RuffRider Roadie Elite

As you will see, the Roadie is not really the easiest harness to put on, especially if it's the correct size (not too loose). This was the first time (actually second if you count the time I put it on incorrectly) putting it on Elaine. Maybe it will get easier after the harness stretches a little? I had to flex Elaine's paws and elbows quite a bit to get her legs into the correct openings.

I will try to get better videos later to show tips on how to get the harness on. But thought this was a good one to show how difficult it can be in the beginning --- and Elaine was good for this; can't imagine a dog who is not used to wearing a harness in the first place. Also tricky to get the harness OFF. That will have to be another video later.

Brushing Dog's Teeth - Rehearsal

We've been thinking of doing some short videos on pet care. Elaine is turning out to be quite cooperative for my crazy schemes. The problem is that she is not that well-behaved with other people. You have to meet her to believe me :) --- completely my fault; never really socialized her after the trainer for her puppy class told me to consider private training since other puppy owners may not feel comfortable with a pit puppy. I know, crazy but that was almost 8 years ago when the anti-pitbull sentiment was prevalent. Anyway, I managed to convince the trainer to let us stay with the class. But we had to be off to the side :( and none of the other puppy played with Elaine.

I probably should have pushed harder to socialize her but what's done is done. She is great with me and the staff but really would just behave with me.

Anyway, what does all that have to do with videos?
I can't have someone operate the camera! Elaine turns into a misbehaving crazy maniac with other people around. So I figured a way to use a tripod and am playing with different ways to record stuff.

Here's a "first take" on brushing her teeth. I'm just trying to get an idea on where to place the camera and how to position ourselves, etc. Guess we have to figure a way to do close-ups on the teeth. Maybe Elaine will be good with Elias behind the camera.

Note the last part of the video when Elaine gobbles up all the treats on the bench as soon as I turned my back!

CeCe Romping Around

CeCe was excited and jumping up to greet me this morning. She is well on her way to recovery. So amazing to think that 2 weeks ago she was stiff as a board from tetanus. Had me doubting my treatment several times. Never seem to matter that I know it takes time to see improvement, even up to months --- it still wreak havoc on my self-confidence to see her so stiff. Hurray for patience and persistence. Will miss CeCe when she goes home (though, I'm sure Elaine will be happy to have me spend more time with her again!).

Update: CeCe went home Thursday 1/9/10. She should be fine. Miss the crazy girl already! Elaine's quite happy though :) getting all my attention again.

Happy CeCe

CeCe was happy this morning. She was eager to run outside, not stiff as before. Had to take her in early though as the noise from the construction across the street was freaking her out.

CeCe - Christmas Morning

CeCe is not as stiff and not overly reacting to external stimuli today (which is good). Took the opportunity to clean her up a bit. We had not been able to clean her much (other than wet towel wipes) this past week since we had to minimize her handling to avoid causing her to seize and stiffen up on us.

Good to see her slowly but steadily improving. Click on image to enlarge.

CeCe - Best Part of the Morning

CeCe continues to improve. The tetanus still makes it difficult for her to open her mouth wide to eat on her own. But, as you can see, she does superbly well when handfed. We slice the canned food into pieces that would easily go in her mouth.

Thumper Looks Tired Today :(

Thumper is one of our clinic cat with kidney failure. He's been doing well with his K/D (kidney) diet and subcutaneous fluids. He looked fine yesterday and got his fluids in the afternoon.

But this morning, he's moving slower than usual and he did not finish his dinner from last night --- very unlike him.

Hopefully, it's his arthritis. We had to discontinue the joint supplements when he had some soft stool. We'll restart the supplement with Adequan Injections if it turns out to be joint related and not his kidneys.

Dental Chew Post featuring Elaine!

So proud of Elaine. She was so patient yesterday with me --- letting me hold her lips every which way as I tried to snap pictures of her teeth.
This was the final composite of her dental shoot.
The final post is here.

Urinary Incontinence

Click on image to enlarge

I was paying extra attention to Elaine's tail this afternoon since I was writing about her tail dock. Surprise, surprise, I discover that my Elaine has urinary incontinence. We'll do her urine test and check for other causes but she likely has a weak bladder sphincter.

Thank You, Engler Engineering

FedEx delivered the polisher handpiece for our dental unit this morning. It was sent off to Engler Engineering in Florida last week for repair and maintenance.

New cord, new brushes for the micromotor, plus a good cleaning/lubricating and we have ourselves an as-good-as new handpiece.

It's great to have equipment from a company that still service and repair their products. Definitely a plus that for $106.75, we have returned to us an excellent handpiece. The alternatives of either 1) getting a new handpiece for $560, or 2) getting a new dental unit for about $2000 would have been tough at this time.

Polishing teeth after scaling them is important to the complete dental procedure. We would not be able to provide the care we want without the handpiece. Thanks, Harvey (from Engler Engineering).

When Poop Makes Me Happy

''Shit Happens''
In this case, I'm glad it did. Makes you wonder what kind of life you have when a pile of poop is cause for rejoice. At least the constipated cat is much relieved and feeling better. Now to clean that mess up!

Constipated Cat

Image taken with my Treo so it's not very clear. But it's enough to see the colon full of feces (poop).