**Squeeze**

Dad, I know you love me, but...

if you squeeze me any harder, you're going to pop out my insides!

Carb Overload. Again.

My dad took my mom out for a quick trip to see his new office earlier today, so they left me home to guard the house.  I hate guarding the house.  It's lonely, and so naturally, I went looking in the kitchen for some munchies to pass the time.  

When my mom and dad got home, my mom decided to make a sandwich and checked the top of the refrigerator for the bread.  

Mom:  "Hey, Jeff... have you seen the bread?"

Shoot!  The bread! 

Guilty as Charged.

I immediately darted into the living room and tried to sit on the evidence.  But no, I wasn't quite fast enough. 

This time, it was my mom that left the bread on the counter.  Didn't she learn a lesson from last time? 

Mud Art

My mom found some old pictures on the computer.

Last fall (2009), I got down and dirty playing frisbee in the mud after a heavy rainstorm. Mud, mud, glorious mud!  I got muddy, gloriously muddy...

from the tips of my toes...

 to my trendy outfit.

"Wait, bath?!?!  Did you say bath?"

My mom said that I was so dirty that I needed a B-A-T-H.  She tricked me into coming into the bathroom, closed the door, and started the water.

"Nooooo way!  I'm out of here!"

Oh no, I was not having it!  No bath for me.  Didn't she ever hear that dirt is good for the soul?  I was so out of there!

*turn and pull*

(Did I mention that I can open doors?)

(See all of the dirt that I left in the tub?  Gross.)

My mom caught me.  I guess I wasn't quite fast enough.  Well, at least I got a fun rub-down after my bath.  Plus, now I smell like a beautiful flower, probably lilac and lavender or something.  

You should have seen all of the dirt all over the shower, walls, and the floor!  And the mud-water in the tub?!?!  It was everywhere!  I can't believe all of that was on my body ten minutes ago. 

Now, that's what I call a successful day! 

Homemade Frosty Paws!!!

 My mom started making homemade frosty paws earlier this summer.  

Homemade peanut butter frosty paws frozen in mini-disposable cups.

 She has made a couple different varieties, but the simplest has been the plain peanut butter frosty paw.

(Mix 32 oz. plain yogurt + approx. 1 cup peanut butter.  Blend all together and freeze in either 3 ounce paper cups or ice cube trays.)

Yummy!

My mom holds the cups and lets me lick it.  If she gives them to me, they don't even last a full two seconds -- I swallow them in one bite.

"Frosty paw?  Yes, please!"

That was delicious!!!!!!  Can I have another one?

Feeling better

I'm happy to announce that I'm ten thousand times better!!!!  No surgery!!!!

But, ummm... I'm a little embarrassed to report that the "foreign body" causing the partial blockage was in fact one of my, umm...

((((earmuffs))))

panti-liners.

I blame Mother Nature.

Super Sick -- Blockage?

I was super sick on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I'm out of the woods now, but it was pretty scary for a little bit. 

 I woke my mom and dad up at about 5am on Tuesday by screaming at the backdoor to be let out.  My belly didn't feel well.  And then, I threw up seven times in five hours.  Weird yellow stuff.  By 10am, my mom was scared, so she called the vet, and they said to come in right away.  It was an emergency.  We couldn't wait until my dad got home from work at 5pm -- we had to go NOW! 

My mom called my dad to let him know what was going on, and he told his boss that he had to take a long lunch and came home to take my mom and me to the vet's office.  I threw up again in the car.  And then again in the waiting room at the vet's office.  I was really, really sick.

The doctor did a quick exam.  I weighed only 36.4 lbs (I'm usually 38.5), so that's not good.  I was really dehydrated.  My belly is obviously unhappy.  And what's that... she feels a weird mass in my belly?  She wants to do an Xray????  Oh, please mom!  Not an Xray!  They are cold!

The next thing I know, the vet is pulling me out "the door."  You know -- the bad one.  The good door is the one that you get to walk through when you leave the vet's office with your mom and dad.  The bad door is the gateway to thermometers, Xrays, MRIs, surgeries, saline solutions, stitches, and eek... shots.  I don't mind going through the "bad door" when I'm with my usual vet or vet tech because they always have the most delicious treats, but because this was an emergency, this was a different vet.  I don't know her, and she doesn't have the delicious treats.  But to be honest, no amount of treats is going to make it less scary.  I didn't feel good, and I wanted to stay with my mom and dad!

The Xrays themselves weren't that bad, though.

 The initial Xray did not immediately show any blockages, but looked suspicious.  The doctor asked my mom what sort of string I may have eaten.  String?  I don't remember eating string?  Apparently, my intestines bunched up in an odd pattern which spelled trouble.  The vet wanted to do a barium treatment with progressive Xrays every 2 hours to chart its progress through the intestines.  This meant that I would have to eat a barium "milkshake" (a chalky liquid) that adheres to the intestines, revealing potential problem areas such as tumors, ulcers, and polyps.  If there was a blockage, it would light up like the fourth of July.

My mom agreed, so they did the barium films.  The first few looked normal(ish).  But, then...

The vet told my mom and dad that the films (especially the 7pm film) showed a large "foreign body."  Not a full blockage, but still might be a problem.

The vet's best guess is that it is some kind of fabric, but the barium seemed to have helped to move it through my intestines.  As of 7pm, the "item" had reached my colon, so it looks like we're almost out of the woods.  The vet discharged me Tuesday night at 7:30pm with a bunch of drugs, and I had to return to the vet's office for another Xray on Wednesday morning to make sure that the situation is "progressing."

I was so happy to see my mom and dad when they came to pick me up last night from the vet's office.  I had definitely gained weight/volume from all of the saline and barium that they had pumped into me.  The initial excitement burned out fast though, and I was back to feeling sick within a few hours of being home.  No throwing-up sick, but just "ick-I've-been-through-hell-and-feel-awful" sick. 

When it was time to go to bed, I refused to go to upstairs.  I curled up in my donut bed in the living room and wouldn't budge.  My mom spent the night on the couch so that she could stay right next to me and hold my paw. I think she was afraid to leave me alone.