Won't Eat

For about a week, we have been able to get Presley back on all of her supplements with no side effects. However, yesterday she had a bit of diarrhea and this morning she refused to eat her breakfast. I tried to give her just canned food, then just kibble, but she turned her nose up at both. She was even hesitant to eat any treats.

Her poops are solid, so I don't know what's going on. Presley and Diesel are going to Steve's house for the night. Maybe Daddy can talk her into eating her food.

We had a really nice time at the park yesterday. Presley spent a few minutes alone wandering in a small patch of woods in the middle of the park. Maybe she ate something that upset her tummy. Of course, she didn't want to leave when it was time to go. She just laid in the middle of the field watching us walk/run away.

Before we got to the Jeep, we played on the playground equipment. Diesel loves to climb up the platforms to the top of the jungle gym. Bristol climbed a couple platforms but wasn't too keen on crossing the swinging bridge. Presley finally joined us but I didn't encourage her to climb on anything. She just sniffed underneath, probably looking for something to nibble on.

This is really getting old but I'm trying to be patient and not take my frustrations out on Presley. It's like trying to put a puzzle together but I don't have all the pieces. Presley loves her food, so she must be feeling bad to not want to eat. Sometimes I think she's getting a little senile in her old age. She's going to be 10 in a couple weeks. Most of the time she's very predictable and then out of the blue she does something new that makes me wonder where that came from.

Like last night, for example. Scott and I were watching a movie ("Knocked Up", cute movie), while the girls all slept in the living room. Presley woke up at one point and kept trying to get my attention. She would put her head on the couch and stare up at me until I pet her or talked to her. Then she got up, grabbed a toy and brought it over to Scott. He threw it a few feet away, she retrieved it and brought it back to him. This went on about three times until she settled back down on the cushion and fell asleep.

I'm not sure why I think this was unusual. Dogs play fetch, right? It just seemed strange at that moment. Presley would normally be asleep at that time of night. Maybe she was happy to see Scott because he's been working so much. Maybe she just needed to stretch her legs for a few minutes.

Who knows. I shouldn't try to over analyze too much. Sometimes I forget that she's a dog, not a human.

Girls and Their New Toys

After a couple of very busy days visiting with family and playing with new toys, the girls have been pretty wiped out. Until today.

Scott fed the girls at 6AM but they went right back to bed. The day really started at 7:30AM. Bristol and Diesel wrestled and played tug-o-war for three hours in the living room, with Presley closely monitoring and correcting them when they got too rambunctious.

We napped for a couple hours. Then playtime started all over again. I took them in the backyard while I picked up poops, but they don't seem to have as much fun in the yard. It's cold, wet and muddy. Maybe they can sense that I really don't want to be out there either.

The living room looks like a toy store blew up. Unfortunately, many of the toys haven't faired very well. The fox is only half-stuffed. The squirrel is missing its tail. The squeaky ball is missing its squeaker. At least I know the girls have been enjoying their toys.

Just now I was going to take the girls to the park to run around, but they are all taking their afternoon nap. Presley and Bristol are butt-to-butt on the cushion and Diesel is on the carpet. I'll give them a few more minutes then we'll head out. It will feel good for all of us to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

Sneaky

We ended up taking the girls with us to my dad's house this afternoon and they had a chance to run and play in his huge backyard. Needless to say, they were pretty wiped out when we got home.

Just a few minutes ago, Diesel and Bristol were sleeping soundly on the cushion in the living room. Presley came out from the bedroom and I could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to lay down on the cushion but there was no room for her next to the other girls. That's when she got sneaky.

She grabbed the squeaker ball and brought it over to Scott as if she wanted to play. He threw it, she kinda ran after it. They did this three times until Bristol got up off the cushion to chase after the ball. Presley grabbed the ball before Bristol could reach it. Then she hopped over to where Bristol had been laying and plopped down on the cushion. Very sneaky!

Christmas Eve Day

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at chez Sprangerberg. The palm tree is decorated with twinkle lights and the stockings are hung from the entertainment center with care. We only have a few presents under the tree because Bristol is too interested in the packages.

Scott and I have a special delivery we have to make today. We're going to surprise my dad and Nancy with a garden arbor that Scott built for their yard. The arbor is going to take up most of Scott's van, so we might not be able take the girls with us.

In preparation for their afternoon at home alone, I took the girls to the park this morning to let them stretch their legs a bit. There wasn't a whole lot to do at the park, so we just ran around. When it was time to leave, we ran back to the Jeep, and Diesel and Bristol jumped right in.

However Presley was dragging her feet. She just sat in the field looking at us. After I got the younger girls loaded in, I started the engine to get warmed up (it's only 27 degrees out). Presley might have thought we were going to leave without her so she hustled over to us. When she got to the Jeep, I opened the passenger door and she jumped right in without any help.

The fresh air must have worked because they haven't been able to keep their eyes open since.

Barking, growling - having fun or pissed off?

This morning Diesel and Bristol have been wrestling for about an hour. They are both loving it.

Presley on the other hand seems agitated by them. A couple times, Presley has jumped in growling and pushed Bristol to the ground. Bristol goes belly up. Then Presley puts her face in Bristol's face and continues growling. This gets Diesel excited, so she gets in Bristol's face and starts barking with a very high pitch. I've had to break this up several times because I don't want it to escalate into a fight.

Usually Presley reprimands Diesel, but now she's going after Bristol first. And she seems pissed off. She's trying to tell Bristol something but I'm not sure what it is. Hopefully Bristol can interpret the message correctly and all will be right with the world. The growling and barking is a bit much for me first thing in the morning.

All I Want For Christmas...

Here are my Christmas angels with Santa Claus.

In this first shot, everyone looks pretty serious. At least in the shot below, Presley shows us a little smile.

Fetch raised $400 on Saturday for the Royal Oak Animal Shelter. It turns out that Santa is the hubby of Fetch's owner. I guess that makes the owner Mrs. Claus. The photographer was Santa's sister. Nice job!

Agitated

For about the last 90 minutes or so, Presley has been very agitated. I've been trying to watch the season finale of "I Love New York 2" but Presley has been whining, crying, staring at me, doing anything she can to get my attention.

I've been paying attention to her, talking to her, petting her, but nothing seems to pacify her. She doesn't seem sick. So this is very strange.

However, I just realized as I'm typing that she may have gas.

The angels visit Santa Claus

Today I took Presley, Diesel and Bristol to visit Santa Claus at an independent pet supply store in Ferndale called Fetch. It's on Woodward, north of 9 Mile on the west side. I had never been there before but had just read about it in the local Southfield community newspaper.

I was nervous about handling all three of the girls at the same time. In past years I've taken the big girls to see Santa at other stores and sometimes it's a madhouse with dogs and people everywhere. I was hoping that maybe a smaller store might have a smaller turnout.

My mom also came with me and took her dog Dakota. We all piled into the Jeep and luckily found a parking spot just a few feet from the back entrance.

I took Bristol in first to get the lay of the land, while Presley and Diesel hung out in the Jeep. There were only a couple of other dogs in the store, including a 5-month-old Rottweiler that Bristol was really interested in. After the other dogs got their photos taken, Dakota got her chance to visit with Santa. She posed very nicely for the camera.

In exchange for the photo, the store was requesting a $10 donation that will go to the Royal Oak Animal Shelter. Mom paid her donation and I decided to pay my donation in advance so I wouldn't have to fumble around while I had the girls with me.

Everything in the store seemed pretty calm and under control, so Bristol and I went out to the Jeep to get the other girls. After everyone had on their leashes, they were all pretty excited and kinda pulled me up to the door. It was a little tricky getting into the store because I got tangled up in Diesel's leash, but once we got inside they calmed down.

They were all pretty sniffy and had to check everything out, but overall very well behaved. No one was in line to visit Santa, so we walked right up. They all sniffed around him, not really paying too much attention to him. Then Santa gave them some treats and I started to position them for the photo.

First I handed Bristol's leash over to Santa. I thought she might be a little scared and try to pull away, but amazingly she was actually the best one. She sat right between Santa's legs the whole time and when she saw the camera come out, she posed like a professional model.

I then positioned Presley near Santa's left knee. She sat very nicely. However, the tile floor was a little slippery and she slowly slid away, so I had to reposition her.

Then I positioned Diesel near Santa's right knee. She was the hardest one to keep still because she really doesn't like to sit. I think it bothers her knee where she had ACL surgery to sit for too long. She kept standing up and trying to move toward the camera, but Santa had a firm grip on all of the leashes so no one was going anywhere.

As the photographer snapped away, I kept trying to get the girls' attention by waving my arms, whoo-hooing, and jumping up and down. I asked the photographer's assistant if she had a squeaker toy, which got the girls' attention.

All of the girls posed so nicely for the camera and were extremely well behaved. During the photo session, they were looking around a little bit because the people who were watching were oohing and aahing, which was a little distracting. But the photographer kept snapping photos until she felt she had gotten the shot. We get to pick up our photo on Monday, so I'll be sure to add it to this blog then. I can't to see how it turned out!

I was so proud of my girls and a little surprised. I knew they were well behaved, but this went above and beyond my expectations. They were like angels. My little Christmas angels!

Tired Dog = Good Dog

Last night after work, I picked up Presley and Diesel from Steve's house. Presley is now eating well, so I'm going to slowly add her supplements to her food one at a time so I can figure out what gave her such bad gas and an upset tummy. For now, she'll be eating one cup of kibble, one scoop of canned food and one Glucosamine/Chondroitin pill covered with Cheez Whiz. We'll see how she does on that for a few days.

When we got home last night, Bristol was so happy to see her sisters. At first, the big girls didn't seem too excited about the little one being there. Then at around 8:15PM they all went into serious "play" mode. For two hours straight, I played fetch and tug-o-war with all three of them. Diesel and Bristol also did a bit of wrestling on their own.

During tug-o-war Presley mostly stayed on the sidelines barking at the other girls, but during fetch many times she was the first one to retrieve the ball. It's amazing how fast she can move when she wants to. The funny thing about her barking at the other girls was that she had a huge smile on her face the whole time.

In this picture, you can kinda see her smile and the sparkle in her eyes. She was loving it the whole time.

Finally, at about 10:30PM the girls started to slow down. One by one, they fell asleep in the living room. Bristol was still wired so it took a little longer for her to wind down but she finally settled down next to Presley on the cushion.

At around midnight, I moved the crew into the bedroom and got all the girls snuggled in their beds. At one point, one them was snoring but I couldn't figure out if it was Presley or Bristol. It took me awhile to get to sleep because every time I heard that little snore, I would laugh.

This morning the girls slept in until 7AM, had breakfast, then went right back to bed until about 9:30AM. They were all wiped out, which reminds me of what Scott always says: "A tired dog is a good dog."

Finicky eater

Presley and Diesel are still at Daddy's house. Steve reports that Presley has been turning her nose up at her food. I thought maybe the Maitake Extract was upsetting her tummy, but he said she is refusing to eat the canned food.

This is crazy because about a month ago after she came home from the hospital after the bad reaction to chemo, she refused to eat her kibble. That's when we introduced the canned food, which she has loved ever since.

She also had really bad diarrhea the first night he had them. Now her poops are more solid but she is being a very finicky eater. She'll eat most of her kibble and any of Diesel's kibble that Steve gives her and not much, if any, of the canned food. Of course, she'll eat her treats.

Something is clearly upsetting her tummy because it still gurgles very loudly and she has really bad gas. The diarrhea is a bit troubling. This is like a puzzle.

Steve also reported that Presley only woke him up once in the middle of the night with her moaning. He lets her sleep on the bed, which he has put on the floor so she doesn't have to jump up or down. Steve says when he heard Presley moaning, he looked up to find her staring at him. So he laid his hand on her and after that, she slept soundly through the rest of the night. He thinks she just wants attention.

Stop jumping

It's very quiet around here. Presley and Diesel went to their Daddy's house yesterday for a few days.

When Steve came over to pick up the girls, Scott and I tried a little experiment. We tried to let Steve get in the door without the girls jumping all over him. We are having family over for Christmas and I'd like the greetings to be a little more civil, but we've been very lazy in this area of training. It's quite unpleasant for most people when they visit us because they get jumped on and pushed around by two big, overly enthusiastic dogs. Steve is the perfect person to help train the girls because they probably jump all over him the most.

When Steve came in, we kept the girls on their leashes and kept their attention with treats. Bristol stayed in her crate. It's too hard to train three dogs at once, especially when we don't know exactly what we're doing.

Presley and Diesel actually did very well. Of course, they were so happy to see their Daddy but we remained calm and assertive (just like the "dog whisperer" Cesar Millan suggests). Steve was able to get in the door, through the living room and into the kitchen without being attacked. Granted, the attacks are with hugs and kisses, but not everyone appreciates this type of affection.

Bristol seems a little lonely without her big sisters. Since day one, she has been Diesel's shadow around the house and in the yard. During naps, she likes to cuddle up to Presley. It's so cute how quickly she has bonded with them, but I'm not sure they feel exactly the same way about her. Sometimes she can be a bit too much.

Diesel likes to play tug-of-war and chase with Bristol, but she doesn't like it when Bristol jumps all over her. I think Presley likes to watch them and sometimes jump in for a little tugging or chasing of her own, but she doesn't like it when Bristol jumps all over her either. Hmmm, I sense a pattern.

Time on my hands

It's very quiet here today. Scott took Presley and Diesel to my dad's house. So I'm home with Bristol. She's being a very good girl and not licking her stitches (too much).

Check out this holiday message from the girls:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1222843219

(You may have to copy and paste this URL into your web browser.)

Winter Fun

Presley had some winter fun today with Diesel. Bristol is laying low because she is recovering from surgery. We had her rear dew claws removed because they weren't attached to the bone and they could easily tear off. It's hard to keep a 7-month-old puppy calm, especially when Presley and Diesel are around because she wants so badly to play with her sisters.

With Bristol out of the picture, Presley and Diesel were back at it today, wrestling in the living room and playing outside in the snow. Presley had a chance to bark at the shovel while I cleared some snow from our patio. She sure enjoys giving the shovel "the what for".

Today Scott stopped by the Nine-Tel Animal Hospital to pick up a new "buster" collar for Bristol so she can't disturb her stitches. The collar we got yesterday was too short and she could easily reach her back feet. Scott took Presley in with him so he could weigh her. She weighs 80.8 pounds, which is great. It's been almost 2 whole months since her surgery and she's maintaining a good weight, although she's not as active.

Yesterday Scott picked up Presley's supplements from OVRS. Her new DHA capsule is HUGE! She is supposed to have two of them with each meal, but yesterday she left one in the bowl, after licking all of the canned food off of it. Luckily, these can be broken open and the liquid can be poured over her food. Scott says the liquid smells like fish and is really oily. She seems to like it.

Presley is laying next to me right now and her tummy is gurgling. Loudly. Her tummy might be a little upset from all the new supplements. It's just a matter of time before the gurgling turns to gas. So we have that to look forward to.

Dog's formula for life

Although the weather has been pretty cold the last few days, it hasn't stopped the girls from wanting to play outside. Yesterday (before the sleet and freezing rain) Scott and I took the girls to a park and ran around in the snow. I took some video and hope to post something on YouTube soon.

I hate the cold and the wind makes it 10x worse. All I want to do is hibernate. Thankfully, Scott took each of the girls one-by-one for their walks.

While Scott was out with Bristol, I played with Presley and Diesel in the backyard, but Presley was hesitant to chase the tennis ball. She bounced around like she wanted to play, but when I'd throw the ball, she'd just look at me. Then she tried to wrestle with Diesel, but D was busy with her own ball.

I'm not really sure what Presley wanted to do. I think she was just happy to be bouncing around in the yard with her mama and sister.

Now all the girls have settled in for an afternoon nap. They really have the right idea. Eat, go potty, exercise, play, sleep, repeat.

Patience is key

Once again, Presley has been surprising me by being very patient with her new little sister.

During naps, Bristol loves to cuddle up to Presley by putting her head on Presley's hip. It's quite adorable and unusual because Presley barely tolerated Diesel when she would try to snuggle up. She always had this horrified look on her face whenever Diesel would try to cuddle. With Bristol she barely flinches.

Presley surprised me again today. As the younger girls played tug-o-war, I gave Presley a really good rub down, especially around her neck and hind legs. She loved it so much that she pretty much ignored the other girls, even when they entered her personal space.

Usually Presley gets pretty upset when another dog gets too close. She'll growl, snarl, bark and/or move away depending on how annoyed she is.

However, today she was very patient and at times seemed amused by them. Quite a few times, Bristol even sat on Presley's hip or leg as she played with Diesel, but Presley mostly ignored her as I kept rubbing. She really didn't seem to mind Bristol sitting on her.

The only time she reprimanded Bristol was when the little one stepped on her belly. I don't blame Presley for getting pissed because that must have hurt.

Bristol is learning a lot from her big sisters. Presley is teaching boundaries and when it is time to chill out. Diesel is teaching how to play nice.

Good walker

Presley and I took a little bit longer walk yesterday. At first she acted like she didn't want to go and sat on the front lawn just looking around. After thinking about it for a few minutes, she finally decided to go the other way down our street toward the dead end part of our block.

I thought when we got to the end of the block, she may need to take a rest but she just turned around and kept on going until we were back home. She surprises me everyday with how strong she is.

Mixology: supplements, vitamins, meds, more

I talked to Dr. Bannink on Monday about Presley's supplements. We're still waiting for the Vitamin D3 to come in at OVRS and I was hoping to pick up the DHA (to replace the Super EPA) at the same time. Dr. B said I could reschedule Presley's blood test until four weeks after she starts taking the D3. We will need a CBC to check her Calcium levels, which can be depleted from the Vitamin D.

I also mentioned to Dr. B that I couldn't find the recommended 4,000IU of Vitamin A, but I could find 10K or 5K plus Vitamin D. She didn't want Presley to have the additional D, so she said Presley could take 10K every other day if that was all we could find. I asked about the 5K+ that is already in Presley's kibble, but Dr. B said it isn't concentrated enough.

Scott and I checked a couple different places to find the recommended dosage of Vitamin A. After striking out we decided to give her the 10K Vitamin A at dinnertime on even days only. It's not a perfect schedule, because some days have 31 days, but it's the best we can do.

Meal times for the dogs are like a chemistry class. Breakfast can be a little confusing because Presley has been waking us up at 5AM. For those who know me, you know that I'd sleep in until noon if given the choice. So trying to put all of this together at 5AM is really hard. Each dog has a different food and different meds or supplements.

For Presley, the formula is:

• 1 cup kibble (Natural Choice Senior)
  
• 1/2 can of wet food (Natural Choice Senior Turkey & Rice Formula)
  
• 1 scoop L-Glutamine powder
• 2 Chemo Blood Support pills
• 2 CAS Options tablets
  
• 1 Glucosamine/Chondroitin pill
• 41 drops of Mitake Extract (dinnertime only)
  
• 1 Vitamin A (dinnertime on even days only)
• Mix it all together so that everything is evenly coated with the wet food, otherwise she won't eat it all.
• Check her bowl after she's done eating to make sure there are no pills left in the bowl because Diesel and Bristol like to lick Presley's bowl.
  

To make sure we don't miss anything for Presley, I've created a "med sched" that we posted on the cabinet door above where the dogs' meals are prepped. It's a great way to keep track of everything so we don't have to rely on our fading memories.

Scott and I are both thankful that the L-Glutamine powder is almost gone. Mixing this into her food has been the biggest pain. It dries out the canned food and doesn't mix easily. Dr. B said we could discontinue this one when it is gone.

For Diesel, at each meal we give her two cups of kibble (Natural Choice Large Breed) and one pill of Glucosamine/Chondroitin with a dab of Cheez Whiz. Diesel usually finishes her meal first before the other two girls, then waits to see if there are any remnants in the other bowls.

For Bristol, we feed her two cups of kibble at each meal -- a mixture of one cup Science Diet and one cup Natural Choice Puppy. We're slowing weening her off the Science Diet, which is what the shelter was feeding her. To each meal, we've been adding one pill of antibiotic and a half pill of Rhimadyl, both with Cheez Whiz. We finished the Rhimadyl tonight and we only have a couple more days of the antibiotic left.

While all the girls are eating, I refill their water bowls. Presley and Diesel share an elevated feeder that has three bowls with the middle bowl designated as their water bowl. Bristol eats from her own elevated feeder, so I also have to refill her water bowl.

After all of the girls are done eating, I clean (or at least rinse out) their food dishes. The bowls are stainless steel and they look really nasty when they are caked with dried food and saliva.

Up all night

Last night, Presley kept me up almost all night. She woke me up at 2:30AM and kept me up until about 6AM by moaning and whining. I think her tummy was upset because I could hear and feel it gurgling. And of course she had gas. I'm not sure what she ate that would make her tummy so upset.

Several times throughout the night I let her outside to go potty. I also rubbed her belly, scratched her back, patted her head, and cuddled with her, but every time I went back to bed, she'd moan again. At one point, I turned on some college football on the TV for her, but even that didn't work. And she loves to watch football. Nothing would pacify her.

It seemed like she was seeing things that weren't there. She'd look off into the other room but there was nothing there. I think her eyesight may be going. It's possible she could have cataracts. Her pupils kinda look cloudy and her right eye especially has had some very thick goop in it a couple times.

She ate breakfast like a champ and later in the morning, she hung out with Papa in the office. In the afternoon she played with her sisters in the house and in the yard, went for a walk wearing her new harness, and visited with our neighbor Bob. Her favorite part of the day was when her Daddy and Carrie came over to play and visit with her. She had a huge smile on her face the whole time Steve was here.

After all of this activity, she was pretty wiped out. Since dinner she's been sleeping almost the whole evening. She played a little bit with Diesel and Bristol, but then she went right back to sleep. I hope this continues throughout the night. I need to get some rest!

Tomorrow I am going to talk to Dr. Bannink about Presley's supplements. As of Friday, OVRS hadn't received the order for her Vitamin D3. I don't think she needs to take additional Vitamin A because I checked the label on her kibble and it already contains the recommended dosage. She needs a new bottle of CAS Options and DHA (instead of Super EPA -- fish oil). I hope the DHA works as well as the Super EPA. Her coat is so shiny and virtually no shedding.

Scott made an interesting observation the other day. He always lets Presley give him lots of kisses on his face and he noticed that Presley's breath does not stink like it had before she had surgery. He thinks her fresh breath has something to do with the tumor being removed. He could be right. Maybe it was her body's way of telling us that something was not right.

The Pack

I'm really going to have to start carrying my camera with me. This photo was taken with the web cam on my computer. The quality isn't great, but I just had to capture the moment.

Presley, Diesel and the pup (now named Bristol) are all conked out in the living room. Diesel is on the left in the foreground, Bristol is on the right, and Presley is in the back. Just before I snapped this photo, Bristol's head was resting on Diesel's hip. It was soooo cute!

The girls are getting along better every day. Lots of games of chase and fetch. Of course, they all want the same toy at the same time, but so far no fights.

Presley is always quick to discipline Diesel if she growls too loudly or if she plays too rough with Bristol. Although Presley won't let Bristol get too close to her for too long, she has been very tolerant. Thankfully, Bristol hasn't been an overly wild puppy so far. We'll see what happens as she gets more comfortable in her new home.

Presley has never been very touchy, feely -- only on her terms. Diesel, on the other hand, loves to be held and cuddled. It looks like Bristol is going to be a love dog, too.

Happy Thanksgiving

The pup had Presley, Diesel and me up pretty early this morning, while Scott slept in for a bit. She is a bundle of energy and loves to play with her new sisters, but they are not used to so much activity. By late morning, we were all beat, but the pup just wouldn't stop. After Scott got up, he played with the pup in the living room while I took Presley and Diesel with me into the bedroom for a mid-morning nap.

At one point during our nap, I heard Presley moving around the bedroom. I can easily hear her now because she kinda hops when she walks. I heard her go into the pup's crate, grab the pup's bone, then return to her spot on the side of my bed. She chewed on the bone for a few seconds, then went back to sleep.

A little while later, I heard Presley moving around the room again. Once again she went into the pup's crate, but this time she laid down and fell asleep in the crate. It was the cutest thing to see her curled up in there.

The crate is actually the perfect size for Presley. She probably felt really cozy in there, just like when she herself was a young pup. As she got older and more trustworthy when on her own, we eventually abandoned the crate. Apparently she missed having a little den to call her own.

Our family sure has a lot to be thankful for. Although dealing with Presley's cancer was hard at first, she now seems happy and pain free. I almost forget she has cancer.

For awhile, I have been questioning whether or not I made the right decision to have her leg amputated and to discontinue the chemo. But to see her the last couple days playing with her sisters and smiling that beautiful Rottweiler smile, I feel better about those decisions.

This whole ordeal has made me thankful for every day I get to spend with my little pack. Yes, life is good.