11-29-2011 Zak's 7th birthday

Today is Zak's 7th birthday.  This box is what I usually put kindling in, but it was empty, and so Zak decided to be "Zak in a box"!  Couldn't help but takin' the picture.


For breakfast he got some of his regular kibble, plus he also got some oatmeal.  I was thinking of scrambling some eggs, but I was in the mood for oatmeal, so he got some oatmeal also.







Jenna took over Groucho's bed.  For some reason she likes it, and the cat doesn't.  Her birthday is next month.  Does this bed make her look "fat"?








Dannii likes to curl up in what I call the "dog chair", since Zak was the one who dug to China in the seat.  There is only about an inch of foam right above the springs.  Good enough for the dogs, I guess.









Zak sitting in front of the woodstove.  He is always around the stove, either in front, or on the side.  He doesn't care, as long as he is as close as he can get, without actually being right inside of the stove itself!





Zak had gotten some treats throughout the day, not too many, as I am trying to get him to loose some weight.  For dinner, he got half of a can of wet food, plus some raw liver.  Now, he got a little bit of raw liver last week, and he ate it.  Tonight, he ate all around the liver, wouldn't touch it, and neither did Jenna.  But, she's a priss, so what do you expect?  Dannii however loves raw liver, and he scarfed it up like there was no tomorrow.

I have not worked at all this week so far.  I am trying to put all of my trust in the Lord to help carry me through this.  I can't afford to pay the second half of my rent for this month.  Wednesday (tomorrow) is my normal day off, so I hope and pray that I will be working Thursday, Friday and Saturday.   I signed up for unemployment last Friday, and they will probably use that as my waiting period, I'm not sure.  All I know is that I am going to go several weeks with no paychecks.  That is going to hurt big time.

Even if I had wanted to start the CCNU for Dannii, I can't afford to now.  I wouldn't be able to pay for the CBC/Chem panel that will need to be done, and then having to come up with another $45.00 for the next dose of the CCNU.  Right now things are going well for Dannii, and I just hope and pray that things continue as they are right now, for him.  Still praying that he will be around for his 14th birthday in Dec. 12, 2012.

That's about it for today.  You all come back again, now hear?

11-27-2011 Point Isabel with photos

Things have been going very well lately.  Dannii has been eating, and then even looking for more!  I just want to be careful and make sure that he does not get too fat.  This here is another sweater that he has.  This one, I bought at Walmart.








Today was our annual basenji meet-up at Point Isabel.  My friend, Dale did not make it today, as she has family up from the LA area, and they were heading back home later today.  We had about 12 basenji's today.  One was new, and came down from Sacramento.  They had a 8 month old basenji girl, named Sierra.  She was a very nice girl, and such a sweetheart. No growling or snarling from this girl.









This here is Sierra.  She is a very sweet 8 month old.  Takes treats very gently out of your hand.  Not the snarking or snarling b-girls that we are used to.












Chris has the oldest basenji.  Sunshine is 14, and Cassie is 4, I think.  Between me and Dale, her Baree is the oldest at 13, Scout is 12.  I think Chris is checking out his video camera, and of course the dogs all thought he had treats to dispense.









Two gals asking questions about the basenji's.  Chris is petting Jenna, and Dannii is next to her.  Sunshine looks like she is trying to get on Chris' lap.









Chris has his left hand on Dannii, and Zak is standing next to him.  That looks to be Sunshine down on the bench.  Not sure who belongs to the butt, as the rest of the dog, got cut off.







It was pretty foggy when I left the house this morning to head for the park.  I was thinking that probably nobody was going to show up, but was pleasantly surprised that we had as many basenji's that we did.  It was just too bad that Dale couldn't make it.  It turned out to be a nice day, not really cold, and the sun was out.  Hardly any wind at all.

Well, someone mentioned on one of the cancer sites that I am on, that her vet told her to give her dog raw liver, twice a week.  I have been giving Dannii liver, but I always cooked it first.  Well, last night, I gave all 3 dogs some raw liver.  Most of it went to Dannii, on top of his kibble, and Jenna and Zak got smaller pieces.  Well, Jenna wouldn't touch it at all, but Dannii and Zak sure chowed it down in no time!  I'm not fond of raw liver.  I grew up on liver, and I do like it, but it needs to be cooked.  But, if raw liver is much better for Dannii, I am willing to do that for him.

When I went to feed them tonight, I "thought" I had given Dannii his phenobarbital pills, but a few minutes later, I couldn't remember if I gave the phenobarbital, or the prednisone!  So stupid!  He is suppose to only get the prednisone once a day, in the morning, but the phenobarbital, he gets twice a day.  So, I gave him another dose of the phenobarbital.  I don't think it will hurt him, compared to if I didn't give it to him, but gave him the prednisone instead.  He would be having a seizure sometime during the night, and I don't want that.

Angus, I think is in the group photo above.  They had to leave early.  When we were still waiting for everyone to show up, Angus went up to get some water, and some dog nipped him in the butt, not just on the butt, but his anus also.  Greg and Nancy decided to leave and take Angus to the vet to get him checked out. She informed everyone that Angus is ok, that he is on antibiotics, and he got his butt shaved, and I think he also got a shot of some kind.  Glad to know that it wasn't anymore serious than that.

Well, that's about it for today.  I hope you all come back again, now hear?

Happy Thanksgiving & photos from the 13th

I didn't make dinner, as it was just me and the dogs and cats.  My son had gone up to Oregon, with another friend, to a friend of their's, for Thanksgiving.

I made a stew a few days ago, and so I heated up some of the broth, and poured that over the dogs kibble.  Dannii did not get any potatoes, unless they were really, really small.  He got some stew meat, carrots, and green beans, plus the broth.  I've never seen all 3 of the dogs eat their meals so darn fast!

The batteries have not come in yet for my camera, but it finally dawned on me, that my printer, has a slot for the SD card.  So, I inserted the card into the printer, and got them up on the computer.  Too bad I didn't think of that last week!  Anyway, not really any great photos, but at least you can get to see their sweaters that they wore on the 13th of this month.

This here is Dannii, and his sweater is a blue, and a darker blue, with some black.  Jenna's sweater is in pastels.  Although it makes it kind of hard to tell.

The morning started out kind of cold, and since the park is right on the water, is why the dogs wore their sweaters.  It eventually warmed up, but I still didn't take the sweaters off until we got home.

Baree is the brindle female that has her butt to the camera.



This here is our pack, when we usually meet up every Sunday. My guys are in the sweaters, and Scout is the Tri, and then Baree.








A close up of Dannii.  Zak is in the red, and white, and black sweater, in the back ground.










We haven't seen this pack in quite awhile.  There are about 4 Italian Greyhounds, 2 Whippets, and 1 Windhound (the longhaired dog off to the side).  There is a picture of him in one of the earlier blogs from either last year, or earlier this year.










Am trying to take as many picture of Dannii that I possibly can.  This is another close up.









This is the same group as before, just a bit different.  Somebody really wants a treat!




Dannii is still eating very well, and still taking his supplements.  I just hope this continues.  I have the CCNU, but I have not opened the box, and am almost tempted to send it back, but I guess I will hang on to it, just in case, Dannii starts going down hill.  I don't really want to use it at all, if I don't have too.  The Essiac Tea seem's (maybe, hopefully, besides lots of prayers) to be holding things at bay, besides the Prednisone.

Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.  You all come back again, now hear?

11-21-11 Monday

Well, I don't think I actually posted exactly what Dannii gets in the morning.  First off, around 5 or 6 am he gets his Essiac Tea, and since its in capsules, I just roll them up in a piece of lunch meat, and he just swallows them down. "Sometimes".  Once or twice, he has dropped it and then would just try and tear a piece off a little bit at a time. One time, he even bit down on a Essiac Tea capsule, and just dropped the whole thing!


Now, just before breakfast, he gets his phenobarbital pills (1.5), a pepcid, a Ondansetron pill to help with his loss of appetite, a Mirtazapine, to stimulate his appetite.  Sometimes, I will just mix that up with a bit of baby food on a spoon, and let him lick it up.  The last couple of days, I wrapped them up in a piece of lunch meat.

Now, we wait for about a half hour or so, for the pepcid to kick in.  Now he gets 2/3's cup of Innova Evo Turkey and Chicken.  In the mornings, I will wet it with very hot water, not enough to soak it in, but just for a bit of flavor, then I pour off the excess water, and give him the bowl.

About a half hour or so later, Dannii gets his Prednisone pill, a Selenium, a vitamin E, and a SAMe.  If I can, I use one piece of lunch meat for all, but found that, that is too many pills, so have to use another slice.

That's it for the morning.  If I don't have to leave for work until later in the day, I try and give him something to tied him over until my son can feed him dinner.

Son only gives Dannii dry kibble at the dinner meal.  He eats it right up. Sometimes he is still looking for more food, as if he just wasn't getting enough.  He also gets his second dose of phenobarbital pills, either in baby food, or lunch meat.

Around 10pm, Dannii gets his second dose of Essiac Tea.  These capsules are big, about an inch long, but I put them end to end and roll them up, and give one end to Dannii, and he just inhales it.  Now I have the Essiac Tea ready for in the morning.  This time, I cut the lunch meat in half, and rolled up one pill in each piece, should make it a bit easier to swallow that early in the morning.

Jenna is still having problems with her mouth.  She's leaving her food, even after it has soaked up the hot water, and had been mushed down.  The Rimadyl and the antibiotic do not seem to be working.  Will need to call my vet in the morning and see what she has to say.  I know she will want to do x-rays, but I just can't afford them right now.  I just pray that this is nothing too serious with her.

Am off the bed, you all come back again, now hear?

Combined Friday, Saturday, and today Sunday

First off, I am pretty sure that the batteries are the culprit in my camera not working, and not the charger!  I have some new batteries coming, so hopefully that will prove my theory correct.

I started a post on Friday, and was going to finish it up Friday night when I got home from work.  I didn't turn the computer off when I left, so when I got home, Firefox had crashed, and all that I had written in the blog (even tho it was suppose to be saved), was gone!  Ticked me off to no end.  So, now am combining all three days into one.

On Friday morning, I was looking at Dannii, and I just thought that he had seemed "bloated", or fat. Well, fat was not the word I wanted, he just looked "bloated".  I don't know how to explain that.  He was acting kind of funny when he would walk across the room, like maybe something was bothering him in his neck or back.  I did call my vet, and she said to tap his tummy.  That if his tummy was tight, or sounded like a drum, then I needed to get him in ASAP.  Well, at this point, I'm not home.  So would have to wait until I get home at 10pm.  His tummy was not tight, nor did it sound like a drum when I tapped on it, so I guess I over-reacted.

My son could not get Dannii to eat Thursday night at all.  Neither could I when I got home.  I did give him some organic yogurt, and he ate "some" of that.

I was afraid that Dannii was going to quit eating on me, but that was not the case Friday morning.  He ate his kibble, and I had no problems in giving him his pills either.  Son, said that Dannii ate his dinner and again took his pills.

Dannii, eating

Saturday morning, I didn't have to leave until 10am.  Dannii again ate his breakfast and took his pills.  It helps by putting his pills into some lunch meat, and then roll it up like a sausage.

This here is a week old, picture of Dannii when he first really started eating.  Am still waiting on my batteries for my camera.

Son also said that Dannii ate his dinner and his pills Saturday night.  I just hope this keeps up.

The CCNU came in on Friday, but I have yet to start it.  Things are going good, and I hate to do something that might change that picture, right now.  Am looking into other things (Essential Oils).  My pocketbook is not that deep, and I live from paycheck to paycheck.  But I want to do all that I can possibly do, to help Dannii live a much longer life.  Last month, the vets didn't think he would make it to his 13th birthday, which is in 23 days.  Am really praying that I can get Dannii to, and beyond his 14th birthday, which is 12-12-12.

No dog park today though.  Even though its not raining, it is cold out, and I just don't feel all that great.  Feels like I am either coming down with pneumonia  or bronchitis.  Coughing up a storm.  Am afraid that all the cold air, and being right on the water at the dog park, would do me in, and I can't afford to have that happen right now.  So, we are staying home.

Ok, Dannii ate his dinner.  I baked a regular potato and sliced it up so all the dogs could get some.  I also gave Dannii 2 Beano tablets about 5-10 minutes before he ate.  So, hopefully this will cut down on the gas.  He ate all his dinner.  Jenna left some of her kibble.  I sure would like to know what is going on with her mouth.  The vet said it was not her teeth, but she "kind of" has stinky breath, not anywhere near as bad as it used to be before she got her dental done.  I hope its nothing more serious as I just do not have the funds available to do anything for her, or for Dannii even, at this point.

Well, that's it for now, you all come back it again, now hear?

11-17-11 Thursday

The problem may be with the batteries for my camera!  Here, I thought it was the charger, until my son reminded me that the batteries do give out after a time.  So, ordered some new batteries, and hopefully they will be here by tomorrow.  Hope, hope, hope.

I wrapped Dannii's pills (the supplements) in lunch meat, course, I can't put all the pills into one rolled up piece of meat, it would be too much.  But at least I am getting him to take the selenium and the SAMe.  He's taking the Essiac Tea 8.  So far so good.

Breakfast was unremarkable.  He ate. 

I had to work til 9pm, which mean's I don't get home until 10pm.  My son called me, and asked a question unrelated to the dogs, but did tell me that Dannii didn't eat.  He soaked their food in hot water, Jenna's bowl was empty, but he's not sure if she ate it, or one of the other dogs ate it, and there was still food in Zak's bowl!  That's unheard of for Zak.  He is the garbage can on four feet, where there is food, he eats it.

When I got home, I couldn't even get Dannii to eat.  He did eat some organic yogurt, but it was not alot.

I'm just praying and hoping that this is not the end.  All his blood work from the comprehensive CBC looks very, very good.  The vet was really, really happy.  Just hope and pray that he will eat tomorrow.

You all come back again, now hear?

11-16-11, Jenna went to the vets

Jenna at Point Isabel

Jenna has been having a bout of what we thought was stomatitis.  She went in about a month or so ago for a dental, and a week or two later, she was having problems with her mouth, again.

So, I took her in today.  The vet checked her teeth, and they still look good, the gums are a tad bit red on top, but nothing too serious.  The vet is checking her mouth, and she wants to look in the back of Jenna's mouth.  So I am holding her, and try to open her mouth, and on the left side, toward the back, and near the jaw, she has pain.  Lots of pain.  The vet could not see anything.  She's afraid that whatever it is, its in the jaw area.  So, we put Jenna on Rimadyl and antibiotic for a week, to see if this will help.  If not, then it boils down to doing x-rays, which at this point I can not afford to do, with what is going on with Dannii right now.  So hopefully these meds will help Jenna to feel better, and maybe eat without having to soak her kibble in extremely hot water.

I took Dannii and Zak with me.  Mainly I wanted to get him weighed, to see if he has put on some weight, which he did.  The CCNU is coming from Arizona and should be here by the end of the week.  He will be on that for 21 days, then off for 7 days and have a CBC/Chem panel done (if he doesn't have or show any side effects before hand).  I decided to do a comprehensive CBC on Dannii and will get the results tomorrow.  He has been shivering, and I've read that low white cell count, can cause that.  The vet also thinks (which I don't because he was doing this before any medication), that one of the appetite pills might be causing this.  Its possible, I guess.

I have to tell you that Jenna acted like the true lady that she is, and she took a hugh dump right in the waiting room, right in front of the vet herself!  I am digging out my baggie and got most of it cleaned up, and out came some spray and paper towels, and the vet herself, cleaned up the rest!  But that wasn't the end of that, nope, not by a long shot.  Zak had to make his presence known, and he made a hugh lake in the waiting room, right in front of the vet.  He couldn't stop, the poor thing, you could just see the relief come across his face.  Only one left was Dannii, but he was a gentleman, and waited till we got outside to leave, before he went pee.  We were on a roll, two for three, but the third never came!

The morning is nothing to brag about. He gets those 4 pills before breakfast, plus the Essiac Tea 8.  He got about 2/3 cup of his kibble mixed with hot water.  His kibble doesn't really soak up the water, but I just let it sit there for a bit, and then pout off the excess into another bowl.  It was the supplements that I was trying to get him to take before we left for the vets, but he wasn't having it.  So I covered it, and waited till we got home.

Dannii still wasn't having much of the supplements, so I added in a egg, and mixed it up, and used a slice of bread (think french toast), to soak some of it up, and put the bread in Dannii's bowl.  He eventually ate it up.

For dinner, he got a slice of liver. one whole piece, course it wasn't too big, and I don't think it really filled him up, so I gave him a little bit of canned food, nope wouldn't touch it, added in a touch of wet cat food, and some of his kibble.  Still wouldn't touch it.  I added in a hugh amount of baby food, and mixed it altogether, and he finally ate it.  Just some things turn him off, and I never know what that "thing" is going to be.

The charger came for my camera, but it won't charge the batteries!  The guy is going to send me a shipping label to mail it back to him, then he will refund my money.  I should have told him to refund my money, and I will mail the charger back as soon as I get the shipping label.  Oh well, because if he doesn't refund my money, I will report it, since I got it off of eBay.  Now I have to look for another one.

Well, you all come back again, now hear?