we are rockin'.

that is all.

more meds and a haircute!

So last time we checked in we were a yeasty beastie. Dr Ringle switched our eye meds(haven't arrived yet) to a water based solution to prevent more yeast growth. He also suggested we do a MONTH of the Fluconazole. Hope actually seems to like this medication(not so much she'd just take it but enough to suffer it well) so it isn't horrible.

The horrible part is the diarrhea it is giving her. Awful, hourly diarrhea blasts. They are really lovely in the middle of the night. God bless her little heart, she gets up and walks to the edge of the bed to cry "Need to poop, Mama!" Needless to say I'm a little sleep deprived today.

Her face itches her fierce so we're back on the Temaril-P as well. She also started some Pepcid. Will it ever end?

As for Hope's fur situation....I decided to get her groomed today!! I have been hesitant to do it because A. Hope has been ill, cut open, and healing B. She is naughty and bites people. I happened into a shop called Fins & Feathers in Red Bank, NJ to drop off birds for rescue earlier today. I discovered the shop also does grooming. They were having a special on grooming($15 off!) so I inquired about it. I spoke to the shop owner's daughter first. She told me they don't advocate leaving the dogs there all day for appointments because it was too stressful(bonus point #1), they don't use cage driers because they are dangerous(bonus point #2), and that they actually owned a chihuahua who bit them all the time - which she shrugged off with a laugh (bonus point #3). I promptly made an appointment.

I found Hellen, the owner and a groomer there, to be very knowledgeable and kind. I told her about ALL of Hope's issues, medically and behaviorally, which she was familiar with. She was also very gentle with Hope and did not hesitate to handle her despite 'her rep'. Hellen sited that she wanted Hope to enjoy being groomed and not hate it so it would therefore, potentially, take up to 3 hours if Hope needed breaks during her time there. Bonus point #3. To quote her, "I could have 3 people hold her down and shave her but what good would that do her or me? I want her to like being groomed." At that point, I could have kissed Hellen right on the lips. I knew Hellen was the groomer for us.

Hope looked this like on the way to the groomer:


And 2 hours later, they called and brought out this cute creature.. we weren't sure who's dog it was...


Hellen said that Hope was better behaved than the other Maltese that was there earlier. WOW, that dog must be truly horrible if Hope was "good" compared to it.



I mean, how cute does it get? Of course being groomed was still stressful for little Hope. She was all tuckered out on the ride home.



Yes, those are BOWS in her hair. GLITTERY BOWS!!



There was discussion of Hope's breed. Prior to actually grooming her, Hellen said she was a Maltese. After spending 2 hours with her she said that Hope definitely had Chihuahua in her. We figure she is a Maltipoohuahua. :) She is special, that's for sure. Of course, not everyone got by unscathed by Hope. She was very adept at removing the muzzle at the groomer and did manage to nail Hellen once, but no broken skin.

At least she is a polite miscreant.

dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNN...bathtime!

Hope has had some weird "crust" around her eyes. I spoke to Dr Ringle, her eye-guy, earlier this week about the problem and he thought that it might be YEAST from her cyclosporine. Yuck. He told me to have Hope come in to see Dr B and check for yeast.

Guess what... it was yeast!!!!!! So, MORE meds - big surprise. We're giving her 1ml of Fluconazole once a day for 14 days. It smells like oranges; Hope wasn't impressed.

We're going to have to reconsider her cyclosporine also. It is currently oil based and we might have to move to water based.

You might notice in the picture of the meds the LAXATONE. Yes, that is the stuff they give cats for hairballs. In fact, the only instructions on the tube give CAT dosing. Ladies and gentleman, my DOG gets hairballs. Hope hacked up a hairball on our bed, at night, 3 nights this past week. For the first 2 nights I blamed the cats(sorry, cats) but on the 3rd I actually saw her do it. Yuck. The laxatone will hopefully help her "move it along". We're going to have to consider some OCD meds if this keeps up. The licking thing is getting old. Thankfully, she LIKES the taste of this so it was super easy to give her.

Hope also got the dreaded B-A-T-H today. The skin around her eyes, from the yeast, was super irritated with the water but we moved some of the crust out. Yes, she still has to wear her "mouth mitten".


She would have rather been 90 other places, obviously, than in the bath tub. I was super happy because this was her first real bath since the surgery. P-U.

After her spa treatment - complete with blow-dry at no charge - she looked like a little white cottonball. We can say that proudly now because, hey, she has fur and stuff finally.


We'll recheck next week to make sure the yeastie beasties are vacating. Say a little something I don't get the nightly hairball upchuck tonight.

the ideal diet? maybe.

As I type, Hope is sitting between my legs obsessively licking our couch. That is her favorite hobby, licking things. She has a borderline OCD with licking things, in fact. She licks whenever it is time to 'settle down'. At night, she licks for at least 10-15 minutes. She will lick the sheets, blankets, couch, my laptop, my pants, my arm - you name it. If you try to prevent her from licking by distracting her, she cries. I am not sure what to do there quite yet. One thing at a time.

Hope is very attached to me - and I to her. With her recent diagnosis of the "Big C" we are prepared to go the long haul with her. We haven't actually spoken about it, but Chris and I both know that this is destiny. It is extremely hard to adopt out a dog that bites, let alone one with health issues - let ALONE one with CAN---. We don't really speak the C word in the house. Mommy gets very upset.

On another note, I would like to share what Hope has finally decided is "her diet". We are feeding Primal Buffalo Grind(hearts, organ meat, bone) - .2-.3oz in the morning. Yes, .2oz is right. She also gets 1oz of ground buffalo meat three times a day. She isn't as boney as she was when we got her and the weight she has gained is what I would call "good weight". The last weigh in on Friday at her at 5.4lb!!

To prepare these tiny amounts of food we use a scale. I line it with waxed paper and then wear latex gloves to handle the meat to avoid contamination. I then spoon little 1oz portions onto the scale, check the weight, then transfer it to a cookie pan lined with clean waxed paper to freeze in smaller lumps. For the grind of organ and bone I fork pieces onto the waxed paper in the same fashion but then I drop it onto the cookie sheet and smash it with a fork into a flat cookie type form. This is a little time consuming but I can get a lot of lumps and cookies out of a chub of frozen raw food so we don't have to do it more than once every 2 weeks. It's also a "zen" process for me.

The supplements that Hope is currently on are pictured here:

We follow the 1/4 1/4 1/4 rule - 1/4 teaspoon of each of these tubs, twice a day. I've mentioned them before - B-Natural's Berte's Immune Blend and Herbsmith products. I'd testify to the effectiveness of any of these. They have really helped Hope a lot to overcome her mange.

Final dish before smashing the supplements in:

We rarely have an issue getting Hope to eat at this point. Sometimes she will balk but heating it up a little bit more usually does the trick for her. It is MUCH easier than 99 kibbles, canned foods, etc that she eventually refuses.

We heart raw.

fitting in.

Hope is doing well here. We have realized she hates having a "big dog snout" in her face and will react, as well as her other aggression triggers. Thanks to that, we have hardly had any outbursts from her in a week! Chris's thumbs are intact.

We saw the doctor on Friday(Hi Dr B) for a recheck and to have her stitches removed. She was not happy about being touched by strangers but I held her, with her muzzle on, and forced some love on her while they did what they needed to do. She did pretty well, considering. We will continue to work on her being more comfortable there; even with her few short stays there she has improved each time.

And now - gratuitous photos proving she *does* like the dogs, but only on her own terms - which is okay by us.

recovery update, raw news, a little touch of heart.

Our recovery update is as follows: good! Her incision infection is healing and her overall outward appearance fur-wise is amazing. She looks like a different dog.

Raw news: The raw ground buffalo diet with the supplements is doing her good. Her fur is filling in nicely, she is putting on 'good' weight and isn't as bony. We've also had zero instances of her refusing her food - phew.

The heart-part: She is getting so much fur she looks like a hot mess. I took some quiet time tonight before Chris got home to get a brush and go very slowly with her. She loved it!! She leaned into the brush, which I was careful to move so I wouldn't pull on her skin or press too hard. I brushed her little face and she just held so still and closed her eyes.

She was sweet for a second there. :)