Back in the saddle

Moxie and I have joined a new agility group. I'm even planning to go to a show on Labor day. I'm also entering an obedience trial in August. So after a hiatus from trialing that has spanned most of Moxie's life, we are going to get back into competition, just in time for her 9th birthday.

I'm nervous. She's happy. I'm thinking ASCA is my new favorite venue. She has GOT to learn to work away from me though. Any help with that? Anyone? The dog is fast. She was impressing some hard core agility folk last week with her speed and enthusiasm. Also, she WILL work distance for someone else, not me though. Too much of a mommas girl. I know she can do it. She would be kicking butt and taking names if she had a better handler. The lesson I am quickly learning is that agility is just as much a test of the handlers skill as it is of the dogs agility. I'm just better at a slower pace. Thats why we clean up in obedience.

I'd love to go to a rally trial this summer while I'm off. I'm starting grad school in the fall. I registered for classes today, so this is my last free summer for a while. I'd love to finish her Rally 1 title. Thing is so few people offer APDT Rally. Its all AKC and AKC has this RIDICULOUS policy about no crossbreeds in their sporting events.

Sorry about the ramble. Maybe some pictures of her working tonight. Or a video? I don't have a class buddy to do these things for me.

Wet Wild Summer

Moxie and I made our first trek to the lake of the season in Wednesday. We found a nice quiet area with a boat ramp for easy access for Moxie.

Its hard to take pictures and interact with Moxie at the same time, so I didn't get any action shots, but these turned out pretty well. Never mind her tail, her fur hasn't quite grown back from her hot spot.



















Happy Summer!

What would I do

What would I do at three o'clock in the morning when I'm lying in bed, can't sleep, can't stop the spinning in my head, if I didn't have pets to cuddle, caress and keep me company. Moxie listens intently to all my secrets, so long as I'm rubbing her belly. And Sully is content to lay on top of me and purr away my worries.

If I had a husband sharing my bed, there would be grumblings of waking him up in the middle of the night or at the very least heavy snoring and heat production (sleeping with a man is like sleeping with a furnace)

How do people make it through life without an animals companionship?

Affirmations

I subscribe to a newsletter called "Your Dog." Its put out by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, one of the premier vet schools in the U.S. There was an article in the May issue about caring for senior dogs that actually recommended a higher protein food. The article said that senior dogs need extra protein to prevent muscle wasting and maintain a lean weight. They went on to say that a high protein diet will not damage the kidneys. I was elated to read this. As you know I've been battling with trying to find the perfect diet for everyone for months now. Moxie is on the grain free high protein Wellness CORE dry food, with a premium wet food mixed, or Natures Variety Frozen Raw Medalions. (I hate the idea of her eating the same thing every day, so I mix it up a little. Her gut has never minded this, but I don't recommend it for those with sensitive tummies) So according to this article, this is an ideal diet for my senior dog.

I weighed Moxie last month and she was 25 pounds which is the least she has ever weighed. When I adopted her, she weighed 26 pounds and I thought she was scrawney then. I've been worried lately that she's too thin, but the article really extolled the virtues of keeping your senior dog lean and fit to prevent muscle wasting and joint damage. I think this means my diet search is over! YAY!

Everyone else is fine. Sully is getting pudgy. I upped his meal rations about a month ago on advice from my cat forum peeps, thinking that feeding him more might curb his ravenous appetite. This cat would eat ALL DAY LONG if I let him. He spends his whole day (not spent sleeping) hunting for food. He's into everything and he will eat ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING. Well, increasing his food hasn't helped one bit, so its back to his usual portions with maybe some pumpkin mixed in for bulk. No fat cats. No fat pets! And hopefully, one day, no fat me!

Let start with the cats.

Sully is cuddled in my arms right now looking perfectly innocent and sweet like he wouldn't dream of causing any trouble. Moxie is laying in the middle of the floor on her back looking the picture of cute. Kobie and Thurston are curled up together on top of the dog crate.

I love my little fur family.

I'm back, poor Moxie

I just got back from a trip to Boston to see my Shawnbear. My kiddos seemed to do okay while I was gone. Everyone ate. Everyone did their best to annoy my mother. You know, business as usual.

The first thing I noticed when I got home was Moxie holding her tail weird and acting very strange. I felt her tail and it was very painful and matted to the skin over the center where she had clearly been chewing on it for some time. I clipped the matts off when my crappy clippers and found a massive hot spot underneath. Poor baby, its so sore! She whimpered and cried all night long. I took her in to work with me, setting aside my objections to our new policies on treating our own pets, because shew as uncomfortable. We clipped it up, cleaned it up and its looking better already, though she is still sore. She holds her tail to the side and acts like something is biting her when she walks. She is being good about leaving it alone though.

Mom says she didn't chew on herself during the day, so she must have been so upset about being alone at night that she chewed her tail. I can find no other reason for it. No fleas, her skin looks perfectly healthy otherwise. So now Moxie is wandering around with a half shaved tail, its shaved from the base to about mid way up with a pom pom left on the end, like a lion cut. In fact, the way she carries her tail over her back, she reminds me of a low chen.

Moxie is very embarrassed about the current state of her tail, her former crowning glory, and has made me swear NOT to take any pictures. So I won't be gracing this page with pictures of hot spots (to the delight of those of you already sick of looking at teeth)

Instead I will post my pics from my Boston trip as soon as I get them all uploaded and edited.

Dental Day

Today was Thurstons turn to get his teeth cleaned. He needed it bad. So does Kobie but I can't afford to do them both at once. Apparently Thurston had a bipolar attitude today. He was fine for the blood draw then flipped out when it came time to give him his injection. Silly boy. I think its a black and white thing.

Here is the before and after. I think its so cool that they give us pictures!


Kobie came with me to pick Thurston up and he got his Rabies booster and his ears looked at. Nothing to report on his ears, he just scratches them to be scratching them which is a perfectly acceptable explanation for any behavior when you're an orange cat. He was a little love, purred the whole time. I think he rather enjoyed the trip and the attention. He's a weird cat.

My vet, Dr. Cathy, is about the best vet you could ask for. She's gentle, she's thorough, and she's always been there for my pets. Unlike my employer, she doesn't treat my babies like second class citizens (probably because I pay like a first class citizen) but its worth it to shell out the bucks and know I'm not getting fluffed off.

Well my bank account is a bit lighter, but I'm happy knowing I've done the best for my pets. Its totally worth it to know they are happy and healthy. Poor Thurston looks like he has a hangover. He keeps squinting his little eyes. So sad. Maybe some dinner will perk him up. Not until 8pm though, doctors orders.

A couple of recent pics of the kiddos.

Thought I'd share of few pics from the past few weeks.

Thurston and Kobie on the pup-couch. They probably kicked poor Moxie off the couch so they could sleep there.


AWE Thurston!


Sully in the Cat tree


Sully catches the bird with one arm


Moxie and her ducky toy. This is the first toy I ever bought her. So cute.

Nothing new

Hello all,

Well there isn't much to report. Things are just rolling right along. Moxie and continue to do our therapy visits at UBH. These visits are the highlight of my week, Moxie's too. Its the one thing I'm doing right now that I feel is making any real difference in the world. I can't wait to get going in grad school and get back into social work.

I'm taking an online spanish course right now, and I'm even beginning to dream in broken, terrible spanish! Despite all the hurt, I just can't get Mexico out of my mind. I want to go back with a group in June, but I don't think I could get the week off of work, and I'm not sure I'm ready to go back. Ah well, no matter what I do, the spanish will come in handy.

Right now Moxie is eating half Wellness CORE, and half Natures Variety Frozen Raw Medallions. So far so good. I think I'm happy with this arrangement for now. We'll see how I feel in a few weeks. Moxie doesn't care than I change my mind every few weeks. She likes the variety.

The cats are fine. Everyone is healthy. Thurston and Sully, aka, Frick and Frack are busy wrecking havoc most of the days. Kobie is thriving on his new diet, no more tummy troubles and he seems much happier.

I guess thats all for now. I'm off to see what you all have been up to.

Snow Day

We've had a couple of random snowstorms in the midst of an early spring. I got to leave work early today because the weather was so horrid, so Moxie and I got a snow day. Moxie was at Doggy Daycare so I had to go and pick her up then make my treck south on I-35 which took two hours. But we made it alive.

The snow is so much prettier when you aren't driving in it.

Here is my beautiful girl in the snow.









Just some snow pics.




So on the diet front, I've still made no decisions. I'm thinking Innova maybe (not evo), or Natures Variety prepackaged raw. Moxie's doggy daycare sells both. I think I'll get the Natures Variety and give it a go. I'm really happy with their cat food.

The trail mutt rides again

Moxie and I and my dear friend Marie hit the trails this weekend in perfect hiking weather!

Here is Moxie with the Ruffdogs forum mascot who also joined up on our hike.


Moxie is queen of the hill!


Beautiful Moxie


Moxie loves her auntie Marie!


In other news. Kobie seems to be symptom free after his steroid injection and food change. He is LOVING the Natures Variety INSTINCT formula. Good thing as its two bucks a can. YIKES! I think I will be keeping Sully on the Wellness as its a bit cheaper and he's doing well on it. If it aint broke....

Not sure what Thurston's diet will be. He is going in to have his urine rechecked on Friday. If he is crystal free, he can stay on the wellness, but if he still has crystals, he'll have to go on a special diet. Yuck. So hope for no crystals for Thurston.

While we are discussing diets, I'm re-evaluating Moxie's again. Moxie's just gaining too much weight on the CORE, even the low fat version. I'm thinking, at nine years of age, she would probably do best on a good senior diet, so I'm in the market again for a good dog food. Any suggestions welcome.

IBD or Lymphoma, those are your options

Kobie is still sick. He vomits at least once every day. He's having diarrhea. His eating is sporadic, though this has gotten somewhat better. I took him back in today and took more x-rays and Dr. McClannahan had another look at him. We decided to give him another shot of steroids to see if that made the symptoms go away again like they did last month. If so, then we've got one of two things going on here, either IBD, or Intestinal Lymphosarcoma. I happen to be well acquainted with both of these; Sully has IBD, and Tyler and A.C. died of Lymphosarcoma. I'm going to schedule an ultrasound next week to confirm one of these diagnosis. Lets all hope its IBD.

I'm going to go ahead and say its IBD and I'm going to blame the multiple protein sources in his food (Wellness grain free varieties, canned). So I'm switching him to Natures Variety INSTINCT formula. Its 95% protein source and liver. They are all single protein sources and novel proteins like Venison and Rabbit. I haven't decided which variety I will be using yet. Rabbit and Duck seem more natural for a cat to be eating, but Venison has a good reputation among IBD pets. They have a Lamb variety, but I remember reading somewhere that Lamb wasn't a good staple protein for cats because its low in Taurine. I think thats what it was, don't quote me. I've posted the question to my Yahoo Group FelineIBD. They were such a great resource with Sully. Now that I've gotten him sorted, I'll work on Kobie. Then hopefully Thurston won't need a special diet for his bladder crystals. I would really prefer if I didn't have three cats on three different special diets.

So thats the latest from the cat house. Poor Moxie. Its been all about the cats this week. I didn't take her to class, or to the therapy visit Thursday night. To make it up to her, we are going hiking tomorrow. I will take pictures to post.

Sick Kitties

This week both Kobie and Thurston decided to get sick on me. I noticed earlier this week that Thurston was visiting the kitty box frequently. When he took the opportunity to pee in front of me, I noticed that he was straining, and producing a very small amount. He normally pees a large volume with a good stream. He gets UTI's about once every 6 months like clockwork. I think this is going to be a chronic issue with him. For the first time this time his UA showed struvite crystals. He is on antibiotics and an anti inflammatory. Hopefully if we can get the infection cleared up, the crystals will go away on their own. I don't want to have to put him on a special (Read Hills) diet for crystals. On the advice of my natural cat forum peeps, I'm cutting the dry food out of his diet entirely and putting him on the fully wet grain free wellness, just like Sully. So now the only cat in the house eating dry food is Kobie....

Not that he's eating much of it. Kobie's not been eating well for about a week. He just won't finish his meals, leaving fully 1/3 to 1/2 of his food behind. He is also having intermittent diarrhea and vomiting. He had this same problem about a month ago. I took him in and ran a full panel of bloodwork and took two full cat x-rays. He was a little constipated, and his intestined looked mildly inflamed, but everything else came back normal. I'm worried about intestinal lymphosarcoma. I've had two cats, A.C. and Tyler, die of this particular cancer, and this was how it started too. Random vomiting, diarrhea, not eating well, losing weight, just generally looking puny. But for weeks and months we did tests and tests and found nothing. When the tumors became palpable or visible on x-ray they were already on deaths door. Kobie's blood calcium levels were high normal, but the calcium levels don't always elevate with lymphosarcoma. Its such a hard cancer to diagnose. I guess I'm just gunshy. He may just have developed IBD late in life, but somehow I doubt it. I have an IBD cat and his appetite and attitude are both in hyperdrive. Kobie just isn't right. I'm so worried about him. So I'm thinking of just putting him on all wet food diet too and eliminating dry food forever, but we will see. I don't want to do anything to make him eat even less than he is already eating. He at all of his dinner tonight for the first time in a week.

In an effort to improve everyones over all health and water consumption, I bought a premium drinkwell pet water fountain last summer. Its been sitting in a box in my room ever since. This latest bout of illnesses prompted me to put it together and plug it in. Not one cat has touched it. I put them all up there to see it, they sniffed it then hopped down. They don't care about the running water. Meanwhile, the only place I could put it was in my bedroom, so I get to listen to the sound of running water all night long, resulting in a few latenight trips to the bathroom. The fountain is sitting on my metal filing cabinet right now, and the motor makes the metal vibrate a little bit, so I'm wondering if thats not putting the cats off drinking from it. I'll move it to my desk when I get my desk cleared off....which would be sometime this century.

I got a visitor in the mail from the UK this week. The Ruffdogs forum mascot has come to see what my corner of Texas is all about. I'll have him with me all week and I'll take photos to document his stay here. So far, he has met Sully and Moxie (the others weren't feeling up to it) His run in with Sully perhaps a bit traumatizing for him, so I think I'll keep him clear of the cats for the rest of his stay.

Well I'm off to poke pills down cat throats. Joy!

LOLPETS

I really have nothing to report at the moment so I thought I would post up some of my favorite pics from a few of my favorite sites.

There are two that seem to be the same concept. Not sure which came first but here they are:

Icanhascheezburger.com And
Lolcats.com

I have a few pics I'm going to submit some day.

Answers from the Cat Whipserer

These are the results of the animal communication session I bought from a woman in England for my cats.

Kobie:

Does he feel okay/is he in pain?

He feels a little down, but there is no physical pain with him.

He does seem to be depressed

Why does he cry at meal times when I'm not in the room

He feels threatened when he is alone with the others, he feels that you are his protector, and can stop the others. He is quite insecure.

a bit odd as he's shut in the room alone, the other cats can't get to him, but maybe he doesn't know that?


Why does he let the other cats eat his food

Again he feels he he is being intimidated by the others, so he just keeps out of the way, or steps aside if the others try to but in, he would rather back down that stand his ground.

This is exactly what he does, he just steps away. Its really sad!

Why does he want to go outside all the time.

He feels he can make the outside world more his own, he has his own fave spots, and hide outs, and he smugly comments that the others don’t go there. He feels more secure in the wide open space, as he can get away fast if he needs, he can hide out, he feels safe, he feels like he isn’t having to watch his back all of the time.


And I want him to know the following
That I love him very much, I'm never going to leave him again, and I'm never going to give him up or let anything happen to him That I don't want him to go outside because its dangerous and he might get hurt, sick or killed and I couldn't stand losing him.

Kobie is aware very much on how much you love him, he likes to have his time, his freedom, and doesn’t want you to take this away. He wants to negotiate. Maybe come to some sort of arrangement with him, that you can let him out during the day, but he must come in at night, or you can let him out for an hour or two, and he must come home after that. It may sound silly, but talk to him yourself, tell him your conditions, he will understand, and should listern…… if you meet him half way, you will both help each other a great deal.

Yeah, but I'm not going to let him go outside, at all, end of. Its just too dangerous. Maybe some day I can afford to build him an enclosed porch or yard that he can't get out of and I'll feel okay about it, but not right now. I couldn't stand to lose him to some horrible tragic end outside all alone.


Thurston:

I want to know why he beats up on Kobie all the time. And I'd like to convince him to leave poor Kobie alone.

Thurston is very driven by prey (& attention) it’s a natural response for him to target the weak, he seens kobie as a weaker cat, and Thurston feels he should take advantage of this, and get the best spots to sleep, the best and most food etc, and if kobie gets in the way, he just gets pushed out of the way etc. He knows what he is doing is wrong, but as mentioned above, he can sometimes do this negative behavior to gain your attention, in a cats mind, any attention even negative attention is better than no attention at all.

True, but how do I not pay attention to this behavior? I'll need to find a way to work around this


I also want Thurston to know that his Daddy had to go away, but he didn't want to leave him. That his Daddy loves him very much and asks about him all the time and that his daddy will be coming home in a few months and he'll never leave him again.

I feel Thurston was most affected by this, im not sure if he is more the mans cat, or if he just has a very close relationship with his daddy, but again he feels like he is missing out on so much attention, and will be pleased when he comes home.

His behavior definitely got worse when James left, and I do feel like he is starved for affection. I feel sorry for the poor little guy.


Oh, and if you could mention that the scratching posts and cat trees are for scratching and the furniture and carpet are not :)

(again this refers to his negative attention seeking!)

again, hard to ignore

They have to live somewhere

This may be a wildly unpopular opinion, but I think sex offenders are people too. Once they've served their debt they should have a fighting chance at having a home and a way to make a living. Tonight the city of Lewisville city council voted to increase the distance a registered sex offender can live from places where children congregate from 500 feet to 1500 feet. This new ordinance effectively makes Lewisville a no mans land for sex offenders, with 90% of residential Lewisville now off limits.

Its true, to make the "list" of sex offenders, you must have been convicted of some pretty heinous crimes, but to be living in the community, you must have already spent your hard time in prison. Punishment dealt, punishment completed. Being on "the list" already means you have restrictions on where you can live and work. No one will rent to you or hire you as it is. Now, lets put ridiculous limits on the distance your home has to be from schools and daycares and you've effectively banished all sex offenders from the city limits. As more and more municipalities pass these ordinances, soon there will be no place left for a man to start over.

Now really, what is this extra 1000 feet going to do? Absolutely nothing. To the hardend child molester that was going to re-offend, he will re-offend, regardless of how many feet he is living from a school. All this ordinance does is further punish the ones that have already changed their ways. Society needs to make up their minds about sex offenders. If we truly believe that they are a continued threat to our children even after release, then we need to lock them up forever. At least in prison they will be afforded food, a job and a place to sleep; something that the current laws do not allow them. I, for one, think child molestation and rape should be a capitol offense, punishable by death. But currently, neither of these are the case. Under the current laws, once released, sex offenders should be returned to active contributing members of society. This is becomeing increasingly impossible. What are we trying to do exactly? Force all our sex offenders to move to Mexico? Herd them all together in communes, like the Indian reservations? If we are going to imprison them in society, we should just cut to the chase and keep them in prison.

The route we as a country are going down now in regards to sex offenders is simply inhumane.

Lonely Kobster

I heard back from the animal communicator, and she says Kobie is lonely. She says he doesn't have the right companion. I guess it could be true. We have the two other cats, but he did lose his friend when Mocha died six months ago. Come to think of it, the odd behavior really began then. Well, too bad Kobie, I'm not getting you another kitty. Sorry.

Actually Kobie has bigger worries today. He has an upset tummy. He's on a 24 hour fast which is he not impressed with. Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow.

Meanwhile, In an espresso induced high, I came up with a five year plan. Five years from now, I plan to have achieved the following:

1) Earn my Masters degree in Social Work
2) Achieve fluency in Spanish
3) Achieve a healthy weight and lifestyle
4) Grow Spiritually
5) Work through and overcome my abuse issues

Its nice to have a plan of action. Now I'm off to work on my Spanish.

On hate

First, please pardon the non-pet nature of this post. I just need to get this out and make it public knowledge.

Ever since I forgave my dad back about a year ago, I seem to have lost the ability, or desire, to hate. I recently found out that a man who raped me several years ago is in the hospital, fighting for his life, and I have nothing but well wishes and compassion to offer him. I searched my soul upon hearing this for any signs of hatred, or joy in his suffering, and try as I might, I found none. I originally found this to be odd, but now I think it is a blessing. God has blessed me by taking hate out of my life. All thats left now is love, and love is never wrong.

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" I feel like I am finally practicing what I've been praying all these years.

My inability to hate really couldn't have come at a better time for some people. I've recently found out the heinous truth behind the years of lies lavished on me by the one person I was closer to than God. (That being the first mistake I made) I am disappointed, and saddened, and much much wiser today for having heard the truth, but I don't hate him. I don't wish him harm. Instead I feel intense pity for his poor tortured soul. Old and alone, with nothing but his paranoia to keep him company at night. Someday all the lies and all the pain he's caused will come crashing down upon him like waves and he will become awash in a sea of misery of his own design. Its not a fate I wish on anyone, even him. So if you are out there, and you are reading this, and you have lied to me, used me, and sold me out, then have no fear of reprisal from me. I forgive you. You need only make your peace with God.

-Rachael

Beautiful Moxie

We went to training class tonight and had a ball. She just loves to work. She did great and we spent a lot of time off lead. I need to work her off lead more often, I need to trust her. She's better than I think she is. Sometime I'll get someone to take some more video of us. There's an AKC trial in April in Denton, but Moxie doesn't have an ILP, and I don't think I could get one to be honest. Oh well. Keep your eyes peeled for me a local obedience trial. ASCA, or UKC, would work.

Animal Communicator

I believe that some people have been given a gift, and are connected at a deeper level to animals than most. I am not one of these people, but I do know someone who is. She's a good friend of mine and she runs a rabbit rescue and wildlife rehabilitation center. I took my cat Kobie to her out of desperation several years ago when he was desperately sick and none of the vets knew why or how to fix him. This person also practices alternative healing methods including Reike. I don't know much about Reike, but I do know that within 48 hours, Kobie was completely well again. While I had Kobie there, she talked to him. She knew nothing about this cat, but knew that he had been hit by a car and had to have hip surgery, she even knew which hip it was. She also told me that Kobie liked to watch the birds. Ever since then, I've left the blinds raised about a foot and a half so he could see out.

So today, there is a woman on Ruffdogs who is claiming to be an animal communicator, and says she can talk to any animal, all she needs is a name, a gender, and a picture. The picture is to make she she isn't talking to a different animal with the same name. Now, I may be a tad skeptical since I got taken by the whole breed test scam, but I don't quite believe this. She offered a free reading so I sent her a picture of Kobie and a question to ask him. I'll let you all know what she says.

Noise phobias

I don't know what to make of Moxie lately. Her noise phobias are just spiraling out of control. Today at work, she absolutley FREAKED out when the someone used the electric stapler, she ran to the reception area and hid under a chair for half an hour (I didn't try to coax her out because I didn't want to reinforce the fear, that and I was busy at the time) She did go back in the office when I made her, but she hid under the desk and shook. When I pulled her out from under the desk she would just circle and look for a corner to sit in and shiver.

She is increasingly anxious when I bring her to work, to the point that I don't want to bring her anymore because I think she's miserable. She won't settle down and go to sleep. She's jumpy, on edge, she whines, she's clingly. She's not a happy puppy. All of this is recent, though. I've been bringing her to work for 8 years and she's never been phased by anything at work.

Tonight at the therapy visit, some of the kids started playing with basketballs and again, Moxie got all weirded out. She used to be bombproof about stuff like that. I don't know whats going on with her lately. I'm completely at a loss. Any advice would be much appreciated. I don't know where my confident happy dog went? She had a full checkup today, with physical exam and bloodwork and there isn't a thing one wrong with her physically. Should I call in a puppy psychologist?