Dogs and Back Pain

Bailey, my 10-yr old Labrador Retriever, hit another roadblock about 10 days ago... major back pain.

I got home from work Friday night and walked in to find her almost unable to walk. I have no idea what happened that day while she was at home, but finding her like that scared the living daylights out of me. My gut feeling tells me she slipped and fell on the dreaded laminate flooring in the kitchen (I hate that floor and she does too), but I have no proof.

Being a Friday night, of course the vet clinic was closed. I put in an emergency call to the vet, carried Bailey to the car (all 65 lbs of her) and started heading to the clinic in a hurry, anticipating that I would meet the vet there.

My first fear after seeing her in so much pain was bloat (which is frequently life-threatening). Not that I had any idea what the symptoms were, but she was hunched up like it was abdomen pain and her whole body was trembling. When the vet examined her however, he immediately felt it was coming from her back. My relief that it wasn't bloat was temporary though, as it was obvious whatever was going on was serious.

He gave her a cortisone shot and sent us home with meds to control the inflammation and help her relax... prednisone and robaxin (muscle relaxant).

Needless to say, I was a basket case. Seeing animals in pain, especially my Bailey-girl, is heart-breaking for me. I don't handle it well. That night was a rough one for both of us.

I'll talk about this ordeal in the next few posts for some background and catch you up to where we are now (hopefully healing!). My fingers are crossed for my girl.

Don't Stop Believing

This has nothing to do with animals, but it is still very cool. Enjoy!

Serious Squirrel Obsession

Ok, I don't want anyone to mention this story to my dog Megan (who thinks her sole purpose is to rid the world of those tauntingly-just-out-of-reach little buggers called squirrels).

I also don't want anyone to mention this story to Frog, my adventurous Nanday conure, who has a talent for trouble-making and would probably love to join me on a tree-climbing adventure.


Follow the link to see just how high in the tree this dog decided to follow a squirrel... it's seriously unbelievable. And check out this guy's pal, sitting on his shoulder! OMG.

The curious case of the stranded terrier, the tree surgeon... and the parrot

Megan, don't EVEN think about it.

Introducing Bonnie (previously known as Clyde)

It's time for me to introduce a new family member of mine.

I received an unexpected call one Sunday night about 6 weeks ago, while standing in the checkout line at Lowe's. I didn't recognize the voice, but the man on the other end knew my name and said "if you still want him, he's yours". Um, what??

After recovering from the shock of that statement and reaching back into the foggy depths of my memory, I realized this guy was calling me about his parrot that he was rehoming... that I had inquired about TWO MONTHS before and never heard back. I soon discovered the reason why. He had been diagnosed with cancer and had been in and out of the hospital. I quickly made arrangements to meet "Clyde", his Timneh African Grey parrot, on my lunch hour the next day.

Walking into this house, I knew that I was going to do whatever I could to get Clyde home with me as soon as possible. It didn't matter if we got along or not, he was coming home with me, period. Without going into details, I'll just say it was not a healthy environment for any bird, animal, or even human.

On our initial meeting, Clyde bit me numerous times. I had welts all over my hands. His owner warned me that he had never liked women, but was happy to see that his aggressiveness towards me didn't phase me. Long story short, Clyde came home with me that night.

Two days later, he was at the vet for his very first exam ever. Because I have two other birds, he was quarantined in a separate room at my house and I told the vet to pretty much run every test on him. Of course, one of the first results that came back was the DNA sexing test... Clyde was a GIRL! What a dilemma - do I keep her name as Clyde (which she knows) or do I rename her and give her a clean fresh start to her life? Thanks to my brother-in-law's great suggestion, she was rechristened "Bonnie" (of "Bonnie and Clyde" fame).

Unfortunately, one of her test results came back positive for psittacosis/chlamydiosis. Her treatment was 5 weeks of weekly injections of doxycycline - and the last one was today! WOOHOO! Now all we have to do is get her retested next week and wait for the results. Assuming (and yes, I'm thinking very positive here) all is well, she will soon be out of quarantine and be able to take up residence in the living room with my other two birds.

Our relationship has improved dramatically. She cuddles (on her terms, of course) and talks to me... and even dances with me. Our nightly routine is for her to sit on my arm while I'm reading in her room for awhile and she seems content and happy. She's learning to play (she's been beating up a bell toy recently) and is starting to show interest in healthier foods (veggies, fruit, grains).

I had no idea she was coming, but I'm so glad she's here. Here she is, enjoying her new digs.



MANY thanks to Amy Meade, from Best Friends Animal Society. She has been incredibly supportive and helpful every step of the way in this rescue and I'm so grateful to her (Bonnie thanks you also!!).

Friday Fun

It's time to share one of my favorite videos. For those of you who aren't familar with Snowball, he's a dancing sensation who makes me laugh and brings a smile to my face every time I've seen him.

He's been on The Late Show with Letterman, Animal Planet and various other shows and news programs.

Enjoy!