Poops And Scoops

I ran across a wonderful artist who does pet portraits in the Kansas City area.  I have used her for holiday cards and things like that.  Please visit her websight at www.annemariehunter.com and check her out.  I am sure that you will find her work as great as I do.  She will come to your house and take photos of you and your pets so that you will have the memories forever.  I just love her.  There are several pet photographers in the Kansas City area but I will tell you she is my favorite. 

Till next time!

Sorry that it has been so long since I last blogged but I am asking for your help.  I introduced you to Moe, my very favorite Basset hound, and we have a trash problem.  He can’t stay out of it.  This is a common problem among the hound group so as usual I googled to see if there were any worthwhile solutions out there.  Most of the experts say keep the trash where he can’t get to it.  My problem is that I really don’t have anyplace for a trashcan.  We set it outside when we leave but this is going to attract animals.  I have also heard spray it with sour apple (we tried that with the furniture when Maggie chewed it but that is a different story) but that doesn’t work.  So I pose the question…..Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep dogs out of the trash? Ponder and let me know.

Till next time

Kate

I am sorry that we haven’t been updating the blog as we should however it has been a busy couple of weeks.  I hope all our poopers out there had a wonderful Memorial weekend.  Please make sure that we keep our poopers cool and out of the direct rays of the sun with plenty of water.  Summer has hit us hard the last few days and we want to make sure we keep our four legged friends healthy. 

One thing I have noticed is a large amount of ticks this season.  Keep up with you flea and tick treatment as these can cause the whole family some discomfort and sickness if they get out of hand.  There was an article in the New York Post, I think it was the post, that some of the flea and tick treatments can actually burn the skin of your dogs.  Please keep an eye out to make sure that you dogs are not having any bad reactions to the medications.  I always recommend using the traditional flea and tick treatments but if your dog is very sensitive to these there are some natural things you can do to help keep fleas and ticks away.  Feed your dog garlic!  It helps  you can also rub some garlic on them (just a little will do it).

Till Next time

Kate

Poops and Scoops

This week was busy.  We were dog sitting for two sweet little poopers, Jack and Clover.  Jack is a nice beagle, very calm by beagle standards, and Clover is a basset mutt mix, not calm by any standard.  Clover is up for adoption from Beagles and More rescue group.   I will get a link to there web page as soon as I can.  Please support your local rescue group.  There are some many dogs out there that need homes.  Clover is just a baby and the sweetest dog you will meet.  It is hard to get mad at her when she does bad puppy behavior  because she just loves on you and gets so excited over tummy rubs and scratches.  She really is a great dog. 

Four dogs is a lot of dogs in the house.  A little wondrous thing that saved my carpets is an invention called the Paw Plunger.  Google it you won’t be sorry.  You just stick their little paws in and the brushes that remove the mud.  Its genius.  If you have dogs with muddy paws this is the best thing ever.  It might take them a little while to get use to it.  My dogs don’t even fight it they just let me plunge them and then they get a treat. 

Till next week!

Kate

Well, what a week it has been.  I was going to do the Dog Blog on fleas and ticks this week but an interesting thing happened to Moe this week.  It was Thursday night and about 2:00 in the morning (Ok Technically it was Friday morning but you know what I mean) and I awoke to Moe crying.  This is not an unusual thing so I get up and walk around the bed, thinking he has to go Potty, only to step in a slimy pile of something.  I love it when that happens.  I flip on the light, my husband sleeping through all of this, to find 10 piles of dog vomit.  Now, Moe is a puker.  He throws up a lot.  This was over the top even for him.  I go out into the kitchen and found that he has consumed three Dieffenbachia leaves off my plant.    I know that this is toxic to dogs but I am not sure how toxic they are.  I put him outside and start cleaning up the piles trying to figure out what to do.  He didn’t look like he was on his death bed he was just vomiting over, and over, and over, and over again.  My poor baby.   I awoke my husband to go and check on my little guy and make sure he was ok and I got on Google and started the research.  

 Meanwhile I called the Lee’s Summit Emergency Animal Hospital to see what they recommended.  They informed me that it would cause him to vomit and get diarrhea and to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t get dehydrated and wasn’t getting worse.  I hung up feeling a little better but did find out that some dogs (and children) can have a severe reaction to this plant.  It can cause irritation and swell the dog’s membrane tissues and tongue to the point of possible suffocation. 

Moe is doing fine.  It was a long night of vomit and wining with momma Kate up all night making sure he was as comfortable as he could be and not in any danger of suffocation or dehydration.  The next day he was a little sluggish and not to hungry.  Soon he was his old self getting into the trash and eating not just his food but our good dog Maggie’s food (I am sure we will blog about her in the near future).

Here are some helpful links.

ASPCA animal poison control                    http://www.aspca.org/

Animal Emergency & Referral Hospital
3495 NE Ralph Powell Rd.
Lee’s Summit, Missouri
816-554-4990
1-888-394-2831
Fax 816-524-2973
www.aerh-kc.com

Welcome to the Poops and Scoops blog. A new thing for me because I have never had a blog but hope that you enjoy my weekly update of comical dog and poop stories (more dog than poop I promise). Some of them might not be funny but I do try.

First let me introduce you to Moe, my Basset Hound. You can see a photo of him on the website. We got Moe as a puppy a cute six week old floppy eared precious puppy. We wanted a little less active dog because we are busy people, so we choose the Basset because it isn’t exactly a speed demon of a dog. I had no idea what I was in store for. Moe is the most stubborn dog I know. I swear he thought his name was No Moe, Get out of there Moe, What do you have in you mouth Moe, Come here you little #!^&(%^&$ …… That was the first three years, two cell phone, $150 in steaks and hot dogs, two picture frames, I don’t even know how many socks, and one set of purple sheets later (this is the short list we don’t have time to name it all.) Today we have a fairly well behaved but vocal 5 year old basset who really does run the house, don’t tell Cesar the dog whisperer. Moe has a couple of high maintenance little quirk you will here about over time but today I will tell you about the Skin problem. Moe is allergic to everything. Plastic, who has ever heard of a dog allergic to plastic, metal, and whatever else is in the yard like grass. We have come across some things that have help us keep the $250.00 a pop vet bills down. He is prescribed an antihistamine (benadryl) that does help keep him comfortable. Consult your vet before giving your pet anything. We have switched him to glass bowls. If you notice that your dog has little pimple type bumps around his mouth or if you have a collar that makes him beat red you might have a dog allergic to plastic. I think all dogs should have a collar on at all times. You never know when they are going to try to make a run for it and we all want our pooches brought back to us safe and sound. A collar is the cheapest and fastest way to say I belong to….. If you have a dog that is allergic to everything one you can still keep a collar on him. Moe is allergic to metal so he usually can stand the buckle but not the tags, I have come up with a little knitted pouch that I slip over his tags and just tie off so that we don’t have a dog bleeding at the chest. It is washable and easy to make. If you are interested in one let me know and I will whip you up one …. for a fee of course. It also allows Moe’s tags not to make noiseand therefore easier for him to get into the trash for a tasty treat without us knowing. There are several shampoos out on the market that help with the allergies, non of them help Moe because that would just be to easy so we are prescribed a shampoo that we wash him with and then have to keep him in the bathtub for 5 minutes to sit on his skin. This is a hard thing to do when you have a cold and not so happy 55 pound Basset hound that just wants to curl up all wet in your bed and take a little nap. This seems to help as well. Allergy’s can also effect the ears so if you have a dog with ear problems keep up with the cleanings and keep a good eye on them. If they are shaking there head a lot or rubbing there ears on your carpet they might have an ear infection, then you do have to take them into the vet because what is worse than a mischievous Basset is a deaf mischievous Basset. If you can catch the allergy’s quickly they are much easier to handle. So keep an eye on your pups. We will talk about Maggie my chewing mutt next time.

I hope my first blog has not been to boring. If you have any funny dog stories or DOG poop stories, yes I really have to tell people that, let me know. We always love a cute dog story. We will be starting a Pooper of the month. It is a very prestigious title that comes with really nothing, sorry.

Till next time,

Kate