Home Zookeeper

Once again Quinn and daddy will be making the trip to the vet, more than 30 minute away from our house.

I took her on a walk on Sunday afternoon (she’s looking a little chunky and ever since Bullet arrived she hasn’t gotten a lot of attention) … so we’re going along at a super slow old lady pace and she’s panting and I see something a little ‘off’ in her mouth. It almost looked like her teeth were sticking out somehow.

On closer examination I realized that she had some weird growth on her lips!

My poor baby girl. Getting old sucks.

I don’t know what the growths are…I’m hoping it’s something easy that the vet can easily remove or treat without too much effort. I don’t want to put her through a ton of traumatic testing or procedures. She’s already at the point where she doesn’t like the vet office. *sigh*

She still seems to have energy and is very alert. I think the walk was a little tough because by the end she was walking behind me. Slowly. The arthritis in her back must be worse - and her weight doesn’t help. Papa need to be more careful about the amount of food he gives her.

Just a quick update…Quinn is doing much better. She’s still crying but I seriously think she’s doing it to get what she wants at this point. That whole positive reinforcement thing is so evident. =D She cries, she gets attention … ahhh…2+2 really does equal 4 doesn’t it? So she cries more. The little manipulator. *grin*

Does are smart like that.

Speaking of smart…Trooper continues to amaze me in Agility class and at home. He’s a wild Malamute with lots of energy but he seems to have started really using that noggin of his for good. On Saturday I took him to a new place!!! I loaded up on chicken and hot dogs first because I was a little nervous. It was a baseball game at a local college field and boy was it a brand new experience for him.

All the new sounds and smells … I could tell he was overwhelmed but he did so good. He’s so food oriented that every time I said his name he looked at me, which is excellent. He sat, laid down, and ignored other dogs when I asked him to. There was a 7 month old puppy lab who was very intent on meeting Trooper and that went well. There were also two small dogs and we met one of them. I always worry about Troop with small dogs as they are so…well, squirrel / cat like (no offense to small dog owners…I would LOVE to have a small dog but it’s not going to happen right now) and he has such a strong prey drive.

At one point I sat down on the last row of the bleachers and made him lay down and stay. That’s all…just stay and be a good boy. And he DID it!!! Anytime he tried to get up I’d say no and he’d lay back down. There were balls flying and being hit, announcers yelling over the speakers, people clapping and “woohooing” (including me!) … all of which at first made his ears go back and he head swivel around like a top … but after awhile he just got used to it and wanted his treats.

Of course, after 45 minutes the security guard came over and said we had to leave. They have a new rule that no dogs are allowed on the college property - which is SO lame. But I understand. They could be held liable if one dog attacks another. And we were ready to go anyway. We had a GREAT time and I was so proud of my boy. It was a totally new experience for him and he did great!

He’s going to have to get used to the clapping and large crowds if we ever do agility events. =)

Poor Quinn. Her grandma reports that she cried all day Friday. The vet didn’t send us home with any pain pills. So she lays there and cries this super faint absolutely pathetic whine. And she keeps licking herself …. ‘down there.’ She’s been doing that more and more but for some reason seems to be doing it more now. And crying. I hate the crying. She woke me up at midnight with her soft painful cry. =(

We don’t know how old she is…but she’s definitely up there in doggy years. We adopted her in 2002 and the adoption place estimated her age at 4-5. So if that were accurate she’d be 10-11 now. Good grief. She’s an old woman. Her ears have gotten salt and peppery - they used to be dark black.

We know she has arthritis in her back…she had x-rays a couple of months ago that showed it clearly. Plus she just moves slower. She does get excited and hop around once in awhile but not like her “Circus” days where she used to balance on her back legs and jump around. It was so cute!!! Now she sort of hops up and jumps her front legs up quickly and back down. Howling. She’s a howler.

Hubby came home today after a week away for work and she was SOOOO excited to see him. She missed him so much. She’s daddy’s little girl.

I hope that she’ll stop crying and not be in pain…I can’t tell if she’s crying because grandma did a little too much positive reinforcement today or if she’s actually in pain. Watching her age is so painful to us. I can’t explain how much she blesses our lives.

She really was a true rescue - she was in the kill shelter four times. The final time her family did not come to get her. She was an escape artist and apparently they got tired of paying the release fee. The shelter had a 7 day kill schedule. She was there 14 days. Her sweet personality won everyone over and they kept her around until a spot opened up in the local Husky Rescue. We found her on Pet Finder and drove more than 5 hours (10+ round trip) to introduce her to Kodiak and bring her home. She attacked him that night and drew blood, which I laugh about now. She is definitely the alpha female…he did try to take her bone so it was his own fault (I know…really it was ours for not thinking he’d try to get hers!). But she loves her two brothers and was amazingly motherly when we brought Trooper home. She didn’t bark at him once and only drew blood once when he tried to steal her dinner. Serves him right.

We love her so much. Please help us pray that she recovers and continues to live pain free and comfortably. We know our time together is limited.

At least that is how I feel. My poor darling little girl.

I know she hates going to the vet but she loves car rides. Her head out the window - she looks like she’s in pure heaven. Even as we arrive at the vet’s office. She jumps out and sniffs around and takes a little tinkle. And then when we go to the entrance she starts to pull back. *grin* She knows that she does NOT like going through that door. Nothing ever good ever happens through that door.

We love our vet though. If I didn’t I would not drive 30 minutes (45 on the way to pick her up…I hate traffic) just to go there. He does such a great job and is so great with all our animals (including the kitties).

In the exam room she starts to howl…the only way to keep her quiet is to rub her belly constantly, which, if the vet is running behind, can be quite tiring.

The nurse takes her temp (always a favorite event) and can’t even give Quinn a treat (no food prior to anesthesia). The vet comes in and looks at her teeth and confirms that she needs to get them cleaned. It looks like she may have Periodontal Disease.

So I leave my little princess behind and head home. I hate leaving her. It’s so strange to be home with just two dogs. It’s a whole different dynamic. And Trooper has no one to pick on.

At 4:30 I finally call to see if I can rescue Quinn and I head out into traffic. They close at 5:30 and as I sit in traffic I imagine that I won’t make it in time and how upset I will be if she has to stay there overnight! With 15 minutes to spare I walk in the office.

$450!!!

Good grief. Didn’t I just talk about spending money on pets? *giggle* I knew it was going to be up there but was hoping for more like $300. *sigh* I was just getting caught up on the credit cards.

She had to have one tooth pulled and some deep cleaning done on her teeth. He confirmed that she does have Periodontal Disease and will need to have her teeth cleaned once a year. It will also be helpful if we start to brush her teeth a few times a week. That ought to be fun.

But I think I’m going to start brushing all of the dogs’ teeth. I don’t want to have to go through this with the other two. I asked the vet if I could have prevented it and he said no, but it seems like if we’d brushed her teeth more often it may have helped. She is in the stage where it is not reversible but we can slow it down and treat it.

Bringing her home was difficult - mostly because I kept wanting to turn around and watch her. She was SO stoned and cute and out of it. She put her head out the window just like she likes and closed her eyes. Once on the freeway she laid down and fell asleep.

Getting her out of the car was a new experience. She’s never had a problem getting out of the car - it’s getting in that causes issues. But this time she cried and I had to coax her out. It broke my heart!!!

She got a little bit of her food and then Trooper and I went to agility. She was pretty out of it all evening. The whole situation was very stressful.

It just goes to show that prevention is so important!