Monday, February 21, 2011

The good, the bad and the very, very cute!

Yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag of news around here. It was another beautiful day, this time warm enough for a stroll on the beach. Charley, however, must have been suffering some ill effects from the previous day's outing as her back legs were very stiff and she was not happy moving at more than a snail's pace. I may have to investigate the cost of acupuncture or laser therapy to see if we can ease those muscles a bit - 'Recovery' (a supplement I've been using) no longer seems to be helping.

Sadie will be going to the vet's this week - her right eye has suddenly sunken inward for some unknown reason. It occured a couple of days ago and has not corrected itself, and though it doesn't seem to bother her or to affect her vision, it is very worrisome.


Poor Me! Send Cookies!


I received a call from our little village Post Office last night (on a Sunday evening yet!) to say my mailbox (which is located in the post office building - there's no delivery here) was one of several to get broken into sometime during the wee hours, and all the mail stolen. I only pick up my mail about once a week, so who knows what might have been in there.....bank statements, credit card statements, income tax forms. So today I have to do all I can to prevent identity theft, something I'm a wee bit paranoid about. Not how I wanted to spend my Monday morning. Maybe the thief is really a Secret Santa kinda guy who is going to make large deposits into everyone's accounts and pay all their bills?????

And one more piece of bad - or rather, sad - news. Zuke, Lucy's only 'black' (reverse brindle) pup, has been injured. His mom tells me he was in an accident a week ago Friday.

Here's a phot0 of him last October:



Elizabeth, his mom, tells me

He is trying his best to recover from pelvic damage. We are trying to keep him inside and not moving about too much. You can imagine how difficult this is. He thinks he's just fine and wants to run and play.
Yesterday was such a beautiful day, we couldn't bear to leave him behind so we took him to the boys soccer games. He was so happy to lie on the field and just be with everyone. He is such a good dog, he let everyone admire him and little hands pet him while he licks them back.
This week we all missed having him come to the bus stop every morning. He cried from his crate. He walks so well with us. I felt awful leaving him behind because he is sooo sweet and well behaved, he doesn't deserve this at all. I can talk to Zuke and he understands. Every night at 9:30 pm he gets up from lying in front of the fire and puts himself to bed.
We will take him for another vet visit tomorrow, I hope it is good news. We will do everything we can for him.


Here are some photos of Zuke, presumably before his accident. You can really see the reverse brindle in this first one:







Thanks for keeping me informed, Elizabeth - many healing vibes to Zuke.

We also have an update on Hubbard, who used to look like this:



He now looks like this:





Readers may recall that he was the one pup I was most concerned about in his early weeks, as he was very lethargic with a very fast heart rate. Whatever it was (perhaps the worms he was born with) he's certainly over it now! Hubbard's mom, Leah, tells me

Hubbard is asleep beside me on the couch as I type, a happy member of our family. He is doing great! He’s 45-50lbs and a big cuddler. We live on 5.5 acres in Sooke and he loves running, sticks (more like branches), frisbees, soccer, exploring in the forest over logs and wherever he can go, chasing birds, and wondering why our 14 year old siamese cat won’t play with him.
He has long strong legs and a beautiful brindle coat he gets a lot of compliments on. We see mastiff in him, though some of his behaviour reminds me of a beloved corgi I grew up with. He’s a good boy!
I really enjoyed reading about Lucy after Hubbard came home. He definitely has some of her traits!

And I'll end the post with one more photo of Hubbard - I love, love, love this shot! It is sure to make you smile:



Thanks for the update, Leah. Give that happy pup a belly rub from me!

7 comments:

EvenSong said...

Oh dear! Not a happy post at all! Except for the inclusion of the "antidote" photos at the end...
Sending healing wishes for Charlie, Sadie, and Zuke. And recovery wishes for Jean's invaded-mailbox syndrome. And thanks for the great puppies-growing-up pictures. I, too, love that last one: What an imp!

Jen said...

Oh goodness... lots of healing vibes for Charlie, Sadie and Zuke! While I hate to hear about older dogs with problems, it really, really bothers me to hear about puppies who are hurting!! :( Here's hoping nothing bad happens due to your mailbox breakin too!!

Hang in there, things have to look up SOON!

Jen and the Black Dog Crew

Dom said...

Fingers crossed for everyone who needs it. The reverse brindle is very cool.

Good luck with the mailbox break in.

Loved the photos.

georgia little pea said...

Terrible news about the break in. ID theft is a pain in the butt of modern life.

I hope Charley, Sadie and Zuke get better soon.

All your foster pups have grown up beautiful! I got a bit worried reading about the fast heartbeat. Georgia has one too and a very hot body. We've asked the vet about this a few times and he's looked her over and says everything is fine. Born with worms? :(

Judy said...

Jean, thanks for the update on several of those pups. They really turned out handsome dogs.

I was looking at that picture of Sadie's eye. The lower edge of the eyelid is misshapen. Is it possible that the eye isn't sunken in, but rather that there's swelling below the eye that's pushing the eye back and also pulling that lower lid out of place? Maybe an infected molar or blocked tear duct? What's that white area in the photo? I sure hope it's something easily treated.

Jean said...

Hi Judy - I wondered about the possibility of an infected molar or something, but there doesn't seem to be any swelling or any tenderness at all, and she certainly isn't having any problems eating! The white is the tissue inside her eyesocket, the area from which the eyeball has retracted. Her appointment is Thursday morning, so hopefully we'll know more then.

Georgia LP - most pups are born with worms. Because Lucy was not terribly well cared for prior to coming to the SPCA, her pups likely had more than might be expected - I dewormed them three times, and the first two times they came out by the cupful!! Ugh!! That was not fun!

Anonymous said...

Healing vibes sent to Zuke, Charlie and Sadie. Finger crosses that all will be well. Ditto on my mailbox.Hopefully it was empty as I had picked up my mail Thursday. Still a pain in the you know what.

Else