old suziebeezieland

the pet dish zone

I guess in the overall scheme of life, decorating for pets really shouldn't be a priority.  But if you have to look at it every day, might as well make it cute.  

Sally's food is on a step stool so Hyacinth doesn't eat it. 

homer & the birdbath

Here is my cousin, Homer, who also has a birdbath.

sally & hyacinth

hyacinth's new dog bed

It's hypocritical for me to have this little piece of needlework in the living room right now.

Because since we got the new sofa, Hyacinth is not allowed on it anymore. :)

So we ordered her a new dog bed from Barkslope, just for the living room. I have been meaning to show it to you, because I think it's kind of cute.

Look, get closer.

Get even closer.

Even closer. Look, it has red piping.

Sally Cat likes it, too. :)

introducing homer harmon

My Uncle Keith and Aunt Lucy got their new puppy yesterday . . . a four-pound Havanese named Homer. Homer Harmon. :)

Keith writes that they have all bonded in less than 24 hours, and everyone is happy. (They lost their beloved Wheaton Terrier, Rupert, a few months ago, so this is extra exciting.)

Claire wants to go see Homer RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND. I like her loose grasp on the intricacies of time/space/distance.

I wrote back to Uncle Keith and asked if Homer's body was being shipped separately? It's hiding back there behind his little head. Look how tiny he is.

this & that

Three bucks at Trader Joe's will buy you this many daffodills. (They are .99 per bunch.) They come all closed up, ready to open in a couple days. Happy spring!

Claire took this photo of me a few days ago, in a happier time, when I thought Gonzaga might win. Sigh.

 

Our sweet and much-loved little dog Hyacinth (aged 7) is very sick. We took her to the vet's back in February to get her teeth cleaned, and they always do bloodwork before this, since they sedate the dogs for teeth cleaning.

The bloodwork showed that some enzymes in her liver were elevated. So we had a bile acid test done, and that showed that something was wrong, so then she had an ultrasound, and that showed something was wrong. So last Monday (the 20th) she had a big surgery, and they cut her open and took a big biopsy of her liver.

It turns out she has hepatic cirrhosis of the liver. When her healthy liver cells die, they are being replaced by non-functioning fibrous tissue. This is a terminal disease.

One really nice thing is that we have the world's best veterinarian. He is a smart, serious, soft-spoken man from Iran, who graduated from the University of Tehran, and seems to genuinely like his job and the animals. He also never makes you feel like he's busy or you're bothering him if you call to ask a question. He's very polite. And he talks to you like you're smart, too, so I try to really pay attention and understand, and not disappoint him by asking stupid follow-up questions.

So, Hyacinth is recovering from her surgery, and has been doing great for the past two days. She couldn't lie down on her own and wouldn't really eat for about three days, so that was pretty stressful. I had to keep laying her down on her side, and if I didn't do it just right she would yelp, and I felt AWFUL. She has about 30 surgical staples down her tummy, and it was bruised and she was miserable and drugged on pain medication.

So she has medicine that will help her remaining healthy liver tissue function, and may even repair some of it, and also some new food. We're getting some more results back on Monday, but they think the liver damage has been caused by an inability to process (and get rid of) copper the way she is supposed to. (This is actually a genetic problem with some breeds, but not Corgis, so they're not sure why she'd have that problem. But it happens.) So the new food is low in copper.

It's one of those things where she could have several more good years, because like humans, dogs don't need their whole liver to survive. As long as some of it is healthy, she will be okay for awhile. But they can't tell how much is okay. The fact that she wasn't symptomatic is good. We only caught it because of the blood test. So we're thankful for that.

meet fishy-mishy . . .

. . . and her little pal, Macky (as in Macaroni-and-Cheese), who were Claire's birthday present to Bob today.

I give them three days, tops.

my whole family is on the couch

sally the cat

I wish I were ever this relaxed.