Mama Learned A New Trick

Junie in her new sweater. She is so cute in purple.

Mom has been mixing in Blue Buffalo Stews with my dry dog food.  When she picked up new food, she grabbed some new varieties including Blue Buffalo Wilderness Canned Dog Food, Salmon Recipe.  When she opened the can, she was mighty surprised to see it wasn't stew, it was, well, kind of mush.  Like what you would expect canned dog food to be.

She dished it out for me in my bowl and sat it down.  I sniffed at it.  Then I started licking at it but I couldn't get my teeth around it.  If you haven't followed my story from the beginning, it is here, but the short story is, my jaw was broke at the puppy mill.  No one got it fixed.  My teeth don't line up at all.  In order for me to get food in my mouth, I have to be able to pick it up with my tongue and move towards the back.  I couldn't get this food up.  I was trying so hard.

Mom looked at me struggling and her heart broke.  She thought about it.  She was wondering what she could do to make it easier for me.  Light bulb moment She got out a small plate and put my food all on that.  She's brilliant.  Without the sides of the bowl in my way, I could maneuver around to get the food in my mouth.  She said she is going to get me one of those plates for babies, the ones with the suction cups on the bottom, because even on the rug, the plate moved around on me as I was trying to get the food into my mouth.

She loves me.

She is also gradually switching me from the Blue Buffalo Longevity Dry Food for Adult Dogs to the Blue Buffalo Life Protection Dry Food for Small Breed Dogs.  She is hoping since the pieces are a little bit smaller that I won't have as much trouble chewing them.  She knows that when switching dog food brands that you have to go slowly, but she wasn't sure if the same holds true if your just switching formulas within the same brand. She said she would rather be safe than sorry with my tummy.

She's not even sure if I actually NEED the dry dog food.  She thought I did, to help clean my teeth, but is it absolutely necessary?  If she brushes my teeth twice a day (which I HATE by the way and I guarantee you she is not getting them very clean when she does it because I do not open my mouth for her), would it be ok to just give me the stew and the soft food?  I mean, there are dogs out there that only eat food their humans prepare for them.  Isn't that kind of the same thing?

Any dog experts out there want to weigh in because I don't know.

She also talked to another vet yesterday about getting my teeth cleaned really good.  This vet has a health plan for dogs.  It covers all of my shots, my check ups, blood work (I don't like the sound of that - that has to do with that band aid thing they put on me at the vet last time doesn't it?).  It also gives her 15% off of my medicines, like my heart worm and flea pills.  This vet is at a pet store, but this pet store doesn't sell dogs and cats.  They work with a rescue to adopt the rescued animals out.  It bothers her though that they sell other animals, like hamster, guinea pigs, and birds.  The vet at this pet store though, tried so hard to save her gerbil when she had a stroke.  No one else that my mom called would see a gerbil.  She called the vet at this pet store and they said, yes we see rodents.  Bring her right in and we'll get her checked.  People laughed when they heard my mom took her sick gerbil to the vet, but that's just how my mom is.  The vet there wasn't sure if the gerbil had a respiratory infection or if she had had a stroke, but she did everything she could within reason to save the little gerbil.  My mom tried giving the gerbil her antibiotics, she tried giving her fluids with an eye dropper.  All she could do was keep her warm.  It turned out she had had a stroke and she died later that evening, wrapped in a blanket with my mom and the kids with her.

This was before my time here, but I heard mom talking to the kids about it yesterday, reminding them of who this vet was.  This family sure does love their pets, even the small ones that most people wouldn't take the time to take them to the vet if they are sick.

The oldest boy asked mom if he could get a mouse yet.  Mom said no.  She gets so attached to these little critters and they are gone too soon.  They had a dwarf hamster that lived almost 4 years.  Mom (and everyone else) was amazed he lived that long. Their life expectancy is 2-3 years. He died of old age.  He died in front of the Oldest Boy and the Oldest Girl a few years ago.  He was climbing up the bars of his cage, stopped, and just fell to the bottom.  Just like that he was gone.

I am going to live to a ripe old dog age.  That's what my mama says.  She says she's always right. :)

Junie Says To Check Out:  The Healthy Dog Cookbook: 50 Nutritious & Delicious Recipes Your Dog Will Love

The Rescued Pet Vet Visit

Junie in the laundry basket she has claimed during the day.

Mommy took me to the vet yesterday for my rescued pet check up.  She took my vet records from my spay and shots and had them check me over so that she would be aware of any problems that I might need to have fixed.  She wants to get me as healthy as I can be.

I got to meet the wonderful people at Ashworth Road Animal Hospital.  I have to say, they loved my dress I had on.  Mom didn't put me in a dress to look pretty.  She put me in it because she knows I don't like my heavier clothes and thought I'd be happier in the dress for a longer period of time and still be warm with the wind and cold.  Mom said I do have to get used to my coats because we live in Iowa and it will snow sooner or later.

The vet took lots of time looking me over.  As my mom expected, I have an ear infection.  She thought something was going on with my ears because of the smell I have.  When the doctor started cleaning stuff out of my ear with a Q-tip, my mom just about got sick from the smell.  She should know how it smelt to me.  I have a better sense of smell.  GROSS!  I have antibiotics that mom puts in my ear now.  Mom thought I was licking my jaw so much before because of my jaw.  I started licking like mad when the vet was cleaning out my ears.  My poor ears itch and hurt.  I wish I knew how to tell my mom that so she could have taken me in sooner.

They took me back and cleaned out all of that icky out of my ears really good.  The vet showed mom how to give me my antibiotics in my ear.  She did it this morning and I did not sit quite as good for her as I did the vet.  I knew what was happening this time.

They also tested me for heart worm and I got a bright pink piece of gauze wrapped around my leg that the kids thought was the coolest band-aid ever.

I got a heart worm pill, dewormer pill, and a flea pill (because the vet said Frontline won't work as well for me seeing as I don't have much fur on my neck to put it in).  

I also got gel for the acne on my toosh.  The doctor said that might be part of the reason I get a bad odor to me also.  Plus I got a special shampoo for the skin every where else because it's so dry.

The vet also found a spot in my eye where it's scarred.  She said I was injured when I was younger and that it healed.  Mom is wondering if that means I will have trouble seeing out of that eye later because it has been injured like that.  Let's hope not.

Then they discussed my jaw.  My jaw is in bad shape.  The vet said that she definitely wants to have xrays of it, but they will have to put me out to do it.  They also want to do an ultrasonic teeth cleaning because my teeth are caked with tarter.  She said they could do both at the same time.  She said that my teeth don't line up at all and compared my jaw to a conveyor belt when I try to eat.  I can't pick up my food with my front teeth like another dog would.  That's why she has to wet my food down.  When it's wet, I can pick it up with my tongue and move it to the back.

The vet wants a specialist to look at my jaw.  She said he may look at it and decide nothing needs to be done because I can still eat, but that he may also look at it and say WOW!  this needs to be fixed.  She said it definitely will start causing me to have joint pain because of how unaligned it is.  She told my mommy that she needs to put me on a joint supplement for that so that we can keep the pain to a minimum.

The teeth cleaning and the x-rays will be done at a later date.  Right now we are trying to get me physically healthy.

My dad about had a heart attack when mom told him the free visit turned into $162 so far.  She said, well, do you want Junie to suffer?  He said, no.  Do whatever she needs to have done.  Let's get her healthy.  He's a good daddy.  Mom said she is lucky that she found someone who loves animals as much as she does.

So, that's where we are at today.  Well, today I am laying on my mom's lap.  Just enjoying the warmth and love.  It's the perfect life for a dog.

Junie says to check out: Every Rescued Dog Has a Tale: Stories from the Dog Rescue Railroad