New Year's Greetings!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been a little busy settling into my Calgary home, missing my parents a great deal, and having to accept the fact that I am now a senior dog. Yup, I was told by my vet that I am an old girl, and that's why I am suffering from incontinence. I don't mean to pee my bed (or Kunou's - sorry pal), I just can't control my bladder. So I'm on some estrogen supplements and they are helping, but not enough because some nights I still wee my bed. Thank you to Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang for cleaning me up all the time.

So have a look at the movie that I made for you. The song is one of my favourites, it's called "When I See you Smile" by Bic Runga. I hope you enjoy it!

Spring Fever

So you remember how I mentioned last February 2,
that I wasn't going to mention anything about it?
Yah well I must have jinxed it right,
because spring is here in spirit,
but it's not really here in body!

Spring is ushering in like a lion this year.
Do you think I look like a lion?
Better than last time?
I'm so sick of winter.
Peeing in the snow with too much
cold near the sensitive areas is
not my idea of a good time.

Strange Happenings

So as far as I know, it wasn't a full moon last night or the night before. In fact, the last full moon was January 22 and the next full moon is February 21. So what gives for the strange happenings in my building?

Around 12am this morning the fire alarm went off in the building. I was sleeping so soundly that I slept right through it. Until the security guy spoke into the speaker and said that the alarm was triggered on the 11th floor (we're on the 9th). But the fire department came and they fixed the problem after 20 minutes and all was quiet again.

This morning around 7am, the fire alarm goes off again! This time it rings for a good 30 minutes before security gets on the speaker. When he finally does, he says there's a small fire in some room on the 11th floor (we're on the 9th!!) and that we shouldn't panic and we should stay in our apartments. Papa heads off to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and Mama asks me if I smell something. I did smell something, I could smell smoke! Papa couldn't smell it because his nose is clogged up (get well soon!). We turned on the tv to watch the building's security cameras and there were lots of people standing outside of the lobby with their winter coats over their jammies. Uh oh, should we go too? The smoke smell was getting stronger!

Anyway, eventually the alarm turned off and we decided to go back to bed. Until 2 hours later when security got back on the speaker and said that the elevators are not working and we should take the stairs to get in and out of the building (we're on the 9th floor!). Lucky for me that when it came to potty time, one elevator was working and we made it downstairs lickety-split. Too bad when we came back inside there was a huge line up to go upstairs on the elevator. Not so lucky for Papa who had to carry me half way up to the 9th floor (I have bad hips you know) via the stairs. I did him a favour and climbed the rest of the way up from the 5th floor. It's the most exercise we've gotten in a long time!

While I was outside doing my business, the fire department showed up again. Apparently there was a small fire in the garbage chute. Coincidence or conspiracy?

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)!

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)

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...

My New Crib

This is my new bed. Papa got it for me from Chinatown on Saturday. And although I am not fond of new things, like new situations, new people, and new furniture, I have come to love my new bed. Of course, I'm a bit skittish, and I wasn't so sure that I wanted to sleep in this thing, so I got kinda scared when Papa put me inside of it. I don't like being scared, and tried to avoid it for most part of the evening.

Well to make a long story short, it was near bed time and Papa really wanted me to sleep in my bed. I decided the only way I'd get used it was if it smelled more like me, and less like Chinatown, so I peed in it. Naturally Mama and Papa freaked out. They were mad that even though they had put my favourite blanket inside, I still peed in my new bed. But the peeing worked, because the bed did end up smelling more like me and less like Chinatown. So now I love sleeping in my new bed.

Today I went for a walk to Papa's lab. It smells funny in there. Papa says it's because there are people who work very hard, and don't go home to have a bath often enough. I wonder how long they work for, because the smells are always different in that lab. I suppose I should work harder too, in order to justify my smell.

The Best Saturday Ever!

This morning Thomas Ojichan came over to borrow a drill from Papa, it was so nice to see him again! But I really had to go to the bathroom, so I ran all the way down the hall and waited at the stairs. But Papa called me back and then he didn't even take me out! Mama was in the shower, so she wasn't any help to me. I waited and waited. Even after Thomas Ojichan left, I still waited - and nothing! I had to pee so bad...I ended up spotting on the carpet. Mama saw my discomfort and took me out. What a relief. You know that relief you get when you finally go pee after holding it in for so long? And boy it was a big pee, Mama was surprised. The nap I had afterwards was so worth it.

I went with Papa to pick up Mama from school again tonight. I got to visit with Uncle Brian too. It was fun, he has a soccer ball, but I wasn't allowed to play with it. I punctured the last one that Mama got for me in 5 minutes. I tried really hard to sneak around to get the ball, but I always got caught. I have to be more subtle next time. Uncle Brian is so much fun, he loves to wrestle with me, I let him win all the time though. Otherwise he'd feel bad getting beat by a girl.