Thursday, January 30, 2014

Adventures of Scrappy Pete: Vet follow-up

On Monday, Petey and I went to the vet and the vet/surgeon did another exam and blood work for her surgery to remove the Mast Cell Tumor from her front right paw. Unfortunately, in just a week, the tumor appeared to have spread from just the digit (her toe) to the paw (a dog's version of the hand). Due to the aggressive nature of these tumors, the vet requested that we wait a bit, put her on prednisone and a high dose of antihistamine to help stop the cells, shrink the tumor, and increase the chances of a successful surgery. She'll have to lose her toe, but dogs re-acclimate to changes like that far better than humans do. For example, both Petey and my sister's pup Duchess have had teeth removed due to decay...those pups eat and destroy toys like nothing could slow them down.

So, I had to wait because there is a drug interaction between the steroid and the pain medicine she'd been on-- but now she's on the steroid and we'll give it a few days and try the surgery then. If the tumor has lots of tendrils, and those get damaged during surgery, it releases the extra mast cells and histamines into her body. The extra histamines damage the organs and the mast cells increase the likelihood that the cancer will pop up somewhere in her body-- likely in an inner organ that is inoperable, not a subcutaneous location that is (relatively) easy to remove. We don't want that. We want a clean tumor removal.

In other news, the steroid makes Petey PEE like crazy! At 3:30 this morning, she woke me up to go pee and so I grabbed shoes and my coat and stumbled out. My apartment has outside doors that lock automatically. How do you say, I grabbed the wrong *$(*#^%(* keys. So, 3:30, no foot traffic around my apartment, snow on the ground, dog on a leash...and no way to return to my apartment. No cell phone in hand either, because, gosh, that would be silly.

PT Bella thought this was a weird adventure...but she seemed okay. I noticed one of my neighbors (I hadn't met him yet) had a window that was cracked open slightly. The light from the TV was also glowing through the blinds, so I hoped that maybe he was up watching a movie. I knocked on the window (with a great deal of embarrassment and trepidation!) and hissed, "hey! I live down the hall and I'm locked out. Are you awake?" He was about the nicest-- was like, "I thought I was dreaming and heard knocking. No worries, dear, stuff like that happens!"

I think Petey and I owe him a beer or 6.

Also, since Tuesday was a crazy snow day in Atlanta...I came across this buzzfeed. I'm so proud of my Southern-ATL brethren and sistren who helped out stranded motorists in such an awful time of need. My thoughts have been with all the teachers, principals, bus drivers, students (and their parents) who had to make hard decisions about keeping kids in schools, or had to endure keeping them on buses. I don't say this with smugness as I now live in Denver where there's snow, but Atlanta drivers aren't prepared for such things....but I truly wish decision-makers had listened to the weather forecast and understood that....water freezes into ICE below 32 F. Thanks to my friends and family who helped their "neighbors" with food, blankets, support, first aid...it takes my breath away to see and hear news stories about all the people who helped others. Seriously, ATL, you doin' us proud.



Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Wordless Wednesday

Well, if you know me, you know I'm very rarely out of words. So, in order to be wordless, I am going to post a gazillion pictures of my pup Petey Bella in costumes. Because, really, it makes sense for little purse dogs to have outfits-- their whole purpose is to be an accessory. But big dogs in clothes? Oh. My. Gosh. It's too funny. Note, she has a raincoat, a pink sweatshirt, and a Halloween witch costume, but I couldn't find pics. Use your imagination. :)

Just buzzing around for treats. You gots treats?
Santa Paws worked me to the bone this year!





Her birthday is 3/17, so it's St. Petey's Day!

Sometimes the Wildlife Service has us check on critters out here.

Gotta have a collared shirt for Casual Fridays
Pink snowsuit didn't get much use in GA




UGA colored sweater and booties. Bring it on, Denver cold!
It's not really a costume, but it's her professional photo for her Linked-In-Canine page.



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Starting a School

Disclaimer: The title above is a joke, not an actual school. I feel like I should clarify, since I work in education and starting an actual school is an incredibly exhausting and expensive undertaking. Well, for Petey Bella, her school is exhausting for her, but not terribly expensive for me. Take a tour of some of the students of "Bella's School for the Blind."

Story time with the lower school

As I mentioned previously, Petey Bella has several names-- Bella is one of them. She didn't have the easiest start in life, being starved and bred for dog-fighting, so she didn't have good nutrition or medical care. With that rough start, it has led to dental problems. Nothing major, but she doesn't have the strongest teeth, so she's had a few removed when they were cleaning them from the gingivitis and decay.
Why does all that matter? Well, she doesn't like hard, crunchy toys that hurt her teeth. What she does love? Soft stuffed toys. Dog toys with squeakers and  stuffed animals with eyes and cotton batting are the ABSOLUTE BEST.


Recruits she personally selected from the thrift store bag
As soon as Miss PT Bella, or should I say, Headmistress Bella,  gets a hold of a soft toy, she chomps down on it and finds out if it has a squeaker, button nose, or button eyes. As soon as she ascertains her plan of attack, she goes to work, using her teeth, nose, and paws to roll around, tear up, and de-eye, de-nose, or de-squeaker the toys. If the batting has to come out so it is completely disemboweled, so be it. I learned that although Beanie Babies have great eyes to tear out, the little bean pellets are not worth cleaning up. No more beanie toys for Pete.

The funny part about this is that sometimes she likes to hold on to the toy. I guess she plays favorites to some of her students.  There have been 3 in particular-- ones that had a sound chip inside. There was a woot monkey that would squeal when it flew through the air. She worried over that monkey--
Dog in a cat suit is actually her TA.
Lazy Miss Bella letting the TA teach class
carried it around, put it in her dog bed, or moved around my pillows til she made it a nest in my bed. When we'd pick it up to throw it, she would whine and tap dance around, trying to protect her baby! There was a blue bird with a chirpy chip and a broken Tasmanian devil-- same thing. Those guys kept their eyes and noses.
Mardi gras frog was a star pupil

We decided it's called "Bella's School for the Blind," because she collects all these misfit toys...and keep them in her dog bed. What can I say? It's much cheaper for me than any kongs, nylabones, or expensive toys. There are some rules: no students are accepted that are canine or human babies. It's too weird to have her chewing on babies or puppies. Cannibalism-- that's not in our mission statement. I came home one day with a gift for a baby shower that included a small soft bunny. I was confused that Bella wasn't downstairs with me,  when I realized, she'd gone "shopping" in the bag and tried to recruit a new student for school. I think my words were, "Bad Bella! That's for a baby! We don't take toys from babies!" Fortunately, we know how to pop some tags and the thrift store keeps us with ready and willing pupils to join the school body at Bella's School for the Blind.

Not all studying; there are field days too.


Happy pink monkey ready to learn
Headmistress checking why this line of kids is unsupervised.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Little help from my Friends

Good luck clover found on a walk with good dogs
Petey Bella has no trouble making friends. She is pretty intuitive about other dogs and usually takes the submissive role with them, even if they are smaller than her. Now, I've noticed that she doesn't like to meet other dogs while she's on a leash, and she does not like dog parks. I think it goes back to her life prior to being rescued...I think she was put in some terrible situations and so she goes all PTSD on the other dogs in the dog park. I digress...

When someone comes over to play, or she goes to someone else's house, she's just the coolest pup. I pet-sat for a family in Decatur, who I'd met through Sittercity.com. Their little poodle mix, Shadow, was a super fun, well-trained pup and he just loved Petey Bella and Leo (my boyfriend at the time's dog). The follow-up comment from Shadow's mom was, "Shadow didn't want to come home from Camp Adrienne!" Petey had great fun running and playing with my pal Christy's dogs Jazzy and Stumbles. Stumbles and Petey were too cute sharing stuffed toys. They'd each carry them around and set them on their dog beds and then borrow them back from the other.

Smiling pups on a ROAD TRIP!
Petey Bella gets along great with my mom's dog Siena. Siena is very alpha, but she and Petey have never had any disagreement. When I still lived in Atlanta, we called it doggie-sleepover and Siena would get to come over to my house to play! (Wow, that's totally a "Stuff White People Like" there.)

 I moved to Denver in July and didn't bring Pete with me because of the hectic nature of MOVING TO AN ENTIRELY NEW CITY 1500 MILES AWAY WITHOUT ANY MAJOR PLAN OTHER THAN A JOB CONTRACT scared me about bringing a dog with no apartment. Due to 3 major work travels, I didn't make it back to Atlanta to pick her up until December. 6 months without my pup? Torture for me! She and Siena got to play, fight over my mom, and snuggle.

Petey and Phoebe sit patiently for treats.
My mom had knee surgery, so Petey got to go visit with my friend Monica and her pups, German Pointers, Phoebe and Gabby. Petey has stayed with them several times-- and prior to Gabby, they had a very old dog named Tessie. PT Bella was super sweet and calm with her-- it's like she realized she needed to be patient with a geriatric friend. Speaking of those "kids," as Monica calls them, those dogs have a great backyard with a doggie door. It took Bella many many times of watching Phoebe zip in and out of the dog door before she would bother. She liked having someone open the door for her better, anyway.

Petey and Duchess waiting on a bedtime story
Of course Petey gets along great with little Duchess, my sister's dog, and our family's first dog. My sister Emily and I were roommates for much of our twenties-- so Duchess and Petey were too. They would sleep with each one of us, but whichever of us went to work first-- the dog hightailed it out of our bedroom and beeline for the other bed-- to get snuggled in with her furry sister and other owner. Crafty pooches! My mom noticed it with Siena and Petey, and my sister and I noticed it with Duchess and Petey-- they like to lie down on the bed either symmetrically or identically. It's pretty sweet.

 My sister married this great guy who has a great dog, Abe-- he's a pretty similar build to Petey. He's a rescue lab-pit mix, and he's the most loyal, perfect dog. I don't usually like boy dogs, but Abraham is phenomenal. Petey, Abe, and Duchess have gotten to have some fun visits while my sister and her husband honeymooned and took other trips. Who doesn't love a good dog pile? :)

Abe and Pete, sleeping off some good laps
Siena and Pete, snuggle pups

Barely no room for da hoomans to sleep

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Mast Cell Tumors :(

Boo Boo Paw
Uh oh. One of these things is NOT like the other. Her right big toe is all swollen and in pain.  Poor Petey Bella has to have surgery tomorrow-- diagnosis? A Mast Cell Tumor on her right front paw. WARNING: I'm going to put a picture of her swollen paw and it's kind of gross. Sorry in advance.
How did we get here? Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

2005: Petey Bella decided we were her "fur-ever" home. We got her spayed at this awesome, not much to look at, but wonderful vets inside office in Morrow, GA, the Lake Harbin Animal Hospital.
2005: Petey came pre-potty trained and super easy and was pretty much never sick or hurt. We fostered some puppies in 2006 and she was a nanny-- worrying over the puppies when they got too far from their mom and rolling them back with her nose.

2008: Petey stepped on some glass or something in the yard and had to have a dozen stitches/staples on her rear leg and wear the cone of shame. Since I could TELL her not to lick, she only wore the cone for about 20 minutes. The hardest part of that was paying the outrageous bill at the emergency vet in Decatur. I wasn't impressed with the experience, but the dog's okay, and that's what mattered.

2012: Noticed that a bump on her belly near her back leg had gotten mealy and swollen. The vet decided to put her under anesthesia and clean her teeth and to take it out while she was under. It turned out to be an evil, grade 2 Mast Cell Tumor. Boo, cancer. Doctors like to get "clean margins"-- varying from 3 cm
Amusing conversation with the pharmacist to get this
to 1 inch, depending on the area of the body, of clean tissue excised around these tumors. The vet was able to do this and the staples in the area around it looked so red and angry-- but a few weeks later, I could barely see the scar. Now, as her fur has regrown, the skin is flat and the incision is nearly invisible.  She needed to be on prednisone (a steroid) to help prevent recurrence, but for the first time, PT had accidents in the house because the medicine made her drink too much water and go all the time.  I knew the prognosis was worse if she wasn't on the steroid for at least 6 months, but after 3 weeks, she was miserable and sad every time I got home because she'd peed in the house and she knew better. In the interest of her happiness, I took her off the Rx.

If you use USPS to ship me, I can bark at mailman the whole time. 
2013: In July, shortly before I moved from Atlanta, 1500 miles to Denver, Pete got really sick. She couldn't walk right or go up and down the stairs; her breathing was labored, she was vomiting blood, and she had blood in her stool. I thought it was the end of her days. Turned out, she'd gotten a stomach bug and terribly dehydrated. My friend Abe cooked her rice and helped me take her to the vet. Once again, Dr. Rutter saved the day and got her fixed up.

July 2013: Because of the short notice of my move, Petey stayed with my mom and Siena in GA while I moved to Denver. Don't tell my family or friends, but I think she was the hardest "person" in my life to leave behind. Sorry guys.

You not ever leaving, momma.
December 2013: Finally made it back to Georgia! Petey and her mom are reunited! My friend Dan brought me home from the airport and his description of her reaction when I walked in was apt:
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!! YOU CAME BACK!!!!" It was a pretty intense happy dance and some first-rate snuggling when I finally hit the hay. As I sat on the couch and talked with my mom, she was sitting IN my lap.

On Christmas eve, I noticed her one toe was swollen and assumed a bug or spider had bitten her in the yard or she'd gotten a thorn or something in her paw. The day after Christmas, it wasn't any better, so my mom was taking her dog to the vet for a small procedure, so along Petey Bella went. The doctor wanted to treat it conservatively, as it didn't seem broken, but just badly swollen. She had 7 days of an anti-inflammatory, Carprofen. It helped, but the swelling wasn't completely gone. I continued treating her with Benadryl, which is an OTC anti-histamine, in case it was a spider bite and just needed longer to heal.


Her middle toe is so swollen.
2014: January 3, my friend Dan and I packed up my tiny new AWD car to drive from Atlanta to Denver with Petey in tow. The Midwest saw record lows, so we saw 0 and 1 degree with colder wind chill and snow that had frozen back over in St. Louis. I was very worried about the magnesium chloride and salt on the sidewalks when we had to go outside because she didn't like it on her paws at all. 
Her head in her paws
I continued with the Benadryl daily as we slowly made it across Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado in strong winds and snowy conditions. I showed pictures of her to one of my student's parents-- who's a vet-- and she recommended buffered aspirin and benadryl-- and further exam. My poor Petey's poor little paw was still swollen.

January 20, 2014: Over the weekend, Petey seemed more acclimated to the altitude and weather (it wasn't too cold), so she and I went for a short run/walk around the Hilltop neighborhood and to a park with a walking trail by Rose Medical Center. Monday morning was a holiday, and her paw was angry with the activity. It was swollen and red and she was wincing and sighing-- so I called around to get a vet recommendation, and ended up following Yelp advice and going with a nearby vet's office, called Park Hill.

Still loves a car ride, even if it's to the VET
I was very impressed with the Vet-- it was clean, the technicians, nurses, and the vet were friendly, professional, and concerned about details. I'd spoken with Dr. Rutter on the phone and he said that the next course of action was a needle aspiration-- to see what the fluid was inside her paw. The new vet, Dr. Turner took that action-- ascertained that her toe wasn't broken and it didn't seem to be infected (she had no fever). I really liked her "petside" manner-- she got on the floor with Petey, talked with her, and made her feel comfortable about the small procedure. We would have to wait to see what the histology said about the fluids, but since she'd already had a Mast Cell tumor, it was a possibility that it was another.

Dr. Turner also stated that she was a very good girl-- even though she was poking, prodding, and pinching her paw, she didn't get mad. That's my girl. She got a cool purple bandage and a laundry list of medications: Cephalexin- an antibiotic at my request- in case it was an infection, Rimadyl for pain and inflammation, Prilosec to help her stomach deal with the new medicines, and 60-70 mg of benadryl twice a day. This was much more than I'd been giving her-- but as MCT's are full of histamine, that if broken/degranulated, will attack the inner organs. That sounded bad.
Her swollen toe after shaving and aspiration. And her Bella-belly.

At least her bandage matches!
Unfortunately, the lab came back with the Mast cells present. As of Saturday night, the 25th, she's taking her medications, on a short leash-- to limit aggravating the tumor with exercise, and scheduled for surgery on Monday morning. The vet has called me, emailed me patient instructions, and been really thorough about her care. The doctor will remove the tumor and send it to the lab for pathological testing-- to see if it's graded a 1 (basically treatable and probably isolated to this spot), a 2 (not as good, possibly will/has spread), or a 3 (very aggressive, bad cancer). With luck, the tumor is young enough that it isn't wrapped up in too much of her toe. There's a possibility that they will have to amputate her toe-- which will impact her gait and our running habit. I'm thinking happy thoughts, reading about homeopathic/holistic recommendations for follow-up treatment, and snuggling a LOT with my snoring pup.

So, if the spirit moves you, please think happy thoughts, say a prayer, what have you-- for my dog, the vet and nurses, and me. I really want my Petey Bella to see some of these hiking trails out here in the west. There's lots of good smells to smell.

And P.S....you know how I know I got a found a good vet? They sent a follow-up post card via SNAIL MAIL. Sending a handwritten note? I do that kind of thing too, y'all.


Sweet check up post card



Saturday, January 25, 2014

Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Talented Explorer

Your pillow? No, it's mine.
My Petey Bella is pretty much the snuggliest, easiest, dog ever. She's happy with nearly any food (although eggs and yogurt are pretty awesome), she sleeps either curled up in a tiny (as tiny as a 65-pound giant can get) "Bella Ball," and she's good on walks, hikes, and runs. She knows her name, err, names-- she will answer to so many different ones. 

 She knows:
Her patented "Petey Head-Hug"
--sit
--lay down (yes, grammatically it's lie down, but whatever!)
--gentle (when accepting a treat. This is important for the treat-giver's fingers.)

--shake 
-- shake (I'm putting it twice because if you say it twice, she'll switch paws)
--hop down (good for making up the bed purposes)
--come here (good for snuggling in bed purposes)
--Petey Pee (she squats. I swear.)
-- Bella, go baf-room!-- she poops within 2 minutes. 
--Yoga dog. (It's probably called "bow," but I taught her yoga dog when she does a Downward dog stretch. It's adorbs!)

Didn't see nuffin' down der in de dirt, I swear.
She knows the words for upstairs, inside, outside, go, ride...probably more.We're working on "no bark" and speak. She doesn't speak on command, but she generally will yowl, whine, and stop barking at the mailman, strange sounds in the hallway, etc. after one "No bark!" That's a pretty darn good pup. 

She has kind of an Eeyore from Winne the Pooh personality. She jumps over little scares and army crawls away from things she doesn't like. She is nervous around vacuum cleaners and loud noises, and is not terribly alpha. Except when she's on a leash. Then she has no problem finding her proverbial tail, her vicious bark, and her strength to move mountains. Oh, and against cats. She HATES cats. Or rather she would LOVE a cat-- to chew on. I recently discovered she's not a huge fan of elevators-- but more on that later. 


She's blurry because she's running.
Have harness, will travel.
Forgot her shades, but remembered the SPF. 
Definitely the dog days of summer
Petey Bella is my adventure dog. She's easy to take in the car-- she gets terribly excited for the leash, even more excited for the harness or doggie seatbelt harness, and super easily enters a vehicle upon the phrase, "in you go!" We would go for runs in Decatur and Grant Park and long walks on the trails-- a favorite is around my friend's property by the Flint River in Hampton. I'd call her "Adventure Pete" and we'd go exploring. She's very careful to stay only a few yards ahead of me and would just smell and smell all the scents that nature offered. I'll see if I can embed a video of her "fording" a creek-- she's just so fun and cool. She's also great about just laying out with me-- the hot Georgia summers on a blanket in the grass with me catching some Vitamin D and her snapping at bugs and rolling around-- those are some relaxing days. 



I think I mentioned that she's an easy eater. She will sit quietly next to your chair while you're eating, and not really beg, but she's happy to lick your plate clean. I call it the "doggie pre-wash cycle." My coworker Robin offered once to save meat scraps for her, since I'm vegetarian and never have meat in the house. I assured her, she thinks that tofu is delicious, and that peanut butter is the cat's pajamas. She has been known to get her head a little stuck in a yogurt cup, and we even have a song to go through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru. It sounds like Adele's "Rumor Has It," and goes "Chicken Nugget! Chicken Nugget! Petey wants a nugget in her bellllllly." Look at these awful pictures of my dog's terrible life:
Bruster's dog sundae
The yogurt...so sneaky!
Baked on casserole? I can work with that.



Yes, she had special dog waffle and eggs.
Bull pizzle? Oh thank you just a tripe.