Psycho Chihuahua

Pinky is a total pyscho when it comes to wrapping paper. She loves to rip it and tear it the shreds. This is a photo of her just after she tore up paper from my daughter's birthday. Once she is done with the ripping, Pinky gets into a frenzied state. This frenzy makes her run around the house like a lunatic. I captured this one as she was tearing around the dining room table. As you can see, she is airborne here and is chasing my other dog, Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi was less than thrilled to be the object of Pinky's attention at this moment.

Me 1, Pinky 52

I DID IT!!!

I resolved to extract urine from Pinky by 12/31/2006 and I am happy to say that I did get that accomplished. As you can see from the title of this post, there was much work on my end in order to get the task completed.

The animal hospital gave me a bend-able Dixie plate-ish rectangular kind of container to catch the pee. It looks sort of like a french fry holder that you would get on the boardwalk at the shore. I attempted to use this many times with no luck. I started to fold it upwards so it would easily fit through her legs without touching her. I was able to get it under her, but as soon as I did, she would stop peeing.

It got to the point that when I was following her around the yard, she would just sit down on the cold ground. I suppose she was thinking that she could outwait me, but she thought wrong. On 12/29 I went out at 4:00 am when they went out for the first pee of the day. I figured that with their full bladders coupled with cold air, I would have a much better chance of getting the pee. Pinky kept squatting and running to get away from me.

On 12/30 I was able to get 2 drops. Literally, two drops of pee. I really didn't think that was going to be enough, but I poured it into the bottle that the animal hospital provided and refrigerated it.

Time was running out, so I resorted to drastic measures. Both of my chihuahuas love tea. Yes, hot tea (a post for another day). Yes, I know that I spoil them, but lets move on, shall we? I brewed a giant cup of blueberry tea and added milk to it. Pinky was climbing up my leg to sit on my lap just to watch me drink the tea. She was starting to drool. I let her slurp from the cup. She drank deeply from the giant vessel. I let her drink and drink. I even let Chi-Chi have some, but Pinky got to finish it up. Then I waited 15 minutes and opened the sliding glass doors to let them into the yard.

I was right behind Pinky with my crazy french fry holder. No sooner had she cleared the last step of the deck than she went into squat mode. She didn't even sniff out a good place to go. I was right there and positioned the container perfectly. She peed and peed. I had my sample! Woo-Hoo!

Pinky 20, Me 0

Pinky had some medical issues earlier this year. As a result, we had to change her diet to some specially formulated food. Luckily, she actually likes to eat this food, so that has not been a problem. What has been a problem is that I was supposed to have brought a urine sample to the vet to ensure that the food is working properly. I have been unable to obtain a urine sample from her.

Why is that? Well, she is rather skittish. I have taken her on several walks and every time she squats to pee, I am right there with my mini Tupperware trying to shove it under her. As soon as I get there, she stops peeing. She is quite adept at this dance by now. I have changed containers, but still with no luck. I estimate my attempts at 20 and I have been skunked each time.

I MUST get this sample. I know I can bring her to the vet and they can extract a sample from her, but that will cost beaucoup bucks. Since the sample doesn't have to be "pure" the vet suggested I save some dough and get it myself. Up til now, the attempts have been fruitless. I am determined to get this pee sample. I am setting a deadline of obtaining it by December 31st, 2006. Wish me luck!

When a Pet is Sick

Those of us with pets know a love like no other. My Chihuahuas were my first babies before there was ever a two-legged baby in my life. Boy did I treat them like babies too. I would carry them around as if they couldn’t walk on their own and I cuddled with them and gave kisses and just spoiled them in general. In return I had two fiercely loyal companions who charged to greet me at the door every day when I came home. They leap into my lap as soon as I was seated. I was rewarded with sweet and sometimes not so sweet doggy kisses. So when Pinky first got sick, I was terrified.

She is a part of me and I simply could not imagine a day without Pinky in my life, and yet that is what I had to contend with. What ifs could drive a person insane, I know, but the reality was that I could lose her. I was not ready for that. Then I was wondering how Chi-Chi would react to not having her older sister around.

Pinky was only 9 years old and had lots of years left in her. She started having pee accidents in the house. This was unusual for her, so I knew something was wrong. The vet thought she probably just had a urinary tract infection (UTI) and prescribed anti-biotic and took a pure urine sample from her bladder. He cautioned that it could be a sign of something more serious like bladder stones.

She started the meds, but I didn’t see a huge improvement. The vet called to say that her tests came back positive for a UTI, so the meds he prescribed should be helping. I said that she was still peeing in the house only now it seemed like she was having trouble peeing. He scheduled a sonogram for Pinky to see if she had bladder stones.

The bad news was that she did have bladder stones, five to be exact. He recommended surgery to remove them and we decided to leave her at the hospital and have the surgery done immediately. She came through the surgery just fine and the stones were really pointy. She must have been in a lot of pain and never let on.

The stones were sent out to see what they were composed of which would tell us how she needed to be treated. Sometimes it would require medication and sometimes a change in diet, but the composition of the stones would let the vet know. The results took weeks to come back and they were mixed. It was highly unusual for the stones to be made up of different substances and that’s what we had.

I had to bring her in for some blood work to ensure she didn’t have liver disease. And no, thankfully, she does not. We are treating her now with diet. She is eating a special dog food and I have to get urine samples to see if the food is helping.

The good news is that she certainly seems fine right now. She actually likes the prescription dog food, which is a miracle because she is a fussy eater. What is the bad news? I had to contemplate a life without Pinky. It is not a happy place and I hope I don’t have to deal with this for years.

Fleabag!

My dogs have never had fleas. I used to put these chemicals on them to prevent fleas. However I stopped using this last year because Pinky had a bad reaction. She was doing all of these odd movements. I don’t just mean trying to get the medicine off of her, because they both did that, but she was doing these jerky motions. It scared me and I bathed her to try and get the meds off. Chi-Chi seemed unaffected.

Someone told me to give the dogs garlic pills. It is a natural flea inhibitor. Guess they don’t like the smell of garlic, kind of like vampires, huh? Pinky LOVED the taste of the pills. Now the pills are very big pills. They crumble easily, so when I tried to cut them in half, they powdered. She ate them without the aid of peanut butter, which is indeed rare. Normally I have to hide the pills in cheese or peanut butter to get them to eat the pill, so I was happy she ate them like a treat.

Chi-Chi, on the other hand, did not like the smell at all. Even doused in peanut butter, she would only eat part of the pill. I’d find the other half, and sometimes all of it, under the couch with the peanut butter licked off. I thought about crumbling it in her food, but then I figured that she wouldn’t eat her food, and as much as she needs to slim down, I didn’t want that.

When Pinky had her bladder problem, I stopped all the supplements I was giving them for fear that the supplements were causing her stones. This was in May-June. So I got out of the habit of giving them their all-natural flea repellant. Do you see where this is going?

I notice Pinky was scratching a lot. I pulled her fur to see if I could spot a flea and I didn’t see any. Still, I decided that I’d better give them a bath. They both went into the sink for a bath, but all I had was regular doggy shampoo. I didn’t have flea shampoo. Why would I have that? They never had fleas!

I kept them both off the bed for a few days, which was a feat in and of itself. Pinky was easy because she cannot jump onto the bed. Do you know how many times a night I had to deflect Chi-Chi as she attempted to hurdle herself up there? 4-5 times every night. She was a persistent doggy!

I’m petting Pinky a few nights later and I feel something hard on her back. I literally had to pull it off of her. It looked like dirt. I kept petting her and I kept finding more and more of it. I sat her on a piece of paper and started brushing her and this dirt was coming off. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t good. I examined her again and then I saw it. A FLEA. It was too quick for me to get it off of her. I figured that the dirt I pulled off was from the flea and it turns out that is a telltale sign that your dog has fleas.

I gave AR a list of things to buy: flea shampoo, flea spray for the room and flea dip. I remember years ago they had flea dip that you would put on your dog and it would get the fleas off. I also started the garlic pills again and settled on only giving Chi-Chi half a pill since that was all she would eat anyway. I checked Chi-Chi, but she did not have the dirt on her. I didn’t see any fleas either.

The pet supply store recommended a flea & tick liquid that you put between their shoulder blades. It was a different brand than I had used in the past, so that was purchased along with the room spray. They refused to carry flea dip as it has been known to cause blindness in some dogs. They also advised not to use the medicine and the flea shampoo, just one or the other or the dogs will get over-medicated.

No bad reactions from either dog, I am pleased to say. Within three days, the flea dirt is now gone from Pinky. Chi-Chi still is dirt free. Poor Pinky felt so rejected though because I refused to pick her up and tote her around the way I normally did, plus she wasn’t allowed on the bed even though she let me know every morning and evening that she wanted to come up. I had to tell her to Go TO YOUR BED and she was not pleased.

Lesson learned. Don’t stop flea treatments during flea season!

Crayola® Kryptonite

I was awakened last night at 1:15 am from a deep sleep to the unmistakable sound of a Chihuahua heaving. Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a Chihuahua owner more than the sound of vomiting. There isn’t much worse in life than rolling over in bed into a puddle of cold puke, unless you have a dog with loose sphincter muscles but that is a story for another day…Luckily, the culprit this time was Chi-Chi and she is most considerate. When she feels the vomit urge strike, she leaps off the bed to hide under it where she does her dastardly deed. Of course, you are only lucky if it is at night because at least then you know what is transpiring. It can happen when no one is there to see it and then we play a game of “What’s that stench and where is it coming from?”

So there I was at 1:30 am attempting to coax Chi-Chi out from under the bed. AR was snoring away oblivious to all. She kept making that wretched dry heave sound without producing any vomit. She must have eaten a bad crayon or perhaps Chi-Chi had just discovered what her Crayola® limit was for the day. Either way, something needed to be done to remedy the situation.

I pretended not to care and climbed back into bed, allowing my arm to hang off of it so that my hand touched the floor. Slowly I heard Chi-Chi inch her way over to my side under the bed (AR’s side is the one she prefers to puke under), until her cold wet nose was flush with my hand. I gently scratched her head and rubbed under her chin all the while whispering to her that she needn’t hide under the bed since she isn’t a bad dog just because she feels sick over and over until she was finally out from under the bed.

Up until this point, Pinky was fully enjoying the luxury of being the only Chihuahua in the bed. She shot me a dirty look when I pulled Chi-Chi onto the comforter. Success at last! I scooped up the ill-feeling Chihuahua and sprinted into the kitchen with my catch. I dared not to release the petite hound for experience has taught that she would immediately dart under the couch, thus beginning the next round of coaxing.

With one hand filled with Chihuahua, the other managed to open the fridge door and pull out a bottle of tonic water. Tonic water is the great elixir when a tummy is upset. It works for humans, so why not for Chihuahuas? I somehow unscrewed the bottle cap with one hand and poured a small amount in a glass Pyrex dish, also known is this home as a dog bowl. I held the bowl up to Chi-Chi’s mouth and her head bent down slightly to inspect what was proffered. After a quick sniff, she flatly refused the tonic.

I took a spoon and tried unsuccessfully to get Chi-Chi to drink from it. Finally I dipped my finger into the tonic and touched it to Chi-Chi’s lips. She accepted the tonic and so we continued finger to bowl, tonic to Chihuahua lips until it was done. It was a painstakingly slow process.
I sent Chi-Chi out into the yard thinking that she might enjoy a chomp of some grass to force the vomit issue, but she did not partake of the green substance. Promptly she emitted a huge poo smattered with flecks of Vivid Violet crayon, the last Crayola® to meet with Chi-Chi’s vice-like jaws.

Chi-Chi scampered back into the house and was already peacefully slumbering before I reached the bed. I spied my daughter’s box of Crayolas® that have already proven to be one Chihuahua’s Kryptonite. I cavalierly tossed the sweet-smelling wax into the garbage without thinking how I was going to explain the missing crayons to her and retreated to the bedroom. Pinky had already assumed her rightful place atop my pillow. As I settled back into bed, Chi-Chi snuggled up to my legs and Pinky heaved a deep sigh. I looked at the red LCD numbers on the clock that said 2:10 am. Only three more hours until it’s time to get up I thought and instantly fell asleep. All was right with the world.