No Smooth Kennel Transition Here

Stampy managed to bust out. He scratched the hell out of the sliding glass door - it is moving funny, so I think he almost knocked it in. He also scratched the hell out of the back door, and ripped out the cat door and ripped up stuff he could reach inside. Fortunately, for some reason the cats didn't walk outside. Possibly because they were terrified of him going crazy outside the door. I wasn't even gone 4 hours.

This is so discouraging. He's so big. I don't know what to do with him. What do you do when a 6' kennel doesn't stop him? Why does he have so many problems?

Stampy's New Kennel

Courtesy of Janis and Michael, Stampy now has a kennel to stay in while I'm gone. Here's photos of it, and Odin's awareness of where he'll be sitting from now on.

Stampy the Biter

Stampy bit Odin again - on the other ear. It wasn't as bad as the first one, but he seems to have pierced Odin's ear in two places. Yet another reason to try splitting them up during the day. Unfortunately, I can't leave Stampy in the yard, not only because I'm gone about 13 hours a day (and there's not that much daylight right now), but because he stamps all over the sliding glass door when he's out there alone and I think eventually he's going to break it.
This morning when I was gone for about 4 hours, Stampy chewed up a can. Like a can of beans. There were TOOTH HOLES piercing the can.

Odie Vet Report

Odin is getting the following pills, rolled up in two pieces of sliced ham, which leaves (for you non-meat eaters) a disgusting slime on your skin that is hard to wash off: Enalapril, Carvedilol, Glucosamine, Coenzyme Q10, and Fish Oil; plus, on his food, some "Platinum" dog supplement; for a grand total of $70/month. That is not nearly as much as I feared it was going to be, but the twice yearly echocardiogram, x-ray, and blood draw are $500/each.
I got his Carvedilol filled at Costco, which was an interesting experience. I had to fill out a form for him (not me), that had his birthday, gender (Male?), address, phone number, and allergies to other medications. I wonder if he'll get mail from Costco or phone calls, like that time I won a ham.
Odin is NOT exhibiting the "clinical signs" yet - those will be the external symptoms that will mark (usually) 2-3 months to live. But Dr. Westcott said there is no way to know when the clinical phase will start, like it could start tomorrow. The medication is supposed to help postpone the clinical phase (but it just slows it down; it still comes).
I also had Odin's records sent down from his old vet (who was fabulous), Dr. Jeff Mayo. Dr. Westcott is going to look at them to see if Dr. Mayo heard the heart mumur when Odin was a little puppy, like I remember. Since I didn't remember him peeing on the floor for an entire year, it's possible I'm mis-remembering that too.
Odin seems to be feeling pretty good, even with all the new medication. He has been sleeping on my bed more than normal (i.e. instead of on the couch), but I think that has to do with Stampy being energetic, bratty, and pushy. And unfortunately for all of us, now that spring is on the way, the idiot City of Lacey decided to do away with the informal dog park as of this weekend. So you can still go out there and walk, but it has to be on leash, and that doesn't get Stampy tired enough.
However, ham appears to make Odin fart up a storm. Whichever room he's in basically reeks of fart. I think it is probably killing brain cells while I sleep. But it's too cold at night to have the window open.

Doppleganger Odin & Stampy

We went to the dog park on this stunningly beautiful February afternoon. The sun was out (and warm), the sky was blue, 800 other dogs were there, and we met another Odin (a lab looking Odin), learned that there is a great dane Stampy's age and appearance named Bella, and learned about another ridgeback who does not look like Odin but IS another ridgeback. I already forgot his name. Stampy played and played, but at lap 2, Odin started to seem like he was dragging extra, so Odin and I stood in the sun while Stampy played and played more.

Also, Poppy likes to eat dog food. She is kind of a weirdo cat.

Odin has heart problems

He has something called DCM. He went in on Friday and got an echocardiogram, x-rays, and blood work. The blood work is normal and healthy. The x-ray shows his heart is enlarged and misshapen, but not "grossly" so. The echo showed the DCM.

DCM is "dilated cardiomyopathy" and there is a good article on it at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/ if you put that in the search window.

Odin is getting two prescriptions: one for "cervac", a human drug to reduce his blood pressure; and Enalapril Maleate, which thins his blood.

He is also going to get Coenzyme Q10, fish oil, and glucosamine daily. Right now he is getting Platinum instead of Missing Link, but I might switch them up to keep Odin on his toes.

Both Odin and Stampy are loving it so far because to feed him his pills, I have been getting him a $1 double cheeseburger at McDonald's (and thus, Stampy gets one too) and putting the pills inside. But starting tomorrow I am going to hide the pills in squishy dog food.

The vet said that he is a healthy weight, does not need diet changes, and shouldn't have his exercise restricted. There's a chance that he'll have a heart attack while he's running and playing, but the vet thinks it's the best way to go. I agree, but I still don't want it to happen.

The side effects I'll be watching for are Odin acting loopy, tired, taking a longer time to recover, breathing fast or other abnormal changes in his breathing, coughing - especially soft and at night, or turning blue.

He doesn't have any fluid in his lungs yet, but he will be getting echos, x-rays, and blood work every 6 months.

I don't think I'm going to be able to prepare myself for what it will feel like to lose Odin. He is my tail.

In other news, earlier in the week, he stepped in poop in the yard (the day after I did poo patrol), and I tried to clean his foot, couldn't stop feeling gross about it, so I made him wear a sock around the house, with vetwrap on the top to hold it up.

Stampy ate my mango today. He has been a bad dog the past week. He also blasted past the dog crate (blocking the bedrooms, office, and bathroom from the rest of the house, which he is free to roam in) earlier in the week and chewed on my crocs and pajamas.

The cats are all enjoying going out into the garage and hanging out in there for a few hours. Poppy has gotten especially pushy about trying to get out the door into the outside. Kappa and Peony seem to be content to be inside. Kappa likes to sit in my "to shred" box and watch me when I'm on the computer. I'll attach a picture.

Oh yeah, and Odin recovered from Stampy's attempts to overthrow the King.

Picture also attached from that (a gross one).

3 Funny Pet Photos

Dog weights

The first, most impressive time (with O'Ryan), the scale must not have been correct. This week Odie weighed 118.3 and Stampy weighed 121.7.

More dog park photos by mom

Mom's Photos of Stampy at the Dog Park

Christmas continued

Kappa loves dad. Everyone is having a good time.

Very merry Christmas

Here are some of the photo highlights:

Unusual activities in the house

The cats have been playing a seires of increasingly unusual games. A few days ago, Poppy was sitting on the edge of the table, Stampy walked up to her, and Poppy started chewing on his eyebrow. Not licking, chewing.
The box that Judith sent us continues to be a source of many games.
Poppy has also started chasing her tail, and being that she's a cat, catching it and then proceeding to kill it. It gets all fuzzy on the end.
She has also continued the "leap onto the leg" game, which early in the morning and late at night can provide quite the adrenalin rush.

Games Stampy might play

Dave has been thinking of funny games that Stampy might be involved in. Here's two.


chirade questions (Stampy always has to be the actor) Stampy hungry, Stampy lonely, Stampy wants to play, Stampy wants to go for walk, Stampy not know what Stampy wants, repeat...


Stampoply would go something like this:
You just got away with sleeping on the bed: Bad Dog! Collect 10 Stampions
You got caught sleeping on the bed: Bad Dog! Pay 10 Stampions
You played nicely with Piani: Good Dog! Collect 10 Stampions
Go to Dog Park: collect 10 Stampions
You got chased by a chijuajua: Pay 20 Stampions

Last night we added:
You can't get comfortable on your dog bed: Pay 10 Stampions

More photos

And ages:

Mercury - 13 (14 in January)

Odin - 8 (9 next June)

Willig - 6 (7 next April)

Kappa - 4 (5 next year)

Peony - <1

Poppy - <1

It's hard to see, but there's a cat face in the lower left circle, and a cat tail sticking out of the Cosmic Pet Shuttle.

Family Photos

Yesterday Stampy snuck into the bedroom and slept on the bed while I was sitting in front of the fire. He pretended to be in a coma.

The kittens are loving playing the "Cosmic Pet Shuttle" which I think is hilarious becuase it has a cat head riding in a spacecraft with its tail in a separate bubble - I think it's so hilarious I might take a picture of it. It's a little weird, since it is what took them to be spayed.

Worms B' Gone!

Today all three cats got wormed, with Dave's assistance. They all hated it, but only Kappa scratched me. That wormer must taste terrible.
The kittens are back to full-on playing. The vet said give them 7 days of rest, but there is no way they could rest. Kappa really missed them when they were out for the big (internal) snip. They really like to chew on things, carry things in their mouths, and tear stuff up - just like dogs.
Stampy is getting full of himself. Dave thinks it's because he's getting so much attention and is so much bigger than the other dogs at the dog park. The other day, I saw him sitting on the spare bed in the bedroom. Then tonight, when I was vacuuming, he faked being scared of the vacuum, jumped on my bed, and then nestled his head down and went to sleep, while I kept vacumming. I let him stay up there because it was so clever.

Stampy and friends - Peony and Poppy

They are getting spayed on Tuesday. Whew.

Dog park continued - funny pictures

Stampy at the dog park

Bruiser is Stampy's new name

As well as Stampedeous. Odin is going by Odiferous.

We finally went to the unofficial dog park in Lacey today. The boys loved it, and I am so glad we found it because we'll be regulars. But Stampy got excited and ran into me and knocked me down. I think my leg is going to bruise. For a few seconds, he stood in the field and looked majestic. Then he started moving again and looked like himself.

Kappa is funny

He seems to be adapating pretty well to life in the house.

He has this funny way of sitting - this morning was the second time I've seen him do it.

Return of Kappa

I noticed I hadn't seen Kappa the past week or so, but didn't think much of it since he's a pretty solitary guy. But today I had a call from animal services. He actually showed up there on the 24th (almost two weeks ago), and they missed his microchip when they scanned him. Today he was about to be adopted out to a new home, and they found the microchip.
I went in and picked him up, and moved him into the old dog room. He can walk around the house, but the gate blocks the dogs out (theoretically). I hope he doesn't spray all over the house. I put the cat aromatherapy stuff in there. The kittens are pretty interested in him, but he is just interested in looking outside. He seems to pretty much hate dogs.
With good reason - today we went to the barn (to give Kappa some space, to get Stampy some exercise on non-paved ground, to visit Mercury who is neglected yet another week), and Stampy rolled in something disgusting, and now he reeks and I don't have time to bathe him until the weekend. Dogs are so gross.

Stampy

I accidentally cut one of his toenails too short today, thus sparing him and Odin the agony of a bath. I felt horrible and it bled a lot, so here he is before, blissfully unaware of the horror about to befall him, and after, with a "sock" I made for him so he wouldn't bleed all over the house. (He bled all over me and two papertowels and himself and his ugly chair.)

He has forgiven me though, and is sitting either loyally or clingily (depending your point of view) by my side once again.

Peony and Poppy are curious

It is easy to misspell Poppy as Poopy.

I don't know how to make the pictures turn right way up.

Odin and Friends

Stampy with his favorite bear

Mumbles is no longer the favorite. Instead, this brown bear is. These were the best two pictures of Stampy playing with brown bear last night.