Giddy-Up!

Katie has some new friends here at the Fallon, NV RV Park.

Next door to their huge off-leash dog park are some horses that have bonded with her.  When she comes into the pen, they wander over near the fence line next to it and wait for her to come running.

If she does not notice them there, they will start making noises and stirring up the dust to attract her attention. In the late afternoon they play a game of dogs and horses and she lunges at the fence between then and they take off whinnying and running in small circles on their side before retuning to the fence line for her to do it again.

There are also chickens over there, which completely ignore her though she seem to stand, sometimes for minutes, watching them. I think she is trying to figure out how they don’t fall over on only 2 legs.

A couple of dogs live over there, too, mixed with the chickens and horses and occasionally, they will come over to the fence when they see her out here, too.  They race the length of the common fence and back alongside Katie before they are all tuckered out and everybody loses interest. By then, a sizeable cloud of dust is floating up and away from all the fun.

She has had 2 more seizures within a week of each other. I am suspecting that these are related to some sort of allergy trigger as she has also been sneezing a lot during this period. There is an unbelievable amount of sage brush out here and it seems to be able to grow in places that even rocks have trouble surviving.  It has been in bright yellow bloom from South Dakota thru Wy, MT, Idaho and now, Nevada but the color is starting to fade and so is the sneezing.

I have given her a few half-doses of Benadryl during these times and that does seem to have stopped the sneezing spells and her eyes are not so bloodshot. No more seizures since I started doing that, either.

She is doing very well and loves this dog park. Usually, she is out there alone but it is big enough that she can run and run and run. Sometimes, this is the best medicine for her. It would be nice if there was grass but thank goodness there is no mud.

ttfn

Budd

A Bump in the Road..

Katie has had 2 seizures in less than 3 weeks. The first was at 68 days then 2 weeks later, she had another. Poor little girl. These just completely exhaust her but once she falls asleep it stops and when she wakes up, she is just fine, again.

Her awareness of what she needs to do is getting much better. She realizes that she must stay still as possible. If she is in my lap or next to me, she usually pushes up against me and tries to lay her head on me somewhere to stop her head bobbing.

Otherwise, she is well.  It turns out that since we gave her the Comfortis in May she has not had any fleas. We only gave her the one so I doubt that it has controlled them this long. But who knows?  Her metabolism is not normal.

Whatever the reason, it has been nice to not have to keep treating her for fleas monthly.

She is a love and a joy.

ttfn

Life’s a warm lap..

 

Katie is doing very well. She is on day 65 since her last seizure.

She is very much at home wherever we are and has handled the changes of campgrounds and environments with enthusiastic indifference.

What a really great Gal she is!

She was up to 35 pounds last year but has now trimmed down to just under 30lbs which seems to be pretty close to her ideal weight. My back can sure tell the difference.

 

 

She is still free feeding on Canidae Senior diet dog food but since she has taken to snacking on Sam’s Yams Bichon fries treats and powdered rawhide chews her overall trimness and attitude have been very stable.

The yam treats are crinkle cut like french fries so they are easy to break up into smaller treat sizes as needed. Also makes a bag last a lot longer.  We just keep them in a ziplock in the handiest pantry shelf.

 

What a delightful companion to have along in our lives.

ttfn

Budd

Katie is alive and well

She has a happy life, keeps our lives structured and returns to us all the love and contact she gets.

Of course, once a seizure dog always a seizure dog but they have stabilized and on Zonisamide they seem to run about once every 30 – 60 days. Longer spans in the summer, shorter over winter. We still don’t have a clue why that is but we certainly speculate about it a lot.

She had one this morning that lasted 2 1/2 hours which was really unusual since she had just had one  9 days ago. The previous one to that was 65 days before.

Her weight stabilized at 34 lbs which she has weighed for over 2 years so it must be her playing weight.  The older I get the heavier that seems to be when I have to pick her up or carry her.  It’s not a gym workout but it can strain muscles and leave them sore for a day or two.

As an RV companion, there are no complaints. She does not shed nor bark much (unless she thinks it is play time… which can get annoying). She does not smell like a dog (unless she has been out in the hot sun for a long time).

Her favorite treat is a rawhide chip (not real rawhide but the pulverized and reformed stuff).  Second to that and her usual reward for doing some exceptional (like taking care of business, going into her crate or generally being too cute) are Bichon Fries. These are dried sweet potatoes cut into crinkle fries. There are other brands but these are nice because the crinkle cut makes it much easier to break them into smaller pieces to better match the size of the kudo (and make them last longer.)

 

 

Happy Mother’s day!

The day after

Yesterday was a tough day for us.  Katie does not know about Poppy's passing as far as we know.  Their relationship was antagonistic, at best. She would get all hyper on one side of the kitchen door and he would try to huff and puff and bark the door down.  He did not tolerate much frivolousness and that is what Katie is mostly about with other dogs. They did not play well together but that does not mean that they did not have a close relationship... Who knows?

She seems to be struggling with a UTI of some sort, gauging from the amount of water she has started drinking daily.

If it does not improve by Monday we will go see Doctor Jack just to be sure. So far, he has been a winner with clearing up her perpetual ear infections and problems.

On other fronts, her last seizure was 15 days ago and the one before that was 36 days from the previous event so she seems to be in her winter pattern. Another couple of months and I expect them to get farther apart, again.

Meanwhile, she just got a summer cut from a new groomer. First grooming she has had in Florida. We are very pleased. Dawn is the best. If you are in the St Augustine area and need a good groomer, ck out Grooming by Dawn down on US 1 just south of the WalMart supercenter.  She was fast and did a very nice job in under 2 hours while we were stocking stores at Walmart for the week. Her prices are much more reasonable than up in Raleigh, too.

Life in the Stagecoach RV Park has been wonderfully uneventful. A couple of days in the 30s and the rest have been most comfortable 60s and 70s. A little more rain would be nice just to keep the pollen down but Katie loves every walk like it was her first of the day.

If you are a dedicated plastic grocery bag poop bag user, you might consider something we have found to be a lot more convenient.  It is a fat dog bone shaped plastic holder that clips to the handle of the leash or Flexi leash and holds a roll of 15 bags. The rolls can be bought at WalMart, Target, Dollar Tree (thinner bags) but the size seems to be pretty close to the same from them all. Last purchase was 120 bags for about $7 at WalMart.

It is just nice to not have to leak test/check each bag before using it and also, to have a bag handy for whatever comes up wherever Katie happens to be.

That is priceless convenience.

ttfn
Budd

Holiday Happiness

Katie has really loved the holiday season.  Lots of trips to socialize at the dog park up the road and visits from friends and family. She is truly a dog that is wagged by her tail when she is happy.

The only glitch for her was a seizure on 12/30 at 5:30am. Sleeping soundly one minute and the next she was in a 90+ minute seizure set. I should have followed my instincts and doubled her meds a couple of days before when I saw her stools showing a dark coating on some of them.

She is in need of some grooming, though. Her chops are getting in her food and her lips are starting to dribble a drink all around, all around. Usually, she comes to have me dry her mouth afterwards but I don’t always catch on that this is why she is standing there staring at me. My bad.

Though the weather has been excellent this recent cold snap seems to have really energized Katie and she is more on a hair trigger to respond to cars, people, dogs or bikes going by us.

She got a few new toys for Christmas but the best is a bone shaped poop bag holder that clips onto the Flexi leash handle. We have long used old grocery bags for pickups but that takes some forethought to be sure to have one in a pocket when it is needed.  This little bag dispenser is always there and worth every penny per bag.  Target has 120 bags in rolls to fit for only about $8, too. Worth every penny.

Our plans are to be in the area for a few months over the winter. We all seem to be really enjoying this place and don’t see any real need to leave.. but things change. We will keep you posted.

ttfn

Budd

She’s a traveling gal

Katie really loves to travel.  Just the anticipation of going is enough to get her really hyped up. She hangs on every movement towards the door and every word that sounds like “go”.  In short, she is usually on the road before we are.

No different this time for our return trip to Florida but I am afraid that this time her anticipation may have caught up with her.  This morning, at 4:18 am she began a 90 minute seizure after 72 days since her last one.  She was lying between our feet on the bed and it may have been triggered by my suddenly waking her from a deep sleep with my foot while I was turning over.  Being startled awake from a deep slumber has frequently triggered her seizures if the other precursor conditions are in place and this time, unfortunately, they were.

She has had much worse seizures but it has been more than 6 months since she had one that lasted this long so it was bad enough.

Otherwise, Katie has been enjoying our adventures and travels. Once we are on the road, she schedules her time lying on the floor, riding on the bunk looking out of the windows, sleeping on the bunk seats and riding in the lap of whomever is not driving.  A pretty cushy travel style if you ask me.

ttfn

Budd