I'm Still Here!

My apologies for not blogging more often,
truthfully speaking, I am lazy.

So I went to have an ultrasound done last week
just to see where my bladder's at these days
with the stones and all. And you know what?
They're still there.

And it turns out that I may
be deficient in L-carnitine because of my
mainly vegetarian diet. Did you know that
Milkbone cookies contain meat? Meat is a no-no in my diet.
Meat has purines = stones in my bladder.

It sure isn't easy trying to get my paws on L-carnitine,
with it being a controlled substance in Canada.
Did you know you can buy off the shelf in the States?
Can't do that here! So if you're going to the States,
you know what you can bring back for me right?
No, seriously, hook me up!

Here are 5 other things that you probably don't know about me:

1. I like to put my head on your lap if you're sitting at a desk working, you'll think I'm cuter

2. I love shredding paper to bits!

3. If you let me, I would love to share your pillow, but I do steal the blankets

4. I'm very good at giving high-fives, only if there is food involved

5. I like humping girls, it's not so much a sexy thing, more of a dominance thing

How To Freak Out Your Parents

I really gave Mama and Papa a scare yesterday when I peed out some blood. Mama spotted it first in the morning, she said it looked a bit weird and crimson coloured. When she told Papa, he didn't believe her. So I had to pee for him again at lunch time. This time my pee was definitely red and I even made some blood clots too! You should have seen Papa's face!!! He was freaked out!

Turns out, I was passing stones. I'm ok now. Not so much bloody pee anymore.

Oh I'm going camping this weekend with my favourite people! And I even got a life jacket just for this trip. I'm so excited to test it out! I'll let you know how that goes when I get back! Have a great long weekend (last one of summer)!

Did You Miss Me?

This summer vacation was good for me,
I think I really needed the time off.
On my vacation Papa took me to Sunnybrook Park,
we had so much fun!

Did I tell you that on my vacation I had
to have a procedure called hydropulsion?
Because of my sandy bladder, the doctor
had to remove the stones by flushing them out
using saline and then pushing on my tummy
to force out the stones. Don't worry it didn't hurt,
because I slept through the whole thing.

I'm also on a supplement called Allopurinol now.
It's normally used in people to treat gout.
We're hoping that this new medicine will
help with the prevention of more urate stones forming.

Papa where are you going?

Hey come back!

I had a pretty good vacation, other than
the bladder flushing. Lots of rest and relaxation.

I hope you didn't miss me too much!
But I did miss you, I'm glad to be back now!

O Canada!

Happy Birthday Canada!

You are now 140 years old!
Wow that's old.
What are you doing to celebrate?
I'm going to sleep and dream about being a Canadian!

On another note, I have bladder stones again.
They were found by ultrasound again,
here's a pic of me all shaved so they could find the stones.
No one knows how they got into my bladder,
maybe they moved from my kidneys? Maybe I made some more.
But the vet says that they should be
small enough that I can pass them.
I hope so! I don't want another surgery!

Yesterday I spent the WHOLE day with Mama!
She took me to the lab and I sat with her
while she was typing. I thought it was fun.
We even took a break outside and
played by the water fountain.
Mama let me run free!
But when we came home, she tried to give me a bath.
Usually Papa bathes me, so Mama didn't know what she was doing.
I didn't like that part as much.

Woofstock 2007

Papa took me to the annual Woofstock Festival this past Saturday.

I had so so much fun!

But I'm having some technical difficulties,

so I'll post more pics later.

Just to update you on my bladder infection:

I think it's gone now because I've been on

antibiotics for almost 3 weeks.

The vet said that my pee is too acidic, it's at pH 5,

and that's a recipe for more stones!

So now I'm also taking potassium citrate

supplements to increase the pH.
And my pee gets a pH check in the morning and before bedtime.

It's weird, the pH fluctuates from ~ 5 in the mornings

to ~8 at the end of the day.

I hope these supplements work, I don't want more stones!

Look What I Made

Uncle Andy and Auntie Angela have come to
visit me from Calgary!
I'm so excited to finally meet them!
They play with me all the time and they even take care of me.
Like when I barfed on the floor.

I'm on antibiotics again, there is another infection in my bladder.
The pills made my tummy ill, so I threw up.
I'm still peeing uncontrollably, so I'm stuck
sleeping in the kitchen until this infection clears up.
I hope it's soon, it's so lonely in the kitchen!
(Pictures by Auntie Angela)

Mmm...I'm Loving It

We got these McDonald's coupons in the mail the other day.
I love the taste of coupons.
I think I'd love the taste of Big Macs more,
but since I'm on a restricted diet, I'll settle for coupons.

I got my stitches removed on Monday.
The technician told Mama and Papa that they had to
put a cone around my neck, because I bite.
No one knows that I bite, and now everyone knows.
Anyway, Monday was also my one year anniversary
since I started blogging. Thanks for reading!

My Post-Surgery Presents

Look what Mama got for me!
A pink and white striped rugby shirt!!
My favourtie colour is pink, and I think I look dapper!

On the back of the shirt is the number 5.
I don't think I am a 5,
I think I'm more like number 1!

Mama also got me this nice red rubber bone too.
It's good for chewing and cleaning my teeth.

My puppy and bear are a bit jealous
that they didn't receive any presents.
But they didn't have to endure bladder surgery like I did,
so I definitely deserve these presents
more than they do!

Recovery Time

I'm home now from my bladder surgery.
I had 4 considerable sized stones removed
and they were sent to a lab for analysis.
I also had a bunch of teeny-tiny stones that were
flushed out using saline and a catheter.
My puppy stayed with me the whole time I was in the hospital.
We're great pals!

I have to wear this soft cone around my neck until the incision heals.
It's supposed to stop me from licking or biting the incision.
I think it makes me look stupid.

It's also hard to drink water from my bowl with this thing on too.

I would show you pictures of my incision, but it's a bit sore right now.
And it looks kind of nasty...and that might put you off.
Instead, here's a picture of where the doctors
put the needle in for my IV.
It's a bit pink, but it doesn't hurt much anymore.
I'm hoping for a speedy recovery!

Surgery Time

My bladder surgery is tomorrow morning.
I'm not all that worried about it, but Mama sure is.
Papa thinks I'm a tough cookie and I won't be fazed at all.
I think he's right!

Here's a picture of my belly pre-operation.
The doctors did such a great job sewing me up from the last surgery I had (to get fixed!) that you can't even see the scar!
I'm sure they'll do the same this time around.
I'll let you know how it all goes tomorrow!

Season's Greetings!!

First things first, Happy Holidays!! My most sincere apologies to all my loyal fans who tune into my blog all the time, I haven't been updating for a little while because of the crazy things that happened in December. Let me give you the 411 on what I've been up to this last month:

I've been to see the veterinarians a lot. My eyes are much better now, we just need to make sure they stay that way. My bladder is a different story though. Although the pH of my pee is now 7 (that's a good value), and there are no more urate crystals in it, there is however, blood. Dr. Surette said that blood in my pee means there are probably more crystals in my bladder and the only way we'll find out is to do an ultrasound.

When I had the ultrasound, they had to shave my tummy and put this cold gooey gel on my tummy and they looked around with a probey thing. On the ultrasound image, the ultrasound technician saw three crystals in my bladder and some more in my kidneys. The crystals in my bladder are irritating the lining, and that's what's causing the blood in my pee. So the only option now is to do surgery to remove the bladder crystals. I'm scheduled to go in the first week of January. I'm a bit scared, but maybe not as scared as Mama.
She's always freaking out.

We moved from our little one bedroom apartment to another little one bedroom apartment down the street! I was nervous that Papa was going to pack me away in a little box all by myself. All of my favourite people came to help Mama and Papa move: Uncle Brian, Thomas Ojichan, Auntie Trish, and Uncle Edmond!! It was so much fun to play with them all day long! I didn't realize how many toys I had until I saw the box that contained them! And guess what, there's another Bulldog in the new building too! Her name is Greta and she's only a baby, 16 months old!!

I took a break from unpacking to unstuff my bear's head.

My bear's brains are all fluffy and not good to eat.

I'm going to visit with Uncle Brian and his family over the Christmas holidays. I'm really looking forward to it, because I haven't seen his family since the summer time and I really miss them! I'll do my best to be a good girl so Santa will bring me lots of goodies.
You be good too!

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!!

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...

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.