Rolling Dog Farm

It's August. Time for the Wood Stove.

So far we have enjoyed a cooler summer than in recent years, and last week we even had two full days of constant, soaking rain ... something we had rarely if ever seen in August.  Our first 'near-frost' was actually two weeks ago -- we woke up one morning and our LaCrosse weather station reported 32.8 degrees F (0.4 C).

[Yes, that .8 would suggest someone here at the ranch is a bit of a weather nerd, but let's not reflect further on that.]

Our first real frosts are usually in late August, and always by the end of the first week in September, and though we haven't had it yet, the past couple of days have been unusually cool and fall-like.  Yesterday was just a raw day ... cold and wet and windy.  More like late October than August.  With the temperature never getting above the 50s and the wind howling at 15 mph, the house had become uncomfortably cool by early evening -- and that meant a cold night ahead.  So for the first time Alayne or I could remember, I fired up the wood stove in August.

Never far from the warmth of a wood stove is blind-and-deaf Spinner, and I took her photo yesterday evening not long after I got the fire started.  This morning when we got up the house was warm and toasty. 

We're supposed to return to the 70s Friday and Saturday, but be back into the 50s by Sunday ... and with a high of only 53 degrees (11.6 C) forecast for Labor Day on Monday.  I think I'd better get started splitting some more wood for the stove!

Happy Molly

I was taking photos for our fall print newsletter the other evening over at Widget's House when I got these shots of Molly the blind Poodle.  Molly and her sister blind Priscilla are going to be our "cover models" on this next issue.  Actually, there will be three models in the cover photo, since I have Alayne in the center, holding both girls.  (Um, trying to get two dogs to sit perfectly still and looking at the camera at the same time ... when neither one can see ... is, shall we say, a real challenge.)

Molly is one happy girl, always smiling like this.  Priscilla is more reserved and shy around people.  Priscilla really comes alive when playing with the other dogs, especially her boyfriend Trooper.  (It turns out, though, that in the past month Molly has made it official -- she's dating that no-good hound dog, too.)

Molly has this little fluffy bob on the end of her tail, and she gets so excited whenever she sees us that her tail-bob (bobtail?) starts whirling around in a circle.  You can kind of see it in motion in this photo: 

Blind Briggs Sees The Chiropractor

Last week we had a scary moment with blind Briggs, who suddenly couldn't use his rear legs.  Yet he had deep pain sensation in his feet and could move his legs, pulling them back if we extended them ... but he couldn't stand up to walk.  His lower back was painful in one area, suggesting that something was definitely out of whack.  Our vet in Helena, Dr. Brenda Culver, had us start Briggs on prednisone to reduce inflammation in the spine, and over the course of 24 hours he began to regain the use of his legs.

The little guy is so wobbly to begin with, because of the neurological damage from his Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, that this was a real struggle.

Fortunately, within 48 hours he was almost back to his old self, except that we could tell -- this may sound odd -- that his wobble wasn't exactly "normal."  (Is there such a thing as a normal wobble?)  It's a little hard to do a neuro assessment on a dog who wobbles on all four legs, but his rear legs weren't wobbling the way they typically did.  There was something in how he moved them, and how his stance was, that told us his back was still out.

For all the bad rap that prednisone gets, we frankly consider it a miracle drug.  This steroid has brought more relief to more animals, in a faster amount of time, than anything else we've ever used.  And while it is known to have side effects, we have rarely experienced any problems in treating our animals with it. 

But it's also true that depending on the condition, prednisone -- like many medications -- can treat the symptoms or provide temporary relief while not "solving" the underlying problem.  In Briggs' case, it appeared he still had a back out of whack.  And for that sort of thing, we use chiropractic care.

So I scheduled a visit today with our personal chiropractor, Dr. Scott Matz in Missoula, who also practices on small animals for his clients at no cost.  After Scott worked on my sore back, he adjusted Briggs.  In the photo above Scott is examining Briggs' lower spine, having already adjusted his neck vertebrae with the device you see on the floor.

Briggs was the model patient, sitting very still for Scott the entire time.  Briggs seemed to enjoy it -- though I'm not sure whether it was the adjustment or just the extra attention from someone new -- because he danced wobbled a little jig after his session!

Squish Me

One of the myths about blind or deaf dogs is that they are more likely to snap if startled, and thus might not be a good fit for children.  This, like the typical myth, is simply not true.  By that definition, a blind and deaf dog would be twice as likely to be snappy, but we have never seen such behavior here.  If a dog is snappish, or not good with children, it's because of his or her personality, not because of a disability.

If anything, from what we've seen disabled animals are unusually easy-going and able to "go with the flow" ... I think because they've already learned how to adapt to the world around them without having vision or hearing or, in some cases, both. 

So I was delighted to get these photos in an email last week from Wendy M., who adopted blind-and-deaf Baron and blind Stoney a few months ago.  Wendy wrote,

"Here are some picture taken yesterday of my two nieces (3 & 5 yrs) Logann and Sydney.  If anyone needs proof disabled dogs do well with kids, show them these!  Sydney rolled all over Stoney, sat on her, reclined on her and gave her big hugs, all while Stoney patiently chewed on her bone.  Wow!  Baron was picked up, carried around, squished and squeezed and loved every minute of it. He would race all around the yard until he found one of the girls and would beg to be picked up again!  I think both dogs are going to be a little sad when the girls go back to Washington."

The photo at the top is Baron getting squished by Sydney.  Here she is making over blind Stoney:

And here is a very happy child with a very content dog:

Bunny Gets Adopted!

It was a good thing I devoted a post to beautiful Bunny just before taking my summer "blog vacation," because this special three-legged girl was adopted last week!  Long-time supporters of the ranch, Karl and Tia M. from the Spokane, Washington area, visited us earlier in the summer and fell in love with Bunny.  They couldn't stop thinking about her, and asked if they could come back to adopt her.  We can't think of a better home for this adorable cat than with Karl and Tia, so that was a definite "yes!" 

Now, having said that, I will admit that Bunny was a hard one to let go.  She was a real favorite of mine, and as I wrote in that earlier blog post, she is "one of the nicest, sweetest, and prettiest cats I've ever had the pleasure of knowing."  But Karl and Tia will shower her with love and affection and provide anything Bunny will ever need, and I knew this was clearly the best thing for this little girl.  Alayne took the photo above of Tia with Bunny just before they left the ranch.

Ironically, Bunny had come to us from the Spokane County animal control shelter, so she ended up going back to her hometown!

Judging from this photo that Tia sent, it would appear that Bunny is settling in just fine in her new home:

Thank you, Karl and Tia!

It Takes A Thief

I've posted before about how blind Widget loves to pester us at meal time.  She'll stand up on her little hind legs, put her paws on our laps, and cock her adorable head with an expression that says, unmistakeably, "Where's mine?"  She is, dare I say it, a serial beggar.

As a result of her bout with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis back in March, plump Widget lost some much-needed weight, and my efforts to keep the weight off have succeeded in keeping her svelte.  I refer to the new dietary regime as Daddy's Diet Plan, or DDP for short, but Widget calls it "Dastardly Daddy's Punishment."  Well, the new, sleek Widget is much more agile and athletic, and she's learned she can now do things she couldn't do before.  We have been surprised at what she can accomplish.  Perhaps because of the new diet plan, she's become even more insistent -- you might call it 'opportunistic' -- at meal time.

On Tuesday night we were having dinner, and as part of the meal I had served up corn on the cob.  We had the plate of corn at the edge of the table, parked right between Alayne and me.  As usual, Widget came over to check out our dinner and see what she could score.  She went first to me, then to Alayne, and back again a few times, this being the usual routine.  We were watching CNN while we ate.  Suddenly we heard a "thud!", and looked down to see Widget pouncing on a freshly buttered ear of corn. 

She had, right under our noses and without either one of us seeing it, managed to reach up with her little mouth, grab the ear of corn from the plate and flip it off the table and onto the ground.  And she did this silently, without moving the plate or disturbing any of the other ears of corn laying on it.  We didn't see or a hear a thing until the corn hit the floor.

This was an entirely new dimension in culinary robbery.

Thus last night I decided to photograph her in action.  In the photo at top is her M.O. ... pretending to be interested in what Alayne might be offering her, but meanwhile scanning the table with her nose for some self-service opportunities.  You can see that if the plate were at the edge of the table, all she'd have to do is reach over another inch or so and she'd get it.

Yes, I know this is a bad Widget, and yes, we scolded her for the corn heist.  Begging for food is one thing, stealing food from the table is another thing.

But then again, how can you stay mad at a face that looks like this?

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I'm going to be taking a summer 'blog vacation' next week, so I'll resume posting on Monday, August 25th.

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A quick update on blind Goldie:  She is doing well and bouncing back from her surgery, and we are cautiously optimistic that she will make a full recovery.  Thanks to everyone for their best wishes for our golden girl!

Goldie's Second Round of Cancer Surgery

Last Sunday Alayne discovered a growth on blind Goldie's side, near her right shoulder.  It was very small, buried in a lot of other tissue, and it had that "uh oh" feel to it.  Not a fatty tumor, and it felt attached.  This was more alarming than it would normally be, because Goldie had already had surgery for another cancerous growth in January.  That was a soft tissue sarcoma on her back.  Our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick at Missoula Veterinary Specialty Clinic, had successfully removed it.

On Monday I took Goldie in to see Dave, and a fine needle aspirate confirmed our fears.  The growth was a mast cell tumor.  We scheduled surgery for today.

Goldie is one of our 'personal' dogs who moved to Montana with us from Seattle in 2000.  She is the chief minion who never lets Alayne get more than 5 feet away from her.  Goldie is a dog who is as much as part of us as any animal we've had.  We've had her longer than anyone else.

And as many of you know, this has been a truly terrible year for losses for us.  We've lost three of our other personal dogs this year ... Dillon, Dolly and Shiloh.  Little Oscar died, too.  Then there was the death two weeks ago of our beloved Birdie, who was as much "one of ours" as Goldie.  Add in all the other losses, and it's been an emotionally brutal year.

So having Goldie develop a second cancer in six months was the last thing we wanted to hear, and this week we have been on edge worrying about her.  I took the photo of Alayne with Goldie this morning, just before they left for the vet hospital in Missoula.

The good news is that Dave called an hour ago to say Goldie came through surgery just fine and was already up and walking around.  He is sending the tissue in for a biopsy, which will tell us what grade of mast cell tumor it is.  They range from 1 to 3, with 3 being the most aggressive and requiring follow-up chemotherapy.  Most come back as grade 2 tumors.  We should have the results by early next week.

Alayne had stayed in Missoula to be able to bring our little golden girl home this evening, and she just called to say that a very happy Goldie was in the truck with her and headed back to the ranch.

Now, of course, we have to get past the post-operative danger zone where things like blood clots can kill them instantly, despite a successful surgery.  Birdie's death painfully reminded us that just because they came through surgery in great shape doesn't mean they are out of danger, so our fingers are staying crossed for a while yet! 

Bunny

Speaking of cats, here's one who doesn't get nearly as much blog-time as those manic attention-seekers, Herbie and Honey Girl.  This is Bunny, one of the nicest, sweetest, and prettiest cats I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.  She came to us last year from the animal control shelter in Spokane County, Washington.  Bunny -- or Buns, as I usually call her -- is just a gem of a cat.  If Alayne weren't deathly allergic to cats, Bunny would be here in my office right now, sitting on my desk, staring at me.  Or pawing at me with that little stump of a leg, saying "Love me, please."  It is irresistible when she does this.  Since she has to use her right front leg to stand on, she always uses her stump to paw at you when she wants to be petted.  Trust me, when she does that, you melt.  (I think she knows this.)

Bunny gets along with all the other cats, and is a mellow doll of a girl.  How she ended up as a stray -- and unclaimed at the shelter -- amazes me.  We don't know what happened to her leg, but like all of our three-legged ones, it doesn't slow her down at all.

Among Bunny's many wonderful attributes is this one:  Unlike Herbie and Honey Girl, she is perfectly content to stay inside the outdoor enclosure!

How Did I End Up Here?

You'd think that a bunch of blind, three-legged and wobbly cats wouldn't be capable of -- or have any interest in -- escaping from their nice, safe, outdoor enclosure.  But you'd be wrong.

I was in my office yesterday afternoon responding to emails when Alayne came in and said, "Herbie got out again."  What?!?  We had already fixed the top of the enclosure after his last escape, and I couldn't believe he had managed to get through it again.  On my way out to see what was going on, I grabbed the camera to document blind Herbie's latest adventure.

There he was, walking on top of the enclosure, carefully picking his way across the fencing material we lay from end to end to seal it off. Herbie! I checked the edges of the fencing where it meets the wall, because this is how he got out before.  Nope, it was tight against the wall.  I was perplexed.  How did he get out?

I opened the gate to the isolation yard ... that's what is on the other side of the wooden fence in the photo -- and found another cat, three-legged Honey Girl, lounging in the sun.  What the @%#?!  I walked over to pick her up and she scampered off.  Around and around we went, me trying to pick her up, she bolting away.  She was clearly enjoying being out.  Note:  A three-legged cat who doesn't want to be caught is just as fast as a four-legged cat who doesn't want to be caught.  I finally got her back in the enclosure and then resumed the inspection. 

Finding Honey Girl was the clue, because a week ago we had found her out in the isolation yard, along with wobbly Mink.  She had dug under that board fence, in the one short 18" section that isn't lined with 4" x 4" posts.  So we had dutifully filled her hole with big rocks and lined that gap with more rock.

I looked over at the original point of escape -- by now I was feeling like Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes,  trying to figure out how those pesky GIs were always digging out of their POW camp -- and was dumbfounded to see Honey Girl had somehow tunneled her way right past those rocks, pushing them aside and digging a new tunnel.  Bear in mind that this cat only has one front leg!

Herbie, meanwhile, being true to form, had no interest in exploring the ground. No sir, he only wanted to go up ... and up he went.  So once he followed Honey Girl out her tunnel, he turned right around, climbed up that board fence, and headed for the top of the enclosure.  Bear in mind that this cat has no eyes in his head!

If he had just climbed all the way up onto the cottage itself, I could have titled this post, "Cat on a hot tin roof."  Dang.

Herbie made his way over to the edge, meowing at me the entire time -- I don't know if he was simply letting me know he was coming over to me, or complaining that the fence material was swaying underneath him.  He got to the edge of the enclosure and I lifted him off with one hand.  He is so nimble and smart ... and such a world-class climber ... that I didn't for one minute worry about him falling. 

We have now lined that gap at the bottom of the fence with a board and about 50 pounds of rocks.  If that doesn't keep them in, well, I guess I'll have another "blog moment" to report!

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To follow up on the post about Spinner's seizures:  She is doing fine and has not had any more seizures since last week.  All of her other tests came back looking good.  So we don't know much more right now. 

Full Cot. Or, Three's Company.

I stepped out the back door of our house the other day and saw this scene at the edge of the steps.  That's Oliver and Twist, the two Dachshunds, sharing a dog cot with blind Austin.  I think there might still be room to squeeze a miniature Dachshund into that upper left-hand corner of the bed, but Daisy wasn't interested in trying.

Oliver and Twist had come to us from an animal hoarder/backyard breeding situation several months ago.  Oliver, the wire-haired one, has orthopedic problems -- including front feet that turn in-ward when he stands -- that make him hop instead of walk.  Twist's left rear leg juts out sideways (except when he's lying down like this!) from a birth defect.  The leg doesn't hamper his mobility ... he just lifts it up and out of the way, then zooms off.

Austin is kind of like the kid who is everybody's favorite little brother; all the dogs enjoy playing with him and just having him hang around with them.  These three were enjoying a summer afternoon snooze in the shade of the back porch.

Here's a different configuration from the other side of the house, in a photo I took last week.  That's Austin and Twist with blind Kenai, our elderly black Lab.  This was a summer morning snooze under the front porch, and since the temperature was still fairly cool, I think they were using Kenai as a heating pad: