Schedule and Vacation

I had to make an official schedule of his meds to keep everything straight.

7:15 ½ cup dry + canned food

Metronidazole (12 hours)

Amoxicillin (12 hours)

8:15 Metocloprimide (8 hours)

9:15 Sulcrate (8 hours)

10:30 ½ cup dry + canned food

1:00 ½ cup dry + canned food

3:00 Metocloprimide (8 hours)

4:00 Sulcrate (8 hours)

6:00 ½ cup dry + canned food

Metronidazole (12 hours)

Amoxicillin (12 hours)

10:00 Metocloprimide (8 hours)

11:00 Sulcrate (8 hours)

Between caring for the dog, I packed to go to Chautauqua for two weeks. We left after lunch, and arrived before dinner. Guinny is quite excited about his vacation at this gorgeous, dog-friendly cultural mecca.

Here is in our vacation apartment with his newest stuffed animal from the kennel – a lobster. He took great delight in sqeaking it. I hope the landlords upstairs didn't mind!

Sick but Fun Dog

I called the pet hotel to give them an update on what is happening and to tell them the vet’s assumption. They totally disagree, as do I. They say that he is totally happy there with no visible stress. In fact, this dog counselor said, “He’s my funnest dog at playtime! Even when he was sick, he still is the funnest dog.”

Meds and Diagnosis

We closed Guinness into the den in case he did vomit more overnight, and he did – several times on the hardwood floor.

After cleaning up the floor, I proceeded to stuff his morning Metronidazole down his throat as he will not eat it with food. He started gagging and foaming at the mouth, shaking his head and making a mess of the dissolved pill all over the floor.

Dr. Simone called first thing as promised. There is nothing unusual in his blood work; everything is in the normal range. She talked on for a couple of minutes without allowing me to speak saying that he should be improving quickly now with the medication. Finally, I was able to say, “But he vomited several times in the night. He is not doing well.” She asked me to bring him in right then so that they could sedate and xray him to see what is going on.

I returned mid-afternoon for him. His xray shows no obstruction in his digestive tract, but his stomach walls are enlarged as his stomach is severely enflamed. She prescribed one more medication -- Metocloprimide, to begin giving him tomorrow afternoon if he has stopped vomiting. This is another eight hour cycle med, but has to be given an hour before the Sulcrate.

She gave one possibility of his distress—stress! She thinks that his popping back and forth from home to kennel was too much for him to handle. But he LOVES going to the kennel. Her analysis is hard to fathom.

As we walked into the waiting room to pay, Guinness was going bonkers with all the possible new friends waiting their turn. My comment this time was, “Can you believe he was just sedated?”

Doctor Visit

We closed Guinness in the den overnight in case there was more vomiting, but we awoke to a clean dog and clean floor!

I called the vet first thing and got Guinny in to see the doctor. As we walked toward the building, Guinness was his exuberant self being so happy to come to the vet’s office. I told him, “Guinny, you need to look a little bit sick, because you are.” We entered the door with him straining on his lead to say hello to all the staff, pet owners, and sick dogs. People sit in awe (or is it fear?) of his exuberance. I quipped, “This is a very sick dog. Can you tell? He is almost nigh unto death.”

Once in the exam room, Dr. Simone entered and he eagerly jumped on her as usual. She told him he could not jump, because she is pregnant. She examined him, had me take him into the next room to weigh him, and she took him in the back to have a blood test taken. He is 66.8 pounds today – down 4 pounds from the end of May. Worrisome. For today, the vet gave us Amoxicillin, an antibiotic; Metronidazole to treat infections caused by susceptible organisms; Sulcrate Suspension to coat the lining of his stomach, and, once he stops vomiting, Drontol to kill any possible worms. They do want me to bring in a sample for testing. Plus she gave him some prescription food – Medi Cal Gastro Forumla – in cans and kibble. I am to begin giving him a few tablespoons of the canned food every two or three hours, gradually building up the quantity and eventually mixing it with the kibble until he is back to normal meals. My head was just swimming with all the instructions for these four medications plus the food! Two are to be taken every twelve hours, and one every eight hours. That one has to be given one to two hours after taking other medications or food. HELP! This is impossible! I felt like crying; I didn’t know how to manage all this!

Sick baby

Mommy went to Vietnam with Karin, Steve, and Kevin to adopt Kien, then stayed in NC with them for almost 2 weeks. Meanwhile, Daddy was very busy with his out-of-town clients, then went to NC to meet his new grandson, so Guinny spent most of the month in a villa at his pet hotel. He was bathed and ready to be picked up Monday, June 30, but our flights were delayed. I arrived this morning to bring our boy home to discover that he had had diarrhea Monday night and had begun vomiting. This morning when they went in to him, they discovered that he had vomited all night and needed another going-home bath. Before they brought him out, they told me that he had been losing weight all month. According to their scales, he had lost 3 pounds. Also, the first time Grant picked him up for a weekend at home, they had told him that they had found a worm in Guinny’s stool and suggested that he have a fecal test done. Grant never saw any worms and was too busy for that. He never even mentioned to me that there could be a problem (sigh), as what could I have done from Vietnam or NC?

They did feed him this morning thinking that it was more important for him to have something in his stomach to vomit than to have dry heaves. But I know from Mark, that he recommends NO food or water for 24 hours after vomiting, though I did give him some ice.

As is normal on his first day home, he was a zombie, so there wasn’t an obvious change in behavior other than, when we went outside for potty breaks, he was more subdued than normal. This afternoon, he vomited two more times – both were mucous with blood plus he lost his food. (I knew you would want to know.)

Since today is Canada Day, the vet is unavailable unless we want to pay the big bucks for the Emergency Animal Clinic. We opted to wait after calling Mark, our brilliant nephew veterinarian unless there is a turn for the worse.

PAINT!!!

Our neighbor is away on a cruise. He is having his painter paint the garage floor while they are gone. Today, the painter was sitting up in the backyard with another neighbor and client waiting for the current coat to dry in our hot, humid weather today.

Meanwhile, I returned home with Guinness, wanted to blow the tree seeds out of the garage, so let him out of the side door to go up in our side yard. Instead, he made a bee-line for the garage with me running and screaming after him (my throat is still sore!). He, fortunately, walked over her paint cloth, cleaning off two paw a bit. Then he ignored my screaming and ran across the driveway to the bolders and jumped up. sigh Oh, well, the painter was going to do one more coat anyway. I thought I was going to have to pay for another coat!

What a boy...

Beginning to be a Good Boy!

Today, I hired a young girl to prune, plant annuals, and spread mulch. Since Guinness has been doing fairly well at staying in the yard, I allowed him to be loose while I did my projects and Ashlee worked. He stayed in our yard, watched us work, played with empty pots, and kissed Ashlee a few times. After about an hour of freedom, he began wandering and had to be tied to the tree.

Doggie Park

We have been lean on the number of dogs each morning this week. Several are away. Today we had four: Riley, Holly, Marley, and Guinness. Here is Guinness head wrestling with Marley.

Zombie

I am a total zombie today – more than usual after a trip. I have not driven that far alone in a couple of years. But I wasn’t the only zombie today. He is on “off” speed today.

Beta - Hemolytic Staph

This morning we surprised our friends by showing up at doggie park (since I told them we wouldn’t return until Wed.). Our friend Douglas thought he saw red on Guinness’s tummy (probably when he jumped up on Douglas). There was no way we could get him to focus on “down” and “rollover” commands. So I checked at home. Sure enough! Scary looking!

Red circle welts almost the size of quarters!

Off to the vet to discover the diagnosis. Dr. C. says “the clown” has picked up a staph infection. He is on anti-biotics and I need to wash everything he has slept on. Also he has lost 5 pounds since the last time he was weighed several months ago. He is only 70.8 pounds – bordering on skinny, the doc says. Dr. C. says he only has two speeds – on and off – so his weight is not surprising.

Guinness became a Retreiver today!

Ruth, Guinness, and I had another great beach walk. This time, we tried throwing a stick in the lake. He retrieved! So we kept throwing, and he kept fetching! Wonders never cease! Ruth tried to throw it far enough to make him swim. He gave up and left the stick. I tried to throw far enough to make him swim, but only once or twice did it seem he actually swam to reach the stick. Eventually, he pooped out, but he did many, many retrieves! (And I forgot my camera)

Then we were off to the farm. Guinness loved having the freedom to run. He ran in the pond (on the back left) a couple of times. He ran into the neighbor’s field.

He ignored the little dogs, Sam and Picasso, but Picasso played the big cheese and tried to tell Guinness off for being present at his farm.

Expelled

Guinness and I drove to Michigan on Friday – all the way to my brother’s house on Lake Michigan. We had three huge slow downs due to accidents which stretched our 6 hour drive into an 8 hour one. I used Grant’s new GPS which was wonderful to have – especially on the detours!

As soon as we arrived at their house, I had to start Guinness-proofing it: removing shoes and gloves from his reach, etc. Their little Yorkie, Sam, always has food in his dish. Well, that can’t happen with Guinness around or poor Sam will NEVER eat. I had planned to let Guinness sleep in the kitchen, but Gary thought there was no acceptable way to do that. He thought Guinness would jump the gate, which is possible but doubtful. So they allowed Guinness to sleep in my bedroom.

Saturday morning, Gary informed me that he did not appreciate Guinness’s Guinny-ness. “It is rude to bring an undisciplined dog to someone’s home.” How could I be offended? He is goofy! But we love him just like he is. While Ruth and I walked the glorious beach for over an hour with Guinness, I told her that I would leave Sunday after going to Mark’s farm, instead of Tuesday. The plan for Saturday was predetermined: Jim and Patty were coming for the afternoon. Guinness could, and did, spend his time in the backyard; more specifically – on the deck staring through the door, doing a fair share of barking.

Gary took Jim and Patty for a ride in Queen.

They perused the beach from above while Guinness had a chance to play again (this time with my camera in hand!)

We all (including Guinness) enjoyed the myriad birds in their yard. We determined that one nesting in a bush is a Savannah Sparrow. Several bird houses are full of House Sparrows. Another bird, yet to be determined, is in a smaller bird house. I spied a catbird which I have not seen since Missouri days. Guinness sent several birds airborne as they hopped through the grass.

Mother's Day

My flower dog.
He no longer attacks and eats flowers in the house! Another sign of maturity!

Watching

Tonight, we left to go to a friend’s for dinner. I had to run back in the house for something and found Guinness in the kitchen watching out the kitchen windows! I assume that maybe he was watching for us to drive by? It reminded me that we had a dog that did that. It was Hershey! When we lived in Naperville, IL, as we backed out of the garage, we could see Hershey watching us leave from the dining room window!

New Level of Maturity

This evening, we BBQd on the deck and brought Guinness out with us without setting up the baby gate. He never thought about running away! Twice I had to go down to the driveway and he came with me unleashed. He didn’t run away but stayed with me and went back up on the deck. He was behaving just like Hershey! Ü

No Dog in Our Bed

Grant has decided that we would sleep a whole lot better without a dog in bed with us. That is true… yet it is nice to have his company. So I closed him in the den overnight for the past few nights. He seems to do just fine with no complaining, and our rest is improved.

New Friends

Holly is a 4 month old Golden Retriever. We have run into her a few times in the past couple of weeks and she has even come to doggie park to watch. Guinness fell in love immediately. Today her mommy let her off leash and she had a ball! She and Marley, a giant golden, were very cute together. Guinness is a bit too rambunctious with the puppy, but her mommy says they are fine, that Holly can take it.

After everyone had left and we were about to leave, a shelty walked by. Guinness was unusually calm meeting this new dog. They sniffed each other with no craziness, then he went to the master to have pets from her. He also did not try to jump in her, thank goodness since she was wearing whitish slacks. She said her dog does not like other dogs and that she was surprised that her shelty was tolerating Guinness. I told her that Guinness’s behavior was also highly unusual. Obviously, there was some dog communication going on that told Guinness to be slow and easy which made the shelty welcoming of the refrained attention.

Dog Relationships

It is interesting to note how dogs behave together. Every dog treats each dog differently. Guinness is always ecstatically eager to greet everyone in the morning. If we arrive first, he runs to each one as they arrive. If they are there first, he can’t reach them fast enough. Oddly, none of the regulars race to greet Guinness, at least, not with the same exuberance. Fortunately, his feelings are not hurt! Here is Guinness’s routine behavior with each dog:

Lucy, a chocolate lab – If she is playing fetch, he ignores her. But if she runs, he will chase and chase and sometimes lead the chase game.

Riley, a black lab – If we are first on the field, Guinness will race across the park to greet Riley when he appears. They sniff each other a bit. They occasionally will have a brief romp, but not much. Riley and Lucy both know that when I call, “Come!” to Guinness, that means treat time, and they come to me for treats.

Mattie, a border collie – Since she loves to chase cars, Mattie is always on leash, which, I think, causes her to bark at everyone and have a snappy attitude. You can hear her coming before she is in sight. If a dog gets close to her, she would gladly take a bite out of them, so they had better skedaddle quickly. Guinness loves to taunt her. He runs in circle segments just beyond the circumference of her extended leash, causing her to run at the end of her tether in partial circles trying to reach him. If you call that play, he is the only dog that plays with her.

Smartie, an Australian sheepdog – Smartie loves to run and to play fetch. Sometimes Guinness will run with her, but not often. He wants nothing to do with fetch. Smartie will sometimes be vocal in play or dominant in a chase – all normal, happy dog play, but Smartie’s mother thinks she is being bad and throws her ball to move her attention away from Guinness.

Marley, a golden retriever – Marley is a huge golden with a serene face that reminds me of Aslan in the Narnia stories. Marley has some health and allergy issues, plus bad hips. I have not witnessed this, but Marley has been vicious with some dogs, so he is on a leash most of the time. Guinness loves Marley, and Marley seems to enjoy Guinness. Their play consists of head wrestling – trying to roll the other one over. I try to keep Guinness from playing near Marley’s rear end, as I have seen Marley nip at a dog that tries to mount him, causing him hip pain. Riley also enjoys head wrestling with Marley. Perhaps it is Marley who tells the dogs that head wrestling is his favorite method of play.

Burton, a Portuguese water dog – Burton often arrives after the other dogs have left. When that happens, the two of them have a wonderful time running all over the ballfield. If any other dog is present, neither of them pays attention to the other. So if Burton arrives while the other dogs are there, he will play with them but not Guinness. Bumpers are thrown for Burton to retrieve. If Burton is playing that game, Guinness ignores him.

There are a few others who drop by occasionally. Guinness always is eager to meet a new dog or greet an old friend. There is a Wheaton terrier, Seamus, who does not like other dogs, that walks by sometimes. Guinness was slow in learning that this dog did not want to play. Guinness always ran to him hoping to play with this new friend, only to discover that he needed to back away from this beast. Lately, he is beginning to recognize this dog from a distance remembering that the dog does not like him, but he still runs, then walks the last few feet to say hello. At the most recent encounters, Seamus appears to be learning that Guinness is OK after all and is willing to sniff and be sniffed with no repercussions.

Goodbye

Kevin and Karin left this morning. Before going out the door, Kevin hugged and kissed Guinness. (Why didn’t we have a camera ready?) He said, “I love you, Guinness. I’m going to miss you,” and began to cry. On the way to the airport he asked his Mommy, “Can I have a dog?”

I called after they were home and asked Kevin if James (his large cat) was happy to see him. He said, “James is very small.” Compared to Guinness, that is true!

Belated Party

Today we did go to doggie park with loot bags for our friends. Marley arrived first. I gave Sue Marley’s bag of treats. Guinness would not leave her alone! He kept jumping on her to get a treat, so I told her, “Give them back to me and I will give them to you when you leave.” It was the only way she could have some peace! Next, Mattie and Riley came, and finally Smartie. Everyone received their loot bag as they left.

Tonight after dinner, Kevin wanted to watch Little Einsteins and play Legos while the adults talked. He wanted Guinness to come with him, so he dragged Guinness across the house by the collar! Unfortunately, we missed that shot.

They both look like happy boys! Guinness is smiling!