for a steroid inhaler and a different nasal spray. The doctor said it was not Covid, but just some respiratory virus he caught in Europe. 

Lady worked from home a day she should have gone in. She had to end work a bit early 2 days because she was too tired. She had the cough, a little fever and her throat was so swollen she couldn't eat solid food for a week. She has never had that before.  However, after a 11 nights on a cruise ship, perhaps not eating much was a good choice. 

Not to worry, we were good caregivers while our people recovered.

The Man slept in the guest room so his coughing wouldn't keep Lady awake (she stayed with us in our bedroom)

Mischief Monday - Tummy Troubles - by Lee

 

Dear pals,

I have a slightly embarrassing story to tell. On New Year's Day, the peeps stepped out without me for a bit. While they were out, I got really sick. I will spare you the details but imagine a lot of sick looking poop. Phod was sure we were going to be in trouble and tried to hide. When Lady and Man returned they assured us that no one was in trouble and Lady dutifully cleaned the floors.

For about the next 24 hours my tummy was not ok. I had a lot of poop (if you can call it that).  At first, and through the night I had to go every 2-3 hours, but as daylight came I got up to every 4 or 5.

It is a good thing I will pretty much eat anything because all I got to eat was rice.

We have no idea what caused this. I had my tick meds in the morning but they have never done that. Was I too stressed being alone? Did I get into something? It is a mystery. I would like to assure you all that other than being a little tired because my nap kept getting interrupted, I was totally myself. There was nothing different about my behaviour. I quite enjoyed how quickly my requests to go out, at all hours, were answered.

My tummy seems to be getting better. Fingers crossed.

It was an exciting way to start the new year! 

Lee

Mischief Monday - 5 Days in Bed -by Lee

Dear pals,

We had a very terrible few days last week. Our Lady, whose trip to Africa was cancelled for fear she could contract Corona, went to Sault Ste Marie for 4 days for work and contracted the influenza.

She says it was the sickest she has been in years. She spent 5 days in bed.

While Phod was scared of her the first few days and kept his distance, I, Miss Hailey Bug, thought a 5 day bed nap was the best thing ever!

I slept across her legs

I did share with Phod a few times

More sleeping on her legs

I curled up beside her

I made sure the covers were just right

After 5 days, Lady started to get out of bed. After another 2 she left the house for work. She is much better now, although not 100% but is getting there.

While I am glad she is better, I am going to miss bed naps.

your pal, Lee

I Hope The Tooth Fairy Comes - by Phod

Dear pals, 

Pardon me, if this post is a little off, as I am not feeling my best. Yesterday the Lady tricked me. I was excited to go in the car with her. Then we arrived at the V-E-T!  The only good thing about it is I am happy to report I have lost 5 lbs and am at my ideal weight, but am sure I am going to loose more because I am never going to be able to eat again.

I had to have what people call dental work done. I think it is make you feel funny in the head and make your mouth hurt. I had to have my teeth cleaned and have my favourite tooth pulled. 

I have to rest for a few days. I have to take a lot of medicine.

I hope I feel better and I hope the tooth fairy comes, in a few days, when I feel more myself.

(For those who saw about this on Facebook, thanks for all the POTP).

I must rest now.

A very stoned and sore and the saddest boy ever,

Phoddy

From the Lady:
At his annual check up, it was identified that one of Phod's tooth had chipped and the nerve was showing. Although it didn't seem to be bothering him, we did have it removed. The vet reports some other minor cracks. They should not be caused by the playing fetch with our rubber chuck it ball. It is usually caused by tennis balls or other hard things. It is possible some of this damage was done prior to him joining us and it is now just showing up. Now we need to prevent him from chewing hard things and not play fetch with hard things and not play tug at all (not that he really liked that game).

The vet felt the surgery went well. Phod was so tired when he got home, he didn't make it past the front door. It made me think of his first night with us over 6 years ago, when he slept right up against the door. It is now one of his favourite spots.

He will be taking it easy for a few days, but we are sure he will be back to his old self soon.

As Phod is 7, he had to have a blood panel done and they were very happy with the results, which makes me happy!

We thank you all for your POTP.

Hailey is happy to have Phod back and is no longer jealous that he got to go away without her as he smells too funny!

You can see what tooth was taken

The tooth, the red part was under the gum

That little black spot on the top of the tooth is the nerve. 

The antibiotics he has to take - 2 pills twice a day! 

Get Well Soon Easy - by Hailey

As I am sure many of you know, my beloved French boyfriend Easy has been feeling under the weather.

I am sending him POTP and get well soon vibes by showing my destruction skills with the heart he gave me for Valentine's Day.

I am so fast you can't capture me on film

Hold it steady while I empty my heart

What?  Easy would want me to destroy it

A very cute destroyer

GET WELL SOON EASY! 

Mischief Monday - The Flu 1, The Lady 0

I spent the greater part of the long weekend fighting the flu. It started Thursday, in what seemed like a cold, but by 3 am Friday, I had a super high fever and aches. 

I spent all day Friday in bed. I missed our seeing my family and friends, who had totally arranged a lunch I could attend because I am on a very strict elimination diet to figure out what is upsetting my stomach. (I am not eating gluten, dairy, soy, sugar, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, peaches or chocolate. FYI: Eating super healthy and getting sick is not reinforcing). 

Saturday evening I felt a little better. I was hungry for the first time for food I could eat (being sick and on a very strict diet is extra, extra hard). I ate the wonderful Easter dinner my husband had prepared for us and Uncle Chris. 

After another rough night, Sunday morning I was not feeling well again, but some meds and more sleep made me semi-functional. I made the Man and Uncle Chris take the dogs out a lot before they left for a movie. I knew my strength was waning. 

I was well cared for while I was ill. 

Hailey

Phody

Cousin Emma on my chest

Let's hope I feel better today so I can enjoy one day of the long weekend! (Thankfully I took Monday off!)

Dinner Disaster

They needed some dinner excitement! - Hailey

Tuesday night our resident chef, the Man, was putting the final touches on his dinner. He picked up the ketchup to add to his sausage bun. Unfortunately the lid wasn't on tight and soon ketchup went everywhere!

Hailey, our resident janitor ran over, before Man or Lady could get her out, she had a couple licks of the ketchup.

Man and Lady cleaned up the ketchup from the floor and the cupboards and sat down to eat.

This is when Hailey, who had just finished her dinner before the ketchup was spilt, started to throw up. She threw up, Man and Lady cleaned it up, sat down and she threw up again. This happened until she had thrown up 4 times.

This is when Lady looked up online and saw that ketchup and tomato sauce were toxic to dogs. This was something they didn't know. It isn't a food they would normally give the pups.

They watched Hailey carefully for the rest of the evening, although within minutes she seemed herself. It was good her body worked so hard to dispel the poison. They offered her a light treat later as she had thrown up dinner.

They were lucky she was fine. They learned a valuable lesson about tomato sauce with only two minor consequences: they ate a cold dinner and the next morning Hailey's very hungry belly wanted to be up  early.

Things That Go "BLAAAA" In The Night

Monday night was an adventure in our house. I had not been feeling well Monday, so I took some medication to help me sleep. The caused me to miss the first part of the Man and Hailey adventure. 

Around 11:30pm Hailey threw up. Now since I have had dogs for more than a decade, I know that sometimes dogs throw up. The problem was that our Hailey kept throwing up. She threw up for about 45 minutes. When I got up (toward the end of the 45 minutes) she was clearly in distress. When the Man had taken her outside she had eaten grass (which is common) and in the house she was desperate to eat hair and fluff from the floor and would immediately puke it back up. (Unfortunately in our house there is always a lot of hair and fluff on the floor!) We made the decision to take her to the vet, even though the emergency vet is about an hour away. We knew our regular vet would not be the vet on call, but we also knew she would see an excellent vet (and if need be, we could talk to our vet in the morning). 

The Man loaded her into the car and off they went. Interestingly as soon as we took her to the car, she stopped puking. 

Of course now I am awake so Phod and I snuggled in bed awaiting news. We didn't have to wait too long because the clinic was not very busy (fortunately, sometimes emerg can be crazy busy). The vet  thought Hailey was one of the most gorgeous dogs she had ever seen and added that to her file! She did an exam, ordered X-rays, and in the end found nothing. Her guess is she ate something that upset her stomach and she had expelled it all. She gave her a shot of anti-nausea meds and about 40 minutes after arriving at the clinic they were on their way home.  

Once we heard this (about 2 am) , Phod and I went to sleep. I knew I couldn't take Tuesday off, so I squeezed a few hours in. On Tuesday, other than being a bit tired Hailey seemed fine and she has been fine the rest of the week.

We are happy that in the end we just lost some sleep and spent some money and that our girl was fine.

First Aid for Phod

Sunday was a beautiful day so after the house was cleaned, we head to the beach. Phod was having a great time with his new water toy (more about that later this week) and even more fun when we realized his old water toy had been found and was waiting for him on the beach!

Phod's old water toy - found! 

I threw his old water toy and on the way back he stopped and lifted one of his paws up. I could tell instantly it hurt. He started to limp on it as the Man and I went to check it out. We quickly realized it was bleeding.

I will be the first to admit I don't do well with blood. I do better when I am alone and have to, but if someone else is there, I can't handle it, so Man had to be in charge . The Man did a quick check of it and nothing major appeared to be in it. While trying to decide what to do next (we were at the beach about 5 minute walk from home), Phod started walking well enough that we decided we could walk home. At one point on the way home Phod threw up a little, not sure if shock or if he had played too much fetch. 

The Man putting pressure on the pay

After leaving a trail of bloody prints from the beach to the house, the Man put Lee on her tie out on the tree, while I came in to get the first aid supplies.  We decided we would treat it outside. The Man did a great job (with a very resistant Phod) cleaning it out (so what the water at one point went everywhere). He applied pressure and we both worked to try and get Phod to relax (keeping pressure on a paw of a stressed dog is challenging). 

Paw with cream on it

As Phod was starting to relax, Lee got herself so tangled in the bush I had to go and get her out. She went in the house. (We needed to only be worrying about one dog at a time!)

Two tired pups! 

By this time Phod's paw had stopped bleeding, so we put some of the K9 Kelp moisturizing cream (which is good for cuts too!) on it. Then we let him in the house and after about 10 minutes, he curled up and went to sleep.

Then every time he got up it kept bleeding. We decided to wait until the morning to go to the vet. The Man took him to a new vet (one closer to us as Phod gets so car sick). The clinic may not have been thrilled that he showed up without an appointment but too bad! Overall, Man said this clinic was fine (and it saved us hours of driving so for minor things this is good)

Because of where it is, they can't really do stitches. They cleaned it out, gave him antibiotics because we don't what he stepped on. There is a spray to help it too. He needs to wear a sock when he goes outside to keep stuff out of it.

My poor boy! He should be back to his normal self in a few days. POTP that it doesn't get infected!

Update on how it is going

Tuesday was pretty good. I was at home so that helped. I gave the gang hooves [See attached pictures] for the afternoon so got to work in peace! I spent my evening working more on house training with Emma. She refused to pee outside and I knew she had to so we played the, in the crate for 15 minutes, and then outside of 5 minutes. We played this game for over 1.5 hours before she peed.

Wednesday morning went something like this: Got Emma to pee and poop outside! Emma will  now eating a whole meal at meal time with some supervision (mostly to make sure Hailey doesn't push her out of the way). Got myself and everyone ready to go to camp.  Got the girls loaded in the car. Tried to get Phod loaded in the car. Finally lift my 60 lb boy in and close the door. Since he is not harnessed, by the time I get to the front door he is there ready to lunge out. He then went and hid in the corner of the garage and shakes. I looked at him and the car and then said "Phod, do you want to stay home?" and he raced to the house door. So I  set him up in the crate. I had booked a longer day out then he is use to because I had assumed he would be at camp. I then drove to town with a stressed out Lee because Phod is not with her, feeling like a horrible "mom" to have left my boy at home.

Left the girls at camp. Went to work. Went back and pick them up. Emma loved attention from the staff and Hailey was shy and didn't play much. Got them into the car, Lee searching the car for Phod and drove home worried about my boy who has been alone for too long. Upon arriving home I left the girls in the car and  raced into the house to free my boy, only to find him standing at the door waiting for me. The latch on the side door of the crate was not done up and he must have squeezed out. There was a pee on the floor which I cleaned up and while I was cleaning it up, Emma peed on the floor (even after we had just been outside for like 10 minutes - but it was her only accident yesterday so this is progress).

After dinner, and a successful Emma bathroom break, I took Phod for a walk alone to get the mail. I must say how nice it is to have one and not get pulled. Came back and started the car desensitization program. I was able to get Phod to take a cookie off the bumper. That is as close as he would get. I have cancelled camp for him today and will keep working on this car thing. I need to get him in for flyball on Saturday. We will be trying the vet's expensive drug that day.  Maybe if he doesn't get sick he won't hate it so much.

So people ask me "how is it going?" and like all things in life it is good and bad. if Emma peed outside and Phod wold get in the car it would be great.

Note: Found out this morning that my brother in law will be at home for March, so Emma will only be with us for the week. I am assuming he is going to have her come and stay with us in April. That will give him a month to teach her a few things!

Lee is unwell - VBP

Dear Blogville, 

I hate to report that I have been debilitated (VBP) with a bit on an infection in my nether regions. I get these from time to time. I want to obsessively lick myself clean and then try to kiss my people. They don't like that. 

In the past, these little infections have been  really short lived, so before rushing the hour one way to my vet, we try a little home remedy which involves a warm compress on my private parts. 

I rock a compress

All the attention is mine! 

The advantage to this not feeling well is that I mulct (VBP) all the attention from Phod. My Lady showers me with pets and kisses while holding a compress to my butt.  She can't play ball with him when I am getting all the love.

My Lady said if it isn't gone in a couple days, I have to go to the vet. Let's hope this compress is sufficient (VBP) to treat the infection.