It's a dogs life

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.  All things are connected.  Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.  ~Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe, letter to President Franklin Pierce

As I mentioned in the last post we were waiting to find out if my dogs tumor that was removed on 1/27 was cancerous.  It turns out it was a lick granuloma which is a “skin disorder in dogs resulting from an urge to lick the lower portion of the leg”.  He never licked until he tore a toe nail in December and the vet said it would heal on its own.  Well Cooper started licking it all the time.  When the nail re-grew he started licking further up his leg and I thought it was a hot spot so was treating it as such until the lump formed.

So after several trips back to the vet because he ripped off bandages, chewed the “do not chew” bandage that supposedly tastes bad ….They put him on puppy Prozac . 

When he was able to bite off the zapping strip they put on top of the bandage, then ripped out 2 staples and then ripped out all the staples and he still continued to destroy cones and go back to licking the wound they put him on tranquilizers. 

The vet had planned to take out the staples on the 9^th  and it would have been done and over with, but since they were unable to pull the skin back  together after he ripped out the staples  and it swelled up we have to let it heal from the inside out and he will have a scar.  On the upside he has lost 7 pounds.

Myself, I should be on his Prozac, since every time I left the house or was busy he got into trouble.  I got to the point that I had to see him at all times as I don’t do blood and gaping wounds well.  I closed off all bedrooms, baths and stairways, leaving him only the kitchen, dining room and living room to roam.  As it is a very open space he tries to hide his head in a corner and lick through the cone.  He is making me as crazy as he is!

We have been back to the vet six times.  I think I bought him a new car.  They refer to Cooper as Meathead now.  We went through an inflatable collar and we are on our fifth cone.  This last one we picked up at Pet Smart and it lashes to his collar, the ones from the vet didn’t do that.  So far he has been unable to get this one off but not from lack of trying.  The others were a more brittle plastic and he would ram into the doorways, tables, chairs etc in an attempt to destroy it. We would try to fix them with duct tape but that only limited his vision more leading to more walks into walls and furniture. When he finally is able to go without the cone I will have to fix all the damage he has done to the moldings and paint on the walls.  I am more upset that he is self mutilating than the damage to the house.  We borrowed a shock collar to try to get him to stop.  We just picked it up last night so we will see how this will work.

Between runs to the vet, I have been canning.  I would like to turn off a freezer so I started pulling out last year’s fruit.  I have made two batches of strawberry/rhubarb and a batch of apple/rhubarb jam. 

I have also been crocheting and knitting.  February gave me several more knit squares from the one group I belong to.  I have one left to do from this round.  I also started a ripple afghan to use up open skeins of yarn.  It is single crochet so will be extra warm and take a while to finish!

Little Nephew has taken a liking to it and mentioned several times that the one my mom made him is too small now.  Of course he wants everything I make…years from now you will see this kid on Hoarders for sure! 

#1, Sir T and Baby O came for a three day weekend.  At 9 months he is 30 inches and 21 pounds, a long lean drooling machine.  And he is into everything making it abundantly clear that my house is not childproof!

And #1 son and A have set a wedding date.  So all in all I have been busy and since seed starting is right around the corner it looks like it will stay that way!