|
|
![]() |
|
4-09-2025
I got 2 aluskies
brushed for the first "official" time of 2025. Sassy
first - She always plays keep away with her paws cos that's what
an alusky is hardwired to do. I bait them with rabbit nibs after everyclaw
or
paw so that's how Sassy smiles during grooming. But she still
makes me work for it!
I had to
back off grooming more often cos of Sassy's osteoarthrosis and
game of keep away. But this proved to be more of a BAAAAAD idea cos
her undercoat was so matted that I only got halfway done with her
before my back and rigid spasticity pain became blindingly unbearable.
Pain meds for me that tell your nerves to sit down and shut up
don't work when your brain can't talk to your body.
Putting a muzzle on Akula takes the fight right out of him
and I was done with him within 20 minutes. Yeah - HOUR PLUS for
Sassy. I so do not miss the 4 dogs we had during husky
blooming season. In Texas!
Additionally, With it being as dry as it is, the hair was just everywhere, clinging all over EVERYTHING like cobwebs in a horror film.
4-05-2025
As time has gone on,
age is showing Sassy it's not going to be real sympathetic. Sassy has Osteoarthritis and she can now hyper-extend her right shoulder without even trying. This
will most probbably make her scream and cry the same time as she favors her right paw. All the
while she's staring me in the eye to make it go away. We're both helpless. It'll pass in a couple minutes and she'll
have forgotten about it. Yay but still.
Sassy is also going deaf. That's about the only normal and
expected thing to have, says her vet.
She can get startled real easy and this'll probably make her jump
then scream and favor her paw. In the evenings when I'm holding
down the couch for the rest of the night, she'll lay on the floor
right where my feet would naturally go when I need to get up. So
when it's time for me to get up, I gently touch her fur then her
body to wake her up. It can still be hit or miss but I have a 95%
chance of her not screaming.
When it's time for lunch, oftentimes
I have to go to her bed to wake her up by nudging her bed and
saying loud enough for her to hear "YUMMY YUMMY - LUNCH". I have
trained her to know "yummy yummy" means food or treat. This may
get her revved up where she turns into a rocket, When she's not in
a rush to jump up, I figure pain is holding her down.
Sassy IS medicated in a couple ways and her vet is keeping close
tabs on her. Due to other people asking what she's on then telling
me they think they know more than our vet, I'm not going there.
Just know Sassy is plenty good at getting the attention she needs!
8-22-2024
It has come to my attention that Sassy is not the
jealous hoarding meany that she portrays herself as! When it's
not obvious that you're watching her, you'll see that she is
well aware that Akula is now blind. She herds him out in the
yard and pretty much protects him when she's not protecting HER
things that HE wants. That's an alusky for ya!
I've been seeing Sassy sleeping on the
floor in the evening with a paw or tail or her fuzzy butt
touching some art of Akula so he knows she's near. It took a
while for me to notice this cos I see them ALL the time. It took
someone bringing it to my attention.
Clearly, in the morning, after
breakfast when they're all fat n' happy, they could care less
about each other....
8-10-2024... (Happy birthday,
Brimstone!)
My day started with Sassy having puked in her bed...
She ate breffess without the vigor she usually has - as Akula
always has.... Her not wanting her morning ice cube is a bad
sign! Someone WILL be cleaning up something later....
So... no coffee this morning. It's a Dr
Pepper and Everclear kind of morning! I'm already chilled out
with just making room for ice and all!... So... GOOD FRIGGIN'
MORNIN'!!!..
We survived
the costs of adopting a dog with glaucoma AND glaucoma
surgery. 7 years later, now Akula's potential for getting
cataract has increased 100%. Again, he's bound for Dr Robert Munger to restore what
vision he does have.
Not even a week later.... Akula is recovering
really well from his surgery and all the indignity of the
cone!
Sassy, however, revealed her jealousy. Sooo... to
let her feel just as loved, I put a cone on her. That shut her
up!
THE UPDATE NOW IS.... Akula was doing really
well but the last check up concluded the retina is officially
detached. Akula is now officially blind. Surprisingly, he
appears to be adjusting just fine. The paw pad scent released
where he walks really helps keep him on track when walking
through the house and not bumping into MOST things. I found
myself telling him "follow my voice" "over here" "stop".... He
is doing excellent with what he has to work with. Unfortunately,
he is having a hard time with his sniffing range. He has to be
REALLY close to his food bowl to find it. Fortunately,
his hearing is still perfect.
A couple weeks later....
Concerns have risen. AFTER getting an all clear from 2 separate
and trusted vets - Akula has Chronic kidney disease
and Systemic hypertension. I would have liked
to have known this prior to surgery.... Well, that explains
Akula's excessive drinking like a racehorse.... One vet's office
says he'll be needing a needing a special diet and high blood
pressure meds - a half a pill twice a day. The primary vet told
me his blood work numbers show a light elevation in a couple
different numbers that are only consistent with old age and not
a death sentence. Not necessary to change his diet.
Cataract surgery for dogs are extremely
different than for humans in that humans can recover and see
shortly thereafter whereas dogs have to deal with inflammation
for a long time. Akula doesn't love receiving the eye drops
anymore than love giving him the drops. Or various pills but
here we are. It's still too soon to give up hope on his eye
recovery so we shall ...see....
Meanwhile, good thing he has a hard
head cos he's now booping it into walls and things. He's real
slow now, head hanging low. He ambles about with his head hung
low.
He's often really slow when it's time
to go into the backyard. There's a big half circle brick step,
6" or so tall step to the back door and glass screen door.
Often, I need to tell him to "follow my voice......." so he
knows which way to go.
The worst thing about this is all is
the malamute in him can no longer protect his family,
particularly me. He knows I'm "wounded" from my stroke. I now
have to protect him. The mothering instinct in me.... He knows
it's there and I've not done wrong by him so he's able to find
his way to the - HIS - chaise lounge bed in the living room.
Whoever wakes up first and finds the "prize" has to clean it. We finally got Sasin aka Sassy to a diagnostic vet clinic to solve the mystery of her vomiting issues. Well... She has "Mega-esophagus"... WTH??
Poor Sassy has a "Mega-esophagus" and our vet has not seen one has bad/big as hers. "It should not be visible on an x-ray". Her's and Akula's food and water bowls are now up on 5 gallon paint buckets and the condition has greatly improved BUT...
if her food manages to not get down to her tummy, anything and
everything caught in her esophagus will find its way out with
deadly accuracy to target any last cleaned and disinfected area.
The esophagus is the black tube to the left, below the spine.
Our vet said something about it's not supposed to show up an
x-ray. Great...
So
with the food bowls on the buckets, almost daily vomiting
reduced to a few times a week. Yay! But... vomiting was still
happening and since I'm a kinda light sleeper, if I don't hear
Sassy ringing the bells at the door, I'll be the one getting to
clean it up. Yay, me....
So,
again... I got to thinking when it was grooming time. Sassy will
sit in the corner of the couch to avoid nail clipping. I got to
thinking... She's sitting almost upright! I started rubbing her
chest and her throat, hitting that sweet spot where Lil Miss
Princess gets a thorough rub down in her "spa day". I say
"Bailey Chair" and Sassy will come, knowing it's a good thing.
I'm retraining her to come to "Gravity" cos it adheres to the "1
word, 3 syllables" rule for dog learning.
This also means treats and snacks have to be well thought out
cos even a bite of BBQ'ed steak can "release the hounds".
Now... where the diagnostic clinic urged us to get a Bailey's Chair, we declined, needing to research this. Considering it cost over $1,400 for the diagnostics service, we weren't about to wrestle an unwilling participant into a $275 (at least) chair!
From time to time, I snooker Sassy into getting on the couch and
into position as shown. I'll massage her chest then throat. Easy
peasy.
So far she has not yakked Sassy
style!!! Yay!!!
When I see news
articles on science websites that I find informative
and/or amusing so ones I find worthy of
sharing will be here. They may earn their own page. If you have
any articles you'd like to see on RabidJackal, Bark
At Us and I'll seriously consider it but I make
no promises....
If you see a benefit to your dog-related business
and/or dog-related product being ADVERTISED
here, READ
MORE »
I have always come up with unique
web names and learned the hard way that "simplicity" always
works best. That said, I continue to reveal myself as someone
who insists on 4 wheeling a front wheel drive car through swampy
briar patches. I'm special that way. Anyway — this domain name
has proven to continue to be a hard name (in email form) to
spell out for people to write it without bushwhacking the
spelling. Oh, well. The name stays and if one can't write it
down correctly — I don't need that person's email....
When one of our Rabid Jackals does something
they shouldn't — and get caught — OrionEngnr
or I will update the other, starting with "YOUR dog...."
The last noteworthy "YOUR Dog" story that happened was the dogs
went out after their lunchtime treat. As usual, they all trot
out and stop to sniff the air and figure out what's new. Akula
was trained to NOT pee on any part of the house. However....
After roaming for the right spot to mark, something caught his
attention so what he went to sniff was out of my visual range.
Then... he lifted a leg waaaay too close to the covered patio
post. Hmm.... Yep! He took a long squirt on the post!
<Siiigh...> That's when I saw it! a little Texas Spiny
lizard booked it out of the left leg hike range and high-tailed
it to higher ground! LOLOLOL!!!