Pictures with Santa

Today is Pet Pics with Santa Day at the Eaton Centre.
I waited in line patiently to see the Big Man in Red
with Mama and Papa.
Auntie Trish even stopped by to see me too!

This was the pup in front of me. I have no idea what his name is,
but he didn't like me sniffing his bum.
So his Mom had to pick him up.

This is a fuzzy thing. Auntie Trish thought it was very cute.

This is Princess, the only other bully I saw
in line waiting to get on Santa's lap.
Don't tell, but she's getting a Buddy Belt harness for Christmas.

I saw these bullies in the window of a neat store.
We're so cute!!

And here it is, the final product.
I think I look pretty cute.
I hope Santa will bring me something good for Christmas!

Another Health Related Update

I've stopped the eye drops because they seemed to do the trick and cleared up my eyes nicely. I don't get the goo much anymore and my eyes don't look so swollen. No news on whether I'll need surgery to correct anything just yet, but I'll keep my paws crossed for no surgery.

Dr. Surette put me on some new kibble...it's specially formulated for dogs like me who have problems breaking down purine. So it's got less protein, but more fat! It kind of smells like those cheesy fish crackers and I love them. The problem is, with the new kibble, I always feel hungry. Even when Mama and Papa mix the new kibble with the old kibble, I feel like I need to eat twice a day at least. Mama says that I'm starting to lose my figure, my midsection is starting to get thick because of the new fatty kibble. I think they just need to get off their lazy bums and walk me more!

Sometimes they don't notice when I'm hungry so I lick the bottom of my empty dish very loudly to get their attention. If that doesn't work, then I quietly grumble in their direction. If they look at me, I look at my bowl, and then look at them, and then look at my bowl. Lather, rinse, repeat. I stop when they finally feed me. You'd think that with the more food I eat, the more poo I'd make, but it's always quality over quantity and the quality of the food is so good, that the quantity of poo is a lot less!!

Congratulations Uncle Brian!!

Uncle Brian had his PhD comprehensive exam today.
And of course he passed.
I had no doubts about his smartyness...yay!!
Congratulations Uncle Brian, you are the smartyest Brian I know.

Dog Breed Quiz Part 2

So Papa did the quiz and he's most like the Doberman Pinscher! Weird eh? Well actually maybe not so weird, if you know Papa at all. So have you done the quiz yet? And if not, what are you waiting for?

Urine Analysis Update

So here's the 411 on my pee pee: I have a bladder infection; the pH of my urine is 5 (that's too acidic!) and it should be around 6.5; also they found blood (!) which means that there are also other proteins present, and they found squamous cells - I think that means that there are traces of bladder lining too. But the most troubling stuff they found were uric acid crystals!! Okay maybe this doesn't mean much to you, but the condition is apparently rare in dogs.

Dr. Surette thinks that it's because I have trouble breaking down purines, and this causes the buildup of uric acid, which then crystallizes and can result in bladder stones. They will know for sure if there are bladder stones only by doing an ultrasound (which costs around $500).

So what to do now? I am going to get a new diet, one that is prescribed by the doctors and antibiotics to get rid of the bladder infection.

And my eyes are looking much clearer, the cloudiness has gone away and there is much less goo than before. I'll have to continue with the drops for another week just to see if everything is good. If my eyes get worse without the drops, I'll have to see an opthamologist for sure. I hope I don't need to do that. My goodness, I seem to have problems at both ends of my body!!

Blood Analysis Update

Mama got a call from Dr. Surette at the Downtown Animal Hospital and he had some good news to relay about my blood analysis. Apparently my blood looks good. He said my kidney values are good too, though I'm not quite sure what that means. But of course the blood analysis doesn't rule out stuff like bladder stones, kidney stones, or a bladder infection. So Mama still needs to collect my first morning pee. I hope I can hold it through the night...

Dog Breed Quiz

So Mama took this dog breed quiz today, and lo and behold she's most like the bulldog breed! No kidding! I knew Mama and I were more alike than just being pretty faces. Try the quiz yourself and come back and tell me what kind of dog breed you are!

I am a Sick Little Puppy

Especially in my eyes. They're red and a bit dry and sore when I blink. Mama kind of freaked out when she saw some yellow mucus discharge from my eyes and took me to the vets. Normally the discharge is white, and normally I don't get a lot of it, but this time around I've got lots of stringy yellow discharge. I hope you weren't eating anything while you just read that!

Anyway, Dr. Surette at the Downtown Animal Hospital told Mama and I that it looks like an eye infection that appears to be caused by some stray eyelashes that are growing from the inside of my eyelid. These stray eyelashes are rubbing my eyeball and causing the discomfort. If it's left untreated, I can get ulcers in my cornea - ew! So he gave me some antibacterial eye drops to clear up the infection. If it gets worse we might need to see a specialist - a veterinary opthamologist! And then do some surgery to correct the eyelid....that sounds pretty $$$$. I hope my insurance covers most of it, otherwise, Mama and Papa might need to get second jobs!

I also have been bad and peeing in the house during the night. I can't seem to hold my bladder for more than 4 hours during the night, so I keep waking up Mama or Papa so they can take me out. Dr. Surette thinks I might have a bladder infection, but won't really know until they do a urine analysis. Which means that Mama has to collect my morning pee in a little dish and transfer it to a little jar and take that to the vets. It's a bit of a messy job, but someone's gotta do it. I know she loves me, so it's okay. I hope it's nothing worse than a bladder infection. I hope it's not a kidney malfunction, or stones, or worse!

The technicians at the vets took some of my blood to find out if there's anything bad in it. It was quite an adventure when they tried taking blood from my neck. Mama panicked quietly because my tongue turned very blue, but she kept saying that I was so brave when they were fishing around inside my neck with a needle. They didn't find the vein and had to try my paw instead. That was more successful. I got two cookies out of that. I think Mama should have gotten something too for being so brave and keeping me company.

I'll keep you posted on my health issues. It kind of sucks that this is all happening now. Mama and Papa are off to Japan in a few weeks, and I don't want to be a bother to Uncle Brian and his family when I stay with them. I hope I get better soon.

Super Busy Days

I've been a busy puppy these past few weeks. I've been helping Mama and Papa find a new place to live (the current place is getting expensive), and helping Papa plan their trip to Japan (at the end of this month!), and helping Mama make her slides for her big presentation. I think I deserve a well-earned nap for all this helping out I do.

Now that the new place has been found, and much of the trip has been planned, it's just the slides that need to be finished off. I'm getting pretty good at using Powerpoint and searching for things online. I should update my resume. Anyone looking to hire a bulldog as a secretary?