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| Goodbye to the best puppy ever....... |
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
"Why we should keep Spaz"
This was the title of a note given to me by my children regarding our special needs dog, Spaz. It was a plea to keep Spaz and not put him up for adoption. The best line was:
......to put it bluntly, he is an ugly dog.
His full name is Igor Spazmouseki, he was born the 5th of 10 puppies on July 8, 2005. During Hurricane Dennis which was nothing more than some wind in the air here in Tampa Bay.
When he was born, it took Luna about 1.5 hours to push him out after #4. When he came out, he was out of his umbilical sac, the cord was already detached and he was unresponsive. It did not look good for #5.
I did what they do in the movies, put him a towel, gently massaged his wet, limp body and breathed into his puppy face. He did come around and he was memorable over the next eight weeks with his siblings.
He was the runt of the litter, wasn't getting the milk or nourishment he needed. We fed him separately and gave him separate time with Luna to feed before the other eight jumped on board.
I found myself needing to take him to my office to feed him goats milk, since he kept getting pushed off of Luna by his siblings. For two weeks he was with me, in my office, in a box or a toweled off area in by my desk. Although he was not my or our first dog, in my heart, he was my dog.
We call him Spaz because when he started to stand he had the shakes. His hind legs were not enough to support him and he quavered whenever he stood or walked. In addition, his head was not exactly right....right in the way you would say, "something's not right about that one"....He had the look of 'Ed' one of the hyeanas from "The Lion King"....hence Igor (Young Dr. Frankenstein reference). Mouse, as we are big fans of Disney, so Igor Spazmouseki. He is a purebred Labrador Retriever. Purebred and now sick.
He was a vocal one, one that would talk to you, not bark. One that would tell you something was going on. One, when he ran or trotted his legs would kick out to the sides instead of a gallop/run. He can catch and carefully disect a lizard and leave it for you as an offering to remind you he is the best there is. He would find you at night, talk to you and have you walk him to his cage at night, seeking permission to go to sleep.
He never learned to pee with one leg in the air. He would try to be the dominant dog of the three, I think Bey and Luna allowed it to make him feel better.
My dog is going to die soon. He has chronic kidney failure. He has lost 20 lbs over the past few months. His kidney's are shutting down, toxins building and there is not a damn thing I or we can do about it. We can make him feel comfortable and we do. His diet is changing to not give him as much protein in his diet. He is beginning to lose bladder control.
To compound the bad news, his grandfather died last week of heart failure, grandma was put to sleep a few months ago. Spaz's mom and dad know something is up. Bey checks on him, Luna has laid down in the cage with him and does not need to be asked to go to bed, as a mother I guess she just knows.
We soon are going to know when it is time to make the trip to the vet for the final goodbye. I've done this twice before, with our first dog and our first cat. This one is going to hurt and hurt bad.
When we now look at Spaz...what is he telling us in his eyes....I'm in pain, I'm uncomfortable, I'm tired? Wish we knew, we could help buddy.
I love my dog Spaz.
His full name is Igor Spazmouseki, he was born the 5th of 10 puppies on July 8, 2005. During Hurricane Dennis which was nothing more than some wind in the air here in Tampa Bay.
When he was born, it took Luna about 1.5 hours to push him out after #4. When he came out, he was out of his umbilical sac, the cord was already detached and he was unresponsive. It did not look good for #5.
I did what they do in the movies, put him a towel, gently massaged his wet, limp body and breathed into his puppy face. He did come around and he was memorable over the next eight weeks with his siblings.
He was the runt of the litter, wasn't getting the milk or nourishment he needed. We fed him separately and gave him separate time with Luna to feed before the other eight jumped on board.
I found myself needing to take him to my office to feed him goats milk, since he kept getting pushed off of Luna by his siblings. For two weeks he was with me, in my office, in a box or a toweled off area in by my desk. Although he was not my or our first dog, in my heart, he was my dog.
We call him Spaz because when he started to stand he had the shakes. His hind legs were not enough to support him and he quavered whenever he stood or walked. In addition, his head was not exactly right....right in the way you would say, "something's not right about that one"....He had the look of 'Ed' one of the hyeanas from "The Lion King"....hence Igor (Young Dr. Frankenstein reference). Mouse, as we are big fans of Disney, so Igor Spazmouseki. He is a purebred Labrador Retriever. Purebred and now sick.
He was a vocal one, one that would talk to you, not bark. One that would tell you something was going on. One, when he ran or trotted his legs would kick out to the sides instead of a gallop/run. He can catch and carefully disect a lizard and leave it for you as an offering to remind you he is the best there is. He would find you at night, talk to you and have you walk him to his cage at night, seeking permission to go to sleep.
He never learned to pee with one leg in the air. He would try to be the dominant dog of the three, I think Bey and Luna allowed it to make him feel better.
My dog is going to die soon. He has chronic kidney failure. He has lost 20 lbs over the past few months. His kidney's are shutting down, toxins building and there is not a damn thing I or we can do about it. We can make him feel comfortable and we do. His diet is changing to not give him as much protein in his diet. He is beginning to lose bladder control.
To compound the bad news, his grandfather died last week of heart failure, grandma was put to sleep a few months ago. Spaz's mom and dad know something is up. Bey checks on him, Luna has laid down in the cage with him and does not need to be asked to go to bed, as a mother I guess she just knows.
We soon are going to know when it is time to make the trip to the vet for the final goodbye. I've done this twice before, with our first dog and our first cat. This one is going to hurt and hurt bad.
When we now look at Spaz...what is he telling us in his eyes....I'm in pain, I'm uncomfortable, I'm tired? Wish we knew, we could help buddy.
I love my dog Spaz.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Freeze Damage in Zone 9
Morning, learned a lesson this week. Do not cover your tomatoes with a plastic drop cloth. However, when you have lemons, you make lemonade (we already did that this week with the our lemons), we are going to make some green tomato salsa with a recipe found on another Zone 9 gardener's blog.
Here are some photos of the damage and product
Next up is January's planting's and more garden improvements. On the slate is:
Here are some photos of the damage and product
I'm trying something as this whole garden thing is trial and error, I've pruned back the last two plants, one is a Hybrid Roma, the other is a Hybrid Beefsteak....let's see if anything comes of it. In addition, I've taken a root string from one of the Roma's and put it in the Earthbox to see if anything sprouts...who know's?
As you can see, quite lot of salsa ahead of us.
Next up is January's planting's and more garden improvements. On the slate is:
- Chucking the planting table....haven't really used it
- Adding in two more 2x4 raised beds
- Have noticed a real need for an herb garden, so Cilantro, Parsley, Mint and Thyme will be added
- Starting January/February seeds
- Have another couple of sweet potatoes sitting, just waiting on their slips
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Sometimes it just takes some time.....
This is our brick from Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. We ordered it after the Olympics, then moved from Atlanta and this was the first time we've seen it! We love it and it was chilly over the holiday.
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