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So this past Friday Aeryk and I were at home enjoying our 4th of July off of work.  I was knitting and Aeryk was tinkering around on the computer and the pups were outside enjoying the warm weather.  It wasn't until Aeryk went into the kitchen to make himself a drink when I heard him blurt out "OH MY GOD"!  Naturally I stood up to see what the commotion was about and I heard him say it again and then a third time. Gracie and Rosco were knee deep in mud and well, there isn't much else to say.  Have a look.   

Hi everyone.  I need your thoughts and prayers for our little dude Rosco.  Yesterday he was very lethargic and didn't eat his food and on top of all of that he was vomiting.  Since he had only vomited a total of 3 times we pretty much only watched him and held back food and water only offering water every 30 minutes.  He didn't have any bowel movements either all day that Aeryk or I know of.  Well around 2 am Aeryk woke up to check on him and that is when we raced him to the emergency vet hospital.  He found a puddle of blood and we couldn't tell if it was vomit or feces.  Either way it was not good.  The vet told us her the possibilities she thought based on the info given and that it could have been poison or a blockage or some sort of bacterial issue.   So the possibility of poison was ruled out as well as a blockage THANK YOU JESUS but he isn's out of the woods yet.  I just called and they said he is very comfortable and giving kisses now and is enjoying the pain medicine.  They now believe that it's a gastric issue and they will offer food to him at 5pm tonight assuming he doesn't vomit between now and then.  I will keep you all informed. 

It sure has been a while since I've posted about any of the pups and the rest of my family and I thought I should let all our BPO pals know how we are doing.  First off, Aeryk and I have taken in a teenager.  His name is Jeremy and he is 18 years old.  He's come to stay with us as a result of us asking him to once we realized he pretty much didn't have any other options.  He was only a few steps away from slipping through the cracks and perhaps taking a road of hardship from learning the hard way due to absolutely no guidance or support in my opinion.  Of course we have nothing but heart and conviction to offer as well as a sofa.  Though we do know how to support and we are not doing too bad with the guidance part if I do say so myself.  We met him about 8 months ago when he moved into the townhouse with 4 other teenagers across from ours.  Things weren't working out so he left to live with his brother only to come back feeling very scared and alone as and his family didn't help him out either.  Matter of fact, they still don't help.  His mother isn't in his life other than to ask him to help her with a lawsuit against his father for child support and his father is pretty much non existent all together.  We don't badmouth his parents cause we are not there to do that.  We only want him to succeed.  So, we stepped in and gave him a bus pass, a go phone (we expect him to pay us back for that) and two weeks to find gainful employment.  In order to help him succeed we didn't give him a house key until he received a job which meant that when we were out at work he was out looking for work which is a job in our opinion. He found himself a great job working on Rice University Campus in the coffee shop.  He loves it and is more confident at a result. I am really happy with him and more importantly he is happy and very proud.  That is special to us.  Now about the puppies.  Well we are right in the middle of a horrible flea infestation and unfortunately our only option was to give them Comfortis Flea medicine (only after a lot of reading and I thank all of you for your insight and advice when I posted for your comments).  YUCK!!!  We are going to be moving into a 3 bedroom house in June and HURRAY MY BABIES WILL FINALLY HAVE A BACK YARD!!!!!  Gracie and Rosco have never had a back yard and Tonka will be so happy to finally have a yard again.  Jeremy absolutely loves the dogs and has even asked us if he can have one once we move into our house.  ha ha.  NO!!!!!  Well, I basically said that he would have to look up the city ordinance rules to see if more than 4 pets per household is allowed and also to really look at his situation and decide if he is ready for that burden (both financially as well as mentally and physically) of caring for a pet.  He decided very quickly that he wasn't. Whew.....  close one.  Well, here are some shots of all the babies and one of Tonka and Jeremy.  I've missed BPO and see a lot of new furry faces here so I can't wait to get to know all the new BPO'ers.  Hope you all are doing really well.

This was an email I received and thought BPO may find this funny as well.  Have a great weekend everyone.


In Line at Wal-Mart
I have 4 dogs & I was buying a large bag of Purina at Wal-Mart and was
in line to check out.
A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. On impulse, I told her that no,
I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't
because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50
pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out
of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that
it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply
eat one or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is
nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now
enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind her.
Horrified, she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition
because I had been poisoned. I told her no; it was because I'd been
sitting in the street licking my @ss and a car hit me.

I thought one guy was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so
hard as he staggered out the door.

Stupid lady...why else would I buy dog food??

I just thought I would get your input on a food that a co-worker is considering.  His yellow lab, Tex, is currently on Science Diet and of course I challenged him to look at and compare the ingredients using the information Holly has so graciously given us from her food dissertation.  Thanks again Holly.  Well he has read it and has decided to switch to Blue Dog food and also supplement with Dinovite 

http://www.dinovite.com/

Donovite is also something I'm curious about as well.  Would it be necessary to supplement the food if they are already getting enough supplements from their food? 

Okay here are the ingredients of the Blue Dog Food and also has anyone heard of or used this brand? 

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Rye, Whole Potatoes, Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Menhaden Fish Meal (natural source of DHA-Docosahexaneoic Acid), Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Dried Egg, Blueberries, Cranberries, Flaxseed, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Alfalfa Meal, Kelp Meal, Taurine, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Turmeric, Garlic, Sunflower Oil (natural source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Herring Oil (natural source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Fructooligosac charides, Monooligosacch arides, Dried Chicory Root, Black Malted Barley, Oil of Rosemary, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin C, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Folic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Zinc Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Zinc), Iron Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Iron), Copper Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Copper), Manganese Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Manganese), Potassium Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Potassium), Cobalt Proteinate (source of Chelated Cobalt), Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Salt, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Bifidobacteriu m thermophilum, Bifidobacteriu m longum, Enterococcus faecium.

For real... 

So both my older brother and younger brothers wives became pregnant about a month apart.  This is of course extremely exciting for the family as these two babies will be the first babies for both sets of parents. 

Well, since my older brothers wife became overdue the doctors schedule to induce baby Allen on October 3.  That of course would be the same day that I scheduled Gracie's spay.. Nice.. No problem as I can drop the princess off at the vet and go meet my nephew, sing happy birthday and congratulate the new parents, and then pick the princess up on the way home with my heart just full of joy and that alone would make Gracie feel good.  That was the plan anyway.

It ended up more like this....

We wake up to take Gracie to the vet only to find out the car had been broken into.  Fortunately for us they did not steal anything as we know better than to leave valuables in the car and THANK HEAVENS they did not break the window.  They pushed it down actually.  Weird.  Well, they took tools out of the trunk but they may have been worth about $10.  Boooo. 

Then we take the princess in and according the vet staff she was just perfect other than the fact that one of the nurses threw her back out trying to lift my delicate flower of a dog onto the table.  Gracie did seem to feel bad about that but of course she moved on.  Big sigh there too.

So, we are now at the hospital and waiting for the arrival of Baby Allen.  He totally takes his time and it wouldn't be long before the vet calls to let us know that Gracie was out of surgery, doing well and can go home.  Well we are about 20 minutes from the vet and from there another 20 minutes from our house and it was about 4 pm.  We pick her up, take her home and soon to be GRANDMOTHER calls to let us know Allen is making his debut... 

We race back to the hospital that is in an entirely different city (Sugar Land) and meet Mr Daniel Allen Holland (he'll go by Allen). 

It was about that time I overheard the family discussing my father and that he was fine and in the ER.. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?

I asked my mom what was wrong with my Dad and WHY WAS HE IN THE ER?!?!?!  The answer was that apparently he decided to have a heart attack on my nephews birthday.  Nice job Dad.  So I race to the ER still a blubbering mess from the happy tears of meeting Baby Allen and now I'm crying as I'm flipped out thinking my dad was on the brink of death in some ER Room. 

Okay, this is where I took a deep breath and readied myself for what I was about to see.  Get this...  My dad was in a bed, hooked up to every box that bleeped and beeped along with a very becoming clear oxygen tub across his top lip and just cussing up a storm.  He was so angry that he was there and had not met his grandson yet that my two brothers were doing what they could to calm the old man down.  Even the nurse gave him a pink beany baby bunny as a peace offering.  Notice it in the pictures below now in baby Allen's crib. 

So, the actual story was that Dad had severe gas though his EKG indicated that some time in the past he had experienced mile heart failure so now he's shopping for a cardiologist (his words)... 

Well, I'm obviously in emotional overdrive at this point and then I hear my other brother and his pregnant wife discussing her contractions (she's had a bit of a difficult pregnancy and should have been on bed rest though she wasn't going to miss Allen's birthday either.  Another deep breath I took and calmly explained that I'll take care of the bed's and roll a third one into the new mom's room between her and my Dad.  They both explained that it was okay.  Thank goodness because I'm truly not sure if I would have been able to take that one.  So many emotions in such a short time was proving to be a bit difficult for me. 

Well, Baby number two though did not take long.  Miss Peyton Elizabeth Holland was born the following Monday.  I'm so happy that I literally have been a blubbering idiot since October 3rd when my baby dog had surgery, my nephew was born, my dad had a "heart attack" and now my niece....  What a past couple of weeks....  Pictures to follow..  I'd like to introduce to you my handsome nephew and my beautiful niece.  And if you read to this point, thanks for sticking it out and making it this far..  lol...   :D :D

I just read a comment you wrote stating that Lamb isn't good to feed over a long period of time.  I'm feeding Gracie, Rosco and Tonka Canidae lamb and rice formula.  Should I switch the type (not the brand cause I'm happy with Canidae) of formula and if so, why?  I don't want to feed them an ingredient that over time will cause harm or isn't as beneficial as something else.

Suzanne, my neighbor has a 6 month old (what we think is a berner/rotti mix) has a limp that the vet originally though was Panosteitis but know is not sure.  He's been prescribed metacam and cage rest for one month with mixed results.  It appears to get better and then the limp is back.  She works at a Vet Clinic and Vets who have had pets with this condition has said to her that this is not corresponding to the symptoms.  Does anyone have any experience or recommendation s that we can give her to try to help her and her vet diagnose and help this baby?  X-rays have been taken and nothing has been found yet.  HELP PLEASE...