Colleen

I let Colleen go today.  I took her back to the vet.  She has eaten nothing since last week.  She was only drinking small amounts of water.  She would lay on her cushion she shares with Abby and I would carry her to the back to the food.  She would just sit and look at it.  So I knew.  Well, when the vet examined her today, she had lost more weight and this time he found a mass around her kidneys.  He asked if I wanted to do and ultrasound.  No.  She has had a wonderful life and it is time to let go.  I held her while he put her to sleep.  I have cried all day.  She will be missed.  She has been my baby for 13 years.  May she rest in peace.

Colleen

Colleen is still not eating.  I'm calling Dr. Don tomorrow.  I have tried to tempt her with tuna, sardines, even dog food.  Nothing works and she is getting thinner each day.  Dr. David said there is nothing wrong with her, but there is.  I don't know what, but there is definitely something wrong.

Colleen

I'm still worried about Colleen. She is not eating like she should.  Maybe when the vitamins kick in, she will be more hungry.  I bought sardines today to hopefully tempt her.  She ate more than usual.  I have tuna for tomorrow.  Not a problem with the other cats.  And it looks like the vet was right.  I have Advantage on all the cats and Advantix on all the dogs and still am having trouble with fleas.  My son bought a flea comb and is coating the comb with Adams and combing them in addition to using the Advantage.  Gonna be a rough summer.  I'm gonna shave the little dogs and just keep bathing them along with the Advantage.  Hopefully, I can keep them at bay.  I haven't seen it this bad in years.

Happy day

I did not have to put Colleen down!  I spent the day being miserable and took off at 3:30 to take Colleen to Dr. David.  I cried all the way there.  Dr. David did blood work and gave her an examination.  He told me that all he found was mild anemia.  He put her on vitamins, told me to add Adams flea spray to my flea arsenal, and told me to take her home.  Since she stopped eating dry cat food she is losing weight.  That is all.  I was so happy!  I really hate to lose one of my friends.  On a down note, Dr. David told me that this is going to be a really bad year for fleas.  We have had several years of really dry weather and this year has been really wet.  The Advantage by itself is not cutting it anymore.  So it looks like it is going to be a long hard battle with the fleas.  But hey, I can handle anything now.

Colleen

Today is the day I have to kiss my baby goodbye.  I will miss her.

My guys.

Duncan does not know how to jump.  He cannot jump on the couch.  He cannot jump on the daybed.  When he irritates Jock, Jock just jumps on the couch.  Duncan can't reach him.  So he walks around in front of the couch whining.  For a little dog that was so scared of even being held, he has made a place for himself.  Now he loves to be held and cuddled.  he loves running around the yard and barking at the birds.  He takes great pleasure in barking at Daisy's squirrel.  I have to go out and pick him up and put him in the house.  My back door has a step that is about 10 inches from floor to ground and he can't jump into the house.  Likewise, when he goes out, I have to pick him up and set him on the ground.  He must have had a miserable life before he got to me.  Not miserable now.  He eats the best dog food, has great snacks, lives in an air conditioned house.  He sleeps on a quilt folded and put on the floor while I am at work.  And I cannot get him house broken.  I spend a lot of my time mopping.  Luckily, I do not have carpet.  My floors are concrete and tile.  I go through a lot of chlorox.

Colleen

Colleen is one of three kittens I rescued in May 2000.  After a night of thunderstorms, Marie, my tortie was just going nuts.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong.  Then I heard a very faint mewing.  I went out to the side yard.  I had a lot of shrubs there.  I found in a pool of water three week old kittens.  I picked them up, dried them off and called my vet.  His response was, "They are too young.  You can't keep them alive."  My response, " So you are telling me to just let them die.  No way.  Tell me what I have to do to save them."  So he told me I had to get some KRM, kitten replacement milk.  Ok, where do I get it.  He had it in his office so I made him meet me there.  It was 7am.  They had to be fed every 2 hours.  I worked a 10  hour day.  So I took them to my daughter.  She hauled in a friend and they fed them round the clock every two hours with an eyedropper.  The lived and grew.  All had problems.  Sylvester, she saw ghosts.  She would sit on her back legs and just paw the air.  She had to be put down at 8 because of cancer.  General Lee was a beautiful gray.  His mama just had to put him down about 2 weeks ago.  Cancer.  Colleen. Colleen has those deer-in-the-headlight eyes.  When she was younger, she would curl up next to my side at night and knead her claws all night.  She is very shy and will let no one pet her except me.  Now it is time to let her go.  She is going into renal failure.  Since Christmas she has lost a lot of weight.  I called Dr. Don yesterday and talked to him, describing her symptoms.  Yes, he told me I am right.  So next Wednesday morning I will take her to him and let him put her down.  She will join Marie and Max waiting for me at the rainbow bridge.  I will miss her.

Essie, Van and Picasso

The top picture is of Daisy's squirrel.  She was sitting on the point of the roof and watching me prune the roses.  The bottom picture is Picasso and Van Gough.  Picasso weighs in at 17 pounds and Van weighs in at 15.  Both are about 2 pounds overweight, but they are big cats.  They are so sweet and they love boxes, open drawers, closets and my bed.

The princess

This is Daisy enjoying herself on my leather couch.  Hard to believe that three years ago, we had to decide whether we would be able to find the money to fix her leg or put her down.  We pooled our finances, charged the surgery at the vet's and spent a year paying it off.  It was worth every penny.  I would guess that the surgery and all the follow ups cost around $1500.  My free dog is very high maintenance.

Bathing the little guys.

Sunday was bath day for the little dogs.  Daisy and Missy will get it next weekend when it is warm enough to bathe them outside.  I can't handle the bathtub with those two.  Anyway, my granddaughter helped me with Jock.  He was upset but well behaved as always.  We cut his toenails, cleaned his ears and bathed him.  Then we dried him with towels.  Next came Duncan.  Repeat of Jock.  Very docile.  As we are drying him, my granddaughter tells me that I am on my own with Abby.  I asked why.  Her reply,"Because I have seen her turn into teeth and fur.  She is your problem."  And she took off back to the video game and left me to bathe Abby.  You wouldn't think that bathing a 6 pound, 13 year old poodle would be a problem.  Well, my granddaughter is right.  She turns into an erratic bundle of teeth and fur, bouncing off the sides of the bathtub.  When I finished, I was a wet as she was.  Then I trimmed her nose and under her eyes.  Yeah, that took half an hour.  For awhile there, I wasn't sure who was winning and I could have sworn I heard the clippers whimper.  That little dog has attitude.  So I won't have to do that again for at least a couple of weeks.