Found Dog!

My mom found a cute little Terrier mix laying on her front porch on Saturday afternoon and called me in a panic. She didn’t know what to do with the dog and wanted me to come over and work it out. Christian and I decided to take her in and clean her up while we are on hunt for her owners or find her a new home (no, we can’t keep her… my allergies and sanity can’t take it). She’s not potty trained and I don’t think had ever been on a proper walk, so we are working on that with her everyday (she needs to learn the rules if she’s going to stay in our house). She’s a fun, cute little girl who needs a loving home by Thanksgiving… Otherwise, we will have to take her to a no-kill shelter. I’d rather have her find a good home with someone we know or at least kind of know (friends of friends count) but since we’re heading out of town the day before Thanksgiving (we will be taking Lily with us – not both dogs), we need to figure out what to do.

Here’s a video Christian made of the dog (we call her Dottie for now) and Lily:

Lily and Dottie from Christian Pizzirani on Vimeo.

Here are our online postings:
http://www.fidofinder.com/dog.php?id=185476
http://hssv.convio.net/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7667&news_iv_ctrl=1345

Help us spread the word and let us know if anyone would like to care for this cutie!  Otherwise, we’ll be dropping her off at the humane society on Tuesday.

The Vet Visit & Results

Soooo… we took Lily in to see the vet on Monday (the day after the seizure drama). Her checkup was good – perfectly healthy pup based on the initial exam. The vet took some of her blood to run some tests. He told us that the blood test could possibly reveal issues with the liver or kidney. It could also come back with nothing, which could possibly mean doggy epilepsy… whatever it was, we wouldn’t find anything out until end of day Monday or Tuesday morning. Ugh. Worry worry worry.

The vet tech called me this morning with the blood test results. “Perfectly healthy” was the verdict based on the results that returned. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her organs, nothing wrong with anything in her blood, nada, zip. She said that it could have been an epileptic episode, but I also asked if it was a possibility that she maybe swallowed something toxic because she was walks around our lawn and tends to lick paws clean (yes, like a cat… but she’s not a cat – I swear!) AND Christian had put some snail bait out two weeks ago. She confirmed that it was a real possibility that she could have stepped in some runoff that was tainted with bait and ingested that when she licked her paws.

So this means either no more lawn play time for a while or a really thorough wipe-down after each trip out there.

Oh, one more thing that the vet tech mentioned… A seizure once a year is nothing to be alarmed about (not like it’s okay, but it’s not an indication of anything serious). Anything more frequent than that and we might have to treat her with medication for the rest of her life. Praying that she stays seizure-free forever…

Crazy Dazy Sunday – Seizures & Friends & Babies – Oh My!

Today was a crazy, whacked-out kind of a day.  I went walking with my good friend Kat this morning and when I came home, our dog Lily was acting strange.  She was crouched over and ran around the kitchen that way for a bit, ran into the blinds for the sliding glass door to the backyard, then scurried under the kitchen table.  I thought that she maybe needed to do her business, so I opened the back door and let her out.  She darted out and headed for the grass.  I could see that as she was heading out there, she was trying really hard hold her stuff in until she hit the grass.  After she did what she needed to, she came back to me at the back door but was still doing the weird crouch walk.  Figuring that maybe she wasn’t quite done yet, I coaxed her back out to the grass.  Once she got back out there, she started walking around really strangely, then lost her balance, toppled over on her side, and kept trying to get up.  It was as if the back half of her body was no longer in her control.  She was shaking, kept trying to get up, but then just kept toppling over.  She did this a few times until she managed to limp her way onto the concrete part of our patio and puked her guts out.  Once she finished, she walked around a little more and headed back to the grass.  I had no idea what was going on and was in a panic.  Not knowing what to do, I yelled for Christian to come out so I didn’t have to watch this alone.  I asked him to try and contact the vet as I watched her collapse in the grass.  Her legs were bent funny, her body was shaking, and she starting whining.  I could tell she was as freaked out as I was.  I remembered that I had the vet’s number in my phone which happened to be in my pocket, so I called.  I got a vet tech on the phone and told her everything that had happened and she said that Lily might have had a seizure or stroke.  !!!  The office was closed today, but she suggested that I take Lily’s temperature and if the episode persisted or if her temperature was over 102.5, that I take her to the emergency room (which she mentioned would be pretty expensive).  While I was on the phone with her, I was able to get Lily to come off the grass and lay down on the concrete where I sat.  She was shivering and weak.  She laid her head on my lap and was drooling excessively.  Her back half was still shaking and seemed a bit out of her control.  I started crying on the phone because I didn’t know why this was happening and how I could make it stop, but the tech really helped talk me through everything and helped to map out my next steps.  After I was done talking to her, I let Lily rest there for a few minutes and just rubbed her belly.  There was nothing else I could do but wait it out!

After a little while, I was able to get her to stand up and walk back into the house.  The episode was over and now she was just really weak.  She went straight for bed and laid down.  She still had some drooling issues, so I grabbed a towel and wiped her down.  I sat with her for about an hour while she just laid there.  It was so sad to think about all that had happened and watch her lay her, so weak.  I couldn’t help but check her breathing every few minutes – I know, I’m crazy.  At this point, she seemed tired but okay.  I brushed her teeth and left her alone and she recovered some of her energy as the day went on.


Poor Lily had a hard day

Our friends Jason & Sharon stopped by so Jason could get a quick tutorial on some DVD functionality from Christian – nerd-type stuff.  Our friends Justin, Natalie, and their son Jacob came by not to long after to drop off some things and catch up.  It was a full house and I wasn’t sure how Lily would do with the troubled day she had.  Little Jacob is 14 months old and is the cutest little boy!  He has so much personality and such a charming little face. 

Jacob being cute

He took to Lily right away and she let him chase after her until he tired himself (and her) out.


Jacob & Lily

YUCK

This is me after running today.  I was so disgustingly sweaty, I thought I’d share with everyone.  Have a good weekend!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 was pretty awesome this year.  I was Ursula from The Little Mermaid (Broadway-inspired, not cartoon).  Made my costume in a week – STRESS.

Here I am posing with my girls.

My skirt just sits like a large skirt when I don’t flare it up and out like in the photo (I got questions about how I fit into doorways and my cubicle several times).

Here are some fun Ghosting photos. 

As you can see, I decorated Serina’s cube a la Disney Halloween.  Not good enough to win anything, but it was still fun.  Loads of thanks to Rosie & Christian for their help & support!