First, let’s take a moment to think of Betty Cracker down in Floriduh:
Now, Walter:
Walter doesn’t like to swim, it seems.
All my piglets had baths today and smell great, so Thurston is making up for it by being really gassy.
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Pet Rescue, Walter
First, let’s take a moment to think of Betty Cracker down in Floriduh:
Now, Walter:
Walter doesn’t like to swim, it seems.
All my piglets had baths today and smell great, so Thurston is making up for it by being really gassy.
by John Cole| 80 Comments
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Pet Rescue, Walter
Debit passes along these updates:
1.
Quick Walter update before I head out to work: he’s doing great. He’s just a happy guy who likes to eat, sleep and get scritches. His mobility seems to be better and (fingers crossed) he’s scratching less at his ear, so hopefully the meds are working. This morning he barked at the back door to be let in from his potty break, a perfectly Walter-ish bark; deep and gruff, just like his namesake.
I’ll try to get some video of him moving so you can tell me if there’s an improvement.
2.
One more bit of news. I was checking out the U of M’s vet clinic physical therapy options and saw they had some clinical trials going on. Walter is scheduled for an evaluation appointment with this one: http://www.vetmed.umn.edu/centers-programs/clinical-investigation-center/current-clinical-trials/steps-study-effectiveness-and-safety-ia-injection-osteoarthritis-dogs on September 15th. If he’s not a good candidate for it, or if he does poorly off the Rimadyl, there is another trial coming up for stem cell injection that allows Rimadyl. Either way, he gets the full medical work up, xrays and evaluation that he would need before he would start the physical therapy anyway.
She sent me those this morning, and I called her around noonish and told her basically that she’s not going to get away with text only updates because I’ll have a damned riot on my hand and poor Anne Laurie and Betty Cracker clean up enough of my damned messes as it is. This showed up a little bit ago.
I can tell you he is walking about 300% better than he was when I got him, and better even than when he left here just the other day.
by Hillary Rettig| 57 Comments
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Faunasphere
Back from yet more travel and have some posts queued up, but nothing seems as meaningful as this video of J.J. the hospice therapy dog comforting a dying patient:
Turn up the volume. Can anyone identify the text the reader is using?
Here’s J.J.’s Facebook page.
Also open thread to discuss dogs or anything else.
by Betty Cracker| 170 Comments
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Domestic Politics, Open Threads
I rarely go outside this time of year because it’s too goddamned hot, but thanks to that little tropical depression in the Gulf, it’s breezy and pleasant today, so I temporarily moved Cracker Inc. to the tiki bar. While setting up my workstation, I noticed one of the dogs rooting around in the bromeliads and told her to stop.
She stopped, alright — drawing back from the flower bed with a snake in her mouth! I screamed, of course, which caused her to drop it, and she and the other dog were snapping at it while it lashed at them with fangs bared, causing me to scream myself hoarse until the dogs came to see what was wrong with me.
I grabbed their collars and wrestled them back into the house, then ran to fetch my laptop and other accoutrements. The cops are probably on their way since any neighbor within half a mile must have immediately assumed someone was being murdered.
It was a black snake, so not poisonous, I’m pretty sure. The dogs seem uninjured. I believe the snake survived, as I can no longer see it — from a great distance, of course. I am never going outside again. The end.
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Dog Blogging, Open Threads
A note from the Whereaways:
Wanted to let you know our rescued kittens went off to their new homes this past weekend. You Balloon Juice readers came through for them, and we are incredibly grateful.
Ideally, we wanted them to be adopted in pairs, so they’d always have a buddy, and that’s how it worked out. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Apart from being happy for the kittens / jealous of their new humans, what’s on the agenda for the day?
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Pet Rescue, Walter
First, the pictures. Here he is with his new bff, Ellie:
I bet some of you won’t even be able to figure out which one he is!
And here he is lying on his new bed:
Debit passes along two notes. First things first- apparently Walter makes friends quick:
Did I tell you? Tim called Sunday to check up on Walter. The old guy sure knows how to make friends.
Tim was the driver, who spent only 12 hours with him.
Second, Debit had her vet give Walter a lookover:
He was a huge hit at the vet’s office. Both the vet and the tech sat down on the floor to do the exam, and after a few minutes Walter decided to plant his butt in the vet’s lap. She was amazed at his progress (I showed her the picture from when you found him) and said to just keeping doing what you’d started: feeding him and giving him plenty of soft places to sleep. She treated his right ear for what she said looked like a chronic infection, and gave me meds to continue in hopes we can clear it up. Otherwise, as a last case scenario, she said an ear canal ablation could be done. It would leave him totally deaf in that ear, but she suspects he can’t hear much out of it anyway. They contacted your vet to get his blood work and whoever answered the phone exclaimed, “Walter the Miracle Dog!” :)
I’m taking him back in one month so they can do blood work and see if the Rimadyl is causing any adverse reactions to his liver and/or kidneys. Meanwhile, I’m starting him on glucosamine chews and adding fish oil to his food. She said that he can gain about five more pounds, but no more, as his knees are shot. Short walks of five to ten minutes on grass should be his limit for now, until we see if the supplements are helping. I don’t know that he’s ever going to be totally pain free, but we’ll do out best to get him as close to it as possible. She commented that he’d obviously had a hard life and that if he wasn’t outright abused he was neglected to the point it became abuse. I mean, above and beyond the whole being left to starve to death thing.
He was really anxious in the car, and cried a little when we got back in, but once we pulled up to the house he started scrabbling at the windows and actually ran to the back door, tail going a mile a minute. The he flopped down on his bed and went to sleep.
So we’re home and all is well. Still no accidents or drama.
Everything seems ok, and Debit still sounds giddy when I talk to her. Wait until I butt dial her by accident a few times.
by Adam L Silverman| 67 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Dog Blogging, Faunasphere, Nature, Open Threads
We’re overdue for a clean thread, so here’s some cute animal videos.
Also, a Tropical Storm Watch for the coast of North Carolina from Cape Lookout to Oregon Inlet. So if you live in those areas, please take appropriate precautions!
Now back to our regularly scheduled cuteness!!!
Late Evening Open Thread: Cats and Dogs Living TogetherPost + Comments (67)