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...

Catching Up

I just realized that it's been a while since I've posted. Sorry about that. Let me catch you up...

Mom and I went to Aunt Katie's house to celebrate Christmas. I found a catnip toy under the Christmas tree.  Mom told me I couldn't squeaky it, but I didn't believe her.

I tried and tried to squeaky it. I even rolled on it!

Mom eventually took the toy away. She said Aunt Katie's cats probably didn't want me to rip up their toy. Hrmph.

Oh -- here's a picture of me in my pretty Christmas dress at Aunt Katie's house.

So after Aunt Katie's house, then Mom and I stayed with Grandma for a few days over Christmas. Then we came home.

Then Mom got sick.

Then we got snow.  Lots and lots of snow.  Too much snow for me to potty in.

Then we got polar vortex, too-cold-to-pee weather.  It was so cold that Mom made me wear my jammies inside our house.

Mom was still sick, too. The good thing, though, was that she had to stay home with me because of the weather. We took lots of naps.

Mom finally got over being sick just a couple of days ago.  Now it's my turn.  I had to go to the vet today because my skin infection came back. Yuck.  Mom says my antibiotics are gonna make it all better, though.

Finally, here's a picture of me rolling on a toy tonight. (Mom finally got a new battery for the camera...)

There's just a little bit of static in the air tonight...

     

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...
 

Vets and Tests

It's been a little while since I've updated you on my liver issues. So, here goes...

Back in February I was supposed to have surgery to take off my butt lump, but my blood work came back wonky. One of my liver enzymes was too high.  The vet did lots of tests that week, but couldn't figure out why the level was so high. So, we decided to just try a new medicine to see if that helped.

I took the new pills for a little over a month, and then Mom took me back to the vet to see if they helped.  Unfortunately, the results weren't so good. Instead of going down, the liver enzyme level went way, way higher.

Mom talked to the vet and they decided to do an ultrasound on my tummy. So I went to a different vet's office for that.  They shaved my entire belly...did the ultrasound...and even took "samples" of my liver with needles.  OUCH.

With my allergies and the shaved fur, I scratched myself raw over the next few days.  You can kinda see one of the red spots on my side here:

And I did my best to be super, duper pathetic.  One time, Mom even brought me breakfast in my doggie bed!

After all of that, you know what the ultrasound told us?  NOTHING!  That's right...we still have no idea why my enzyme level is high.

This afternoon I have to go back to the vet for some more blood work. Mom says we're going to check my cholesterol, triglycerides, and thyroid.

Unfortunately, Mom also decided that I had to be CLEAN to go see the vet. That meant a bath...

Here I am waiting to be freed from the bathroom....with a couple of toys nearby, of course.

Plucking on a squirrel while Mom attempted to blow dry my furs:

I plucked like crazy once the squirrel and I were liberated from the bathroom of torture.

Then I actually fell asleep with the squirrel in my mouth.

Squirrel butt.  (HE HE HE)

This morning, Mom refused to give me any breakfast.  She put away all of my bully sticks, too.  So, naturally, I tried to insist she bring out the goods.  I barked nonstop for a while.

Then Mom got out the spray bottle and squirted me.

The woman just doesn't understand...

Mom says we won't have any of the test results until later this week.  We're both tired of tests and waiting...