A Special Plea from Toby (and Bel)

Toby here.   It has come to my attention that something terrible has happened in my country of origin.  Ok, not exactly my country of origin.  I was born in Colorado.  But my sire’s country of origin and the original homeland of all Shiba.  Japan.

I found my human all weepy and sad in front of the computer, so of course I had to check it out myself.  I learned there was a horrible earthquake in Japan and many people and animals–and even Shiba!–are hurt, dead, missing, or homeless.

First, I watched this video:

 

It’s about a dog who refused to leave his injured friend behind, and I had to admit, it even softened my hard little Shiba heart a bit, and made me sad that I don’t have a dog friend like that.  (Ok, it’s true, I don’t like other dogs.  But still!  And it did make me miss the German dog, Kai,  a little, because he was loyal like that, and if I had been hurt, he would have stayed with me.)

Then I saw these photos, one of a Shiba who had gotten lost in the earthquake and then was reunited with his human, here. My hard little Shiba heart softened a bit more.

Then this one, which my human tells me is a Shiba being checked for radiation. I don’t know what radiation is, but it doesn’t sound good, and I’m glad we don’t have to be checked for it.  By this time, my hard Shiba heart had melted like a puddle of the cold cream.

I am a  mature Shiba, and even when I complain, I know how lucky I am to have a home (even if I have to share it with other dogs).  And I’m mature enough to admit how scared I’d be if I was lost without my human and my home.  So I hope you will help the scared animals of Japan and donate to their rescue.   My human is participating in The Japanese Dog Owner Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Challenge, and I hope you will too.   That website, The Misanthropic Shiba (don’t you just love that name?) has links to a number of places to donate, including my personal favorite, The Shibal Inu print fundraiser.  If you buy a Shiba comic print from their Etsy store, all proceeds will be donated to ARK (Animal Refuge Kansai) to help animals in the area.  I told my human I want one of those prints, so she is going to get one.

So for now, I’m going to let FAT Shibas slide as my chosen cause.  While I believe in F(eed) A(ppropriate) T(hings) to Shibas, and will come back to it, right now, it’s more important that Japanese Shibas (and other dogs) have something to eat at all and have a home to go to.  So I’m going to give money to some rescue organizations.  Ok, I’m not giving money, because I’m a Shiba and don’t have any.  But I am going to paw and stare at my human until she does.

(Pawing and staring usually works when I’m at the door and want to go out or in.  Last night, though, I tried it repeatedly on the refrigerator door, and my human laughed at me, but SHE did not open the door of the cold treasure box–ie. the fridge–no matter how hard I scratched and how much I pointedly stared at her.   Sometimes humans are just not very smart.)

Ok everyone, donate to some of these worthy causes.  Even if it is only a $5 or $10 dollars.  Every little bit helps.

Oh the little Jezebel is pushing her way over here.  Ok, ok, I’m going to let her type a little bit.

Hi!  I’m Jezebel!  I’m pretty and I used to be able to jump and twirl but now I can’t because something bad happened to my leg!  But I am typing!  And I heard Toby typing (he also talks out loud when he writes, so I knew what he was writing about!)  And I thought about it, and I know what it is like to be scared, because I am scared a lot of the time.  The world is scary!  I can’t even think how scary it would be if my house fell down and I was lost and hurt without my humans!  I don’t know where Japan is, but I bet those dogs are scared and that makes me sad!  So I’m joining in with Toby to ask everybody to donate a little bit to help the dogs in Japan.   (It’s the only thing me and Toby have agreed on for years!).  I told my human I would give up my food for a week and send it to the scared dogs, but she didn’t think that was a good idea, but she said she’d send a donation from me instead.   I would twirl for that if I could!  And Oskar, who is my giant puppy, who doesn’t have any clue what is going on, says he agrees with me too!  (But he always agrees with me.  And he doesn’t know how to write, and anyway his paws are too big for typing!).  Ok, mean old Toby is pushing his way back in.  Bye!

Toby here:  See what a good Shiba I’m becoming? I even let the Little Bit(ch) type.

More importantly, remember to donate to help Japan, land of the Shiba Inu.

Toby out!

Bel is better….

This one will be quick, and picture-less, I’m afraid. But still good news: Bel is feeling better. Bel is feeling MUCH better.   So much so that she is finding her continued confinement in Oskar’s big cage to be a sore injustice, and she lets me know by whining, barking and scratching at it.

She went to the vet yesterday and had the rest of her stitches out, and the vet agreed that her knee has healed well. It works well–it’s tight, but not too tight, and she’s walking on it. And as if to demonstrate how much better she feels, Bel hopped up onto the chair in the exam room. Right after we had the talk about how she shouldn’t be doing a lot of leaping and jumping. Sigh.

She’s also eating just fine on her own again, and the vet told me I did everything right in terms of treating her as if her liver were damaged. We did discuss the meds, and I wasn’t happy that this happened to Bel, but I also came away with the understanding that there were a limited amount of choices in treatment.

Bel had lost a pound from her illness, but otherwise is in good shape. We discussed what she could and couldn’t do: she could have her cone off, but she shouldn’t run or be allowed off leash. No jumping on or off furniture, etc. So I brought her home, put her in the little fenced in area that serves as a dog run, and went in to let Toby out. Which I did, and suddenly noticed TWO Shibas in the yard, both running–one rather fat one running to me, and another thin little Shiba chasing him.

Yep, Bel had gotten out of the fenced area. I suspect she got out by climbing over the fence then JUMPING down. And now she was RUNNING, running, running, just like she wasn’t supposed to do.

Toby, of course, still remembers how badly she hurt him, so he ran right to me and into the house. Bel, as usual, had no intentions of coming to me and having her newly found freedom curtailed, so I had to use Toby as “bait.” I took him out on the leash, and Bel danced around him, and when he peed, of course she couldn’t resist peeing over his mark, and in that vulnerable moment, I was able to grab her and put her in the house.

She didn’t seem to hurt herself, but the running and jumping is strictly verboten, so she’s back to short, leashed, potty breaks for now.  And she’s not pleased with that.  When I let her out of the crate earlier tonight, she immediately RAN out and then ran upstairs.  (Climbing stairs, another thing she’s not supposed to do).  Oh, Bel.

In other news, if you want to read a funny blog about why positive reinforcement is a good thing, and why you should be careful about what you say to your pets, check out this entry from Morning with Birds.  It also tells the story of how we think Bel developed multiple personalities!

The Evidence, and Reconnecting Fiends

I see that Toby has decided to continue his blogging, and I must say, he seems to be popular!

But I must correct a few misconceptions.  First, it is not true that Toby has never had any of the “cold cream” as he calls ice cream.  While it’s probably better that he doesn’t remember the six weeks he spent at the vet’s in March 0f ’08, I must assure readers that he did, in fact, get ice cream then, as well as anything else I could get him to eat.

And he’s had some more recently too.  Here’s the evidence from last night:

And as you can see, he’s, um, rather plump, so probably doesn’t need to eat  much ice cream:

But there was very little in there when I let him have the carton, so I don’t suspect it added much to his rotundity.  What probably did add to it was the fact that when my husband got up this morning, he was confronted with this:

 

Evidence!

This package of chicken had been left in the sink overnight.   When defrosting, I usually push stuff so far back in the sink that Toby can’t jump up and get it (believe me, he tries.  It’s one of his preferred forms of exercise).   But Toby is nothing if not resourceful (and famished, or so he thinks), so apparently he managed.  As far as we can see, Toby ate an entire chicken leg quarter this morning, perhaps two, and possibly some of the packaging as well.  Two would be 4-5 days worth of food for him.  And as you may recall, last night he ate two days worth of food.   And yes, he is STILL hungry, and is running around the house right now, searching for things to eat.  (He may be more hungry than usual because he’s taking prednisone for allergies, and I believe it stimulates the appetite.  Not that Toby needs any help with that).

Toby seems to have returned to the same shape he had as a pup.  And he still enjoys the same activities (foraging):

 

Yep, pretty much the same shape.  He’s just bigger and has longer legs now.

Also, a little something in honor of old “fiends” reconnecting (see comments from yesterday’s post. Gideon, a German Shepherd who is close to Toby’s age,  renewed his correspondence with him).    Here’s a picture of  Toby and Gideon when they were pups.  Toby was probably 8 or 9 weeks old in this picture, and as you can see, he already was showing a certain lack of interest in Gideon:

Puppies together

Toby’s never really enjoyed the company of other dogs.  I’m sure he considers the fact that he is not an “only dog” to be the main tragedy of his life.   Life is hard for Toby!

Finally, a brief Bel update:   she’s been eating on her own today.  Sort of.  She ate some kibble (Taste of the Wild, grain free in fish flavor).  She had some jack mackeral.   She has some of her puree.  She begged at the table shameless–pushing into our legs with her cone when we didn’t pay attention to her–and so got some bits of sourdough bread from my husband.   She is remarkably disinterested in food unless it is served to her.  On a spoon or by hand.   She won’t eat more than a mouthful out of her bowl, but if I take it out of her bowl and put it on a spoon, she eats much better.

Spoiled little thing.   But for now, I’m happy she’s eating at all.

And finally, I’ve added a lot of links of other Shiba bloggers and other Nihon Ken bloggers, and will be adding other information on rescue, on dogs in general, and more in the coming days.

But for now, check out Morning with Birds, by my good friend M, lives with three birds, and a certain German Shepherd who is Toby’s “fiend.”

Toby sez…I am Foraging!

That Bel!  She’s always getting all the attention!  And all the good food too!   I’ve watched her get some very delicious potato fish concoction, and something liquidy that smelled really good.  And she got the cold cream!  The cold cream!  I don’t know what it is called but it is cold and sweet and delicious and SHE (my human) only gives it to sick dogs.  SHE gave it to the German Dog when he was sick too.  SHE claims she gave it to me too, but I don’t remember that.

Just like I don’t remember HER ever shoving food into my mouth.  I’m sure if it happened I would remember, but I don’t.  I remember being really really sick.  I remember being at the vet’s office for years and years and years it seemed (SHE says only weeks, but humans!  They have the oddest sense of time!)  Anyway, I don’t think it is at all fair that the little bitch dog gets food stuffed into her mouth, when I would happily eat it with no force at all.

When they were young (and slim)

 

Something good has come out of this, though.  SHE is distracted trying to get Little Bit(ch) to eat, so she isn’t paying that much attention to what the big not-a-German-Dog but not-a-Shiba either is doing.  The grey dog.  (And psssst….between you and me, he’s not the brightest bulb.  But not as stupid as the German Dogs).  Anyway, the humans are not paying attention.  And the grey dog tends to bury things.  In the house.  Always in the same place.  In his blanket.  Then the humans make him go outside, and they let me in!  The first thing I do is forage.  Today I found an ENTIRE CHICKEN BACK in the grey dog’s blanket!  An ENTIRE CHICKEN BACK!  And even better, the grey dog was watching through the window and looked very upset.  He even barked at me!

SHE has not been kind to me.  SHE has put me on a diet.  SHE gives me so little it is hard to believe I have not wasted away to nothing.  SHE gives me only a tiny piece of chicken and sometimes a tiny bit of pumpkin.  I haven’t had an entire chicken back since….well, I don’t know when!  Today I found it and swallowed it as quickly as possible so SHE couldn’t get it.  Maybe a little too quickly.  It didn’t stay down.  But don’t worry!  I’m resourceful!  I ate it again!  It was like two extra dinners in one night!

Then, to continue my foraging, I went counter surfing, and ate one of the funny candies she gives me and the little bitch.  I don’t know what they are–SHE says it is good for our joints, whatever that means.  They’re not very good, actually, but I STOLE IT! (Er…foraged it!) so it tasted pretty good.  Then I found another little white candy on the counter and ate that too, though honestly I feel a little funny now after eating that one.  The human was not happy that I ate that…..apparently it was some sort of medicine for Bel that relaxes her or something.  I’m kind of feeling like I need to relax (and conserve calories) after all that foraging, so I might need to go take a nap now.

Toby has always been good at foraging

 

But not only does my quest to become the world’s largest Shiba continue, but I am also a champion forager!  I rule!  Maybe, if I continue eating like this, I will one day be bigger then the grey dog!  Another victory for FAT Shibas!  I fed myself appropriate things!  (No, I have not abandoned my organization FAT Shibas.  I’ve just been, hmmm….thinking about appropriate things to feed to Shibas!)

PS.  I let HER, my human, add some older photos to this.   And she also told me that the little orange candy we eat is called glucosamine, whatever that is.  SHE usually gives us this kind. SHE also pointed out SHE doesn’t usually leave things on the counter like that funny little white candy, which apparently was one of Bel’s muscle relaxants, but she was emptying out Bel’s pill container and missed one.  I do feel kind of relaxed now, I have to say.  And it’s also true that  usually the counters are boring.  But not today!  Today was an EXCEPTIONAL day for foraging!  What luck!  But now I’m going to take a nap.

Feeding Bel

Bel is sick.  She may be ill because of liver damage from her meds, as I suspect, or  she may simply  not  feel well from all of them–I won’t know until I get a full liver panel done next week.  But in any case, the little girl does not feel well, and has not eaten a full meal since Thursday.

Our little sick girl

I was quite worried about her on Saturday and Sunday, but since then, she seems slightly better.  Until today, she was not willing to eat anything on her own; I had to syringe liquid into her mouth.   However, she’s since taken a bit of her puree by spoon, and we just had a victory!  She ate something out of a dish on her own:  1/4 cup of vanilla ice cream!  No, that’s not a normal part of her diet, but at this point, I’m more interested in getting something in her to keep her blood sugar up.

She has managed to keep everything down, so far,  though she did vomit up some water earlier today.  She’s not out of the woods yet.  But the fact that she takes anything is a plus.

When I had to force feed Toby, I hadn’t thought of the idea of pureeing the food and then squirting it down his throat with a syringe.  I had to stuff food in his mouth, then hold his mouth shut until he swallowed.  It was a VERY slow process, and so far, Bel is unwilling to chew anything.   She utterly refused her fish and potato mush (which is very much coveted by the other dogs):

No! I don't want it!

So I made a puree.  I took the fish mush and mixed it with goat’s milk, chicken broth, and a little Ensure to add to the calorie count.   Sometimes I give it to her just like that, squirted into her mouth.

Last night, after syringing the liquid into her mouth every two hours, I noticed that she was starting to lick at the syringe, which suggested to me she might be ready to progress to the next step.  So I made her puree a bit thicker by adding some chicken and rice flavored baby food.  At first, she was unimpressed:

I'm not eating!

But I’d heated it a bit too, hoping the smell might get her interested, so eventually she had to take a sniff:

Hmm...what is that?

And then finally, she decided to take just a little taste:

 

It's not bad!

And then, a little more:

 

She likes it!

Success!

Leave it to a Shiba to refuse to eat unless it’s off a spoon!

Feeding Bel is a pretty time-consuming, though.   She won’t eat much at once, which is ok, because I’ve read that small meals are better anyway for dogs who have overtaxed livers.   The most I manage to feed her at one time is about a 1/4 cup of anything, whether it is the puree, the puree/baby food mix, or ice cream.   That’s not very much, and I’ve really only gotten up to the 1/4 cup at a time yesterday and today.  To put this in perspective, we still haven’t worked through an entire bottle of Ensure, and each bottle has 250 calories.   Since I mix it with other things, I’d guess she’s managed to get maybe 300 calories today, so far, maybe closer to 400 now that she just had her ice cream.   It’s not enough.

But it’s better than Saturday, when I could barely get her to take anything at all.  And she’s drinking on her own, so she’s not at risk of becoming dehydrated.

Toby, who has clearly entirely forgotten his own experience with liver disease and forced feeding, is a bit demoralized by all the attention Bel is getting, but because she’s sick, they’ve been able to be together in the house:

Toby dreams of fish mush

You may have noticed that in the feeding pictures she doesn’t have her “cone” on.   I take it off when I feed her, even though it does kind of function like a giant plastic bib–all the things she pushes out of her mouth end up in the cone for easy clean up!  I can’t leave it off very long, though, because she immediately starts licking at her incision site if I do.   The wound itself looks good–it’s clean and healing well,  and her fur is growing back:

Unfortunately, she keeps licking at a spot that the splint rubbed on, and she’s polished it down in to bare skin.  This is why I have to keep the cone on.  I also put a bit of calendula cream on that spot and on the incision a couple of times a day to help speed the healing along.

The dark spot is where she licks

Poor Bel!  Between being shaved and being sick and not eating, she’s looking positively thin:

Little Miss Wasp Waist

But she is doing better today, and I’ll keep feeding her every few hours and dosing her with milk thistle and B vitamins, and I expect she’ll continue to make progress.   And next week, she’ll be back to the vet for a full liver panel.

And there is some good news:  she’s walking on her leg quite normally these days, and is even able to get into her “froggy” pose, where she stretches her back legs out behind her when she’s laying down.  So the surgery, at least, seems to have been a success.