This blog has been quiet lately in part because Buttons herself quieted down a bit. In February Buttons was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension and secondary heart failure. The pressure in her lungs was basically causing her heart to fail. Her cardiologist said that our goal was to get Buttons to her birthday with quality of life. We passed that goal in September. Over the last few weeks, however, Buttons has been having more and more trouble with her tummy. Yesterday, our regular vet discovered a large mass in Buttons' stomach. Buttons was in pain, and it was time to let her rest. Buttons passed peacefully in my arms this afternoon, the 6th anniversary of her Gotcha Day. Rest in peace, Princess Buttons. Rest in peace...
I've got some pretty big news to share! Mom and I decided to expand our family and we recently adopted kitties. Yes, that's right...KITTIES!
Earlier this year, a pregnant, stray cat showed up on the farm of the mother of my Mom's best friend. They named the cat Shadow, and Shadow ended up having SEVEN kittens. Shadow is spayed now and she's living happily on the farm.
Shadow and all the babies
Mom and I wanted to help, so we adopted two of the kittens. Mom said that we needed two kitties instead of one because that way they could play with each other and not pounce me as much.
Our kitties, snuggling when they were one week old
Mom's obsessed with M&Ms -- you probably already knew that -- so we named the kitties Maggie Mae and Maisy Mia. M&M and M&M makes M&M&M&M! (Mom's so weird...)
Maisy Mia
Maisy Mia
Maggie Mae
Maggy Mae, attacking Mom's pants
Anyway, the babies will be nine weeks old tomorrow and they're CRAZY. They play all of the time. They were afraid of me at first, and I was afraid of them, too. We're all doing better now. I don't play with them, but I'm not hiding from them as much anymore. They tend to think my poofy tail is a kitty toy. Not cool, kids, not cool.
I've discovered a fondness for kitten chow, and that's helped me accept the kitties into the family. Maggie keeps trying to eat my doggie food, too.
Trying to get to the kitty chow
This kitty food is goooooood
Overcoming my fear of the kitties in order to get to their kitten chow...
Mom and I have never, ever had a cat before, so we're really not sure about what we're doing here. It's pretty funny. We're going to trim some kitty nails soon, though, because Mom's been under constant attack.
Maggie attacking Mom's foot
Maggie more of a lovey kitty so far, and Maisy is the crazy play, play, play, play, play girl. Maisy was the runt of her litter, so she's smaller than Maggie. That doesn't slow her down, though!
Mom loving on little Maisy
The kids are SO funny when they play, so here are some videos of them in action...
Tomorrow (Sept. 18) is my birthday. I'm gonna be 14 years old. You would THINK that Mom would cut me some slack with the medicated baths, especially since this is a special week...
Nope. No such luck.
Trust me when I say that I did not go into the tub willingly.
At least Mom refilled the toy box in the bathroom. That provided some distraction during blow-drying. (See Mom's orange hair dryer?)
Had to go back to the toy box to liberate another toy.
More plucking.
After Mom opened the gate and let me out of the bathroom, I'm happy to report that I successfully saved all three of those squeakies from the bathroom.
And that's why Mom has to refill the toy box in the bathroom. I try to save all of the toys from horrible baths.
This spring, I participated in the Mutt Strut and raised money for my local animal shelter. My friends were so very generous this year, and I ended up raising a whopping $783 for the shelter! Thanks again to everyone who donated...big, big thanks!
Since I raised so much, I won a photo session with a pet photographer. That was pretty cool. Mom went with me and we took our neighbor (my favorite person), too.
The pictures I posted on Wednesday after my vet appointment were sort of sad pics, so I thought this would be a good time to share my photo session pics. Enjoy!
I should have been a super model...
Here's Mom and our neighbor and me!
She is, by far, the best neighbor ever. She keeps treats on hand in different sizes for all of the dogs in the neighborhood. And she has special doggie beds and bully sticks and toys at her house JUST for ME!
It was a hot day, so I started panting in some of the pics.
Scritches on my head!
You can't tell, but I made a break for it after this pic and Mom had to chase me down. *evil snickers*
Mom took me to the vet this afternoon. That's right, my friends. The VET.
The vet gave me a rabies shot in my rump. Yep -- right in my rump. Then she messed with my scabby spots (from my allergies) and messed with my ears.
If that wasn't bad enough, Mom had the nerve to tell the vet that I'd been having some issues with my hiney and the vet did an exam back there. It was NOT fun. How embarrassing!!!
According to the vet, I've got an ear infection (again), and my hiney glands are infected, too. The vet gave Mom ointment for my ear and put some ointment IN my...um...glands. (I do not recommend that procedure...)
It was a tough afternoon. I'm making Mom go to bed early tonight.
On our walk tonight, I decided that we were going to go visit our neighbor.
She lives right over there.
So I decided to go visit, but sadly, that's as close as I got to her house. I stood there and stood there and stood there. Mom rudely refused to let me go visit because she "claimed" she had laundry and dishes to do.
I think maybe she knows that our neighbor is my favorite person...
One morning late last week, Mom put her clean work shirt on the bed and went off to brush her teeth. I couldn't pass that up that wonderful opportunity.
White dog + clean black shirt = pure ornery brilliance.
Unfortunately, Mom retaliated with this...
Yes, my friends, she made me take another bath. She claimed that I had poo on my hiney and that I needed that medicated shampoo for my scabby allergy spots. Personally, however, I feel this was purely an act of vengeance on her part.
Mom destroyed my underground lair. All the hours I spend shredding paper under there...gone.
So, in retaliation, I shredded a potty pad.
Don't worry. It's not like I use those to take care of my business. In fact, Mom just puts them out in places where I have sometimes have accidents if my tummy's upset. She calls it "preventative." I call it "shreddable."
I was minding my own business, snoozing on the big bed, when Mom suddenly interrupted me and wrecked havoc on my entire world.
Seriously.
You see, for a couple of years now, I've spent my nights perfecting my underground lair. (That's what I like to call the area under Mom's bed.)
While Mom was sleeping, I moved her boxes around...hid toys under there...shredded papers...stole Mom's socks...etc. And until now, Mom just left me alone. I was allowed to...um..."decorate" my space however I liked.
Until this dreadful day.
Mom announced that something smelled under the bed and it was time to see what I had been up to under there. She got the surprise of her life when she moved the mattress and lifted up the box springs.
She got a good view of my handiwork. I'd sure been busy under there.
I surveyed my work. Looks a little different with light. I'm usually working in the dark under there.
Yep. That's my stuff.
So Mom took an hour or two and cleaned out my decor. (How rude!) In among all of the shredded papers and magazines she found:
82 dog toys
1 dog toy carcass
1 random toy squeaker
1 toy ear
1 toy leg
a dozen or more of her socks
1 of her shirts
There was an old spot on the carpet, too, so Mom used cleaner on that and then used a fan to dry it.
Worst part is that Mom never could find anything that actually smelled. She destroyed my mess and never found anything stinky!
Guess I'm going to have to start decorating all over again.
Each year since I got adopted by my forever-and-ever Mom, we've joined the fun at the Mutt Strut for the local humane society. It's the big spring fundraiser for the shelter.
I was actually adopted from Companion Critters in New Jersey, but since I live in Illinois now, I like to help Mom support the animals here, too. We're trying to spread the love.
I'm not usually a fan of meeting other dogs in the fur, but it's for a good cause, so I don't complain much. Last year we took my stroller, and I hung out in there to keep away from some of the overly-friendly mutts who were strutting.
Even though my blog has been a little quiet lately, please don't think that I haven't been up to mischief. You can rest assured that I have.
Last night, for example, Mom had trouble sleeping because I kept shredding papers under her bed.
And the other day we had some beautiful sunshine, so I kept acting like I had to go emergency potty outside. Did I have to potty? Noooo... I just wanted to sniff and sit in the sun! (Mom was on to my antics after my second trip outside in an hour with no pottying going on.)
And my best mischief lately? Well, that was on Friday night. It was my neighbor's 80th birthday, so Mom and I went to visit her in the evening. While Mom was showing her something on her computer, I found a new toy to play with in my neighbor's bedroom.
I plucked and plucked at my new toy. Then Mom came looking for me.
Turns out it wasn't a toy that I was making little tooth holes in. It was a pair of my neighbor's underwear...
I was minding my own business, snoozing in the middle of Mom's bed...
...when all of sudden, THIS happened:
Oh, the horror.
Mom said when I went to the vet after my seizure a week ago, I was so stinky that the vet musta thought I was a homeless dog. I have to go back to the vet tomorrow to have some broken teeth taken out, so Mom was determined that I was going to smell like lavender stuff instead of stinky dog butt.
Hrmph.
I think we should have consulted the vet BEFORE the bath to see if that really mattered.
I'm an 13-year-old Shih Tzu named Buttons. I love toys. And cookies. And getting into trouble. And toys. And more toys. And then some more squeaky toys.
