1st Rated

Dunno what possessed me to do this but I decided to pimp Captain out on one of those "rating" LJ communities.

Normally I dislike these but I was bored and missing Captain so I occupied myself by writing his application on rateyourdog on LJ. It didn't hurt that one of the people that I'd friended on LJ because of our mutual love for dogs and my appreciation of her personality belonged to the group. Figured if she belonged, it couldn't be that bad.

As usual, I overdid it but people generally seemed to like it and Captain got a 1st Rated stamp.

Missing Little Girl

I just miss her so much sometimes.

She pops into my head at times and I smile at the funny memories I have of her.

Just now I was looking at Captain and thinking that I should get back to giving them cottage cheese for the omega stuff in it.

That made me remember back when it was just the ABCs + Lucy and they were getting cottage cheese at night when I put down their dinner. Almond would move like a shark from bowl to bowl investigating what each had. If there was anything of quality, SHE wanted it.

She was definitely the alpha in my bunch. Lucy tolerated it cause she's pretty mellow. Almond had no compunction about going into the other bowls but heaven help the dog that came near the bowl that was established as hers.

Since she was getting wet senior food in addition to the dry Natural Balance that everyone else got, we had to designate a bowl/location as hers. It was in the corner near the pantry so that it was harder for another dog to swoop in and steal her food.

At first, we'd hover nearby while she was eating and order the other dogs away thus making it clear that Almond's bowl was HERS and not up for grabs until after she was done. But of course the vultures would still hover. Almond was very possessive of her food and we didn't discourage her though usually that's not something I would allow.

The other dogs were cowed enough by Almond that they'd slink away if she growled/woofed at them. This was funny to see too cause she wouldn't even turn her head the whole way, she'd just glare out of the corner of her eye and bare her single canine that she had left and GRRRRRR. Even Bastian who's a real pill sometimes wouldn't cross her.

Nothing scared or fazed her... she knew that she usually got the best bowl but that never stopped her from examining the other bowls anyways.

Click for this and 4 more pics

Been hearing more and more lately, evidence of her vet's ineptitude and downright shoddy care. I try not to wonder much if it'd made a difference had she been seeing a different vet. However, I've been certain of the fact that her eternal leak was caused by the surgery she had last year to remove her tumors. The information I know now about him makes me wonder if the leak was caused by sloppy cutting.

It's hard really cause it wasn't just patient/doctor relationship, I'd gotten to know him as a person because I saw him all the time at the rescue. He and I never had any problems but I don't doubt the stories I've heard of him and other people. He used to let R watch the surgeries and even help a little (fetching him a tool kind of thing, not actual surgery or hands on) and when Almond's tumors were removed, R and I were right there watching (and taking pictures).

The hard part is reconciling that he may have been giving shitty service all along when I trusted him to be doing his best. I'd always been bothered that he didn't bother with ever x-raying Almond to see how bad the tumors were or anything else, he just went in and cut away like we'd cut bad spots out of an apple/potato and then stitched her up.

Anyways, the reason why this part is what concerns me more than other is because it directly affected the quality of her life because I couldn't let her on the bed or furniture like the rest of the dogs were allowed. She didn't often go with me to Dad's house because while I would diaper her, there was always a concern about leakage. I gave up diapering her all the time because she'd still try to go outside and pee every hour or so. Once she got with the housebreaking routine, she did her best to do her business OUTSIDE.

It's spilt milk but it's still unpleasant that it's even a possibility. I'd known about his previous cocaine problem but thought that he deserved a chance to get on with his life if that was the past but now I wonder...

Dogpile

Heheh don't know if it was the excitement before I got home or they were just so happy to see me but EVERYONE piled onto my bed when I went upstairs. Lucy too.

Normally she doesn't go in my room or even appear to think about it but when I was holding the door open for the others to come in and go to bed, she wanted to come in too so I let her.

No way I can sleep on a twin with all them... or at least all them and LUCY!

I sat on the bed with them for a while and petted them. Jolie was behaving herself and not growling in jealously. In fact she was actually tucked kind of behind me cause Lucy was there and she's learned that Lucy doesn't like the jealous growl. Weston was curled up meekly next to me. Captain was bouncing around all over the place. Lucy was trying to get me to scratch her chest. Bastian was just walking all around. B's really amusing to watch because he'll walk all around, under, over Lucy (and everyone else) and she doesn't care. Sometimes she'll make a grab at him to play as he's moving by under her chin and it's just really funny to see him suddenly wearing a jaw hat and he doesn't even appear to notice or care. He knows she won't ever hurt him cause they're bestest buddies.

I eventually shooed Lucy out and sent Bastian with her so she wouldn't feel left out.

Little Girl

And then there were 4

Almond aka Little Girl, passed away yesterday in my mother's lap while I was at work.

I believe she was waiting til she got home again before leaving. I took her to Burbank last week to see the vet and then I stayed on to help out at CR and she stayed in the front office there in the A/C.

When we got home Sunday, she was really happy. Mom says that she even saw Almond do her happy tail wag yesterday which we've not seen as much lately.

If only we could all go in loving arms like that. Mom held her for me til I got home and then I held her for a while. She was still warm. Mom and I both believe that when someone passes, their spirits do not leave right away.

She had an amazing personality and was larger than life. Everything was an adventure to her and she was always ready for it. She always reminded me to enjoy life and be happy now and not keep waiting for that unknown "something". Her theme song was the Pointer Sisters "I'm So Excited".

I've decided to cremate her and put her with Frankenbaby so that she can always be going on adventures.

Love you Almond Joyful and will miss you.

Seizure #3

It's almost exactly a year since I witnessed Captain's first seizure and this past Saturday night he had seizure #3.

Was laying in bed reading when something made me look down towards the foot of the bed where I saw legs flailing in the air. When Captain didn't immediately right himself, I sat up and saw that he was in the throes of a seizure.

I'd asked Dave what he recommended to do and he'd said to try and scratch them in a spot that makes them do the jiggery leg because in his experience, that usually pulled them out of the seizure.

So I tried that. I leaned over and gathered Captain onto my lap and then started running my nails up and down his back which has lately been an instant recipe for jiggers. This time he didn't respond but the involuntary twitching subsided and he became prone.

Perhaps I was too vigorous because this time after a couple of moments, Captain started fighting my efforts to cuddle and soothe him. I let him go and he promptly dragged himself off the bed for as previous, he lacked control over the rear half of his body. I caught him as he lunged onto the floor and set him down and he moved off a few paces and started to vomit. Yikes! It's interesting though that he didn't want to vomit on the bed since he worked so hard to get off down onto the floor first.

By the time he was done vomiting, his motor control was back enough that he was now staggering around funny like a drunk but he clearly wasn't woozy... just having trouble with his spaghetti legs. After only a couple minutes more, he was walking almost like normal.

The only commonality that I can find among his seizures is that they've all happened at night when he was resting. That makes me wonder how many more he may have had in the dead of the night when I'm sound asleep cause I wouldn't wake up to a slight bed shake. Hell I don't wake up when they walk up and down my body (Bastian).

I can't help but worry/wonder if that's how he wound up as a stray in the first place. Did his previous owner have him tested at the vet and found something that they thought was too costly and just ditched him somewhere to take his chances? When I talked to Dr H about it, he didn't seem to think there was too much to worry about given the infrequency of the seizures. On the other hand, given what I know now about him, I wonder if he was at 100% operating capacity when he said that?

I guess my biggest fear is that Captain does have some kind of condition that should be treated with medicine to keep the condition from shortening his life. Cause I expect him to be around a long time. At least another 10 years.

"Awww" Inducing

Got up to go to bed and saw this... just too adorable for words

Check out the 4th of July themed Scooby scarf I made for them. Thing is the fabric looks clearly "picnic"y from a distance and you can see Scooby, but the 4th of July aspect just isn't that obvious.

Not to leave out Little Girl... :D

These plus 2 more pictures here

Found Captain via Google

Captain on the big big Internet

Was actually googling for my legal name in the images when it turned up his picture.

Funny.

Work Fun

Bah it's been a while since I had the energy to write here. It's not been for the lack of anything to write either.

Anyways, am at work right now and it's just Captain here with me today. He's normally asleep all day on the big ass dog bed on the floor behind me. But when we got back from our respective potty runs, I'd scooped him up and carried him the last bit of the way back to my office because he detoured again which he's not supposed to do.

I plopped him on the chair in my office which is positioned next to the desk so he and Bastian can use it to get up on their part of the desk which has a pillow on it for their comfort.

The cheese flavored booda cornstarch bone that Lucy had eaten the end off of in 30 secs flat on Saturday was sitting on the pillow. Now there's been a BBQ flavored one on the dog bed for over a week but all Captain's done is sleep on it. This time, he jumped right up on the desk and grabbed up the cheese bone and started gnawing on it with great fervor.

A) Captain doesn't usually want to be on the desk. Everytime I put him up, as soon as I stop petting him and go back to work, he jumps right back down in favor of the aforementioned Big Ass dog bed on the floor.

B) He doesn't play with toys. The only "play" I've seen him do before is to gnaw on these bones but even then he's not usually really enthusiastic about it.

So I'm sitting here grinning and happy to see him get so involved in this bone. I wonder what made him get so into it all of a sudden? Did he smell Lucy on it?

Oh he's done... :( He just got down... to get a drink of water. And is uninterested in coming back up. Apparently it's nap time again.

Sneaky Girl

She's really getting pissed off about not going with me and the boys to work. She doesn't know where we're going but it has NOT escaped her attention that I leave with them each day and come back in the evening.

Yesterday and today, she's been trying to take matters into her own paws and sneaks out the door when I go to leave. I got all the way to the sidewalk yesterday before I noticed that there were 3 dogs at my feet, not two. This morning, as I stepped out the door, I turned around and bent down in time to catch her one handed as she tried to slip out again.

Definitely not a happy camper.

Mom's been giving her and Lucy special treats after we leave to help ease the disappointment.

One of these days I'll take her and do the diaper thing but not just yet.

Cinco De Mayo

There was a catered lunch today for my dept and we all hiked to the other end of the complex to a far away conference room named Catalina (Appropriate since Catalina is some distance from here). Lunch was tasty fajitas from Chili's, chicken, shrimp and steak.

The boys had a lot of fun wandering around the conference room. They were very interested in the food of course but it was safely up on the tables.

But later, there was still plenty left so they got to have some chicken & steak as well and they just about fell over themselves with joy.

These pictures were taken back in my office after we walked back with a little plate of dessert and extra meat bits for the dogs. They were going *CRAZY* with impatience and anticipation of these additional treats.

Got some really interesting shots of the boys looking straight at the camera thanks to a chicken strip draped over the lenses. Problem was that since it was rainy and overcast, the flash was wanting to go off. So I turned it off but then that means I get blurry pictures if I don't hold the camera absolutely still. And that's just hard to do without a tripod.

Also took some video clips. They're not usually allowed to get in between me and the monitors but I let it go today. I didn't catch it on video but at one point, Captain squeezed underneath Bastian which made B lose his balance. The desktop is too smooth for them to get any traction so they're always "slipping". So when this happened, Bastian ended up turning his fall into a leap off the desk.

More Pictures + 4 videos