More Eve

Sweetheart is fully healed and Eve should get her spay stitches out sometime the middle of this week.  Eve will now be ready for adoption.  I am kind of sad about that because she is a funny little girl and I would love to keep her.  Alas, I cannot since I already have three greys of my own.  I guess I could always stick Sweetheart outside with a 'free to good home' sign around her neck.  :)  Yeah right, we all know that isn't happening.

Below are some more Eve pictures I took last night.  Enjoy.

Eve

Crate Hate

Eve is NOT thankful for crates.  She hates them.

This crate was against the dining room wall when Les put her in it at 2:00.  I get home at 6:30 only to discover she transported the crate, with herself inside,  into the middle of the dining room and has somehow gotten the crate pan out of the crate and horizontal in front of it.  All of this with a muzzle on.  She was still in the crate when I got home.  Needless to say she does not like crate.

I have to put four to five clips on the door because she squeezes out of the latched door if the extra clips aren't holding the door down to the crate body itself.

Thankful

What is everyone thankful for?

Sweetheart is thankful for a warm home, a nice dog bed and a full tummy.

Eve is thankful to be out of the horrible shelter and free of parvo.   A full tummy and a nice couch are also things she is thankful for.

I am thankful that all my fur babies are happy and healthy.  I am thankful I have great family and friends and two wonderful veterinarians that make my life a lot easier!!   

Let me know what you are thankful for!

Jess and Sweetheart                             

Saturday

Eve is home safe and sound from her spay and teeth cleaning yesterday.  I picked her up this morning and she doesn't appear to be in pain or having any ill effects.  Animals amaze me with their strength!

Sweetheart is healing quite well and her wound looks really good.  She is back to being a brat and is kind of being fussy.  She growled a bit at Cleo and Monte last night so she got corrected with some stern words!  Can't have a diva attitude like that in this house.  Dr. Kendi said she was being a brat like that the week she was there. I think she just doesn't like being away from me that much and doesn't like sharing me with other dogs.  Big baby.

I weighed Eve today when I picked her up and she weighs 50 pounds.  She has gained 8 pounds in the month and a half since she left shelter hell!  She was 42 and half dead when I got her.  Now she is growing a big, filled out nicely and so energetic and fun.  It is so rewarding to see dogs recover and be happy, it makes this 'job' so worthwhile.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Jess and Sweetheart (bad dog) and Eve

Sweets

Sweetheart is thrilled to be home.  She is doing fabulous with not licking the wound.  It is still closed and appears to be healing just fine.  There is no swelling or puffiness around the area, whew!

The best part of this to Sweetheart is that she has to take antibiotics for another 10 days or so and that means CHEESE!  Twice a day, morning and night.  She knows the drill and has it down pat!  I am glad she is greedy for cheese, makes giving her two pills twice a day a snap.

Hopefully she will be fully healed in a few weeks and since everyone is being muzzled now there shouldn't be any additional 'tooth' trauma.

Eve goes in for her spay this Friday.  I am interested to know how much she weighs now.  She has become a very happy and exhuberant girl.  Her puppy nature is starting to come through too. This is a good thing and sometimes a bad thing.  :)  She has chewed a few things but only when she is left alone and is bored.  She really is a good girl overall and lots of fun to foster.

Hope everyone is having a good week.  I am much happier with my Sweets back with me.

Jess and Sweetheart

HOME!

Sweetheart is home!!!!

She was so excited to see me when I picked her up.  She wagged her tail and danced around.  Then she went straight for the front door and pawed at it repeatedly, wanting OUT!  :)

Dr. Kolar removed her stitches and her wound is closed.  The infection is completely gone and her leg is back to normal size.

She will be on antibiotics for the next 10 days or so.  She has to wear her cone when we cannot watch her because she still licks her wound a little too obsessively.  She looks so funny with her cone on.  She eats and drinks pretty well with it on.

She lost some weight while at the vet's office but that is to be expected.  She is eating good now and will gain those few pounds back quickly I have no doubt.

I am glad to have her home, the house didn't feel the same with her gone.

Jess and Sweetheart

Saturday Sweets

Sweetheart is STILL at Dr. Kolar's.

Dr. Kolar is waiting to see if the bottom half of the wound will open up (he thinks it will).  If it does, he wants to be able to clean the wound and make sure there is no further infection.  If it doesn't open this weekend I may get to bring her home this week and just keep an eye on the wound as it heals.

Sweetheart is being a snob to the other dogs at Dr. Kolar's.  Dr. Kendi said the only dog she can be neighbors with in the outdoor runs is another greyhound that is currently being boarded there.  She growls at all the other kinds of dogs!  I've raised a snob.  :)  Sweetheart is making all kinds of people friends and Dr. Kendi said she was running around the clinic like a maniac today.

Below are a couple of cute pictures Dr. Kendi sent me a few minutes ago.

Goofy girl!

Silly Sweets!

Jess and Sweets

Sweets on a Wednesday

I talked to Lynn at Dr. Kolar's about 11 today.  Sweetheart was doing well at that time.  Dr. Kendi texted me a bit later and told me Sweetheart is responding well to antibiotics.  The swelling in her leg has gone down and the wound looks better.  She was going to clean the wound today to get rid of some of the smell and gunk.  Sweets wasn't ready to come home today and that is fine by me.  She is in the best place possible and getting lots of love and good care.  I hope to have her home by the weekend, but only if she is ready.  I don't want to rush her recovery at all.

I think Dr. Kendi is getting attached to Sweetheart.  :)  Of course I don't know how that could happen.

I did schedule Eve's spay for November 18th.  She has gained her weight back and is even getting some nice little bootie muscles.  :)  Eve is a joy and I just love her.  Benny and Eve play and play outside.  It is rather scary to see Benny tackle her and give her a bear hug.  However, Benny is so sweet and gentle he never hurts her.  The same can't be said for Eve when she tackles him.  :)

Les has been gone to California for a month (yeah, good timing what with all the dog drama) and is coming home Friday evening.  I will be so glad to have him home.  He is my emotional rock and does so much with the dogs and their vet visits, etc.

Keep Sweetheart in your thoughts.  She is in mine all the time.

Jess and Sweetheart!

Tuesday Sweets

Sweets is still at the vet's and will be most of the week I am thinking.  Her infection is slowly going away but her leg is still swollen.

Dr. Kendi said last night that Sweetheart hated the 'cone of shame' but that today she was learning how to get around with it better.  She said she felt so sorry for Sweetheart she was thinking of taking her home at night.  I told her to go for it!

Dr. Kendi let her run around the clinic today when they weren't busy.  Below are two pics she sent to me.  The first one could be a great ASPCA adoption poster!  The second one is of her wandering around the clinic.

Dr. Kendi said she was wagging her tail the whole time in the crate.

Wandering around the clinic.  She looks so pathetic in that cone.

Jess and the official vet dog Sweets

Monday Morning Blues

I took Sweetheart to Dr. Kolar's this morning.  He examined her and took her temperature.  She has a slight fever and the bottom part of the wound is infected.  Her leg is swollen due to the infection.

He is going to keep her for a few days to try and get that infection gone and her leg back to normal size.  He put a 'cone of shame' on her and she just looked at my with 'why me' eyes. 

Poor girl.  I feel bad for her but I feel better with her being at Kolar's.  I would hated to have brought her home today and had her take a turn for the worse.  At least while she is there they can watch her and treat anything that may come up right then.

Dr. Kolar did say the bottom half of the wound will have to heal as an open wound since it is infected.  We know Sweetheart can heal well, look at her leg.  But still, I am just heartsick for her.  All I did this weekend was sat around worrying. 

Jess and Sweetheart

Sunday and worried

Sweetheart's wound isn't healing like it should be.  Her leg is swollen as well.  I am going to take her to the vet's tomorrow morning right when they open.

I am sick about this and have been worried sick all weekend.  I worry that this is going to turn into something more serious and disabling.  I know I shouldn't be worrying about things that may not happen but it scares me.

Sweetheart is eating alright and is bright eyed but she is nervous and wants to be near me.

I hope they will keep her a few days so she can get antibiotic shots and be in a controlled environment.  I will update when I know more.

Jess and Sweets

Update

Sweetheart is doing a 100 times better today so that means I am less of an emotional train wreck.  Her leg and chest appear a less swollen and bruised already and she is moving around on the leg with a bit more ease.

Sweetheart came into the living room with us last night about 8:30 or so and she slept in the living room all night. She was bright eyed and wagging her tail this morning.  She has gone out a couple of times already today.  Her appetite is good and she took her medicine with no problems.

I did put a t-shirt on her since she has started licking the bottom portion of the incision.  I put a big one on her and she almost fell over tripping on it.  I figured I didn't want her to break a leg so I put a smaller one on her.  She isn't quite she about the whole t-shirt thing but she is such a good patient she is coping nicely.  The other dogs are rather interested in the t-shirt.  :)  The Rimadyl seemed to help so I gave her one this morning.  She isn't in as much pain (isn't acting like it at least) so I think we are good with the Rimadyl.

I am staying home from work today and tomorrow to watch over her and make sure the other dogs don't bother her.  It makes me feel better to be able to keep an eye on her versus worrying about her all day at work.

Jess and Sweetheart

Sweetheart is Home

Sweetheart is home and I am about to cry.

Her shoulder and leg are swollen and incredibly bruised.  She is hurting and is in the bedroom away from the other dogs.  I am going to give her a Rimadyl to hopefully help with the pain.  I know that medicine is for arthritis but I figure she is full of pain and inflammation so it can't hurt.

I am just sick about this.  I thought having her home with me would make me feel better but I just feel so guilty and so incredibly sad.  I see her hurting and I wish I could take her hurt away.  I hope she will be ok.  I know she is tough but it is still so hard to see her this way.

Jess and Sweetheart :(

Sweets this A.M.

I talked to Lynn at Dr. Kolar's office a few minutes ago.  Sweetheart is doing great this morning all things considered.  She can go home anytime today.  I would love to take off work NOW to go pick her up but I will resist the urge and will wait until I actually am scheduled to leave work to go get her! 
Whew, I am so glad my girl made it through the night alright and that she is bright and happy today.  She is a tough girl.

Now I have to get the vision of her hurt and screaming in the back yard out of my head!

I am going to take some cookies to Dr. Kolar's this afternoon as a little thank you for letting me rush her in last night at 645!  Hope everyone has a good day.  Mine is looking up.  I might post pics of her gnarly wound tonight, I haven't decided.

Jess and Sweetheart

Sweetheart is hurt....but ok!

I hate writing this because I feel like SUCH a horrible dog owner.

Tonight I had Sweetheart, Cleo and Eve outside for a couple hours (it is beautiful weather).  Sweets and Cleo were muzzled.  Eve wasn't because she is a baby and can't really hurt the other dogs because of her overbite.  About 6 p.m. I let Monte out (unmuzzled because I never have to muzzle him, haven't for years) and not 5 minutes later I hear a horrendous scream in the backyard.  I run to the back door and see Sweetheart screaming with a HUGE gash in the front of her.  OMG is what I kept saying over and over while thinking to myself 'this cannot be happening to her'.  My thoughts are that Sweetheart tried to play with Monte and he lashed out.  He would have been the only one who could have hurt her since Cleo was muzzled and Eve is too docile and has that overbite that prevents her from doing much damage to anything..

I frantically called Dr. Kolar's office and luckily Dr. Kendi was there.  I was a basket case, which I normally am not, and I asked Dr. Kendi if I could bring her, didn't wait for her to answer, then sort of shouted into the phone that  I was going to be there in 30 minutes.  I got three of my dogs crated, a blanket in the car and Sweetheart loaded.  I called my Mom and Dad and they came over and watched the dogs for me.  I made it to Kolar's in record time.  I get there, fling open the PT Cruiser back door and get Sweetheart out of the car very gingerly.  As soon as I opened the door to the Kolar's office I just lost it and started crying.

Luckily Dr. Kendi was levelheaded and reassured me that it was only just a flesh wound.  An 8 inch flesh wound but a flesh would none the less.  She gave Sweetheart a shot of anesthesia and we carried her to the surgery table.  It is scary watching a dog under anesthesia, I was so scared she wouldn't keep breathing.  She did though and an hour later she was all stitched up.  Dr. Kendi gave her some oxygen and a shot of antibiotics after the surgery and we carried her into the kennel area.  Sweetheart was sleeping soundly when I left.  Dr. Kendi said she would check on her in a couple hours (about 9 or 10 p.m.) to make sure she was doing ok.

After all was said and done, I walked outside to get in the car, I noticed that in my haste to get Sweets inside I didn't even close the door of the PT.  It was wide open the whole time.  Thankfully all was intact with the car and I was able to make it home in one piece.

I should be able to bring Sweetheart home tomorrow after work tomorrow.  I was so scared for her and am so very very grateful that Dr. Kendi stayed late to sew her up.  I feel like such a bad owner for not muzzling Monte.  I haven't had to in years and years.  It makes me so sad to think of Sweetheart suffering any at all.  I will be muzzling Monte for the rest of his life I can tell you that.

On a brighter note, Eve is finally home.  I got her home this past Saturday.  She has kennel cough.  She is only coughing a little at night and in the morning when she first wakes up.  She is on antibiotics for another 7 days or so.  She is filling out nicely and is super sweet.  I cannot, however, keep her in a crate.  She gets out of them like Houdini.  Luckily she is a good dog in the house and doesn't tear anything up.

I am about to go to bed and try not to worry about Sweetheart too much.  I am sure I will be texting Dr. Kendi tomorrow morning to make sure she is doing ok.  Until she is home I will be worried I am sure.  It isn't the same without my Sweets here.  I love her so much!

Jess and Sweetheart

Tuesday

So Eve is still at Dr. Kolar's.  She is still coughing some and he doesn't want to release her home until he feels confident the 'bug' is gone.  I wish I could bring her home now darn it.

Celine has a fractured toe on her rear right foot.  She is in a splint.  I did get to bring her home Monday morning.  She goes back to Dr.Kolar's Saturday morning so he can check to see if the toe is healing..  If the toe is healing he will re-splint it and she will wear the splint for another two weeks.  If he doesn't feel it is healing like it should, he will go ahead and amputate the toe versus struggling to get it healed.  We have been through a  couple toe amputations.  They aren't bad unless the dog won't leave it alone (and Celine has proven to be a wound worrier) so she may have to wear a halo if it comes down to amputation.

ARGH!!!  Thankfully my three are healthy, paws and fingers crossed that nothing else comes up with the fosters.  When it rains it pours.

Luckily Celine is a natural on the splint.  She goes up and down the steps outside like a pro.  She also makes her way onto the couch with no problems.  She looks so funny 'roaching' on the couch with a big ole 'off white' splint.  :)

The doormat outside keeps 'moving' and I have my suspicions.  :)  I have a feeling Sweets is having fun with it.  She is such a silly goof.  I was cross stitching last night and she kept laying across my lap wanting attention, I wonder if she is spoiled at all?  Surely not?!!

I hope everyone is having a good week.  Mine is ok but will be better once Eve is home and Celine is healed!

Jess and Sweets

Eve update

Eve developed a pretty rough cough this week.  And Thursday night, Celine (8 year old foster) came into the house holding her rear foot up.  She did not put weight on it the rest of the evening.

Soooo, Friday morning I took Celine and Eve to Dr. Kolar's.  Eve had a runny nose as well as a cough.  They decided to keep Eve over the weekend so they could give her shots of antibiotics.  I believe Celine has a broken toe.  I decided to have Dr. Kolar keep her too so that she could be off of the foot for a bit and so that I could get a little weekend to myself without fosters.  I hope to pick both Eve and Celine up tomorrow by noon or so.

 Eve has been a joy to foster.  She is one of the easiest fosters I have had.  She had to have been a house dog at one time because her house manners are superb.  She hasn't had an accident, isn't food aggressive and sleeps well through the night.  She did break out of her wire crate Thursday afternoon before I got home from work.  The bottom of the wire crate was all bent up and the plastic bottom 'pan' of the crate was in the middle of the dining room floor.  Eve was unscathed and happy as a lark when I walked in the door. Thankfully the cat was still alive and nothing in the house was disturbed!!!

Below are a few silly Sweetheart pictures.  Hope you enjoy.

Haughty little look and SPOTS!

Mid yawn!  Monte passed out on her right.

Lazy Sunday afternoon!

Jess and Sweetheart

Eve is home

Meet Eve!  She found the couch quickly!

I brought Eve home from Dr. Kolar's tonight.  She looks like a different dog!  Her eyes aren't filled with mucus, her nose isn't runny and she is clean.  She is still super thin but she is chowing down on dog food as we speak.

On the way home she climbed into the front seat and put her paws up on the dash.  I took her by my mom and dad's house on the way home and she did great.  All our dogs mobbed her at first and kind of scared her but all in all she did good holding her own.

I am sure she has been abused because when I was outside picking up sticks she would cower and run away from me when I would try to pet her.  That makes me sad to think she has been hurt at such a young age.  However, she is very sweet and takes pets great if you are sitting down or stop while standing and talk nice to her.

She weighs about 43 pounds, up from 42.2 pounds last Monday night.  She has a little cough but is on antibiotics for 10 days.  I am also going to give her a liquid vitamin supplement like I did with Sweetheart.  Her blood work wasn't too bad per Dr. Kendi so that is a good thing.

Eve must have been in a house before because she has sprawled out on the couch both times she has been inside.  I cannot imagine anyone starving and abandoning this sweet girl.  I am glad we were able to get her from the shelter when we did because I don't think she would have made it much longer.

She is kinda whiny in the house, I don't think she knows what to do with herself now that she is home and feeling good.

Jess, Sweetheart and Eve

Eve comes home tomorrow

Dr. Kendi texted me tonight and said that Eve can come home tomorrow.  She did great over the weekend and is eating like a horse.  She will only have to be on amoxycillin when she comes home.  I am not sure if they have gotten her blood work back from the lab yet though.  I am curious to see if she is anemic, what with her having parvo or parvo like symptoms and being so incredibly thin.

They are going to give her a bath  (yes please!!) before I pick her up for work tomorrow.  I am also going to weigh her before I bring her home so I know how much she needs to gain.

Wish us luck that she is a good house girl!

Sweetheart has taken to playing with the doormat.  I noticed it was on the bottom of the stairs yesterday.  I didn't think anything of it and put it back on the top step.  I look out of the door tonight and it is in the yard and Sweetheart is pouncing on it.  I didn't get to see her play with it too long because she caught me watching her and ran to the door!  I'm surprised she plays with it because it is pretty bristly.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Jess and Sweetheart

Eve update and the Komen 5K

Eve is negative for heartworms and erlichia (tick borne disease).  She does have internal parasites but these will be treated with Panacur and should be cleared up very soon.

Dr. Kendi said she was eating great again today and has not had to go back on IV fluids.

I am waiting to hear when I can bring her home.  I would imagine not before the first part of next week.  I don't want to rush her home and then have her have a set back.  She is in good hands at Dr. Kolar's office.

I just hope she isn't a cat killer because Kitty would not be happy about that!

Tomorrow I am participating in a 5K walk for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  Debbie will have been gone a year October 30th.  I am having mixed feelings about doing this walk.  I want to do it to honor her but I know seeing those survivors and those fighting this disease is going to make me so sad that Debbie is no longer here.  A group of co workers and I are going to do the walk and we are having brunch afterwards so I think it will be bittersweet and fun at the same time.  I just wish Debbie were here to do this with us.  Be sure to tell your friends and family you love them because you never know when they will be gone.  And give your fur babies lovies too.  :)  Sweetheart says so!

Jess and Sweetheart

Eve update

Eve (shelter girl) is doing a lot better today.  Dr. Kendi said that she is off of the IV and was scarfing down her dog food this morning.  I just talked to Dr. Kendi and Eve is eating dry dog food well too.

She said Eve is making good use of her tail, just wagging it away!!  I am so thankful.  I was worried about her after seeing how weak she looked yesterday.

Dr. Kendi said she has to have a bigger dog bowl to eat out of because she has a pretty good overbite.  :)

Hope everyone had a good day!

Jess and Sweetheart

Project

The last time I wrote, Sweetheart and I were going to do a fundraising event at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City Oklahoma.  We ended up doing four separate speeches to a total of around 100 jet mechanics.  Sweetheart did FABULOUS.  She was sweet and not afraid of any of the people there.  I let one of the supervisors 'introduce' her to the folks as they sat down.  I think a lot of people were touched by her story and how wonderfully she recovered.

This past weekend was hectic for me dog wise.  My friend, who broke her wrists 6 weeks ago, ended up in the hospital with pacreatitis.  I ended up taking her four dogs (two greys and two Ibizans) to Dr. Kolar's for boarding after hours on Sunday.  Then,  I met a hauler at 2 a.m that night.in OKC to pick up three new greys.  I took them to Dr. Kolar's Monday morning.

Finally I ended up at the OKC Animal Shelter to pick up a new 'baby'.  Her name is Eve (I named her as she had no collar, tag or tattoos).  She was brought into the facility as a stray Friday October 7th.  The OKC shelter gives a dog days for the owner's to claim the dog.  She was not claimed by Monday evening so Les and I pulled her.  She is in terrible shape.  She is probably 10-12 months old and only weighs 42 pounds (I think she should be 55 or so at her age and size).  Her eyes were runny and so was her nose.  Eve was incredibly lethargic as well.  In addition, she was scared from being in the traumatic environment of the shelter.  However, she wagged her tail whenever anyone at the shelter would stop and talk to her.

I knew we couldn't expose her to our dogs at home because there is always a high chance that they will catch whatever the shelter dogs bring in.  Once again, Dr. Kolar was there to help.  I called him at 6 p.m. (he closes at 5) and he was still at the clinic and let me bring her in.  I am so glad I was able to do that.

Yesterday I texted Dr. Kendi and they think Eve has parvo.  They are treating her like she does at least. She is getting IV fluids and canned and dry dog food.  She had horrible diarrhea yesterday but as of 2 p.m. today she had not had any more.  She ate a little today and held it down.  In addition to the IV's, they are giving her anti nausea medication in hopes this will help her appetite.

Eve is a touch and go sort of situation.  I read a statistic online that 70% of adult dogs can survive parvo.  If this IS what she has I hope she is one of the lucky 70%. Right now, Dr. Kolar's staff are just in the 'save her life' mode and are not worried about heartworms, spaying or teeth cleaning.  This will come later, once she has gained strength and is 'out of the woods'.

I saw Eve today for a few minutes when I took my friend to get her babies out of Dr. Kolar's.  She was still lethargic and looked so sad with her IV.  I honestly don't know if she will make it.  I hope so, as she is so sweet and friendly and seems like a good patient.  She is getting the best care she can at this point and all we can do is wait and see.

I hope to be able to take some pictures of her when I visit here again.  She will be at Dr. Kolar's at least a week and I plan on bringing her home to my house to foster her and help her recover.

Jess and Sweetheart

Fundraising Sweetheart!

Hi everyone!  I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted anything.

Sweetheart is doing great.  She is holding her weight at around 61 pounds and is spoiled rotten as always.

Every year Fasthound participates in the United Way Combined Federal Campaign (CFC).  The CFC allows federal workers to contribute a portion of their pay to a charitable group or groups of their choice.  Fasthound has had the honor of being a part of the CFC campaign for the last several years.  The generous donations from federal employees have allowed us to be able to do blood panels and other extras for all of our dogs and it has allowed us to focus more on greyhound adoption outreach and awareness versus fundraising.

From September-November the CFC outreach is in full swing.  Federal agencies can request charitable groups to come to their offices and facilities to do speeches and such.  Well, we have a big air force base in Oklahoma City:  Tinker AFB.  It employees thousands of civilians and of course air force personnel.  Fasthound was asked to do a presentation to some of their civilian employees (jet mechanics I believe).  Guess who is going?  Yep, Sweetheart and I!!!  I made up a flyer (which I am having a devil of a time saving correctly for printing at Staples) about her story.  I am going to hand it out to each person attending the meeting and I plan on telling them all about her neglect and fabulous recovery.  I hope she is a good ambassadog and doesn't act like a goof.  :)   Hopefully her gruesome story of neglect will open some of their wallets.  I mean, really, who could resist her?  Obviously not me!

Sweetheart and I will be going to Tinker AFB this Wednesday from 12-3.  Wish us luck.  I plan on spiffing her up with a bath and one of her fancy collars.

Puppy (Gracie) has been in her foster to adopt home for about a week now.  She is doing fabulous there.  After the event at Tinker Wednesday I am going to pick her up and dogsit for the weekend.  Sweetheart will be thrilled to have her chew toy back.  She was a bit bored after Gracie left.

I hope everyone is doing well.  I am so excited that Sweetheart has the opportunity to do this event at Tinker AFB Wednesday!  I will give a report of how it went Wednesday evening hopefully.

Jess and Sweetheart

Puppster & Sweets playing and Cleo's dust bowl 2011.

Friend's Accident :(

My friend Cathy had a horseback riding accident yesterday morning.  She was riding some horse trails at a local lake with a friend.  She was trotting and the horse lost its footing and went down on its front legs.  Cathy flew forward and caught herself by her wrists.  Unfortunately she dislocated and broke them both.  She will have to have surgery on both wrists Tuesday.

Cathy and her partner Mike have adopted two greyhounds from us.  They also have several Ibizans and Jack Russell terriers.  In addition, they have ten horses, all of which are rescues (they came home from a recent horse sale a month ago with five baby horses because they could not bear to see them put down or sold for slaughter).

Les and I are dog sitting  their greyhounds for as long as they need us to.  Their greys are Lucy and Lucius.  We will assist them in any way we can in feeding and watering their horses and other dogs and in taking care of Cathy.

I would normally never ask for help on the blog for others but I am making an exception.  Cathy and Mike are super people with big hearts.  If any of you who follow this blog can donate something via paypal to Cathy and Mike it would be much appreciated.  All money will go for their animals food and health care.  Oklahoma is in a severe drought and hay alone for the horses is pricey.  They take excellent care of their animals and I know they would appreciate any help that is given.

If you or your friends and family donate via paypal, just be sure to note that the donation is for Cathy and Mike's animals so that way we can keep the donations separate from our regular Fasthound donations.

Again, thank you in advance for any donations you can give.  I can personally vouch for how well they take care of their horses and dogs and the money will be well spent.

Jess, Sweetheart, Lucy, Lucius and Gracie!

 

Puppy and stuff

Puppy 'roach'!

Sweetheart HATES the puppy.  She won't play with her and gives her dirty looks when she comes near her.  Sweetheart is also terribly jealous if I play with the puppy.  I was playing with Gracie yesterday and had a sense of some evil force :) and I look up and Sweetheart is shooting daggers at me from across the room (and continued to do so the whole time I was playing with Gracie).

Actually it is quite funny to me that Sweetheart is jealous.  She has been used to being the center of the world for the past year that it must be kind of hard when a pretty young things horns in.  :)  At least Sweetheart hasn't been aggressive towards Gracie, she is content with giving me nasty looks and sometimes standing in between us and growling (which I don't allow of course).

Grace is heartworm negative but she had a pretty good load of hookworms (these will be taken care of with Trifexis) and her blood work came back that she is anemic.  So it looks like I will be giving her Petinic twice a day for a month to build that blood back up.  I had to do this with Sweetheart so I am used to it.

Gracie is a pure joy, which is not what I usually say about puppies.  She is very sweet and loving and has pretty good house manners for a five month old pup.  We fell asleep together 'spooning' on the couch last night.  :)  Lester said he didn't have the heart to put her in her crate when he went to bed because she looked so comfortable on the couch with me.

Monte had his yearly vetting this past week.  Not such great news for him.  He is in the first stages of kidney failure.  Dr. Kolar is recommending we put him on a prescription diet in hopes of helping his kidneys.  Monte is 10 and a half and is just a love.  It hurts my heart that he is already showing his age so much.  However, we will do whatever we need to to keep his quality of life high. We are lucky he is such a happy boy.  I hope this food helps him.  I will ask Dr. Kolar when he wants to do another blood test on Monte so that we can see if his kidney levels are holding steady or getting worse once he is on the prescription diet for a bit.

My silly Monte.  Isn't he just a doll?

Jess, Sweetheart and Sweetheart's nemesis, Gracie!  :)

Puppy

So I get a call from a woman in Oklahoma City last night.  She says she saw our group at an outreach event. She decided that she liked the greys and wanted one.  So she sees an ad in the newspaper for greyhound puppies.  She goes to the place and sees the brindle female and falls in love.  She gets the puppy home and a month and a half later realizes that a puppy is too much to deal with.  So guess what, Fasthound now has a new five month old puppy!!

Her name is Gracie and she was bred to be a coyote hunter.  For whatever reason, the breeder decided not to use her for hunting (thank goodness).  Sweetheart wasn't too thrilled at first but I think they will have a blast once Sweetheart warms up to her.

I will be taking her to Dr. Kolar's tomorrow for vetting.  Thankfully she has already been spayed and had her rabies shot.  We will have her heart worm tests, fecal, full blood panel and additional shots.  Hopefully her blood work and heart worm test will come back good!

Below are a couple pictures of Gracie.

How beautiful is she?!

Below are two pictures of Sweetheart eating some of her birthday cake!

Jess, Sweetheart and Gracie

Sweetheart's Cake

Here is a picture of the cake I made for Sweetheart's Birthday party tomorrow.  It isn't perfect but that's OK, I love her very much and am happy to have been able to make this for her party!

This cake took a box and a half of cake mix.  The rest of the batter I made into a small square cake.  I let Sweetheart have two pieces of the small square cake (without icing) while it was still warm.  She LOVED it.  She followed me into the kitchen and watched me ice the heart cake, hoping I would drop it on the ground for her..  :)

Jess and Sweetheart!!

Birthday Girl!!!

Sweetheart's "Birthday" is Saturday!!!  I cannot believe it has been a year since we rescued her.  She is an amazing girl and I am so thankful to have her healthy and happy and spoiled rotten.  Dr. Kendi (actually Dr. Horner but I think of her as Dr. Kendi) from Dr. Kolar's office is going to be there with her own personal greyhound.  I am so excited to have one of the vet's who was with Sweetheart from day 1 and instrumental in her recovery be there to share in this!  Without Dr. Kolar, Dr. Kendi and all the Prague Veterinary Clinic staff Sweetheart would not have made the wonderful recovery she has.

Sweetheart's Birthday party will be at Mann's Best Friend Pet Boutique this Saturday, August 13th, from      5 p.m. to 7 p.m.   Mann's address is:  10700 S. Penn, Suite 24, Oklahoma City OK.

One of Sweetheart's blog friends is auctioning a gorgeous silver and turquoise greyhound pendant on EBAY in honor of Sweetheart.  All proceeds from this auction will go to the adoption group of Sweetheart's choice :)  The link to the auction is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/150645043159?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D150645043159%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_500wt_949

The item number is:  150645043159  


If the link doesn't get you there just copy the item number and paste it into the EBAY search box and it will take you to the item.  


I am excited to share Sweetheart's recovery with everyone who is able to come to her party!  Thank you to everyone who has followed her story over the past year via this blog.  I hope there are many years and many stories to come!


Oh yeah, Benny has gained close to 30 pounds and weighs about 100 pounds now!!


Jessica and Sweetheart.

Short video.

Pictures!

60 and a cold

He's just a big hunk of dog!

Benny is VERY sweet and gentle

Sweetheart now weighs 60.2 pounds as of this Tuesday!  This is very very close to double her weight when rescued.  I think at least 2 pounds are spots!

Benny had to go to Kolar's this past Saturday.  He had some bloody discharge from his nose.  Dr. Kolar thinks he had a cold and that he probably has ehrlichia and that his bloody nose was a sign of it.  I had them keep him until Tuesday so that way they could monitor him and change any medication that might be necessary.

While Benny was at the vet Sweetheart started coughing.  ARGH!  Sooo, Les took Sweetheart in Tuesday and Dr. Kolar thinks she got the Benny Bug.  She is now on antibiotics for seven days I believe.  The cough hasn't slowed her down a bit.  She is still wild and bouncy and silly.

Benny is now home and looking and feeling SO much better.  The pictures of him above are from today and he looks like a different dog, all bright eyed.  He no longer growls at the other dogs and he doesn't 'guard' the food bowl.  He is very gentle, sweet and laid back.

Ollie came back.  She kept pooping in the house.  I think of it was that she was bored and needed another dog.  I also think she still had some residual stomach issues.  She is also on antibiotics again.  So that makes three dogs we have on pills.  Luckily Les is overseeing the medication and that is a big help to me.  Benny will be on doxycycline for four weeks to make sure the ehrlichia is under control.

On the prowl looking for trouble!

I am excited Sweetheart is having a birthday party!  Never thought I would say that about one of my dogs.  :)

Jess and Sweetheart

Birthday Party!

Well, I have officially entered into crazy dog lady territory.  Yes, I am going to have a birthday party for Sweetheart.


Sweetheart's birthday party will be held on Saturday, August 13th from 5 p.m-7 p.m. at Mann's Best Friend, 10700 S Penn, Suite 24, Oklahoma City, OK  73170.  All of Sweetheart's fans are invited as are your dogs.  The planning is in its initial stages but I hope to have cake, punch, finger foods and beverages for all who attend. Mann's provided many great things for her party in October 2010 and I will be working with them over the next month to finalize all the details.


I hope some of you who live in Oklahoma are able to make it.  This will be a special day for me as it will be exactly one year from the day Fasthound rescued her.  She has come such a long way and deserves a celebration!


Hope to see lots of you there!


Jess and Sweetheart

Thoughts

Sweetheart is not too thrilled with Benny being here.  He is huge and rather intimidating to her.  He also mad dogs the food bowl (which we are diligently correcting) and this kind of freaks her out.  She has been acting demure and rather subdued lately.  It is kind of nice in a way but I wouldn't want her to be that way forever.

Benny has a cold.  Dr. Kendi said it is from stress most likely.  He got a shot of antibiotics and some pills for  7-10 days.  He is coughing a tad and has some mucous discharge from his nose but it is slight so hopefully the pills will kick in and he will be tip top in no time.  He has gained ten pounds and now weighs 78 although he is still thin as a rail.  He isn't growling at the other dogs as much and we will cure him of this food bowl guarding I have no doubt.

I was kicking around the idea of having a birthday party for Sweetheart on Saturday, August 13th.  I decided a while back that that date is going to be her birthday.  I wonder if anyone would attend her party if I held one?  I put this as a poll on the blog.  Let me know what you think by voting and/or commenting.  

I hope everyone is having a good week.  I have a four day weekend starting Friday and I am super excited about it.

Oh yes, I keep forgetting.  Prior to Benny coming here Sweetheart starting getting into my stuff.  She would nose around in my bag and pull out my cross stitch, yarn, knitting needles, pill bottles, books, etc.  I would wake up from a nap and discover things just trailed all over the living room floor.  Thankfully she did not ruin anything, although one of my new books is missing a corner and has a few teeth marks in it.  Oh and she is excellent at unwinding a ball of yarn and heaping it into a nice pile!  She 'fishes' for these treasures all around my recliner.  But, as always, I can't be mad at her.  It is rather amusing actually!

Jess

Sweetheart and the snake!

She looks so sweet and innocent.  She's NOT!  :)

Every time I see a picture of her all I can see are SPOTS! 

As some of you have read in prior posts, Sweetheart likes to patrol the backyard at night and bark at anything she feels is a danger to her territory.  :)  She has been doing this from the day she came home, weighing a fearsome 35 pounds no less.

Les let the dogs out last night.  He was in the house and heard her barking (again, not unusual).  He looks out the window and sees her barking at the ground.  He doesn't think anything of it and lets them all back in.  About an hour later they go outside again.  Sweetheart goes to the same spot again and starts barking and dancing around.  Les decides to get the flashlight and take a look to see what all the fuss is about.  He goes over to the dead tree stump she is dancing around and discovers a snake, about four feet in length, coiled and ready to strike.  I guess the snake didn't appreciate Sweetheart barking at him.  Les ended up killing the snake because he did not want it to try to kill his chickens.  Who knew I had a fearless snake hunter in Sweetheart!

One of our volunteers had Benny at her house for the last two days.  I brought him home today.  He growls at the other dogs but he hasn't tried to bite or snap.  I think he is more scared of them than anything.  He IS getting along with Monte well though.  Cleo and Sweetheart he isn't quite sure about.  He is eating well and is very friendly to people.  I took him to Tractor Supply after picking him up from our volunteer and he did fabulous in the store.  He walked around wagging his tail most of the time.

Sweetheart isn't so sure about him.  They stood beside each other in the house and he growled at her and she tried to posture like she was tough.  Of course we don't let this go on and correct both of them.  After that bit of posturing and growling Sweetheart has been keeping her distance.  When they go outside she just sort of watches him walk around the yard.  It really is quite funny to see her acting so docile around him when normally she is trying to chew on new dogs.  :)

This photo makes me laugh.  Her expression is almost cartoonish.

Benny is so big he makes Sweetheart look rather wimpy.  :)  When he fills out I would imagine he will be about 90-100 pounds easy.  Oh, and I doubt he will ever be cat safe.  He was in the crate and lunged at Kitty when she came out of hiding.  He then kept looking around the living room for her after she ran off.  She is safely ensconced in the bathroom with her food, water, litter and beds for the time being!

Benny is also a collector of toys, a counter surfer and a trash digger.  He also likes kiddie pools.  I have my hands full with this one.  He is so huge that nothing is too far from his 'reach'  :)  Benny isn't extremely photogenic but I wanted to attach a couple of pics in the blog so you guys can see more of him.  He is way more handsome in person.

Benny with a pair of boxer shorts he got from the laundry room.

You can kind of get an idea of what his coat looks like and how thin he is.

One more thing, I should be finalizing on Ollie this coming weekend!  YAY!

Jess, Sweetheart and Benny

Tired

Just thought I would share a cute picture of my foster boy passed out in his crate tonight.  His name is Cash and he is one of the most handsome greys I have had.

Sleepy theme continued.  I know I have posted this one before but she looks so sweet and innocent in this picture (please overlook the stuffing from the toy she just 'killed')  She has even more spots now than in this picture!