A long slow period

It has been a week since I last posted. Not much going on here. Bubby seems unphased by the treatment that she underwent. I guess she seems to be feeling a bit better in that she is a bit more animated, which I am discouraging. She needs to stay quiet. At the end of this long 6 weeks period, it will take some work to get her to be active again and playful. She needs some work on going in the car. She hasn't gone much and the times she has were stressful. Well, can't worry about that until July. 1.5 weeks down and 4.5 to go.

No more towels in the crate

Bubby really doesn't like to be put in her crate during the day when we are gone. She lays down on the floor in the bedroom when we are ready to go. She seems to be passively resisting. I have to pick her up and lug her to the crate. I started the crate with some towels on the bottom and the old white dog blanket on top. When I let Bubbette out of the crate the other day,I saw a white thread in one of her claws. I pulled it out, and then went to look at the white blanket which was in shreds. I removed the remnants and yesterday put her in with just the towels on bottom. When I got home, there was a big hole in the top towel. I removed that towel and left the bottom 2 today and a chew toy in there with her. Well, the bottom two are both ripped up and not the chew toy. Tomorrow, no blankets on the bottom, just the crate. She never lays in a dog bed anyway, just the floors around here, so wont' be a big hardship.

6 weeks

I picked up Bubby from her appointment yesterday and the tech said she did fine. They gave me some pain killers for her to take 2 times per day for 3 days and said keep her quiet/comfortable for ....................... 6 weeks. Yes, there is a fill in the blank for the aftercare form and they filled in 6 weeks. That is a long time. Well, she will be with us at least into July. She is due for a followup test in 4 months, but if she is adopted after completing her recuperation, that can be a condition of the adoption.

I decided that she can lay around the house wherever we are when we are home,but when we are gone, I can't guarantee that she is just laying in the treadmill room, so I will have to crate her. She doesn't like it and will lay down and try to dig her claws in, but the floors don't let her get a grip and I can pick her up and push her into the crate. That is going to be a lot of fun for 6 weeks. I need to call the cleaning lady and let her know what I want her to do when she comes this week.

Oh well, she doesn't seem to show any ill effects of the treatment and that is great. We will just dig in and try to keep things calm around here for the next 6 weeks.

Fences

I went to the shelter on Monday and got some chain link fence sections to use to keep Bubbette in the kitchen. Well, it worked. Monday night she didn't get out of the kitchen. She cried a bit at first complaining about being confined in the kitchen for the night, but in the morning she was fine and very happy to see me. She had apparently tried to see if she could get out because I found a post it note on the counter had gotten crumpled by her paws. Tuesday, she spent most of her time laying in the sitting room off my bedroom. I decided to let her sleep in there while I slept and she only got up once or twice and didn't wander around much at all. I let her stay in there on Wed. night also and it went fine too. The real question is what to do tomorrow after her treatment. For now, I can worry.

Escape artist

I have been using a superyard xt play yard as a fence to keep the dog confined to certain rooms at home. She has become somewhat of an escape artist. We have come home a couple of times to find her "free" in the house. I attributed one of them to her climbing over a chair and another one to climbing on the sofa, but last night I had her penned in the kitchen and I woke up about midnight with her standing panting in my bedroom. I fixed up the gate and picked her up and put her back in the kitchen. I added some bungees to secure the fence. About 4:15 this morning, I found her standing in my bedroom panting. She had been able to knock free 1 bungee and slide by the gate. This is a very bad sign for once she gets treatment. I can crate her, but I have to pick her up and force her into the crate. This is no mean feat and at 65 pounds, she isn't even a big retriever. Today I setup the play yard as a hexagon and added a couple of extra panels and put her in it in the living room. I hope that I will find her in there when I get home. If not, I am not sure what we are going to be able to do for her once she gets treatment. I guess the next solution would be to get a dog run setup in the house. The problems that I see with that is she doesn't lay calmly when penned up. She needs to be calm after treatment and I am not sure how much better it will be penning her at home versus the shelter. The only upside I see to home is that she doesn't have the other dogs getting her riled up.

Retriever mix

Lab mix, golden mix, how do I tell? I looked in our dog book and stared at Bubbe and I can't guess. The hair isn't that long, so that makes me lean toward Lab, but the coloring is more golden. It is always a mystery with these mixed breeds.

That girl sure can pant

I know I am supposed keep Bubbette calm, but she isn't staying calm tonight. She is panting away at the storms. She is making little drool puddles and shaking a bit. She just isn't liking this storm. Not much I can do for her.

Treatment cost

I spoke with the office manager at my longtime vet yesterday and she enumerated in great detail the cost of a full diagnosis and treatment for a dog with heartworm. Let us just say that even with some optional items excluded, ATA is providing a low cost treatment. I have great confidence in my vet, but after some contemplation I have decided to just follow the course of treatment already arranged by the shelter for Bubbette.