Disgruntled Pup

I'm not a happy Buttons tonight. Not one bit.

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.
   

Let Me Stink

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.

After all, maybe the vet prefers stinky dogs...

Seizure Scare

Early, early, early on Thursday morning, I woke Mom up 'cause I didn't feel quite right. Turns out that I was having a seizure.

Mom took me to the emergency clinic, but I felt fine after we got there, so we turned around and came back home. Mom called my regular vet and they said I needed to come in for blood work and a once-over.

So we went to the vet yesterday morning. Mom didn't give me any breakfast (BOOO!) and the vet poked me with a needle (BOOOO!).

We got good news, though. The vet said that I'm o.k. and told Mom to just keep an eye on me. My blood work came back good, too. My liver enzymes are still way, way too high, but they're lower than they were last year. That was really great news!

Mom and I took it easy for the rest of the day. We went over to our neighbor's house and hung out on her patio. I love sitting in the sun puddles there!

My neighbor puts out toys, bully sticks, and milkbones for me. On a nice, cushy rug. There was a water bowl, too.

Did you see what her sign says?

"Dog friendly. Beware of owner." Our neighbor doesn't have a doggie...besides me, of course!

Good sun puddles after good news from the vet. Can't beat that!
 

Monkey Business

It was rainy and icky on Halloween, so Mom didn't take me trick-or-treating. She did make me wear my costume for a trial run, though.

This year I was a monkey.

The hood on the costume sorta gave me an instant eye lift. But, on the plus side, the costume came with a squeaky banana! That was FUN. Well, except for when Mom forced me to stop playing so she could take a picture...

Luckily for me, Mom's camera died at that point. So, she plugged it in to charge. When she did that, I started rolling on my squeaky banana and managed to roll myself completely out of my monkey costume!  Then, I attacked it and plucked that monkey fur like crazy.

Mom pulled the camera off of the charger and got this pic...then the camera died again.  He he he.

So on Friday I had another appointment at the vet. The vet wanted to see me again to see if my skin infection and allergies were better yet. Mom decided that I should be a monkey at the vet's office, so I went in costume.

It took five weeks of antibiotics and a month of steroids, but I beat that stupid infection! The vet said I was finally all better. In fact, she said that she'd never seen my skin looking so good! And of course the vet and all of the techs oohed and aahed over my costume. They even took pictures!

Then after a nasty shot in my hiney (I was overdue for something-or-other), we were back in the car to head home. When we got home, Mom made me a monkey yet again...

And then we were off to trick-or-treat at our favorite neighbor's house!

The hood didn't stay up long. I hated that thing.

Trick or treat!!!

When I went inside I checked out the goods. The blanket, "Princess" bowl of water, blue bowl of milkbones, and the bully sticks -- those are normally out for me. (My neighbor ROCKS.)

On this visit, though, my neighbor had a sack of toys out special for this trick-or-treating monkey!  I rolled on it. Just rolled and rolled on the entire sack.

I played for a little bit, then I announced to both Mom and my neighbor that I was DONE with the monkey costume.

I was sure a hit with the people at the vet's office and with the neighbor. Glad Halloween is over, though...enough of that monkey business!
 

Vet Visits and Blessings

I had to go back to the vet on Friday. It was a "recheck," but Mom knew my skin infection wasn't better yet.

The vet said Mom was right. Since the antibiotic upset my tummy so much, the vet gave me a new one instead. And she said to give me pepcid for my tummy. AND I need steroids now, too, to get better. Mom was counting down until we were done with those antibiotic pills...but now we have MORE pills for me to take instead of less! Yuck.

The vet also said I needed ointment for my ears since they're working on being on infected. And I got a yeast issue in my paw, so I need cream for that.

Mom says I'm just a hot little mess.

So when Mom and our neighbor were driving around yesterday, they saw this sign:

And they decided that I needed to get blessed. Now, Mom goes to a Methodist church and our neighbor goes to an Orthodox church. Pretty funny that they decided to take me to a Lutheran church for a blessing, huh?

A LOT of dogs were there to be blessed, though.

And some kitties. And a rabbit. And a gecko. And even a beta fish!

I pretty-much ignored everybody. That's how I roll.

Here's the pastor, starting the blessings.

My turn!

Mom asked for extra prayers and blessings for my health issues.

Here's us after my blessing! (Exposed belly = so embarrassing!)

After the blessing, I was pretty excited to go home. We got in our neighbor's car and I decided to drive.

She was knocking on the door, but I didn't unlock it for her.

I finally relented, of course. And when we got home, I played with my frog for a bit.

And then I actually ate a lot of my supper -- more than I have been eating.

Now, I should probably point out that I haven't eaten much lately, nor have I played much. So Mom says it's surprising that I did both of those things tonight. Was it the blessing or maybe the new meds?  Who knows. Mom says it doesn't matter what, just as long as I'm heading in the right direction now.

But I'm still embarrassed about that nekkid belly picture...
 

Pills and Pukes

My allergies sometimes give me ouchie spots on my skin -- little scabby sores. A week or so ago, Mom decided it was time to go to the vet because I had too many scabby spots.

So we went.

My vet said that I needed an antibiotic to help me with my scabby spots.

You KNOW how I feel about taking pills. Now I have to take an antibiotic pill twice a day on top of my allergy pills!  I suppose it hasn't been much fun for Mom, either. We've had pill wars daily for the last week and a half.

The antibiotic upsets my tummy, too, so I've had some pukey episodes. (I even threw up on my neighbor's patio when she was dog-sitting me on Monday!)

Mom's done just about anything and everything to get me to eat. Here's what she did last night:

That's hamburger and rice...with some kibble...with my favorite liver treats...with turkey...and low-salt ham...and liverwurst. Mom just kept adding stuff in there, trying to get me to eat something.

I still refused to eat.

Until the middle of the night when Mom was sound asleep, of course.

I've done my best to act super pathetic during the day, too.

Mom says I have four antibiotic pills left. She's counting down...

And so am I...
   

Amazing News

Yesterday morning I had an appointment with Oncology at the University of Illinois Veterinary Medicine Hospital.  It was a consultation with a specialist because of the pretty bad news we got last week from my regular vet about the tumor they removed from my hiney.

But guess what???  We got AMAZING news from the specialist!

Turns out that there was  little miscommunication about my tumor and diagnosis.  Last week they said that this type of tumor will metastasize within a year in 50 to 90% of cases.  Yesterday we found out that this type of tumor only spreads 4% of the time.  And, considering how long the lump was on my hiney, the vet said that if it was going to spread, it probably would have already.

And you know all of those tests we did this spring on my liver?  If the cancer had spread, those tests would have picked it up!  All of those tests came back fine, though.

The pathology lab said that they found mast cells in the margins after they re-evaluated the tumor.  BUT the vet yesterday said that those types of cells are produced by my body normally because of my skin allergies.  I've probably got 'em all over.  So the cells the lab found are probably nothing at all to worry about. The tumor was probably encapsulated after all.

You know how the vet yesterday said to treat my cancer?  He said to make sure I get a good all-over check-up every six months.  And he told Mom that's normal for any dog my age.

So that's it!  No more vet visits in our near future.  YEAH!

My Aunt Katie visited us yesterday and went to the vet with Mom and me.  She brought her fancy camera with her and wanted to take some pictures of us, too. All of the pics in this blog post are from Aunt Katie.

Mom made me wear my bow for one picture.

And we took pictures in the park by our house, too.

Mom thinks the fire hydrant poop bag holder she's got dangling from her hand here is a nice touch:

Aunt Katie rocks.  And getting GOOD news from a vet for once rocks.  Mom & I are definitely doing our happy dance today!  And thanks to all of you for your prayers and good thoughts through all of this. You rock, too!