Average Jane

Category: Dogs

  • The Latest Sickie at Average Jane’s House

    IMG_2158Over the past several weeks, Toby'd had a couple of "off" days where he wouldn't eat his breakfast or dinner and instead bummed around looking rather lethargic. Then before I could take him to the vet, he'd snap out of it and be fine the next day, so I figured perhaps he'd just gotten into something he shouldn't have.

    I should have realized he was actually sick when his level of house training started to decline. On Saturday night, he developed a horrible cough that was alarming enough that I went ahead and took him to the emergency vet clinic at 3:00 a.m., knowing that my own vet wouldn't be open until Monday.

    Eleventy-bazillion dollars later, I had a diagnosis of what I think could safely be described as "doggie bronchitis," possibly caused by the bacteria in his mouth from his typical Italian Greyhound periodontal disease. (Note to self: brush his teeth more often.)

    The vet x-rayed him and did bloodwork. Pneumonia was ruled out and his blood chemistry looked good across the board. They sent him home with antibiotic pills and liquid cough medicine that makes him so sleepy that I've only ever given him a half dose.

    Getting the pills down him was a challenge and I said so on Twitter, which prompted Geekaren to suggest peanut butter. I encased the next pill in a ball of peanut butter, wrapped it in a little bit of bread and gave it to Toby about halfway through his dinner.

    He ate it right up and didn't even attempt to spit out the pill. Now he's so excited about his twice daily "peanut butter treat" that it's hard to get him to start eating so he can get the potentially stomach-upsetting pill on top of a bed of other food.

    His cough is much better, which is good because he hates the liquid medicine (and also, I spilled some of it).

    When we got home on Sunday morning (it took a while), he was still zonked from whatever sedative they gave him for the x-rays, so he lay very still and I was able to make up most of the sleep I'd lost. On Sunday night he slept restlessly and pressed himself against my chest all night long so that I woke up with both arms numb. Last night he finally had a normal sleep and he seems to feel much better, except for a little coughing and wheezing when he gets really excited.

    Even though it was a budget-breaker, I'm actually kind of glad to have his x-rays and lab work. I knew I was adopting an older dog with an unknown medical history, so it's nice to have some reassurance that he's basically in good shape except for his current illness.

    Now that he's feeling better, his house training habits have returned to normal, which is to say not perfect, but generally pretty good. I'll be taking him to my regular vet for a follow-up appointment after work on Friday, but it looks like he's on the mend.

    Let's hope that's the end of the coughing in our household for a long time to come.

  • Average Jane Walks

    IMG_2126This morning, for only the second time this calendar year, the dog and I took our 3.4 mile neighborhood walk. Or as I imagine Toby likes to call it, the Fascinating Smells Tour.

    Last year I'd gotten to the point of taking the walk 3-4 times per week. I'd love to get back into that routine because I can tell I'm less fit than I was then. Three-and-a-half months of bronchitis will do that to a person.

    IMG_2127Toby is looking a little chunky as well. Poor guy has hardly been past the edge of the yard since Christmas.

    It was beautifully warm out. The weather app on my phone said 64°F, but it felt warmer than that to me. (Midwestern humidity, you know.) I wore a t-shirt and yoga pants and was perfectly comfortable. I saw a couple out walking in sweatshirts and they had to have been sweltering.

    There is another opportunity for me to exercise of which I haven't yet taken advantage: a new gym at my office. They hold "boot camp" training sessions at lunchtime and it's open all day otherwise. I need to figure out a way to squeeze a workout in now and then.

    I won't have time to walk tomorrow because I'm hosting a (likemind) coffee meetup. If you're in Kansas City and would like to join us, it starts at 7:30 a.m. at Mildred's Coffeehouse in the Crossroads (the corner of 18th & Wyandotte).

    I really missed walking and I'm feeling motivated to get my walking schedule back on track. If anyone wants to walk with me over the weekend, just say the word!

  • Average Jane’s February Photo Challenge Day 17: Time

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    For Toby, time is marked by two vitally important events: Doggie Breakfast Time and Doggie Supper Time.

    Doggie Breakfast Time is immediately after he wakes up, whenever that might be. Doggie Supper Time is around 6:00 p.m. or so.

    For each mealtime he gets a half cup of Nulo Chicken and Brown Rice, which is a woefully inadequate portion as far as he's concerned. The veterinarians who developed the serving recommendations beg to disagree, chubby.

    Febphotoaday

  • Average Jane’s February Photo Challenge Day 11: Makes You Happy

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    Of course this was going to be a pet photo.

    I spent most of today ferrying cats all over town for my rescue group. When I got home, I was greeted with the sight of Dr. Jones and Toby sharing the couch in their usual way. Of course, they'd both be a lot warmer if they'd just cuddle together, but they haven't reached that stage yet.

    Two of my other sources of feline happiness never appear in the same room together and the third was off somewhere else in the house, so I had to take what I could get.

    If you're wondering where my husband falls in all of this, he was either asleep or having band practice every time I was home. But yes, he definitely makes me happy as well.

    Febphotoaday

  • Average Jane Volunteers

    I wrote a post at BlogPaws about some of my volunteer work. You can find it here: 

    Volunteering With An Animal Rescue Organization

  • Average Jane’s Unwanted Preoccupation

    HydrantLet me start by saying that I love Toby. He's adorable, sweet, cuddly, fun and delightful in numerous ways. However, the one thing about having a dog that is far more troublesome than I had envisioned is the almost obsessive interest I am forced to take in his elimination habits.

    Early on we realized that he was a sneaky pee'er. He had one main spot: behind the chair in the TV room. I would walk in, smell the telltale odor, and then have to drag out the paper towels and the special spray from the pet store, over and over. He would also occasionally go in the kitchen and sometimes in the living room.

    I didn't really know what to do, so I tried a lot of things. Obviously we started taking him outside more often. I also bought one of those fake grass pad things, thinking it would be perfect for when it was raining and he absolutely refused to go out (which is apparently a universal Italian Greyhound trait).

    I'm kind of embarrassed to admit how excited I was when I noticed that it had been used! Unfortunately, it didn't take long before I realized that our cat, Trillian, was the one using it. I caught her scratching the turf several times and eventually walked in on her when she was actually peeing on it. Weirdo.

    Last weekend I thought we had finally cracked the code. We had his outdoor schedule pretty consistent but when it rained he balked, as usual. I got out a wire kennel and started confining him for about an hour every time I took him out and he refused to do his business. Then I'd take him outside immediately after he was released. And it worked! At least until this week when it got really cold.

    Yesterday and today he started refusing to even walk when we took him out. He went an entire day without pooping, which is pretty bad considering that he'd had four meals in that time.

    It turns out (as far as I can tell) that his fit of stubbornness was because he didn't like having his sweater on under his jacket. Apparently that threw him off his game completely. After a day of increasingly difficult behavior from him, I finally took off his sweater and he immediately asked to go outside, whereupon he trotted joyfully up the street and immediately took care of all of his biological necessities.

    So this is obviously going to remain a battle, probably indefinitely. I can't believe that at this stage of my life I'm having entire phone conversations with my husband about the number of times the dog has peed and pooped during the day. But there it is.

    Oh, for the simpler days when all I had to do was scoop a litterbox from time to time! Then again, the cats have never played chase with me back and forth through the house or stared lovingly into my face for long periods of time. It's all a tradeoff.

    Photo credit: B Mully

  • Bromance at Average Jane’s House

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    Despite the fact that Dr. Jones was the most hostile of our cats when Toby arrived, the two of them have become good buddies. I've seen them snuggled together sleeping and they even run around and play together sometimes.

    Yesterday Toby jumped up on the bed with Jones and was trying to get him to play. Jones cuffed him on the head several times, which either meant that he was playing along or he wasn't in the mood to play just then. I think Toby took it as play.

    I'm glad that Toby has found a special pal among the cats.

  • Lazy Sunday at Average Jane’s House

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    It's cold and gloomy outside, so my plan is to remain in my pajamas and robe as late as possible today and hang out with the critters. I have Thanksgiving leftovers to sustain me, plenty to read, and I'll almost certainly take a nap later on because I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. after going out to see a Bon Jovi tribute band play last night.

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    I had thought about putting up the Christmas tree and other decorations but I've decided there's no hurry. I have another four-day weekend coming up the week after next, and it makes more sense to do it then.

    Enjoy your Sunday!

  • Average Jane’s Fragmented Sleep

    IMG_1621The dog and I need to have a talk about schedules. I take him out before bed and the deal is that he's supposed to lie down next to me and sleep until I get up. Instead, he's been getting up in the middle of the night and if I don't leap up and take him outside, he sneaks away and pees somewhere in the house. Then I still have to wake up to clean.

    That's what happened last night. Once I was up at 3:45 a.m., I couldn't go back to sleep right away. I was hungry, so I made a couple of pieces of toast. While I ate them, I went through the grocery store sale circulars that had come in the mail and figured out where to get the best deals on my Thanksgiving shopping. I'll be going to two different stores (my third store wasn't even in the running), but I do that routinely anyway.

    I finally got back to sleep and had some truly ridiculous dreams. I can't remember many of the details anymore, but they were so absurd that I could barely suspend my disbelief while they were happening, much less once I woke up.

    The next two days are going to be extremely busy at work, so here's hoping I can snap out of my daze and focus on writing and organizing. I think the fact that I was still able to pull out a blog post before my morning shower is a good sign, don't you?

  • 5 Things Average Jane Has Noticed About Dog Ownership

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    1. People are rather ridiculously happy for you. I always used to joke that we never had kids because we couldn't even get to the dog stage. Well apparently that wasn't a joke after all. Ever since I said I was getting a dog, my friends have evinced the kind of excitement usually reserved for pregnancy announcements. It's as if I really have reached some kind of milestone. Nevermind that I've spent more than twenty years raising long-lived cats. (I'm still not going to have human kids, though. The dog stage is not literally penultimate.)
    2. You meet a lot more people. I've been walking the same route around my neighborhood for a couple of years, but until I had a dog I had probably only spoken to about three people. Now I speak to several people every time I go out. Strangers want to pet Toby and ask about him. He's a living, breathing conversation starter.
    3. You become aware of the neighborhood dogs. Most dogs won't bark at a person walking, but they are very interested when a dog walks by their territory. I had no idea there were so many dogs on my block, much less along my 3.4 mile route. I even know some of their names now. Heck, I've learned that the dog next door is named Dolly and yet I still don't know her owners' names after living next to them for sixteen years.
    4. It makes you get exercise. I was already walking a lot when we got the dog, but my husband was not. Since he's the one home during the day, he ends up walking Toby at least up the block once or twice a day. He told me that he was initially sucking wind by the time he got to the top of our hill, but he was already finding it easier after the first couple of weeks.
    5. You become more in tune with the seasons. This fall has been fascinating for me. One of my neighbors has a tree that sheds a carpet of beautiful golden needles that covers the street for half a block, but only for a day. Some of our neighbors have trees that drop dark brown, twisty pods full of seeds. Being outside every day gives you a front-row seat for all of the seasonal changes. I don't know how I'll feel about that when it starts snowing regularly, but I'm sure I'll learn to cope.