Enjoying my brood.

Honey is, like Daisy before her, convinced she can catch the squirrel.  She tries so hard.  We had my son's brood for 5 days.  Honey is not allowed around them because Kenny is a butthead and thinks he is the biggest dog around.  I do not think Honey would ever hurt him, but I err on the side of caution.  so Honey is in the back of the house while they are here.  She has the dining room, kitchen and sun room to herself, but she thinks she is being punished.  Well, Kenny and the others went home today and Honey is making up for lost time.  She is on my bed now.  She is a sweetie. 

Surviving

Duncan contracted what the others had on Monday night.  No sleep for me and I felt so sorry for him.  He was better Tuesday, but I took off to watch him.  He seemed to be getting better.  He ate a little food Tuesday night. Ok, so maybe he is getting over it.  Jock was coming along, but still not 100%.  Well around 8pm Tuesday night all hell broke loose with Duncan.  Pooping about every 10 minutes and it was nothing but blood.  This kept up until around 2pm.  5:30 Jock is up to go outside.  I did not worry too much about Jock because he never quit eating and I added pumpkin as soon as his started.  Duncan refused to eat anything.  I forced water in him.  At 8am, I called the vet.  I had a 10:00am appointment.  So at 10 Duncan and I were in the vet's office.  The doc confirmed that he had a bacterial infection.  He gave me antibiotics and something for the vomiting.  By Wednesday night, he was eating, no bloody stools.  And he is really on the mend. 

Got a call from my sister up in the Ozarks.  One of her dogs had come down with it.  One with a compromised immune system.  Called my vet and told him this and he told me that it was probably being spread by wildlife.  Makes sense since her dogs are out in the country and do not come  in contact with other dogs.  I don't care.  I am just glad we are on the mend.  And my son's dogs are here again and feeling great. 

Bad bacteria

We are in day 11 of the bacterial outbreak that my son's dogs and mine have contracted.  My son called yesterday and Bella had caught the infection.  So it went through 7 dogs--everyone that came in contact with an infected dog.  I'm taking today off and watching them.  I worry about them.  Jock is much better, but he is not out of the woods yet.  Just talked to the vet's office and was told to watch them and if they don't begin great improvement, to bring them in.  And I will. 

My son lives in an apartment so in walking, his dogs can come in contact with not only stuff from other dogs, but wildlife as well.  And here the wildlife can carry some nasty stuff besides rabies. 

Kiddos

Am now making dog food.  I boiled chicken and sweet potatoes.  Mixed all that with pumpkin.  Hopefully, that will take care of Jock and Duncan.  I can't give it to Honey because she is very allergic to chicken.  I thought it was only the commercial dog food.  So I boiled chicken and did my usual with sweet potatoes and pumpkin, but it just proved she can't eat chicken.  Every dog food except on has some form of chicken in it.  And that is Nurto limited ingredient.  I can get it in Duck, Venison Meal, Fish, and Lamb.  I buy the duck or venison because I don't want to take a chance on getting fish from China.  And Don told me that they could develop an allergy to lamb easily.  So I drop $65 for a 22 pound sack of dog food.  She does fine on it.  Duncan cannot eat it.  Not even a transition helped.  I gave him 1/4 the new food for two days and both days it made him sick.  So he gets his Purina One turkey and venison canned food.  He does great on it and I do wish Purina would produce a chicken free food so I could use that for Honey. But I will do what I have to do for my Honey.  Jock and Honey are asleep on the futon.  Duncan is asleep on my bed.  No beds on the floor for them.

Been awhile, been so busy

I did take Duncan to Dr. Cargill.  He did an exam.  He asked how old Duncan was.  I told him I had no idea.  He has been with me for 7 years and Dr.  Henninger guessed he was around 8 when I got him.  Dr. Cargill grinned and said he thought he was between 15 and 20.  Would not be surprised because my animals tend to live a long, long life.  Picasso, my oldest cat, is 18 1/2, skinny as can be, picky as all get out on his food, but still doing ok. 

I kept my son's little dogs last week.  He was out of the country.  Well, Joey came sick.  My daugher-in-law thought it was because he missed my son.  But Kenny got sick last Wednesday night.  Kenny is 13 and has liver issues.  I was so scared.  My son would be crushed if he lost Kenny.  Kenny was vomiting and had diarrhea.  Well, my daughter-in-law picked them up Thursday morning.  My son called me on Friday and asked if Kenny had gotten into something because he was really sick.  Nope.  If there was something in my yard, Jock would be dead because he eats everything.  I make sure there are no toxic plants in their yard and they have a big yard.  Well seems that three of my son's dogs had gotten sick.  Kenny was the worst.  He took Kenny to the vet Friday afternoon.  Kenny had picked up a bad bacterial infection.  That infection went through all 4 of his dogs and all three of mine.  I would not let my son bring Baby for a play date on Sunday.  Jock was really sick Friday through yesterday.  He started improving today after I have given him pumpkin for two days.  Now Duncan is down with it.  I will have to take him in tomorrow.  He can't fight it off.  Honey only had a little vomiting.  I don't know what it was, but it was nasty.  Apparently not something that vaccinations would stop because all my son's dogs are vaccinated and so are mine.  Wish me luck.