Mr Lucky Meow, Oh No, Squeakers - Oh No met me right away in the kitchen and Mr Lucky Meow was in there pretty quickly too. I split the can of food between the 4 bowls and gave Squeakers a large spoonful of it. I put the rest of it down for the other two. I put one scoop of dry food in each bowl up on the counter for Squeakers. I gave them a fresh bowl of water downstairs too.
dog walking on Tues 10/2
Millie & Sadie - so far so good :) I've not noticed anything that has been chewed!! :) We've been lucky with the rain too. It rained on our first visit but other than that, it hasn't. Hopefully we'll be as lucky later today. I'd left the towels down on the floor midday yesterday and when I got there last night, they were all bunched up on the dog bed but other than that, everything looked great! They're enjoying their walks and playing in the yard.
dog walking on Mon 10/1
Millie & Sadie - they are just fine. Yesterday they spent time in the yard and they enjoyed their walks. This morning we walked. It was sprinkling but they didn't seem to mind. I think it is supposed to rain on and off today and tomorrow.
dog walking on Sun 9/30
Easter & Homer - here is Wesley's note: Homer and Easter did great this weekend. Homer did hide under the shed but, when I walked back there and talked to him he came right out with no barking. I already had his food fixed and ready so he was probably hungry. I felt Easter did better on the walks, than the last time. She was not as scared of every little thing. It did not thunderstorm or rain hard in your neighborhood, despite what the radar showed we were getting. Lucky, Rocky, Maddie & Cotton - they are all well. I thought one of the cats had thrown up on the rug in the den but as I got closer to the spot, it was a chewed wrapper of some sort. I'm not sure who the culprit was but it looked like someone had a sweet tooth. This morning I fed them all and scooped the litter box.
Millie & Sadie - my first post will be tomorrow morning since I'm not seeing them til midday.
update on Sam
Sam - Sam got pretty excited this morning before our walk. He even barked b/c he was so excited and I wasn't getting the leashes out fast enough. He's walking pretty slowly and we're not going far but he seems to love his walks as he always has. He is still eating well too. I can tell that he doesn't feel great so we'll monitor him closely. He goes for another acupuncture treatment tomorrow. What I didn't mention when I posted yesterday about him (and I'll try to make this short.) This was my Friday: left for work about 10am concerned about Sam. At 11am, found a nail in my tire. Talked to Don at noon to meet me at tire shop around 1pm so I could use his car. He told me Sam wasn't doing well. I stopped by the house and he was right, Sam wasn't doing well. My tire looked fine so I decided to finish all of my dog walking visits and then go to the dealership and I left a message for my vet to call. I finished my jobs and asked Don to take my car to the shop. I couldn't stand being away from Sam. I got home around 2:30pm and Don took my car in.
My mom was on her way to my house to be here because ALL OUT CHIMNEY SWEEP was coming at 3:30pm. Don was gone so I'd asked a neighbor to help me put Sam in my car. He couldn't walk and I can't pick him up. When Kerry from ALL OUT CHIMNEY SWEEP gets to my house, I explain my situation and he immediately asks if I need help putting Sam in the car. He and his co-worker very gently picked up Sam and put him in the car. Don got home while I was at the vet with Sam and as it turned out the bill from ALL OUT CHIMNEY SWEEP was less than what they had quoted. AND to top it all off, they called us on Saturday to check on Sam. I am still unbelievably impressed by them. If you need your chimney inspected, I highly recommend them. 704.553.1908
my Sam I Am
Video of Sam, Buddy and Willow running to the house b/c they're ready for dinner.
The above video is terrible quality but you can see Sam running for the house b/c he knows it is dinner time. I've been meaning to try to capture this moment forever. It always makes me smile to see all of them running for the back door but especially Sam bc none of them love to eat more than him. Excuse the quality but I did manage to capture his excitement. He is the 1st yellow dog running towards the house. He shows up just as he is approaching the garage and Buddy our black lab is running up there too. Then I let Willow off her leash and Buddy is running back to me. Buddy always runs back to me. This video was shot on 9/20 or 9/21 I think.
Sam will be 15 on 11/10. Yesterday we got up as usual and went for our walk. He seemed fine. Mid-morning I took him out again and he didn't walk very far. When we got back in the house, he laid down and when I gave him his usual 1 piece of shredded wheat from my cereal bowl, he didn't eat it. My thoughts then were confirmed that he did not feel well.
I left to go to work and Don kept an eye on him. He let me know that Sam wasn't doing well and that he could no longer stand up. He'd lost the use of his back legs. By the time I got back home, things did not look good at all. I took him to the vet and we discussed the options. Dr Laura at Atrium Animal Hospital didn't feel like Sam's time was up yet. She recommended metacam (doggie aspirin) and acupuncture. She brought in some food with the metacam in it and I wondered if he'd eat it. He did! I knew then that she was right. Sam's time was not up. We've always said that when Sam stops eating, we will know.
By the time we left the vet's office, Sam was walking on his own. She cautioned that it could be adrenaline helping him out. He slept well last night and he was ready to walk this morning. It was a slow walk and we didn't go very far but the fact that he wanted to walk at all was a victory. He also gobbled down his breakfast. Victory #2.
He is still not out of the woods. He'll go for another acupuncture treatment on Monday and we'll keep him on the metacam. Thank God for prayer, metacam and acupuncture.
Sam has always been a happy dog. We want to make certain he is still happy. His tail was wagging this morning. I'll take that as a good sign. I am thankful for every day that I get to spend with him.
For anyone whose dogs I am seeing right now, I can assure you they are getting lots of love from me.