And the hits keep rolling......

When spouse went to pick up Caya and discuss things with the vet, Caya had an accident on the floor.

They got out the door, but the doctor decided to take a uriniary culture sample from the accident.

Sure enough, Caya had a urinary tract infection from the catheter. Even more groovy? It was a very antibiotic resistant form of E. Coli.

ARRRRGGGGH! For once, couldn't things be simple?

We are in a ritual of drop off doggie, pick up after work, syringe feed, SubQ.

She's been very playful, and super glad to be home, but STILL fussy with food. The only things she shows interest in are high protein snacks. She can't have high protein because of KIDNEY FAILURE!

Her kidney values are remaining steady, but not really improving, and that's a bit discouraging.

Also she's a bit incontinent in her sleep right now, (trying to catch up on almost 2 weeks of not sleeping), so we've had her sleeping with us, but we have the bed lined with towels and puppy training pads. Oh, getting 6 L of fluids a day probably isn't helping.

So, the couple who didn't want kids? We are doing the equivalent of bottle feeding, diaper changing, constant supervision, etc, etc.

Is it karma?

All I know is 24 karat puppy should thank her lucky stars that she wound up with us. We've put our credit score back in the dumpster and stretched ourselves pretty thin for her highness...

But she's worth it!

Caya comes home from VSEC

She's in no way out of the woods yet. Her BUN and Creatinine are still very high.

However, she hasn't eaten in the 10 days she has been there and they had to put a feeding tube in.

We would visit her everyday, and every day she would look more and more depressed. I told hubby, we HAVE to get her out of there, she's losing the will to fight.

I don't think that the internist at the hospital wanted to release her, but we stood firm.

So she's home now, and will be getting IV fluids during the day and we will do SubQ fluids at night.

We'll see if we can get her eating, if not, break out the syringes and blender! I'm going in.

Her titer test indicated infection with three strains of Lepto.

We started taking Doxycycline in case of exposure, and Caya will be taking Doxy to kick out the rest of the infection.

RIP, my sweet baby Tika

No matter how much you try, you can never prepare yourself for when it is time. Even though you know you are doing the right thing, your heart just shatters into a million pieces.

Yesterday, after the big meltdown, we calmed down and laid our hostilities and anger to rest. Hubby comforted me, apologized to me and I did the same. We went to visit Caya who was looking like a train wreck. She was also in the same kennel that Tika was in after her amputation. I told the vet staff to please name this kennel after us.

About 2 a.m. this morning, he comes up to me, the first time in 12 years I've ever seen him crying, he tells me...It's time. I get up, and go downstairs and gather Tika to me, she's gasping for air, I rub her chest and back until she can get her breath back. Once she is comfortable, we try to get a bit more sleep ourselves.

This morning, my husband has shut down, I make some calls and get in touch with the vet. We decide to bring Tika to the office, they have a special room, and we'll have the place to ourselves. We have about an hour left with Tika so we hugged her, and I told her that she needed to be Caya's guardian angel now because she's really, really sick. Pretty soon, I told her, you won't hurt anymore, and you'll have all your legs and breath and will be running around chasing rabbits.

We loaded Tika up into the truck and made our last car ride to the vets last as long as possible. Tika looked so worn out, there was absolutely no color to her gums or tongue. We get her into the office and start talking to the vet about what was going to happen. Tika of course summons up the strength to wag her tail at the vet, and vet tech.

In the end, it was very very peaceful, she just laid her head down and that was it. It was the first time in several weeks I hadn't seen her struggling to breathe. How can your heart break yet you feel relief at the same time?

Goodbye, sweet princess, I will always love you so.

The thin wire snaps

We have one dog in end stage cancer, our other dog is in acute renal failure with 50/50 chance of survival.

The very, very, very thin line we've been doing our balancing act on has snapped and we are free falling.

Spouse and I got into a horrible argument this morning. I'm not trying to make him out to be an asshole (even though I did call him one at the time), I know he's scared, and I know he doesn't want to let go.

However, I did not appreciate hearing: "I'm tired of you lobbying to kill Tika." This is the sort of stuff we shouldn't be saying to our very strung out wife who's been spending the last few weeks cleaning up blood, urine, phlegm, helping a dying dog breathe, running back and forth to vets offices and trying to work a full time job.

So needless to say, the situation went critical in a hurry. Lots of cruel things were said to each other, it was horrible. I'm actually surprised we hadn't cracked before this.

I ended the fight with, fine, you have full responsibility for Tika the rest of today, and you sleep with her tonight. I only have cuddle duty. Not hospice duty. Spend some actual TIME with her, you'll understand what I'm saying.

This is the worst time of our lives right now, and we shouldn't have taken it out on each other, but we did. Thankfully, our relationship is strong enough to survive it.

Caya goes to emergency hospital

Today the vet called, it's time to transfer Caya to the emergency hospital. She needs to have heavy amounts of fluids pumped into her to help flush her kidneys.

We are still waiting on the Lepto titer test, and ironically enough almost a year to the day of when I was freaking out waiting for Tika's results, I'm once again freaking out waiting for Caya's results.

She will have a jugular catheter, urinary catheter, sonograms, all sorts of fun stuff. Poor baby, she's not like TikaBear, she is not fond of going to the vet.

I gave Tika her first pain shot today, she looked miserable. When we got back from KC, she had perked up quite a bit and we had a nice meal together and she was nice and goofy. I just hugged her alot, she doesn't realize what's going on, but I try not to cry in front of her.

Oh, lookeee, it's Friday the 13th. And I'm really living it to the fullest today.

Caya is still at the vets office. They have her on IV fluids and they have sent off to confirm Lepto through a antibody titer test.

The news we are reading is not reassuring. She's in massive kidney failure right now.

I went to visit her, she's so quiet, not used to that. I'm scared, but it all feels so surreal.

Tika is hanging in there barely. I've started discussing 'it's time' with my husband, but he's just not willing to accept it yet.

In the meantime, I try to comfort her and worry about Caya.

Earlier in the week Tika had a bloody nose, I got her cleaned up, but the doc said the cancer has probably spread to her sinuses. We have some synthetic morphine for her if it gets too bad. We've upped her Prednisone.

The coughing is getting so bad.

The day the earth stood still, Pt. 2

I took Caya to the doctor today. She suddenly stopped eating, drinking tons of water and being very lethargic.

After a urine test, our vet decided to play it safe and admit her and start her on fluids.

Later this evening, we got the results of the blood test. She's in renal failure.

WHAT?

They are thinking it's Leptospirosis. WTF is that? Well, it's something that they can pick up from drinking contaminated water, it's passed through rodent urine, etc.

So, I'm dumbfounded, I have nothing. Tika is starting to rapidly decline, and now Caya is really sick.

Oh, god. I can't lose both the baby girls at once.

Day at the lake

Well, true to form, the famous Midwest weather decided to bring us Summer in November. Tika is slowing down but had enough in her to enjoy our outing to the lake.

Where you goin' three legs?

World Famous Canadian Goose Herder, Caya

Tika's Attempt to Drink the Entire Lake almost successful

Coolest. Fetch. Stick. Ever.

Hmmm, should I go drink more water or lie down for awhile?

Tired. Soggy. Stinky. Happy......

Another decline and rebound

Tika had another decline in health. She stopped eating again, and stopped drinking water.

I tried to take her temp, which I've done before, but she wasn't having it, and bit me. First time she's ever bitten me, ever.

Needless to say it wasn't pretty in the household.

I loaded her up in my car and another indication that things weren't too spiffy was the fact that she for once, laid down in my car instead of pacing about (I don't have a dog friendly car, even tho' it's a small SUV)

So, once again her temp was at 103+. She was generally feeling crappy. The vet and I discussed treatment. We decided to go back to Baytril to treat the fever since it worked last time, he gave her a shot of cortisone and I will finally start with Prednisone, and he gave her a pain shot and sent me home with more Buprenorphine.

The vet wanted to know why she hadn't been on Prednisone, I said, ask your colleague, I asked for Prednisone a month ago. So I probably got somebody in trouble. I was also a basket case and cried a lot in the waiting room. Tika talked to the vet staff and held my hand.

Really, the dog will hold your hand, she laces her claws and toes in between your fingers and actually holds on. I think she held my hand for my sake. Sweet baby.

When we were giving the shots, it took both me and the vet assistant, Tika fought, she never fought before. The vet and I figured that she's starting to hurt. But he felt that as long as she is still 'talking' to us, wagging her tail and seemingly happy, if it were his dog, he wouldn't rush things. Let's just treat the pain.

I went home, the next day hubby returns from his trip and starts researching Buprenorphine and all the side effects and doesn't want to give it to her. The Baytril (antibiotic) kicked in and knocked out the fever, so she started feeling better.

The cortisone has really diminished her cough, that may be good or bad, who knows. So she has rebounded again. A heart of a lion miss thing has.

Love hurts

Caya has been having a love affair with a squirrel. Yes, squirrel. Rocky the Squirrel.

Every morning, he waits for her on the fence (I'm just gonna assume it's a 'he', okay?), she runs out and they run back and forth, he on top of the fence her down below.

It's obviously a relationship, her tail wags, he waits for her, they look adoringly into each others eyes. Its been going on for months.

I mention to my husband that we might want to make sure Caya's getting enough attention from us, since she's developed a interspecies relationship.

Well today I let her out, and what does this cruel heartbreaking boy-squirrel do? He brings out his new lady friend. The tramp, sashaying her fluffy little tail and batting her eyes at him so demurely.

So, and honestly, I can't make this stuff up, Caya sees her friend, goes running up, sees the other squirrel (TRAMP!) and just sits down. She looks stunned. The squirrel couple go gallavanting off to the walnut trees to start preparing for their winter love nest.

Caya just sits there staring off after them for a long time, she ignores my calls, then finally comes to me, looking over her shoulder like: "But I WUVED him!" I thought, OMG, I'm going to have to support my DOG through her first break up.

It was funny, it was tragic, it was a bit creepy. So tonight when I let her out, I imagine this will be happening at the base of the walnut tree.

And now--featuring Gracie Cat

Yeah, we actually have other pets. Gracie is my old lady, around 15 years old. She's also my huntress.

So what hath the huntress killed for me?

A ring necked snake.

Good kitty.

Then we get another one in the house, Dad's turn to go clean up the snake. However, Miss Gracie hadn't quite finished the job.

So hubby's holding the snake while Gracie is playing Mike Tyson with it, bff, bff, sock'em!

I don't think he liked that game.

Gracie the Snake Killer and part time seamstress

At your service

Happy 10 month ampuversary

To my girl--love you so. Didn't think you were gonna make it this far after our scare earlier this month.

Happy 10 months! --Love Momma.

Happy Ampuversary to MEEEEE-EEE!!!

PWND!

Totally. We think Tika is faking this cancer stuff. She found out that she can con us out of good food, have us wait on her hand and paw.

I busted her eating KIBBLE, yes regular dog food. Oooo, girlie. I'ma gonna get you.

So needless to say, she's doing great. Did a complete smackdown on Caya this morning because Caya was being a maniac. Cracked me up.

Here's to you, Tika. You rock.

Finally gave Caya her bath, she doesn't like it (the medicated shampoo has to sit on her skin for 10 minutes...YES 10 MINUTES) Handled it like a trooper. Also tried to maul me in our walk-in shower after a while. So as a result, I got a bath/shampoo also whether I needed it or not.

Tika was highly entertained...Finally, you are torturing the little dog.

Tonight I was curled up with Tika, the cough has come back and it's a doozy. She still eating and happy and wants to go for walks, but she coughed up some very bloody mucus. Even she was like yuck.

I try to be strong for her, but I can't help but tear up. Her breathing has gotten a bit worse.

Damn, she's a tough pup.

Wonder dog still is wonderful

Tika's rally continues, she's eating well, very much into being a part of the family. Ornery and sassy. Her diarrhea cleared up (YEP! more poopie talk)

I couldn't be happier.

In the process of fussing over Tika, I've not been paying attention to the warning signs of Caya's skin problems and she is having another flare up. I need to get her bathed with her medicated shampoo.

She doesn't like having a bath. So I keep putting off, shame on me.

End of Life care

Tika has rallied, and brought great joy to our hearts.

We found some things that she'll eat so she's getting a calorie count in her.

I give her a SubQ injection of Metcam everyday, that seems to keep the fever under control.

She also has Pepcid if she needs it.

We got to go for a walk and let them roam off leash, that dog does so much humble me.

So, we take each day as it comes, alway monitoring to make sure Tika is happy and comfortable. Dreading the days coming when things start degrading with her help.

But, we were able to buy time right now after we though we were losing her last week. That's more precious than anything.

Her Highness Calls

Okay, I'm not denying that she is sick and also dying, but man, what a BRAT.

Of course that being said, I couldn't be more overjoyed in her brattiness.

I swear if milady had a little silver bell she'd be ringing it. Please dahling, more water, more food, more treats.

Now that her appetite is returning, I'm trying to get her back on regular food, she ate some today, but the faces and theatrics? OMG!

I mean, really, we don't expect princess to just eat plain old kibble do we?

Hospice Care

Or should it be Pawspice? That's pretty much all we have left at this point.

The vet could find no indication of infection, however her lung mets have definitely grown. Tika did have a fever, so we gave her a dose of antibiotics.

Thankfully, we've ruled out all parasites or infections and her blood oxygen is an amazing 98%. The vet thinks is the crap cancerous tumors dump into her system that is causing the fever and the general malaise.

Huh, my dog is dying of cancer and she don't feel good, who woulda thunk?

We started her on injectable Metacam, subcutaneously given. That will give her comfort. I will be able to do this at home. After 2 years of fluids on my kitty, this tiny needle on this big dog seems like nothing.

She's also taking Pepcid.

We did find the magic bullet on food. Cesar's Softies--just a regular run of the mill treat. So we are getting calories in her.

Yesterday was a good day, we went for a car ride and walk and she did really good. That night, she not only ate the treats, but she had eaten a burger dad made for her and some luncheon meat and cheese. I was so excited.

But today, she's back to just Cesar treats and her dog cookies. Brat. But she's chipper and a lot more mobile, so I'm not going to complain.

All in all, I think we only have a few more weeks with her. But now it's not a run away train, and we know we are making her comfortable.

Tim started talking about Palladia again. I hid the pills, and he knows it. They aren't going to save her, and I think they were making her feel crappy.

Sleepless nights

I am usually crashing out by 9pm now. I sleep about 3-4 hours before the nightmares begin.

They are usually very weird and disjointed, and I can't remember when I wake.

Then I lay there thinking, is Tika still alive? Is she in pain? And I'm afraid of getting up for fear that she may have passed away.

I finally get up and check on her, and she's been okay. But usually it takes me another hour to try to get back to sleep.

A decision is made

We made the heartrending decision to stop any treatment of Tika. We will discuss her care and comfort for the remainder of her days.

I am getting her to eat, but now she seems constipated. She is showing a little spunk, but you can tell she's tired.

Her current favorite foods are boiled hamburger meatballs, and Turkey Hotdogs with cheese. She did have a McD's cheeseburger (plain) today. She's always been my Fry Guy, so when she didn't eat a fry today, I cried some more.

She does drink lots of water, she has shown a little more energy this evening than she has. However, every time she gets up, her 'smokers hack' starts.

We'll go to the doctor tomorrow to see if she has any secondary infections or possibly pneumonia, and we'll discuss pain treatment.

I hope she rallies, I'm not ready to say goodbye to her yet.

Tika's fading.....or not?

Lots of tears. Maybe I am overreacting I don't know. I feel like she has never rebounded from our last trip. Maybe it was the inhaled chemo. Maybe it was overexertion. But the fact remains, baby girl isn't doing well.

It's been building up but she hasn't been eating, she's visibly lost weight. She's not vomiting, but everything goes right through her.

Today she was very weak, everything was unacceptable to her. I didn't know what to do. We talked to the vet who suggested an antinausea drug. It might take a few days for it to kick in, but I thought okay, let's try. We are discussing stopping the Palladia.

Later on, I finally got her to eat. Boiled chicken. No scent to it. She's hungry, but if she smells something, she's immediately turned off. I was delighted that she ate the boiled chicken, I would dab it in some pumpkin and cottage cheese to get her more calories.

She had been digging at her eyes, I noticed that they are both horribly infected, green goo coming from both. Where did that come from? What does that mean?

I took a sick day today, I spent my time tending to Tika and running upstairs to lay down and cry.

She seems to be getting better, the food is staying in her and not immediately coming out the other end. That's good, she needs the nutrition, I boiled some ground beef in little balls and she thought that was awesome.

I hope she pulls through this, it's been a bit of a strain on the spouse and I and we are taking it out on each other, that's not helping anything.

However, it brings to the forefront the stark reality that our beautiful girl is dying. And that reality rips my heart apart.

A picture says a thousand words

However, I don't like the story line.

Here's the progression of Tika's lung mets from May to Sept.

May, looking good!

June 29, spots, starting to show. (Lower right)

August, mets are definitely growing

September. DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!

IL2 treatment

Well, we got the news. We had already come to the conclusion ourselves, but it still hurt.

The IL2 treatment wasn't effective, the lung mets have grown, and grown signifcantly.

The oncologist and vet keep telling us that it seems to be particularly aggressive. Well, piss on them for being right. Couldn't they screw up for once? I wouldn't sue them or anything. PROMISE!

We are going for one last try. Tika is still doing great, walking, sassing, eating, having a grand old time. We are going to the University of Missouri Vet Hospital to try inhaled chemotherapy and with a different chemo drug than before. We will also start Palladia which has been approved for mast cell tumors in dogs, but it might work on lung mets.

I do have some misgivings at times, are we being fair to Tika? I hope so.

So the Labor Day weekend is coming up and we will go to Columbia, MO first then vacation in the RV with the dogs the weekend.

Caya turns 5!

Wow, how time flies.

Here she is in the trailer doing her best impersonation of a NASCAR fan.

Happy Birthday, little girl, thank you for your strength!

Bark for Life

Kansas had it's first Bark for Life event for the American Cancer Society, it's modelled after the Relay for Life.


Held at the Eudora Park, about 75 people showed up with their dogs. I believe Tika was the only true cancer survivor that was also a canine.


They had an agility course which the dogs entertained themselves and all of us by doing. Tika won a prize for her attempt.

Doing the loop, let's go!

Meet my little friend.....

A gentleman visited with Tika for awhile, he was also a cancer survivor, they were having some sort of moment with each other, I felt like an intruder. He thanked me for letting him 'borrow' my girl and told me to "Live in her Strength".

Yes sir. I will.

IL-2 treatment continues

I should mention that in spite of all of our gallavanting around, we are still doing the IL-2 treatment in the camper.

Tika just says okay.

However, she gets fussy about eating, well, they both are. I had to scope out Estes Park for some metal bowls, the camper ones I bought are plastic and I think their highnesses do not care for the plastic.

Off to see my family tomorrow!

Tripawds Pawty

One of the many reasons for choosing Estes Park was that we would be able to take part in the Tripawds.com party in Longmont.

I was really excited because I wanted to meet the great people that I've met on the forums. Of course, I wanted to show off how wonderful Tika was doing also.

All in all, I think 25 or so tripawds showed up to the get together at the longmont dog park. I think Caya was starting to feel a little out of place with that 'extra' leg of hers!

A couple of times I got a little misty-eyed watching the kids and getting meet everybody. It was a thoroughly wonderful day.

Getting these humans and dogs grouped together is like herding cats!

A very tired dog of the hour, Wyatt Ray Dawg.

A big squish for my baby!

Road Trip to Colorado

So, doggies are digging the RV after a couple of weekends up at the lake.

We headed out to Estes Park, CO on Thursday. We spent the night in western KS and then got to Estes Park on Friday. Oh boy, we got some happy doggies on our hands. All sorts of neat stuff to smell.

However, there has been a collective (human and canine) allergic reaction to the sage. Tika regrouped quickly, the rest of us hit the allergy meds.

The campground is right off Lake Estes and fun stuff to see and snorfle and a river to splash in oh boy.

The best part for the doggies was the dog park, Caya learned some basic agility and they both ruled the roost. The dog park has access to the lake so they could both swim.

Of Caya the shit, attacked poor Tika in the lake and about drowned her.
what is wrong with that dog?

Morning sun hitting the mountains, thanks
doggies for getting me up.....maybe....

High priestess of the lake, Caya von MeaniePants

Romping around

Starting new treatment for Tika's lung mets

We are starting a new treatment to try to slow down Tika's lung mets. It has a very slim chance of working, but it won't hurt her if it doesn't. This fits our criteria for trying new things.

It is an immunotherapy treatment called IL-2 Interleukin-2 Liposomes. She will have to inhale it twice daily for 30 days and then be rechecked.

We've been practicing and I'll be damned if that dog just doesn't roll with the flow.

"You want to put a bag on my snout? Uh, you are weird, but I guess, sure why not"

The treatment isn't cheap, but it will be pretty darn groovy if it works.

Tika says: You weird bleeders....

The supplies for treatment (and not a home meth lab!)

Here's hoping things work out! Metronomic protocol will continue. Hubby is researching the next treatment option.

Rolling down the road with the dogs

Well we bought an RV, since hubby isn't what we'd call an "outdoor-sy" guy and Tika isn't what we'd call a "Kansas Summer" dog, we thought this would be the best way for us all to spend a bit more time together before the end comes for Tika.

We did our first two trials up at the lake, and they went really well, the dogs were like, HEY, cool.

So, hey cool that they decided that marking their territory in it was appropriate.

And they totally didn't get why mom is bent out of shape. Oh, Nature's Miracle, did I tell you lately that I love you?

Besides the pee thing, they are weird about eating, a bit prissy if you will. They better get over it.

So, our sailboat friends have had endless amounts of entertainment with the land yacht. "When's the NASCAR event? Jerry Springer coming over?" Oh well, doggies can't quite deal when we are busting up the lake close hauled on a starboard tack.

However, being generally good peoples besides the teasing, I received this as a RV warming present, very, very, nice.

We'll be gearing up for the great Colorado trip soon

Playing in the dog park

Here's a lovely little video we put together. It's sappy, but I don't care. Lookee my girl go.



We all need to learn to live for the moment---peace.

Update time, WOW

So, I've been off of the grid for awhile. I travelled most of June and been avoiding computers in general for most of July. So here's the Cliff's notes.

1. Tika's lung mets have increased in size and are now confirmed. Big cry baby day for me.
2. Both dogs have gotten over their piss-cadero episodes. THANKFULLY!
3. Airconditioning got completely overhauled and fixed, now even Artic Dog is asking to go outside to warm up.
4. We bought a RV trailer (wait, what, huh?)

So, I will detail some points soon in another post. Basically, we've been having a grand 'ole time out there.

Paws up!

Happy Five Years to Tika!

Tika is five years old today.

So she gots lots of being spoiled rotten. And man, she will definitely let you do that.

This picture was taken awhile back, but is still my favorite.

And we're clear!

Whoohoo, Caya has been declared free of her yeast infection and now we are just working on her allergies.

Tika is doing great, she's gone from diarrhea dog back to "happy doo-dee" dog. Did I, or did I not, tell you there's a lot doggie doodoo talk!

The Sulfracate is working really well, so we are going to start back full time on her Piroxicam.

Also, old three legs hiked up stairs to shag my but outta bed this morning because I obviously didn't hear the alarm.  Very nice!  Of course, I totally was late because we all curled up in the bed together for awhile.  

I do have my priorities you know!

Reason #4921 why Caya's breeder is evil

Because I have a fondness for annoying myself, I went to Caya's breeder website.  (Still it shall remain anonymous)

There was an article written by the breeder about her long-coated shepherds.  It states in the article that she has never had a long-coated shepherd without an undercoat.

Uhhhhh, whatever!  Caya TOTALLY doesn't have an undercoat, she hardly sheds (well, except when she gets a yeast infection)  I comb her with a fine tooth comb.  It's about as fine as my hair is.  When we went for a check up, I asked the vet, do you think she has a undercoat?  The vet said, what, NO WAY! I shared the story with her.

This person has been in total denial about ANY of Caya's medical conditions, the EPI, the weirdness when she was a puppy, the allergies.  What about responsible breeding, people? It applies to the dogs that don't always work about perfectly and you can get $12,000 for!

I comfort myself in knowing that there's a couple of very well reknown vet hospitals out there, TAMU canine gastro-intestinal and KSU Vet school that have Caya's DNA and complete medical and breeding history.  She's my beautiful baby, and I love her, but no doggie should go through what she goes through, and a lot of wonderful people are working hard to prevent it. 

I am glad I have her, because I can afford to pay for her care, and I am willing to sacrifice personally to make sure she gets it. 

All we need to add to that is some responsible breeding and ownership of genetic anomalies if they happen. Not the garbage we've been getting.

Off my soapbox now!

Doggie health update

They are both doing better, we are in the process of retraining them to go outside, since they've both been busted decorating the carpet.

I did not have a good week waking up everyday to see who whizzed their initials into the carpet.

So....after 40,000 pills, 50,000 gallons of nature's miracle and 20-30 gallons of wine (for me!) I think we are through the worst of it.

Tika had a suspicion of a bladder infection, she was treated accordingly.  Caya's yeast infection and allergies are clearing up.  

However, I do feel like I've spent most of the last 10 days either mopping up the carpet or shoving a pill down somebody's throat.

This is one of those weeks when I think, "oh, a goldfish would be nice, I'll call him Nemo"

Cheers!

Urine-Nation

Oh.....f#$kstockings. (I just read Christopher Moore's book, Fool, and now my vocabulary is peppered with all sorts of innappropriate language)

We took Tika in to be checked for bladder infection that could be the result of her Cytoxan pills.

She has spent every evening blessing our carpet (no, not the TILE, not the HARDWOOD, the CARPET!)

I have parents coming for the holiday weekend. Hi Mom and Dad--here's a breathing mask for you. Sorry that the house smells like an unkept zoo.

To top it off, the air conditioning keeps freezing up, so not only has my dear doggie dumped several gallons of urine in the carpet, we now have a warm, incredibly humid house to enhance the smell.

I do hope baby is alright.

Itchy Scratchy and Puke-a-mute

Oh, holy christ.

I swear they are in competition with each other for the most problems.

Not to be one-upped by puking cancer dog with 'suspicious' spots in her lungs.

Caya is in full blown allergic dermititis with generalized yeast infection. The girls were in the kennel this weekend while the carpet got cleaned and we had the house bombed for brown recluse spiders.

We came back and I woke up this morning to another offering to the vomit gods by Tika. I feel so sorry for her, but I am getting tired of cleaning this stuff up. I wish she'd do this when I'm either conscious or at home so that we can run to the door together.

I'll need to add a picture of the doggie pharmacy. Let's see Pepcid/Cyclophosphamide/Piroxicam for Tika. Caya: Antifungal/Antihistimine-Cortisone/Antifungal shampoo.

Both dogs are so used to taking pills, when I opened up my vitamin pill bottle this morning to take my daily vitamin they both come running and sat down.

Poor babies....

Sassy Mute

On a mucho daily basis, I get cussed out for some crime I have committed. Here's a sample. Yes, I do encourage it for posterity's sake.  I am the director, dammit.

Pool's open!

We opened the pool last week. Kinda nasty.  However, Disneyland to the doggies.  UPDATE: It's pretty cleared up now.

It's been clearing out the past week, and Tika is really digging her new exercise routine.

We just have to make sure Caya doesn't try to maul her everytime she gets out of the pool.

(A certain shepherd has decided that the pool is hers, and nobody else allowed in.

I was really good keeping my editorial comments to myself, but yes, my brat Shepherd does have to gnaw on the malamute every time she gets into the pool, or stream, or lake.

A tired dog is a good dog

What a beautiful spring day.

I took the girls down to their favorite little nature park.  Besides the attempted drowning of one malamute by one german shepherd it was wonderful.

I really got to work on Caya's need to grab the leash and start pulling us frantically across any road we cross. After tripping over her, 3 legs and a close encounter with a RAV 4, we got under control

Hubby thinks it's 'cute'. Yeah, my ass, next time I see him encouraging it, I'm taking the damn leash and horse whipping him with it.

Happy O'Mally-mute Day

I played hooky from work because it was absolutely gorgeous outside. The girls and I went for a walk. Because of my concern for Tika’s leg, I made a move to turn around, let’s just say that it didn’t fly with Tika-Dawg. She puts on her brakes and just stares me in the eyes. Malamute owners can testify that if a malamute gets a notion in her head, you pretty much better prepared to go along. I told her to come along and she held her ground just giving her doggie version of a glare. Caya starts to get worried, she’s my obedient one and she has no clue what is going on. Finally I walk forward like I’m going to continue you and WHOOSH, my arm is almost pulled from its socket by the TriPawd.

Okay, I guess we are not done walking yet. So we go a little further and I tried to turn around again. Once again, brakes and the glare. Okay, I guess we are still not walking again. We keep going starting to make a big circle and taking our time. I pull out the cell phone and cancel the vet appointment. This dog is fine, she probably just pulled a muscle. However, mom is still recovering from her bronchitis and infection so she’s huffing and puffing. Tika says: WIMP!

Later that night, Tim and I came home. We went out for a holiday beer, but far too sober for the crowd, the waitress had given us beads for the occasion. I took the beads and put them around the dogs. Tika was so proud. Look at my O’Mally-mute beads. Later she put up a fight when I went to take them off for bedtime. MINE, MINE, MINE.

Happy St. Patricks Day, aren't our beads CUTE?

I should mention that we hardly notice that she is missing a leg anymore, she’s still a bit bald on her butt and she breathes a bit harder than she used to. However, she is fully back to her bossy, bitchy, trouble-making self and we just delight in it. I come home from work and usually have a full blown 15 minute conversation with her about my day. We better make sure she gets her food by 6pm or we will hear about it…..and her pills…..and our food. What a bossy dog. Oh well, she can pretty much be anything she wants now…within reason.

Happy 2 month Ampuversary

Tika’s two month ampuversary. She’s doing absolutely great. She’s gone from her nickname of ham-butt, to her nickname of fuzzbutt. She’s getting used to letting us help her into the car, etc. We’ve discussed the Metronomic protocol with the oncologist and she has agreed to start Tika on the one pill, an NSAID called piroxicam.

The goal of the Metronomic Protocol is to impede the growth of any cancer cells/tumors.

Every three months we take Tika in for lung X-rays to see if they are still clear. We would like to keep her with us as long as possible with the best quality of life possible.

Tika has become nothing short of infamous at VSEC. She marches in and just talks to everybody and is an absolute goofball. VSEC isn’t really a place that folks go because their furry kids are doing well, so it’s nice to watch Tika bring a small smile to people’s faces or just for her to love them up. I think sometimes it gives them hope, because really Tika is a happy dog.

Over the next few weeks, Tika continues to heal. As she gets stronger, I get stronger also. I’m very humbled to be around her. We switched her food over to Innova EVO, a high protein, low carb diet. We made the mistake of having Caya go on this also. Big mistake. Another problem EPI dogs have is that they can’t digest high fat foods.

Long story short, Lil’ Miss became a weapon of mass destruction. There were fumes coming from that dog that would clear the room. WOW! To save you the gory details, let’s just suffice to say that we went back to her normal food and life returned to normal.

Every day Tika gets stronger, her fur is growing back, but she looks like a badly shorn sheep. Tim and I can’t resist patting her bald butt, she looks at us, like….DO YOU MIND.

She has made a couple of trips upstairs, it takes some effort on her part, but she’s so proud when she gets it done. By now, the scarf used to support her is a natural thing, so on the weekends, I grab the scarf and Tika runs to the steps so I can help her upstairs to torment Tim awake.

We have gone through another chemo treatment with flying colors, blood counts are good. We are now researching Metronomic Protocol.