Update on Poppy's leg

Poppy's mom here...we had a very rough night. Poppy was in so much pain from the bandage on her leg that we ended up taking her to the emergency vet at 1am. After the bandage was off, she seemed to feel a little better, but only a little. This morning she was still in so much pain that when I tried to get her up to eat something she screamed and bit me three times (she has NEVER done that before) and peed in her bed again.

Of course, I was in a panic and Eric was at work. I called our vet and said I needed to bring her in right away, but they said they couldn't see her. They wanted me to drop her off and leave her all day and someone would look at her "when they had time." I thought that was a totally unacceptable solution, so I called another vet. This other vet is one that we have been thinking about switching to ever since our favorite doctor (Dr. R) left our regular clinic and went to this new place. Well, this was the final straw. I called the new place and told them we were former patients of Dr. R and that I was having an emergency with my dog and needed to bring her in. They said that Dr. R wasn't working today, but that of course I could bring her in right away. Now that's more like it. We saw a wonderful vet (Dr. M) who was very kind and understanding and got Poppy some pain medication right away.

We ended up staying there for almost three hours while they treated Poppy and I sat nervously in the waiting room--she's much better for them when I'm not there. Dr. M looked at the skin irritation where the bandage had been and also at her swollen pad. She said she wanted to "aspirate the mass" and send it off to be tested. She said the C word. Oh god please let it not be the C word.

We are at home now, and my baby is sleeping all wrapped up in her favorite fleece blanket. We have two kinds of pain meds, antibiotics, and an ointment for the skin on her leg.

Please send good thoughts our way.

Sarah (Poppy's mom)

Tough Day

My day started out well enough, with lots of errands. We got coffee (I pooped on the sidewalk in front of the store), shopped for Christmas ornaments (we got a chihuahua one!), and I even got to help pick out the Christmas tree!


But then, this evening, something happened to my bandage. It started pulling my delicate leg furs! And it hurts so bad!!! I was screaming and screaming and even peeing a little bit because I was so scared. Mommy and Daddy tried to help me by cutting the bandage off, but they couldn't do it without pulling, so I just screamed some more. I wouldn't stop shaking for a long time, and I was even doing the stress-pant, which I never do! The bandage is supposed to come off tomorrow, and I think I'm going to have to go back to the V-E-T to have them do it. Mommy and Daddy can't stand to hurt me and it makes them sad when I scream.

Does anybody know any tricks to get sticky bandages off of fur??? I think it's only the very end that is sticky. . . at least, I hope.

Feeling sad,
Poppy

Pee Box & Woe is Me!

Hi friends!

Many of you seem very impressed that I can pee in a box. Below you can see a picture of me in action. The box is called "Puppy Go Potty" and my parents put synthetic grass in it. We have about 6 pieces of it and they have to wash them every so often. Underneath the grass is Feline Pine cat litter. Mommy and Daddy always say that if they could go back in time, they would not add the grass on top. It is such a pain to wash them. It is even more of a pain because my sissy Clover likes to pee in the box too, and we all know how bad cat pee smells!

The reason we have to use the grass is that I kind of like to eat cat litter. Especially Swheat Scoop, which is what Clover uses in her box. They have to keep her box up out of my tongue's reach. The Feline Pine in my box doesn't taste very yummy, but somehow I can't resist munching a bit of it if the grass isn't covering it up. So I guess it's not all Clover's fault about the grass being a pain in the @$$!

And, yes, do you see my foot?!!! Notice how it is covered in a big green bandage with paw prints on it?!!! I don't know what exactly happened, but WOE IS MEEEEEE!!! On Tuesday night Mommy noticed that I was licking my back foot very vigorously, which I normally don't do. She checked it out, and on closer inspection she saw that one of my pads was swollen to twice its normal size! It didn't get any better on Wednesday, and in fact I started limping, so I had to go to the V-E-T on Thursday to have it checked out. They said they couldn't see what was wrong, but that I might have cut it on something. So they soaked it in iodine and wrapped it all up nice and snug and gave me some antibiotics. I can take off the wrap on Monday.

Personally, I don't see how I could have cut my foot on anything, since Mommy and Daddy have been mega-stingy with the walks lately. They are really busy, or something, blah blah. Plus it's been way too cold to go outside the past several days. We play a lot in the house, which is great. Maybe I stepped on a wayward staple or something. It's a mystery. But I'm trying to squeeze all the sympathy I can out of Mommy and Daddy. They're suckers for this sort of thing!!!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: We are very very sad to hear about Thrawn. He went to the Bridge yesterday and his family is very sad. Go visit them if you have a minute. He will be missed by all the DWBers.

Hello December!

Hi everydog!

I haven't been blogging much lately because my Mommy has been really busy. Something about trying to get a better job, blah, blah, blah. It's not that interesting. But I'm still here! And I've been tagged by Sparky and Patches to tell you eight things about myself. Here we go:

1) I pee in a box! It is great--I never have to go outside when it is cold or rainy or dark. And I can pee whenever I'm home alone for a while. But I won't poo in my box. So I just go on the floor if nobody lets me out. But don't tell Mommy and Daddy's friends--they'd be appalled.

2) I love my sissy Clover, but I'm also a wee bit scared of her. It's very confusing.

3) I get cold sometimes, so I have lots of sweaters and jackets. I'm wearing my red Christmas sweater right now. You can see it in our Christmas picture:

(By the way, is it weird that my parents have coordinating "house pants"?)

4) I'm a reluctant eater of dog food. And Clover is a reluctant eater of cat food. But if we could switch, oh boy! Look out!

5) I love to go camping. When I'm ready for bed I walk over to the tent and scratch on the door to say I'm ready to go inside and get in Daddy's sleeping bag.

6) I sleep under the covers in the middle of the bed. Sometimes if I feel that I need more room, I will try to use my little feets to push Mommy off the side. Can you see my feets?!


7) I am a very fast runner. And I mean VERY FAST! When I first came to live with Mommy and Daddy, they surmised that maybe I was part Italian Greyhound because I was so fast. But probably not, since I'm so small.

8) Sometimes after I've been outside for a little while (like 5 seconds), I will come back in and "fake-a-poo." This means that I spin and kick and look up expectantly so that someone will be tricked into giving me a treat. I taught my parents that trick very early on and it has paid off quite nicely in the long run!

Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Mommy's Favorite Place

Hi Everybody!

Thanksgiving was fun, but I only got a tiny bit of Tofurkey. No fair. At least I did get to spend the whole day at my Grandma and Grandpa's house. I even got to go for a walk in their neighborhood, which is always a good opportunity to read pee mails from new friends and try to lay claim to another part of the city. I was sooooo tired when we got home.

I hadn't even recuperated from my big Thursday when my parents announced that we were going to Fort Funston on Friday!!! It is my Mommy's favorite place and it is pretty high on my list too. There were, like, a bazillion dogs there with their families. And the weather was perfect! There were cliffs, but they were waaaaay to big for jumping.


There are two kinds of people who go to Fort Funston: families (+/- 4 people with 1 dog) or dog walkers (1 person with +/- 10 dogs). During the week it is filled with dog walkers. On the weekends it is filled with families. Since yesterday was a holiday, it was a mix of both--mostly families, but also some dog walkers with their holiday clients.

Mommy and Daddy brought the good treats with us, so I got to practice being off-leash a little. I did very well, even when a dog walker came by with a very large off-leash herd. I was mostly brave and only a little bit scared.

In this video you can see me following Daddy. That whooping behind us is a dog walker. She said I was cute!



Winter is high season at FF. Yesterday was our first visit of the year. We'll go back lots more this winter, I'm sure.

Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: Have you all seen LOL Dogs? It's getting better and better. And Deefor is on it if you go back a few pages!

My Cousin Jasper

I am so happy today because my Cousin Jasper is HOME!!! He was lost all night and his parents and my parents were so worried. He was a naughty kitty and climbed out through a screen and went and hid somewhere outside. They looked and looked and looked, but it was dark and they did not find him. Everybody was sad all night.

But then...his Mommy had a dream last night that she should call Jasper from an upstairs window and he would come home over the fence. When she woke up, she did just that. And guess what! A few minutes later, Jasper walked right into the house and surprised the bejeebus out of them! He had come home over the fence and through the window, just like his Mommy had dreamed! Can you believe it???!!!

He was gone less than 24 hours, but he came home very dirty and very hungry. Don't you ever do that again, Jasper! We love you!


Bye for now,
Poppy Dog

Pee Ess: Doesn't Jasper look handsome in his walking jacket? My Sister Clover has one in purple. But she doesn't ever use hers because she's afraid of The Outdoors.

A New Not-a-Toy

I want to start by saying THANK YOU to all the doggies and kitties who said they liked my Sooper Pooper costume and Clover's pumpkin costume. We had fun on Howloween, and we hope you did too!

I recently discovered a new toy in my house. My daddy insists that it's Not-a-Toy, but I beg to differ. It is called a hackey sack. It's like a ball, but chewier! This is a picture of me right after I discovered it:

Then Daddy taught me how to play hackey sack for real! It was fun and I got the hang of it right away!




Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua