Odorless Bully Sticks

Two of our favorite dog chews are bully sticks and the Himalayan dog chew. Not only are both those dog chews relatively safe and natural, they also last a long time (our pack members' size range is from 4 to 58lbs).

Recently we placed an order for:

Rockys Choice THICK ODOR FREE 6 - 6 1/2 Inch Premium Bully Sticks - 5 Pack


The main complaints surrounding bully sticks are: the "material" (bull penis), the odor, and the price. The first complaint is the least important. Who cares, as long as they are sanitized properly and free of salmonella? The price is a real issue, but that depends on the size of the dog. Tiny dogs tend to take a long time to get through a 6" bully stick. In our experience, even middle sized (60lbs) dogs take quite a while to go through a bully stick, especially if it's the braided kind.

Rocky's Choice presented a solution that allowed us to start using bully sticks again in our home. They are indeed rather odorless. Some of us, just can't stand the special scent and give up on this rather healthy and prefered dog chew. Try Rocky's choice odorless ones. You'll be pleasantly surprised when you discover that you can breathe with your pooch chewing on his bully stick on your lap.

Twinkie


Caution: I need to remind you, that all dog chews and dog treats must be given under supervision!

Chihuahua Pictures

Pedro, the chihuahua puppy, is an instant hit. It doesn't matter where we take him, he instantly becomes "the" favorite. Here are some photos of him being held by yet another stranger who has fallen for the little devil.

Chihuahua Pictures

So adorable!!! Not.

There's one thing that I'm grateful to this chihuahua puppy for. His favorite dog treat is the Himalayan dog chew, and since it's just about the only thing that keeps him occupied for more than a minute at a time, we keep ordering more!

Twinkie

Chihuahua Puppy Update

Pedro is three months old

Pedro, the chihuahua puppy, the latest addition to our furry family, turned 3mos old on December 2nd. Pedro has become the Internet's new darling. His chihuahua pictures are viewed hundreds of times; they are popular and everybody thinks he's adorable. Disclaimer: he's NOT. He's in fact a terrorista disguised as an adorable tiny dog. He bites all the other dogs, leaps on the cats bringing them crashing and screaming down, eats everybody's food and the cats' poo, and "decks the halls" with you know what!

Pedro passed his final pediatric examination with flying colors. He just completed all his shots. He has tripled his initial weight of 2lbs. He is happy and healthy in his new forever home. We're not so happy, but we're seriously working on it. We do not give up easily.



Yesterday's mystery post answer: Pedro's artistic expression


Twinkie

Mystery Post

Dog Arthritis And Blown Cruciate Update

(continued from yesterday)

Our dalmatian mix's blood test results came in, and meanwhile we were also able to locate what was making her so violently ill. It was the medication (hormone) that we had her on for her dog incontinence. Linguini had a rare reaction to Proin (phenylpropanolamine). We have already taken her off it and later, after her health has improved, we'll start looking at alternatives. The mop and bucket (along with bleach and Nature's Miracle) will have to replace the Proin for the time being. That's all good news since she hasn't thrown up once in the past 24 hours. She's already getting stronger.

The limp is a totally unrelated situation we need to tackle. We're going to give Linguini a couple more days to recover from the reaction to Proin and then put her on Rimadyl twice a day for a week. At the end of that time period, we will reconvene with the dog vet and decide for or against surgery. There is still a slight chance that the cruciate is partially torn versus completely blown. If it's partially torn and it's the dog arthritis that is mainly acting up, surgery will be postponed indefinitely to spare the senior dog from going under anesthesia.

I got some comments about dog glucosamine and chondroitin versus Rimadyl. I am grateful for all feedback, but in this dog's case, supplements will not suffice. She's already been on glucosamine for dogs, and on chondroitin,  and on fish oil for dogs. Supplements are always preferable to medication, but only when drugs can actually be avoided. Under the circumstances, the drug, Rimadyl, will potentially help avoid a rather involved, risky, and expensive surgery, so we have to give it a chance.

Twinkie

Dog Arthritis And Possible Rimadyl Adverse Reaction

Our Linguini, an eleven year old female dalmatian mix, has been diagnosed with dog arthritis. 

She's had arthritic type signs for a long time. Due to recent sudden weight loss accompanied by acute vomiting, we rushed her to the dog vet to find out why she was wasting away so suddenly. What was making her so ill? The Rimadyl, the fish oil for dogs, or Proin (phenylpropanolamine), the hormone to help control her dog incontinence? The vet did x-rays and ran a new blood test (her last one was ten months ago).

The telling x-ray

The above x-ray clearly shows that our girl's left leg is heavily afflicted by dog arthritis, as is her spine. Surprisingly, her right leg doesn't show any signs of dog arthritis! After a thorough physical, our dog vet added that the dog's probably suffering fro a blown cruciate and will most likely need surgery. 

We're waiting for the blood test results to come in before we decide how to proceed. We are also playing around with her medications, to figure out which one may be causing the excessive and violent vomiting (the fish oil for dogs is not a suspect at this point). The cruciate surgery is promising. The chances of full functionality are really good. There are rare complications (breakdown) with this type of surgery, but we are lucky because our dog vet happens to specialize in it. The cons are significant as well: with a senior dog there is always an elevated risk during sedation, the recovery is long, and the cost makes us wish we had heeded our own warnings an PSAs and gotten pet insurance!

To be continued . . . 

Twinkie

Cute Chihuahua Pictures of Pedro

Pedro, the chihuahua puppy, may be a little terrorista, but he sure photographs nicely. To our relief, he has become M's main model. Even though he bites us and makes our as miserable as the day he showed up, my chiweenie sissy and I, are grateful for the diversion when it comes to photographs.

Chihuahua Pictures

The miniature wanna be Rhodesian ridgeback, isn't looking too bad, is he?

Twinkie