A dog named Coco and Covid in the family

 

Its been quite a week here at the new puppy ruled home. He ended up with the name Coco courtesy of our granddaughter's suggestion and it works well. Now to see him realized he needs to respond to it! 

Housebreaking right now consists of us being on schedule and on alert but he'll get there. We also got gates so we can keep him in the kitchen with us when cooking which is helping. Still to lean is staying calmly in a crate during the day so we can both leave although he is sleeping in it without complaint all night.  

He's discovered his tail and works hard to get it in his mouth and then lays down holding it. Very funny when he then tries to move and can't figure out the problem. Right now he's working hard on an indestructible chew toy while laying on my yoga mat. 

He's not afraid of much just the fire hydrant down the street so far and less so each day. He is barking at his reflection but that will pass. He does love people and is bringing entertainment and puppy greetings to our neighbors

We wanted more going on in our lives and so we have lined up in the next 10 days a private dog training session, a vet visit and going to the groomer for the first time. Hmmm - not quite the excitement I was dreaming of lol.

On a less happy note, my younger son and DIL both have finally caught Covid although so far our granddaughter hasn't got it for a second time. At least she is old enough to fix herself snacks and help with the pets. They all are vaccinated to the max so hopefully it won't become too terrible.

Look what we did! A puppy joins the family.

c

We brought home a 4 month old Cavapoo puppy!

He is a mini-poodle & Cavalier spaniel mix. We think we will call him JJ. We'll see if it suits him.

We are exhausted already lol. I'm anticipating a difficult night but he has been a very good boy so far and very friendly. Not freaked out about anything.

He has never been on a leash before but we have managed about 8 walks with him doing ok. And 2 accidents in the house but it is early days yet with lots of change today in his life.

He is so cute and funny and won't be a puppy forever. Anticipating he will be about 22 pounds when full grown. We are going to sign up for puppy school that starts July 9th and try to get some basic training in before then. 

 

Clarifying the dog availability situation

Thanks for the comments about the care our county provides stray/lost/surrendered animals. It is amazing and the animals diverse. In addition, when there are serious wildfires they set up a shelter at the county fairgrounds (right by the ocean) for all evacuated animals from horses and goats to chickens and more.

There are dogs available for adoption right now - they just don't fit us at this time although there is still one we would like if he recovers from parvo and is back to being available.

Our last lovely dog was a 1 1/2 year old mini-poodle who was traumatized from abuse when we got her. She turned into a happy, well adjusted dog but it was a lot of work. She developed Addison's disease at 3 1/2 and we were able to keep her healthy by managing that disease for the next 9 years until kidney disease did her in. We were happy to do all that, but not wanting to start that way again.

Secondly, we want a companion dog that is between 10 and 25 pounds full grown. We do not want a very elderly dog as our loss is too recent. The shelter has lots of little dogs available that don't fit what we want (chihuahuas and terriers) and lots of big or harder too manage dogs (pit bulls, shepherds, lab mixes, dobermans) plus a few elderly or chronically ill dogs. The types we want go very quickly and don't show up often.

I have found a close by business that focuses on cavapoo and goldendoodle puppies of various sizes and reached out to them yesterday. Hoping to hear back today. They presently have two 4 month old cavapoos of different sizes who didn't find homes quickly for a now fixed health problem in one case and an underbite in the other case. Four months is easier than 8 weeks for a puppy! If that doesn't work out we will look at the new puppies and find one to reserve.

Crossing fingers and hoping we are making a good decision!

Two dog sitters identified and the world opens up a bit more

Another thing I have delayed dealing with after our move is finding a dog sitter and getting the dog used to and happy with that person. Big steps in that direction the last couple of weeks.

I took the dog over with me to thank the neighbors who helped me call security to get back in my house after I locked myself out. They have to very friendly, calm cats who I have taken care of so I mentioned that Lola loves and is gentle with cats. My friend instantly invited us in and went to get the friendliest cat and we held them about 6 inches apart to meet. They were both quiet and calm so now Lola really wants to go over there to see the kitty! Be association my friend is also now OK to her so she offered to take care of the dog when we are out of town and even sleep over. I'm going to use her as back up or when we are gone more than the 6 hours we can crate the dog.

Then once I decided to leave the dog home for the wedding weekend, I contacted another neighbor who has an elderly dog that has Cushing's disease and was happy with a dog sitter they used for a long trip. We met yesterday with this dog sitter who moves into your house for the duration and Lola was interested in and calm with her so I booked her time. Yeah!

I was initially embarrassed that my typed instructions was 2 pages long but she said it wasn't the longest she had been given.

You may wonder what the big deal is but when you have a dog with Addison's additional stress means they burn through the medicine that keeps them alive at a faster than usual rate so minimizing stress is very helpful. Add to that the fact that she is very unsure of new people due to having been abused before we got her and the right people make all the difference. She only boarded with her foster family in Atlanta and loved them to pieces so was very excited to go to their house. Finding not one, but two, resources here is a great relief.

My son and DIL-to-be have offered to take care of her too but they are across town and work so we would only do that for a weekend away probably. And of course that doesn't work for their wedding weekend.

What we do for our pets!

PS. If you are planning a major move as we did I'd like to add that our to do list was so long that eventually we ran out of steam and simply didn't get everything done. We are circling back now and finishing up some of the not-urgent items that were on that original list. It takes time lol.

They are so well behaved - so far

We are taking care of our Grand-dog for 3 weeks while his people travel to Amsterdam and Greece. Fortunately he is the nicest dog and gets along really well with our dog. They do encourage each other to bark at every little sound but we are working on that LOL.

A new 2 dog adventure for all of us!

May: Week 2

Happy Mother's Day! I'm off to spend part of the day with my older son and DIL and granddog plus my own dog. I feel very lucky to be able to do that. Hubby is out of town doing his show up at work part of working remotely so we have them all to ourselves.

I've been pretty busy this past week. Not in the plans but on Wednesday I took hubby to the train station (train, planes, train or Lyftt for him), came home and took the dog for a walk. She stepped on a bee and had a thankfully non-life threatening reaction to the venom. Vomit and poop all over the bedroom carpet which I guess we will be getting cleaned after all. I was concerned about dehydration since she wasn't drinking water so off to the vet for 2 shots, 2 med and re-hydration.

How do we keep this from happening again? I didn't get any helpful advice from people I talked to but learned the vomiting was typical and some dogs go into anphylactic shock so we were lucky it was just money and carpet cleaning.

She is feeling well now it seems and did very well driving to my son's and spending the afternoon with them and their dog.

I managed to buy a few things on our finish furnishing the house list and got good value/prices on all - small yard waste trash can, bath trash can, 4 glasses and 2 candles (we didn't move ours). I also went to the HOA Spring Cleaning sale and bought myself a fun bracelet for a big $5.

Checking off my to do list:

• Get refrigerator water filter and ice maker fixed
• Make an eye exam appointment
• Routine Vet appointment 5/9; decide if staying with this vet or switching to one nearer us.
• Get recommendations for groomer and boarding
• Get CA driver's licenses, register car and get new HOA car sticker. Cancel GA car registration.
• Send in homeowner's property tax exemption form.
• Recycle old printer
• Get SS form to prove have had health insurance coverage
• Apply online for SS
• Connect with nephew who lives in San Diego
• Mother's Day with son & DIL
• Join Women's Club (and attended an interesting talk)
• May planned clothing purchases: swim rash guard/sun guard long sleeve top & an unplanned purchase of bead and leather bracelet

27 weeks & counting or is it 25 - to putting our house up for sale

Small steps completed this week.

- Washed the walls, treads and risers in the stairwell and found no painting is required
- Met with a potential contractor for the bath remodel; waiting for a bid
- Talked to our realtor who is now suggesting we list the house in mid-March to beat the rush.
- My husband managed to get the non-working chandelier down and Ace Hardware nearby had the right kind of socket to fix it! Working light again and little spent.

So why may we have 25 weeks left instead of 27 before the house is on the market? Our realtor is thinking that we may need to get a jump on the Spring listing rush.. The current plan is that I will be in Berkeley helping with childcare for our soon to arrive granddaughter from February 27-March 11 (assuming she arrives on schedule). We plan to be in S. CA the week prior to look for a home and to prepare for and celebrate my FIL's 90th birthday. So that will be a bit tight if we put it up mid-March.

Need to get on with all the prep a bit faster LOL.

Leftover to do's from last week:

- Work on cleaning basement floor
- Go through bedding and cedar chest; make decisions
- Try to thrift new coverlets/bedspreads for both beds
- Schedule appointment with the arborist to get bid for final pruning work prior to house painting.

I'm also doing a couple of meetings this coming week to continue transition my volunteer and officer responsibilities with my Friends of the Library group.

We just learned that my husband's 93 year old uncle is in hospice care. He is in California so there will be a funeral trip when he passes away.


We also found out the results of yet another blood test on our dog. Her liver function was not looking as it should be despite medication changes so a bile test was done to pursue the possibility that she might have developed a liver shunt which causes the blood to not flow through the liver. She is down to 15 pounds from a steady 16.2 pounds - dropped it all in 2 weeks. However, this latest test showed normal results! So now they are thinking she may have a low grade UTI and will test for that this week. We bought her some chunky stew canned food and she gobbled it down so at least we can get her to eat more. Generally she is happy and spunky - much better than before her medication changes for her Addison's Disease.

The dog ate my retainer and other early 2016 budget adjustments

This morning my dog was in pre-anesthesia mode because of a scheduled dental cleaning so no food or water. This of course was really unsettling and disturbing and probably other things to her.  Her solution? She pulled my retainers off the dining room table and try to eat them. She destroyed one but I think the other more expensive one is fine. She has never shown any interest in them or pulled anything off this table before but you know what they say about desperate times! And at least it is time for my annual checkup with the orthodontist so some of the cost was planned. But mostly that is one unexpected budget item.

Do you think I should list it as a health care expense or dog expense LOL?

Fortunately her cleaning went well and was 4 years later than the vet had originally predicted it would be needed so I guess we saved money by brushing her teeth and giving her Greenies the last 5 years. No extractions; $366 (plus a new retainer)  in case you are wondering what cleaning the teeth of a 16 pound dog costs these days.

Then there is the medical bill incurred by my husband near the end of 2015 that the provider has not yet billed. Our share is $855 and I forgot to add that to our projected healthcare costs for 2016.

Oops.

It's only January 5th - I thought we would have a bit more of a grace period than that on my budgeting efforts!

Kicking off the BEST new year

We had a low key and fun New Year's Eve with dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant and then a cozy evening at home. I tried a new to me dish - shrimp with crispy sweet basil and vegetables and boy was it delicious. I ate the whole thing which made it easy to start the first day of the year off right food wise.

I have decided that the BEST thing I can eat for breakfast is oatmeal with fruit and soy milk. Sometimes an addition of peanut butter. Oatmeal is the one breakfast food that keeps me from getting hungry before lunch. So this morning it is microwaved oatmeal, half a banana and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter with soy milk.

I've finished off my financials for 2015 and am delighted that we saved 35.5% of our income! Go us. I usually think in terms of a dollar goal for savings and always fall short. Looking at it this way, we did great.

I did splurge a bit on the dog yesterday - replaced the 5 year old pad in her crate. A bit needed although she does love her crate for naps even with the old pad. The old one will be back up for a while as I do wash them. I couldn't remember the brand and had cut off the tag so I went back to the (expensive) pet store we bought it at the day we adopted her. They were just getting a shipment unloaded from a truck and there was exactly what I wanted in that load. I also got her more of her Harry Barker prickly pear shampoo + conditioner so I wouldn't need to order it online. Don't you love the brand name?

Today is finally a brisk weather day with no rain! I think I'll use this luck to get out and spray the driveway for weeds as well as the foundation for bugs. A nice long walk is in the plans too. I'm joining in with Ilona on her 1000 miles in 2016 walking challenge. I started yesterday (why not?) with 2.4 miles. Want to join in?

Lastly, I remembered that I had stashed a free 2016 wall calendar and pulled it out. To my surprise I actually had 2 free ones put away so I will donate one tomorrow.

Here's to your BEST year ever.

The "girls" got haircuts and took these selfies

I tried to take a picture of the poodle's and my haircuts from this morning but only she came out looking good LOL. It was pretty funny getting her to cooperate.

Bark and lots of it

Yesterday I took the poodle princess for her morning walk and we encountered 4 other poodles in less than a quarter of a mile! She wanted to play with Dabney, the little chocolate mini poodle, who is such a friendly dog. If they had a fenced yard they would have such a great time as they have the same energy level. Then she ignored the gray standard poodle named Rufus - she knows him and he was on the other side of the street. But the white and black standards were of her same vigilant disposition and barked first I must say! So she showed them what she was made of and we moved on home.

More bark arrived in Hubby's car - 14 bags worth that he hauled to the yard and I spread on the bare spots. We need at least that many more bags to finish the targeted area and that was the third load as it is! A big back yard. We have no grass and southeastern neophytes that we were thought that was a good idea when we bought the house. Coming from the southwest who needs grass. Oh well, we just keep replacing the bark and weeding.

After that and after reading recipes in a wok cookbook that I brought home from the library I had little inspiration to cook dinner but I was craving Asian food. We went to our favorite Thai restaurant and checked out there expanded and redecorated dining space. It is lovely and much less crowded in the seating areas. They don't have new photos up yet on their website but we really enjoyed the new space and the food as always.

Today is focused on bits and pieces of catching up inside. Picking up, maybe a bit of cleaning, a run to the grocery store, some laundry, vacation preparation, etc.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Poor puppy dog - good vet

Sleeping in her crate in the morning. Sudden and apparently urgent crotch licking sessions. Something was definitely not all right no matter how avidly she raced out to try to catch chipmunks or eagerly she went for walks.

Turns out she has both bacterial and fungal infections - well you can guess where. Three medicines for 20 days and she should be back to fine Poodle Princess form.

The meds are knocking her out so I guess we will see a lot of sleeping princess for now.

Love our vet. Smart, good diagnostician and very kind and gentle. He picked the right career.

Just because

Play hard and then rest but keep what you love close at all times LOL.

The numbers are in - cost of chronic illness in a pet

The poodle princess had her first monthly injection since she was diagnosed with Addison's disease. The frequency of her treatments may change as we get more experience with how she processes the corticoid steroid, but right now it is every 30 days at $60 per shot.

She also gets Prednisone when she is under stress or much more active than usual. So when she is boarding at her former foster family while we go to Key West (yeah!) she will get a small dose each morning since she is much more active there with her doggie and cat friends available for playtime. I have some Prednisone left from the initial treatment when she was so sick a month ago and I have no idea how quickly she will go through this medicine in the future. She will also require a special blood test once a year to make sure she is not getting too much medicine which could affect her sodium levels.

Too much information? That is just the start as we have to monitor her symptoms in case she needs treatment more or less frequently.

I am aware that this is nothing compared to dealing with a chronic or progressive human illness, but we have talked before in this blog about the cost and benefits of pet ownership. We adore this dog and will take great care of her. However, if you just looked at the numbers though here it is. She is 5 years old in July. She could live past 15. So that is over $7,200 of additional expenses for her care. She can still develop other illnesses or problems of aging and she still needs her annual checkup and shots, monthly preventative medications for fleas, etc. and has to be groomed routinely as well as fed and provided with squeaky toy squirrels LOL.

So if you or a loved one is considering a pet in retirement make sure you are committed to the potential costs of their care. If you love pets please also consider supporting rescue groups and those that provide assistance to low income pet owners.

In the meantime please excuse me as I have to go throw the tennis ball for a happy and energetic once again little dog!

My dog and President Kennedy: The unexpected costs of pet ownership

Our little poodle is always exhausted after her time at "camp" while we are on vacation. Visiting your former foster family and playing wildly with their dogs and cat is great fun but wears her out. Kind of like a kid at camp.

This time when we picked her up rather late at night we got a subdued greeting and she looked very tired. Ok - maybe we woke her up and she was exhausted. The next morning she was moving slowly, wouldn't take her treat and had no interest in playing. Off to the vet and we all decided she had hurt her back or simply had weekend athlete sore muscles. The next day she had thrown up at least 3 times and wasn't eating much or drinking water although she did rally for a short walk. Then she laid down and started shaking. Back to the vet.

Xray and blood test later there is the diagnosis that she has Addison's disease as did President Kennedy. Basically her adrenal gland is producing zero cortisol and possibly not producing the hormone that regulates electrolytes (potassium and sodium). However her low level of electrolytes could be because she  wasn't keeping water down and was very dehydrated. They re-hydrated her and gave her a cortisone injection and a pill for the electrolytes after running another test to get a definitive diagnosis which will be delivered this morning. Given how much better she was after this treatment I can't believe the initial diagnosis will be proven wrong. A great explanation of the disease and treatment can be found here. (Update: The test showed she isn't producing any cortisol so now we just have to get her back to normal and figure out her maintenance dosages. She is doing much better today.)

The disease is treatable with monthly cortisone injections and possibly Prednisolone pills either daily or when under stress (boarding, grooming, etc.). With treatment she should have a normal lifespan. That means she will have monthly injections and possibly daily pills for 10 plus years which brings me back to the unexpected costs of pet ownership. We are fortunately in the position that we can handle the cost of her care readily, but many people can't. It is easy to take on a pet and they are great fun and bring lots of love and joy to your life. It can be much harder to decide how to handle an expensive illness or injury when they need care.

I was talking to a neighbor about my poor pup and we decided there were probably three options for most people in these situations.

First, if you can, you can pay for the animal's care and, if needed, possibly negotiate a reduced rate or payment plan. Another possibility is to utilize a veterinary school's clinic for reduced cost care if that is available. There are no vet schools in Atlanta but the Humane Society does operate a clinic and perhaps that would provide reduced cost care if we needed it.

If you really can't pay for the care then you could decide to have the pet euthanized. Always a very difficult decision for me even when the best choice when the animal is suffering terribly and can't be treated and will die soon anyway.

The third option would be to work with the vet and/or a rescue group to find someone who can afford the care required and who will adopt your pet. I don't know that I would have thought of this option but my neighbor brought it up and I think it is a good alternative if needed. I have heard of cases where it worked out for the animal and humans.

I don't want to discourage anyone from taking on a pet in retirement, but think it is important to be realistic about your financial situation. Pets bring great joy and carry a lifelong responsibility in my opinion. There are other ways to enjoy pet companionship if you can't afford to have one yourself. Offer to take your neighbor's dog for a walk or pet sit when they need it. Volunteer at your Humane Society or with a rescue group. Assist with a dog training course or pet event. Be creative in your solutions either in pet ownership or accessing time with animals other ways.

A vet visit & why having room for the unexpected in your budget is so important

After we were visited yesterday by the second estimator for our tree work, the Poodle Princess yelped when I picked her up. I talked to Hubby and we realized she was acting very subdued and unlike herself since Sunday morning. No racing around the house with her squeaky squirrel, no jumping on and over furniture, stretching carefully, staring at her bed before laying down - not like her at all and she is only 4 1/2 years old. I decided to see how she did on a short walk and she was fine. But then I picked her up again and again she yelped so we headed to the vet.

The vet thinks she has a slipped disc. It makes sense once you are told it - she has a spine and spines can have problems. It just never crossed our minds. Poor girl. She probably twisted too much catching a stuffed squirrel or thrown tennis ball.

She is feeling better this morning what with pain pills and anti-inflammatory medicines. I was happy to see her tail up and a normal stretching sequence when she got up this morning. So that is all good.

The point that I want to make though is not that dogs can have slipped discs or trees can develop problems and have to come down. The point is that you have to make sure you have room in your budget for the large (tree removal) and small (vet visit) unexpected expenses. The only way to do that is to figure out how to live well below your means and to build up your savings. This is as true in retirement as it is during your working years.

I'm not suggesting that living below your means is easy - just necessary to be able to absorb unexpected costs.

The week that was just fine

As I sit here on Sunday morning with both Hubby and Poodle Princess still asleep I have been reflecting on this past week. It was fine despite a day off sick. It was fine despite some rainy weather. It was fine despite nothing memorable.

So why was it fine? I did some non-routine volunteer work for the library which had me interacting with some different people (happiness points for spending time with others). I made it to the gym twice including trying an introductory yoga class (happiness points for exercise). I walked the dog almost every day (happiness points for time with a pet). I went out for dinner and shooting pool with Hubby (extra happiness points for date night). We finally figured out how to visit sons in both S. CA and N. CA by giving up on the idea of doing it in one trip and also picked our dates for a Road Scholar program in Key West (happiness points for something to look forward to).

And then there is something only problem solving, recycling environmentalist, budget happy people like me would find happiness in although cleaning floors is not high on my list! The internet told me I could find a replacement sponge/scrubber piece for our floor mop just up the street and it was less than ordering one through Amazon. Bonus points: it was hard to change out the old one but with teamwork and a few words we managed to do it (really engineers no one person could do this by themselves - you need to design things better).

There were other things - talking, or rather listening, to my 92 year old Mom who is having a really good week and was quite cheerfully chatty about books she was reading and other things. She wasn't well for many months so this is so uplifting. Finding out the Bob Dylan is a welder who makes gates out of scavenged metal parts and that my friends are going to book a welding workshop at there N GA lodge. I've always wanted to learn to weld as an art form so hopefully I will be in town that weekend and go to the workshop. I'm excited about that possibility!

Such an ordinary week that was perfectly fine. Today we are going to see The Dallas Buyer's Club and maybe stop for coffee afterwards. A good start for another fine week.

In honor of National Dog Day

Here's our companion and funny friend Lola. A rescue, she is now 4 and we have had her for 2 1/2 years. She really is a good buddy. So happy she joined our family!

All the dog food was recalled? I guess that is for the good.

While out grocery shopping this morning I stopped by our local pet store to pick up a bag of Innova dog food for the poodle princess. There was not a single bag in the store. Turns out there had been a massive recall due to salmonella contamination. Since my dog is fine with the bag of food she has almost finished, I was curious about the risk. Turns out it is a potential risk to humans that caused the recall.  I also learned that Innova was sold to Procter and Gamble so it is now made by a food conglomerate.

We only purchased Innova because that was what she was eating when we adopted her and I don't like to mess with success where tummies/digestive issues are concerned. Today I ended up buying a small bag of another recommended brand, Nutri Source, to try to see if she does well on it. Turns out this is a family owned business that likes to do business with family owned pet stores like our neighborhood store. They also have shifted to compostable bags and seem to do other good things. Looks like we will be switching brands if all goes well with Lola's tummy.

Brrrrr - A good day to stay in and catch up

I live in Atlanta where the forsythia has bloomed and gone, the azaleas are blooming and it was SNOWING at 8:30 this morning. Teeny, tiny flakes to be sure but there they were. I decided it was a good day to stay home as nothing really required going out. Time to finish things, catch up, and clear up.

Yesterday I almost finished a color pencil drawing so I put the final touches on it this morning. I am very happy with it!

I have had the paperwork for my Friends of the Library volunteer work sitting out since our last board meeting on February 11th. I went through everything, sent emails including scheduling the next meeting, organized a project plan for the May 25th book sale and generally caught up. It will move off the desk as soon as I receive some answers to those emails.

Picked up a few things in the house and played several rounds of fetch with Poodle Princess who is not getting a walk today but did yesterday. I didn't know that poodles were retrievers until I go her but the standard poodle was bred to retrieve from cold mountain lakes. So she loves having me throw her squeaky toy squirrel or a tennis ball and bring it back for more. It is an exercise program for days we don't take a walk and just plain fun for her any day.