Annette

Lefty pretty much ignores Miriam. The day we brought Miriam home to foster, we let Casey out of his carrier and he immediately started grooming Miriam, licking and chewing on her. We had to make him stop. We only knew Miriam about 2 hours at that point and she may have tested cat-safe, we didn't want Casey annoying her. Miriam got back at him by giving him a good poking with her long nose and a really sloppy wet kiss

We need a bigger couch mom, dad! I can't do this anymore: Dixie, there is plenty of room on the couch we have now, why don't you move over? Why me, how about her??? Oh, I guess I can share. I do like having a sister! Dixie would like to introduce her new sister, Miriam of Ruckus Annette and Roy

We muzzle when we have two dogs in the car or truck. We muzzle when we introduce fosters to our girl. If the foster and our girl appear to want to play out in the yard, on come the muzzles. Dixie pretty much ignores any other dog when it wants to play. We muzzle fosters when they cannot be monitored when the cat is out and about in the house. So far, we haven't "needed" the muzzles.

No corns. She has been progressively getting worse (we are talking many months), so I don't believe it is related to a particular incident in the yard. I suppose she could have injured herself jumping off the couch? How do you know if there is ligament damage? Is there a positive way to determine if it might be arthritis in her toe/foot? I remember being able to see the arthritis in x-rays for Scarlett.

Dixie has been limping on her left foot for quite a while. Since she would be under for the dental, it would be good time for an x-ray. The x-rays were fine, nothing abnormal. The vet was able to (finally) elicit a pain response from Dixie. Her "ring finger" is painful, but nothing can be seen on an x-ray, it all looks normal. Any ideas? We were giving her Deramaxx and that seems to have lost its effectiveness, so now we are giving her metacam on an as needed basis (up to 3 x a day). Thanks, Annette

Our hound, Icabod had his spleen removed when tumors ruptured. I was still in college and before cell phones. Roy had to make the decision without talking with me. If surgery wasn't done, he would have died. The surgery went well, it was the chemo that Icabod could not handle. Icabod made it 11 months post surgery. He was 10 years old when the tumor ruptured. We would do the surgery again if needed, but I don't know if we would do the chemo. Annette

I don't know if they ever got a diagnosis or not. Sometimes it is just hard to communicate with some people

Herbie was put to sleep yesterday. Annette

My sister just called. Her boyfriend was ready to call 911 yesterday for his mom because she is so distraught causing her to have seizures. Yesterday morning her pug/english bulldog mix was sleeping in the closet, which he never does. He normally sleeps in the bed with her. He was having problems walking, dragging his rear legs. He is now lame. He doesn't want to eat and normally he is a chow hound. He was taken to the vet and he suspects some kind of swelling in the spine near tail bone. The boyfriend believes the vet gave possibly a cortizone shot, but he is not sure. The vet mentioned something about this being common in pugs and only about 2 out of 10 recover. He suggested that an MRI be done. I got this information from my sister who was relaying information that she was getting from her boyfriend. Anyone familiar with these symptoms in a pug or english bull dog. Any recommendations?? eta: he is 4 - 5 years old Thanks for any information. Annette

Rhett was our bird zapper. I'd open the back door into the yard and before I could even blink, he'd catch a bird, kill it and then come and drop it at my feet as if he was giving me a gift. He did this twice, then we moved the bird feeder out of the fenced in yard. That fence did provide Rhett and Scarlett with ample opportunity to catch rabbits (and get tape worms ). Dixie is a skilled mouse hunter. They are just driving her nuts with all their tunnels under the snow in the yard. Annette

So sad to hear about Kathleen Gilley. We were lucky enough to see Kathleen, Gil and the girls twice, once at the Great Lakes Greyhound Gathering and the other time at a Quad Cities Greyhound reunion. Here is a link to their web page: http://dancinggreyhound.com/home A memory page has been added. If you would like to post condolences, memories, etc please email them to: Tammy Farrington, tammy59@juno.com Annette

What kind of healing cream was it? Did he not try to lick off the cream? Thanks, Annette

Good news! The lump is not cancerous. We are just going to watch it. If she messes with it too much, we will have it removed when she goes in for her dental. She has turned into a piglet though. She now weighs 72 pounds. I am not sure how she is gaining weight because she is Miss Finicky Pants. All I figure is the amount of snow in the yard and she has no place to run. Or maybe.....is she actually out there catching mice???? She's not telling and she has requested lasagna for dinner for the trouble I put her through today. Annette

Dixie has an appointment for 11:20 this morning. Luckily we are not int the snow storm/blizzard band since the wind is a blowing up here. Annette

Tonight I just noticed a lump on Dixie's left thigh. It's about the size of a pea. I don't think Dixie has been licking that area, as licking dogs drive me crazy and I haven't had to tell Dixie to stop licking in a while. It is movable. Don't think the lump has been there long. First thing Monday morning I will be calling our vet. Spoke with Anne (sil is a vet) on the phone and she asked that I email her some pictures and I have also have them posted below. Obviously she can't tell me anything over the phone (and I hated calling her since she literally had her last radiation treatment today), but wanted to take a look at the pictures. Of course the first thought in her mind was mast cell tumor. Please keep Dixie in your thoughts. Annette

Our sweet Scarlett was notorious for eating what she shouldn't. Luckily she never required surgery. You could leave anything out with our boy, Icabod, who was part of the family before Scarlett. We learned that not all dogs were like Icabod. One Christmas I was actually able to string popcorn without it crumbling. I got a couple strings completed and put them on one of the living room chairs and we went out. When we got home, they were gone so we rushed her to the e-vet. They were able to get her to throw up one string and the other???? The worst thing she ate was a green hair scunchy. We didn't know she ate it, she just threw up something green in the living room, I just thought it was grass until I realized it was winter and there was no grass. After that, we did our best to block her from things that could hurt her. We put a baby gate between the dining room and kitchen leaving just enough room for the cats to duck under. We thought that would keep her out until we saw her doing a "commando crawl" under the gate. Annette

I am so sorry for your loss. I am sure Scarlett and Rhett were there to meet him. Gustopher will always be just a memory away. Annette

Our second grey, Icabod had hemangiosarcoma. We didn't know until a tumor ruptured on his spleen. We had an emergency splenectomy. Icabod made it a year before the cancer spread to his spine. Annette

Roy spoke with the vet today. According to him, Doxycycline has some anti-arthritis properties. As for finding a radiologist up here, I have no idea where to even go. We are 145 miles north of Madison and 180 miles northwest of Milwaukee. There just aren't any specialty vets in our neck of the woods. Poor Dixie has just been shaking all day today and yesterday with the winds. We only topped out at 61mph but we are on the highest spot in a vacant farm field till our windbreaks grow up so it's like living in a wind tunnel. We could have made money if we would have our windmill already. The winds are suppose to finally fade sometime tonight. Roy was actually out in the wind most of the day yesterday trying to put in fence posts so Dixie and I will have a fenced-in yard once he starts his new job. Annette

A Snap 4dx test was not done this time. A test was done 2 months ago and it was negative for lyme. If Roy doesn't have a chance before he heads down to Milwaukee (sister's mastectomy on Thursday), I will call the vet. He normally isn't the one taking the "kids" to the doctor, and did not know that he was given an antibiotic for Dixie. Dixie has also been vaccinated for Lyme. Annette

Dixie's limping stopped for a bit and started up again. Roy took her to the vet today and he was sent home with Deramaxx and Doxycycline. The vet took xrays and said the problem is in her foot. He said possibly arthritis or a bone spur. He could not be sure. He suggested trying therapaws. I have two questions: Why would he send Dixie home with Doxycycline? Where can I buy Therapaws? Thanks, Annette

When we adopted her, we did not know if she was cat safe, so we brought her into the house wearing the awful metal muzzle that was her dowry. Our tom kitty, Spooky, who was afraid of nothing, was afraid of Miss Scarlett in that muzzle. Then there was Lefty, our 3-legged alpha kitty. She proceeded to lie on Scarlett’s new bed. Scarlett was an alpha also. She was not a snarly alpha; she said everything with her “look”. I can only guess that Scarlett and Lefty had a conversation that went along these lines: “Lefty, you can be alpha over your kitty siblings and any future puppy siblings, but you will not be alpha over me. We will get along fine if you agree with that arrangement.” Lefty never laid on Scarlett’s bed after that first day with us. Needless to say, but Scarlett was “confident in her skin”. Her last year and a half with us, she rode around in her wagon. The combination of arthritis and cancer depleted her stamina. She thoroughly enjoyed cruising in her wagon. She finally had her custom coach that her fans could adore her in. Scarlett was all diva when she was riding in that wagon. I remember the day we lost her like it was yesterday. I also remember her the day before we lost her. She was so happy to finally be able to lounge in the ocean. It’s hard to believe that it has been 5 years. Scarlett Mattson, Princess of Whine, OBH – 2/1993 – 10/8/2005 Annette

Well, finally we were home going to be home on a weekend to make an appointment for Dixie because she was still limping. The vet didn't have any more openings for Saturday so I inquired about late hours. I was able to make an appointment for tomorrow (this was over 1 1/2 weeks ago). A couple days ago, Roy and I started looking at how she was walking in the house. There was nary a limp (we have vinyl flooring through the entire house no soft carpeting), outside on the grass - hardly limping. Roy walked her around the house and down the gravel driveway this morning (where she limped the most)and she didn't limp. When I got home today, not limping. Well, I canceled her appointment for tomorrow. I am going to watch her like a hawk to make sure she not "lying" to me. We can't explain it. Annette

We aren't going to be able to take Dixie in again till next Saturday which I will probably do if she is still limping. We are heading south to visit Roy's sister. I think she only has 2 chemo treatments left. We will have to supervise Dixie down there because they have a fenced in yard. Annette

Dixie has been limping on her left front leg for about 3 weeks. We took her into the vet 2 weeks ago. Took xrays and nothing unusual on the film. Looked closely at her feet for corns but did not see any. Being a stoic greyhound, it was nearly impossible to get a pain reaction out of her when the vet manipulated her leg. She did let out a whimper, but we are not sure if she happened to be startled by a noise out in the waiting room. The vet sent us home with 2 weeks of rimadyl which we just finished up. She limps quite a bit walking on the gravel driveway. Sometimes she will limp in the house, but it is possible that could be from waking up and just getting her leg to wake up. She walks fairly well on the grass. Since we don't have a fenced in yard, she did not suffer a running or rough-housing injury. Dixie is 9 years old. Any ideas? Thanks, Annette