Adelaide tried to kill me - once, twice, three times

Is this the face of a killer?



I am using Addy's full name because, if she is a killer, she needs to be addressed like one. Here is a point by point synaposis of the threats on my life:

1) We were out walking the other night and Adelaide in a 'mad dash' tangled me in her leash. I swan dive down using my hand in blocking my fall. She walked away sheapishly.

2) The second incident occurred a couple of weeks ago on another walking trip. She darted out for a squirrel (or so I presume b/c there wasn't a squirrel to be found). She just so happened to dart out right in front of a recycle bin. Resulting in a in quick hurdle of the recycle bin in order to not break my neck.

3) In the final attempt at my life, Adelaide pulled out the stops. She lured me under false pretenses that she had to go outside. So up the stairs to take them out, not thinking I didn't turn out the lights (I go up the stairs in the dark all the time). However, this time would be much different. There awaited Adelaide, unbeknownst to me, blocking the steps. As I came up the step, I tripped over Adelaide and fell, on my side, 4 feet. I laid their quietly and did a quick assessment of all my body parts. After I realized that I was ok, I got up and let them outside.

Adelaide came back in and was good the rest of the night. I assumed it was quiet defeat that she had not killed me...at least not yet.

Happy Halloween!

Vacuum Cleaners - Follow-up

I now know more about vacuums than I thought I would ever know. The area I am vacuuming is my den that is carpeted with indoor/outdoor carpet. We spend most of time down there so a lot of dog traffic in that area. I went on several blogs, read a dozens of reviews (including Amazon), and a multitude of forums. I even posted the questions on a couple of sites including moms site and pets site. After weeding through all of that, I came up with 3 models:

Bissell Pet Eraser - All of reviews had this as good as the best pet vacuums. The price ranged from $135-$170.
Dyson Animal - This one had a lot of mixed reviews. It seemed professional reviewers loved it. But the consumers didn't like it or thought it wasn't worth the money The price ranged from $450-$550.
iRobot Roomba - A lot of reviewers talked about it on their hardwood floors, not on carpet. And many reviewers talked about parts breaking down. Most of them raved about the scheduling function. The price ranged from $330 - $550.

I loved the concept of Roomba. A vacuum that you could schedule and it would clean for you. I wouldn't have to nag my husband about it and the floors would be pet hair clean. However, I was definitely scared away about the breaking down function and, for that price, I didn't want to consistently repairing a product. I have always been attracted to the Dyson...but not the price. I thought the reviews were mixed enough that I didn't want to put out that money on mixed reviews. Thus, I went with the Bissell. I guess you can say I am risk averse around money.

I bought the Bissell from Kohl's (they had a sale). I bought it on Sunday and put it together and ran it on Monday. The results were great. The canister was full and I really felt, by doing the look test for hair, that the vacuum got most of it up. I don't get around to vacuuming until Friday. On Friday, I start vacuuming and after about 5 minutes I start smelling a burning smell. And it keeps getting stronger. So I unplugged in defeat and put it away. I was going out of town and asked my husband to take the vacuum back - at this point, I think it is defunct - and get a new one. I liked the first results and wanted those back.

Did I mention I should have gotten the Roomba before? My husband did not take the vacuum back. Instead he ran the vacuum again and told me that the smell was faint but not bad. Not what I asked him to do. I just got back into town so I haven't had a chance to test the vacuum. So stay tuned...

Vet and 1800PetMeds - Resolved

I have been wrestling with who is right, the vet or 1800PetMeds, when it comes to providing prescription medication for my girls. See the discussions and comments Round 1, Round 2 & Round 3.

Finally, on a forum I posted the question on, I received a very informative answer from a vet. Since it seems there is a lot of confusion on the subject, I felt I should post the information. Here is the vet's response:


I am a vet and I have seen both sides of this argument as it has come up on the AVMA message boards too. 1800PetMeds is not a reputable company. If you go to http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/finalordernet/folist.aspx and type Pet Med Express in the search blank you will see about 70 lawsuits pop up. They have imported meds from overseas. In my experience I had a client who wanted heartworm pills, but added on an antibiotic. When I questioned her about it she said she just wanted to have it on hand for one of her dogs that has skin problems. Well the antibiotic and dose were totally inappropriate for what she was trying to treat.

We all have expenses. If we can't sell prescription products to help pay our bottom line, we will just raise prices elsewhere. I have very loyal clients and the issue rarely comes up. But if I need to write out a script I use Vet Centric because I trust them. Of course I have a Holistic Practice and don't use a lot of "drugs" anyway.

I think you need to decide how important your vet is to you and if you want to to support them. If you think they are an anal money grubbing jerk you may want to look elsewhere. If they have always done right my you and your pet, it may not be worth the couple extra bucks to alienate them. You can always ask them to meet the Pharmacy price, many will.

I hope this helps you see both sides of the issue

Susan Maier, DVM
www.horizonvetserv.com

Best Vacuums for Pets

Our vacuum cleaner, a Dirt Devil, died on us this past week. The suction is gone. It only pushes around the dog hair (of course after I have cleaned out everything).

I have been googling best pet vacuums and I am finding reviews across the board. Anyone had succes with pet vacuums?

Sydney Fluffs Pillows

About a month ago, we (correction, my husband) started letting the girls sleep downstairs at night. I didn't like it because it was Sydney who stayed downstairs and she is truly our watch dog. If my watch dog is downstairs napping, who is watching out...

So we have tried to get her to stay upstairs now but the dog beds we currently have are pretty flimsy. I got them in a Friday After Thanksgiving sale as a trial basis. I didn't want to spend a lot of money in case the girls wouldn't like them. Well, they liked them. Addy continues not to be bothered by it too much. But it is Sydney, who apparently needs more cushion. She is constantly pawing at the bed or, as I like to call it, fluffs her pillow so it will be thicker. Thicker I am assuming means more comfortable. (I find all of this funny b/c they are in the cage all day long with only a blanket. Can that be comfortable?)

Last night was GREAT Sydney fluffing. I did some fall cleaning Monday night and a pile of clothes stacked up to be taken to Goodwill. (Yes, I realize that last night was Thursday and I still haven't moved the pile of clothes. However, my laziness has now resulted in this episode with Sydney so I think it is completely justified.) Tuesday morning, I woke up to find Sydney laying in the middle of the piles of clothes. This is not what I expected. Wednesday night - same thing. I assumed the clothes must be more comfortable than her bed. We never saw Sydney lay on the clothes until that morning. She would start off on her bed and then move to the clothes in the middle of the night.

Last night, different story. It was late when we all moved upstairs because I had to watch the SNL last night after Grey's and ER. Sydney goes to lie on the pillow but apparently that isn't working so she gets up and moves to the clothes. Now the clothes are strewn apart b/c of the activities of the last 2 nights. Sydney can't get enough to fluff. She spends 2-3 minutes fluffing the clothes, turning around in circles, fluffing some, more ciricles, fluffing some more and so on. You could see her get frustrated. She laid down at one point and got right back up. I guess because she hadn't fluffed the clothes enough. My husband took pity on her and created a big pile of clothes for her. Well, that wasn't getting enough either because that resulted in clothes, literally, flying 3 feet out of her way.

Finally, we just had to tell her to lay down, which she did. However, I have a good feeling she was fluffing throughout the night because she was in a different spot when I woke up this morning than where she was last night.

I have got to get her a new bed.

Addy Doesn't Like Oven Mitts - Video

Here is Addy showing her distaste for oven mitts. The growling & barking is all Addy.



BTW, I am a little behind the times and just learning how to do video. So that is why there is an extra second of video. I haven't learned yet how to cut the duration of the video down yet

Sydney has a Histiocytoma

A lot happened at the vet last Thursday (Read about the vet visit here and all of the events leading up the vet visit and the girls medication with Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3).

Overnight - or so it seems - we found a raised bump on Sydney's back right behind her front shoulders. At first, I was worried it was a tick that had got itself buried under her skin. Ticks in Southern Indiana have been very bad this year. Warning: if ticks make your skin crawl - like mine do - don't look at the photos!

The vet looked over the spot and was about 99% that it was histiocytoma. Histiocytomas are benign tumors on the skin surface of a dog that usually goes away without treatment. Here is a pretty good definition on Wikipedia. It occurs in dogs under the age of 3. However, it is not common in labs.

This is Sydney's second histocytoma. The first one occurred when she was a puppy on her face and was removed when she was spayed because it did not go away. This time it is definitely more developed than when she was a puppy. Here is a picture of what it looks like:



The vet assures us it should go away on its own, much like it appeared.

Vet and 1800PetMeds - Round 3

I have blogged about all the problems I have had with my vet and 'unwillingness' to not fulfill prescriptions to 1800PetMeds here and here. Thursday, I took Sydney to the vet (read how Sydney freaked out here) determined to resolve my prescription issues.

The vet asked if I needed heartworm medication and I responded that I did but would like to get it through 1800PetMeds. Here is what the vet said:
1) We offer cheaper prices than 1800PetMeds and she proceeded to show me a price list. She also said they offered a manufacturers rebate.
2) She said that if Sydney had been on the medication (Interceptor)and still got heartworm, than the manufacturer would pay for the treatment. If we got the medication from 1800PetMeds, then the manufacturer would not pay for any treatment.

So, I agree and buy a year long supply (really 6 months since I am giving it to both Sydney & Addy) from the vet. But once I got home, I was really curious to the vet's claims.
1) The first claim that the vet's office was cheaper than 1800PetMeds is a toss up. The vet sells it for $78.00 whereas 1800PetMeds sells it for $83.99 and has it on sale for $75.49.
2) I looked on the Interceptor website and couldn't find anything about paying for treatment if the product didn't work.

Has anyone else had any of these problems? Does anyone know about manufacturer and if/how they pay for treatment if the medication doesn't work?

Sydney & the Vet

Sydney went to the vet today. She was due for all of her yearly shots and physical. Sydney is better dog one-on-one on a leash and she couldn't have been any better going in. She was a little 'shell-shocked' in the waiting area b/c there was a dog in there just barking and barking and barking. At one point, I had my legs crossed and Sydney laid down so she could lay her head on my foot that is in the air.

After 30 minutes, we got back into the exam rooms. The vet tech took her back to get her nails clipped and start her heartworm exam. When she got back, Sydney went straight for the door to leave but was pretty calm with the vet tech.

Sydney freaked out when the vet came. I don't know if she remembers the white coat or the actually vet. But she got in a corner between the wall, bench seat and me. Sydney just shook the entire time. I had to pull her out of the corner so the vet could do the physical exam by asking Sydney, "Do you wanna go?" She was more than ready every time to get out of there. Sydney jumped so much with the first shot that the needle actually came out and had to be administered again. She weighs 73.6 pounds and the vet said she was a little overweight. (I have one dog overweight and the other dog I can't keep weight on). So we talked over food choices and maybe putting Sydney on a 'diet' dog food. We currently give both Sydney and Addy Purina Pro Plan .

Once we were done, Sydney was ready to head for the exits. She knew where all the 'escape routes' were and proceded to try to break out of the vet's office.