Ask your Diabetic Dog: Got Water?

Bucket-headed dog (Photo credit: Paul Kidd)

It's kind of strange to feature this topic in winter, but WebMd has an article on how much water dogs need.  After I read it, I realized that I often did not pay attention to how much Tony drank; in fact, thanks to the other two dogs in the house, it would have been hard to keep track.  What I'm thinking now is that I should have made a greater effort.  Those of you who followed Tony's story from the start may remember that my first inkling that he had diabetes was his frequent urination.  However, I never thought about keeping some kind of track of his water consumption before that.  If I had, I might have noticed the problem earlier and avoided some of his later issues.

Here's the basic requirement, according to the article:
 

 "A good rule of thumb: Make sure your dog gets at least 1 ounce of water daily for each pound he weighs. That means a 20-pound dog needs at least 20 ounces of water every day. That's more than 2 cups, or as much as in some bottles of water or soda.

To help you keep track of how much water your dog drinks, make a note of how high you fill his water bowl and how far the level has dropped the next day."

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Sushi the Shih Tzu- A Fictional Diabetic Dog

English: Shih Tzu (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

About this time of year I start looking for novels to add to the Christmas shelf on my Nook, and I picked up Antiques Slay Ride by Barbara Allan the other day.  It's a 99-cent short story ebook, and it's part of an ongoing series.  I can't vouch for the other entries in the series, except to say that Sushi, a diabetic and blind Shih Tzu is one of the recurring characters.  It left me wanting more Sushi, which is how I usually feel anyway. 

Anyway, it's not great art, but it's about time that somebody thought of including a diabetic dog in a story.  If nothing else, it raises awareness, not just about diabetes, but also about daily life in this situation.  My one caveat about Sushi's treatment in the story is that her owner seems rather cavalier about giving her treats -- as you know, not a good idea with a diabetic dog.

I'm putting up a list of other Christmas stories I've enjoyed, in the box on the right.  I hope your holidays are everything you want them to be.

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When to think about changing vets

cool dog (Photo credit: ּα)

There was an interesting article on PawNation yesterday, titled "5 Things your Vet Should Never Say to You."   Although the 5 things are pretty significant negatives, I often wonder why people will stick with vets they simply don't like (or whatever more or less serious feelings they have for their vet).  Would you keep your own doctor if you felt that way?  I think I've written before about this, a long time ago, because this happened to me.  The first vet I took Tony to was recommended by my brother in law, and her office was very close to home.  However, when she came into the examining room, Tony started to shake (he never did this again  -- the vets who saw him later often commented on how calm he was), and she seemed to take an instant dislike to him as well.  Now, it may just have been a bad day for her, but the impression I got was that she just didn't care for small dogs.  She failed my first test, in fact.  Every person I ever saw encounter my pal for the first time smiled right away, and most immediately began to go on about how cute he was.  I'm not saying she was evil or anything, but it just didn't seem . . . well, right.  I started to tense up myself.  And, we didn't go back.
At any rate, it's something to think about.  

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Puppy (and Dog) Pill Problems?

Picture credit DogChannel.com

Our friends at WebMD's Healthy Pets page have a newish article that every dog owner should read, "How to Give Medications to Dogs."  Believe it or not, many people give up on their dogs because of this very issue (or so I have been told by several vets and vet assistants).  In my case, I had a lot of problems in this area when it came to pills but, surprisingly, none at all when it came to injections.  Tony hated pills of any kind, and I was hard pressed to find new ways to get them into him.  His nose always told him when a pill was hiding in a bit of food, and the only solution was to put them in more and more exciting (i.e., normally forbidden) kinds of food.  This went on for a while until I discussed it with his vet, who told me that he was not getting any time-delayed pills and so I could crush them and add them to his nightly tablespoon of nonfat plain yogurt.  This worked great!

My brother Eric, who gave Tony to me, told me that I should have been sticking my fingers in Tony's mouth on a daily basis from the day he came to live with me in order to get him used to me doing that.  Unfortunately, he told me this three years too late.  By that time Tony had gotten pretty protective of his mouth, and even though his teeth were small, I was not eager enough to start putting my fingers in there.  Eric's a behavioral psychologist, and he has been known to get animals to do some pretty weird stuff on command, so I'm sure he's right about the mouth thing, and I KNOW that putting the pills in the mouth is the very best way to do it, but I started too late and was too chicken for that method.  My advice:  it's the same as Eric's.  When you get a new puppy, check its mouth out as often as possible.  It will probably pay off down the line.

The one quibble I have with WebMD's advice on injections is that two different vets told me NOT to use alcohol on Tony's skin before giving him his twice-daily insulin shots.  I really don't remember the reason they gave for this, but I do know that there was never a problem with his injection sites, no infections or even irritations.  So, as always, go by what your vet says (and if you don't like what the vet says, get a second opinion-- you'd do that for your own health, wouldn't you?).

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Dog Flu and Harbor Seals

These Mature Harbor Seals on the beach are apparently healthy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One source I haven't mentioned before is Mypet.com, mostly because it's run by Merck, which is a major player in BigPharma, if you know what I mean.  The bottom line is that the site is there to sell you on their products, but that doesn't mean that they are automatically wrong, just that you have to consider their goals as well as your own.  So, keeping that in mind, I just got an email from them about dog flu (several viruses, including H3N8).  They want people to vaccinate their dogs against dog flu (which is not -- so far-- transferable to humans), and they have a point, especially if your dog comes into contact with other dogs, or if your dog has a chronic health issue (like diabetes, for example) that would make a bout of the flu more hazardous than it would be for a healthy dog.  Their dog flu page is very cute, with a puppet video.  However, if you want to know more, you have to leave the site for another Merck page.

Not surprisingly, WebMd has information on H3N8, which you may have heard referred to as bird flu.  Horses and seals are also susceptible to it, and it can kill.  A WebMd Health News article reports that "Over a four-month period beginning last September [2011], 162 harbor seals were found dead or dying along the coast of New England" from H3N8.  Makes you want to get your dog vaccinated, doesn't it?     

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Dogs: Don't Eat This!

A double whammy for dogs:  Chocolate-covered macadamia nuts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I thought I had a good handle on people foods that are toxic for dogs, but WebMD alerted me to a few that I had never heard of in this context, including avocados and animal fat.  Best of all, they tell you precisely why these foods are "Dangerous for Dogs." Avocados (persea Americana) contain persin, which is toxic for dogs, and animal fat -- cooked or raw-- can cause pancreatitis.  So, it's worth a look.  Strangely enough, the theobromine in chocolate that is toxic for dogs is also toxic for humans, but we would have to eat quite a bit at one time (the figure I've read on this is 25 lbs!) to be poisoned.

I think I've mentioned before that I was horrified to learn (some years ago) that the macadamia nuts I occasionally shared with Tony, my Pomeranian, before he gained weight, which led to his diabetes, were extremely toxic for dogs.  He never had many, but he was really crazy about them.  Which suggests that if you have any, keep them where the dog can't get at them.

What am I saying?!!  You've probably already got them in a secret hiding place to keep them from your greedy loved ones.

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The Dangers of Ask-a-Vet Websites

Veterinarian (Photo credit: Army Medicine)

As always, I am on the alert for issues concerning pet health, and I've come across one that I haven't seen before.  DogChannel.com has an interesting and thorough article about the pitfalls of ask-a-vet websites (which are becoming numerous, with many charging for their services).  Nikki Moustaki, a well-known writer on dogs, examined a bunch of these sites, interviewed a few REAL veterinarians (some of the sites in question don't actually have vets on hand, just "experts") about them, and found some fairly troubling issues.  The one that I think is a dead giveaway is that some of them carry the disclaimer that the website and its advice are "for entertainment purposes only."  Yeah, I'm sure sick dogs are entertaining . . . to some sick people.

The bottom line is that if you are worried enough to be willing to pay for veterinary advice over the web, you are certainly worried enough that you should take the dog to his or her regular vet, the one who has seen the dog year after year and has records of previous exams.  Don't take chances.

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A High-Risk Breed



Hans on St. Vrain Trail, Colorado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just received the WebMD Healthy Dogs newsletter, and there is an item of particular interest.  They have a slideshow of the health issues associated with the 25 most popular breeds.  According to them, the Miniature Schnauzer is prone to diabetes (the problem they cite for Pomeranians is hair loss, which my Tony did not experience until his cancer was very advanced).  At any rate, if you have a Miniature Schnauzer, keep an eye out for symptoms like excessive drinking and urination, and make sure he or she eats right and gets plenty of exercise.  Of course, that's good advice for any breed!
I've got a couple of videos listed below with these very cute dogs performing tricks, and the first thing that struck me when I saw them was the rewards they received.  I hope the humans are keeping track of how many treats they're getting.

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Who would name a dog "Mr. Smith"?

Image via WikipediaYou'd be surprised.  You might also be surprised that many of the names people find too silly or stupid are actually BAD for the dog (I'm not talking about names like Lucky, which seems to be cursed):  there's a scientific explanation, which you can read about at WebMD's pet pages.  It turns out that consonants count, according to Roxanne Hawn, because "Certain consonants (k, p, d) create broadband sounds with more energy across sound frequencies that get a pet’s attention. These sounds activate more audio receptors in the brain."  How about that? 

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It's too darn hot

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWe're in the dog days now, so it's a good time to review hot weather dangers for our dogs, and WebMd's animal section has a good article on it.  Excessive heat is often a serious problem for diabetic dogs because of their special hydration issues, so we need to pay closer attention to our pets' drinking habits and monitor their time outside.
My sister's larger Great Pyrenees, Doc, was clipped close for the summer in early June and doesn't seem to be having too many problems this year, though his fur seems to be growing back a lot faster than it should.  Not all fluffy dogs should be clipped, however, so you need to check with your vet before jumping on the bandwagon.

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Blood Sugar Monitoring

Image via Wikipedia

Got an email the other day about monitoring a dog's blood sugar.  I've mentioned before that my brother Eric monitored his dog's blood sugar, while I didn't.  Tony had regular blood sugar curves done, and they were always consistent after the first couple of months.  Eric's dog Lucky (always a bad choice for a dog name), however, was almost always out of control in that area.  Eric had several things going for him that I didn't:  at the time, he himself was diabetic (he isn't anymore, thanks to some pretty serious lifestyle changes), so he was hyperaware of everything connected with that; Lucky was a BIG Labrador retriever, which made it easier to draw the tiny bit of blood needed for the test (trying to do this without help to a Pomeranian ain't easy; you can't ever get the right grip); and, Eric is a behavioral psychologist with tons of experience with animals and many medical procedures.
At any rate, if it had been necessary to test Tony's sugar, I would have found a method of getting the blood, and it would have become routine in a hurry-- that's just the way it is.  If your vet tells you to do this, DO IT.  Like giving the insulin injections, you'll get better with practice over time, and you'll definitely get better control over your dog's diabetes.  There's a veterinarian's discussion of this at Pet Place; it's a basic explanation that should give you enough information to ask your vet the right questions.

Incidentally, there's something new and exciting in the monitoring pipeline for humans, which should eventually work itself into veterinary applications.  See the article below.

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So, what about that Dog College?

Well, I said I would talk about DogChannel.com's Dog College, and I'm finally getting around to it.  They offer three courses a month.  I completed the Nutrition exam (a very high score, if I do say so myself), but I seem to be wiping out at Physiology (I only got the order in which a dog's feet move by waking up Gus and watching him).  It's my own fault.  I tried to jump ahead and take the exam too soon.  I think my students are starting to rub off on me.  In any event, it was interesting to read about how dogs move, and the quiz confirmed my impression that my short-term memory is going to hell.

The last course for this "term" is Communication.  The article, in my opinion, is thorough and informative (one commenter-- who gave the impression that she was not terribly bright -- really disparaged it, while a number of dog trainers who commented were extremely positive).  Everything in the article tallied with my own experience, so I'm giving it my approval.  There is an interesting discussion of wolf behavior in contrast with dog behavior, so I'm going to recommend this to my brother in law, who is convinced that his dogs are much closer to their wolf ancestors than they are.

Now that I've finished this term, I'm looking forward to the next set of courses (and hoping that they get into preventive care for your dog).

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Want to know more about dogs?

As time goes on, more and more websites devoted to dogs and other pets are popping up, some with more valuable content than others.  I have hopes for Dog Channel.com's "Dog College," which appears to be both an informational service and a contest.  You have to join Club Dog in order to participate, but it's open to everyone 13 and over, and free.  The prizes are provided by Petco.  It runs three months, and you get a diploma for finishing, plus reward points.  There is also a special prize for the "valedictorian," which consists of a year's worth of Iams food and 5000 Club Dog points.

I'll take a look at their offerings in my next post.  I expect this to be good, since Dog Channel.com is owned by Bow-Tie, Inc., the company that publishes Dog Fancy magazine (fyi, the website has a lot of the things I enjoy in the magazine, like local directories, for just one example, so it's worth visiting).  I've always loved the retriever (I think) puppy in the Dog Channel logo:  he has a wonderful expression on his face that makes me feel that I can trust these folks, however irrational that effect might be.  We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, there are three interesting items about Petco in the news.  They have a new initiative that is perfect for an Earth Day (today) post, and they are also assisting food banks, according to the New York Times.  However, they are also under fire for selling female guinea pigs (helping to cause an overpopulation problem).  Well, you can't please everyone.

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Dogs with Flu, Cats and Ferrets, too!

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, dogs get the flu!  By now you've probably heard or read the reports of pets getting H1N1 (the first one I saw was around Christmas).  It seems that they are catching it from their owners.  And, it's not just dogs.  Cats and ferrets have gotten H1N1, as well.
From what I've seen, there needs to be some educational efforts made about this danger.  We're being inundated with instructions on how to wash our hands and other common sense disease-prevention practices, but the information we really need is not being spread around.  When you wake up feeling crummy, how do you tell whether it's even serious enough to see a physician in the first place?  If you find out you actually have the flu, do you know how to protect your dog from it?  What symptoms should you watch for?

And that's not all.  I think most pet owners are familiar with the idea of zoonotic diseases-- that is, diseases humans can get from their pets.  Vets certainly have enough pamphlets on this in their offices.  But we don't think about the possibilities of infecting our pets, who just love to lick our hands whenever possible.  We also don't stay current with animal versions of everyday human illnesses, such as influenza that they can get that is not the same as any flu that hits humans.  To make a good start, I think that every pet owner should visit the Center for Disease Control's website on canine influenza, especially people whose pets are often in contact with other animals (my brother-in-law belongs to a group that meets regularly at our local dog park, for example, and it's a busy place).  There is a vaccine for canine influenza (this is the H3N8 strain).

When you have a pet with a chronic illness (a dog with diabetes, perhaps?), even mild infections can become serious in a hurry.  The best advice I was ever given came very soon after Tony was diagnosed with diabetes.  Oddly enough, it came from one of my students, who had a part-time job at an animal clinic.  She told me that after she had gotten a puppy, she picked the brains of everyone at the clinic on every topic that occurred to her.  One of the senior vet techs told her that she should set aside a little time each week to give the dog a little massage and "examination" to have a way to tell if something had changed.  From that point on, I did that, and caught several problems early on.  Of course I totally missed a few serious problems that either came on suddenly or were not really visible.

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A miscellany for a cloudy day

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

First of all, considering the situation in Haiti, I can't urge you strongly enough to go to thehungersite.com and click on the "click to give" box, and then do the same at The Animal Rescue Site (use the tab at the top of the Hunger Site page, or click on the icon to the right of this page).  Your clicks produce funds for both causes -- the advertisers' money goes directly to help.  It's free, but if you can afford to make a donation you'll find all the information you need to do so.

When I was looking for information to help Tony fight his cancer, I missed a terrific resource, and I'm sort of appalled at myself, since it's part of Dogtime.  Go to http://dogtime.com/canine-cancer.html for a wealth of information on all kinds of canine cancer.  They also have articles on canine diabetes.

Yesterday was my first day back to work after the semester break, and I was very surprised when a colleague asked me if I had gotten a new dog yet.  In fact, I think my jaw dropped for a moment.  I've already decided that I want to wait until I'm in a better financial position.  It's going to take a while to recover from the costs of Tony's last year. 

Speaking of which, every time my four-year-old niece has visited since Tony died she has asked where he is.  Each time this has happened, I've explained things to her.  However, she was over the day before yesterday, and I finally realized what was going on.  This time she asked in front of her father, who asked her, "Where do you think he is, Caroline?"  She thought for a moment, then she said that Tony was with Bogie and Grandpa, meaning that he was in heaven.  Alex said, "that's right."  She seemed satisfied; what she was trying to do, I guess, was to get confirmation of this idea.  We'll see if she asks again next time she's over.

Dogs acting weird

It's been a week since Tony started getting the new food, Royal Canin Urinary SO. I was not impressed when I opened the can. SO (I don't want to keep typing "Urinary"-- kind of a gross name for something edible, isn't it?) is very dense and dry, which surprised me. The Lamaderm Tony usually eats is much looser and wetter, and I guess I expected the SO to be about the same, but it's so dry and solid that you really have to work to break it up. I started by mixing about 2 teaspoons worth into a slightly smaller than usual amount of Lamaderm, added the usual teaspoonful of cooked chopped broccoli (Tony loves this, and it does not produce oxalic acid, thank goodness), and set it in front of him. I'd like to say that he was intrigued by the new addition, but no, he was in one of his moods, and refused to look at the bowl. He does this once or twice a week, just to keep me on my toes, I guess, but I was in a kind of anticipatory frenzy over this, so, instead of ignoring his behavior, I followed him around for a bit, tapping my fingernail on the bowl and chanting, "Eat! Eat! Eat!"
After a few minutes of this, he went into his favorite corner, yawned, and -- very ostentatiously -- went to sleep. My family started drifting into the room, each asking about dinner. I'm now thinking about adding a sock-puppet component to my coaxing ritual.

As usual, after an hour or so of concentrated spurning, Tony deigned to stroll over for a taste, and apparently found it to be acceptable. What a relief! I'm sure I've mentioned that he (like all dogs) refuses to eat at all every so often, and I was really keyed up over the potential effects of the SO. I was so hyped about it, in fact, that on my way back from picking up the food at the vet's, I stopped at a Petco and bought a "Male Incontinence Wrap." It cost $22, which is an outrageous price for what is basically a strip of denim and vinyl with a Velcro closure. I did not buy any liner pads, because they were priced even more outrageously-- $17 for a pack of 12! My sister has been using one of these on the older of her two Great Pyrenees, and she uses Serenity pads (for humans), which are much cheaper, so I'm going that route. For the next couple of hours everyone was watching Tony, but there wasn't much of a payoff. He didn't start drinking copious amounts of water, didn't scratch at the door, no blood-sugar crash, nothing. In a way, it was encouraging, but it was too early to tell anything.

Then, a couple of days ago (he was up to a tablespoon of SO by then), he seemed to stop drinking altogether. I came home from work (I'm teaching an evening class this summer), and my mother told me that she hadn't seen him take a drink in the four hours I was gone, and he hadn't wanted to go outside either. Now we were all watching him, and she was right, he didn't seem to drink, and we had to take him outside, rather against his will. He was, however, sleeping a lot more than usual. What did that mean? Who the heck knows?! Dogs sometimes act weirdly. You try and try to figure them out, but in the end, you're just guessing, and you know it. My best guess is that he was drinking when we weren't looking, ditto for urinating-- it's a big yard, and you can't watch him every second. If he really wasn't drinking, he may have only been adjusting to the reverse-osmosis water that's now in the bowl. Or he may have been registering a complaint about that change. Whatever. Yesterday he was acting "normally" again.

All of this behavioral observation seems to feed my anxiety, so I'm trying to cut back a bit, but at the same time, I have to watch for problems. His latest appears to be stiffness in his right hind leg, which he gets now and then (he is pushing thirteen years old, after all), but it seems to be coming and going throughout the day. Meanwhile, the other dogs have their own problems. Gus's incontinence has expanded to include defecation accidents (this started at my brother-in-law's birthday party, oddly enough). He's always been a bit strange in that area anyway; he prefers to do it on concrete as a rule, on the patio or the deck around the pool. In a way, it makes it easier to clean up, but it's also kind of annoying. Doc is not a patio-pooper, but he does have a problem leg himself (hey, maybe Tony's just imitating him for the attention. Hmm.); he's had surgery on it, without much success. Lately he's been flopping down at odd intervals, but Steve, my sister's husband, says that he's just as lively as ever at the dog park.

We'll see.

A Three Dog Household

I have probably mentioned that there are other dogs here, but it's worth talking about in more detail, since there are problems connected with having other dogs living with your diabetic dog. In my case, the problem is exacerbated by the size of the other dogs and my dog's attitude issues. You guessed it: Tony has delusions of grandeur, mostly related to his conviction that he is the biggest, the toughest, the baaadest dog on the planet (or at least in the house). What's surprising is that the other dogs seem to buy into his domination fantasy, all the moreso since they are Great Pyrenees,
giants who were originally bred to protect flocks of sheep by fighting wolves. Doc (age 5, 130 pounds) and Gus (9 years old, getting skinny-- only 85 pounds) both let 11-pound Tony call the shots most of the time. When all three of them were younger, it wasn't unusual to see Tony jumping up to bite them in the throat (I had to pull wads of fur out of his teeth almost every day. Good times.). I kept thinking that someday Doc would walk in with Tony hanging off his neck like an earring, but that never materialized (a pity, since it would have been a heck of a picture). Nowadays he mostly just growls at them as needed. He still occasionally mounts them, which is pretty funny-- after a few seconds of this, the big dog will turn around and look to see what's going on back there. So much for making the big domination move, little guy.



He's still leader of the pack, however. When Tony was first diagnosed with diabetes, I worried that their dog games would be a problem. Before then, I mostly worried about one of them stepping on him -- their feet are bigger than his head-- but he would get a scratch from time to time as he tried to show them who was boss. Now that he could be expected to have trouble healing, I had something new to worry about. Luckily, he hasn't been scratched or stepped on in the last three years, so my fears haven't panned out. Gus and Doc still want to sniff him all the time, which he usually does not permit, although he likes to play "dog vet" with them, sniffing them from one end to the other until he's sure they're not coming down with some dread disease. They stand stock-still when he does this, and they don't relax until he walks away (actually, he kind of swaggers). Tony's cataracts (a common side effect of diabetes) have been getting worse, but his vision impairment hasn't been as much of a problem with the boys as it has been with the humans, who are used to Tony getting out of their way rather than the other way around.

Most of the problems we've had have had to do with food. Doc eats a lot, where Gus is very picky, but neither is what you might call a dainty eater. Tony has been in the habit of batting cleanup after their meal, and it's sometimes hard to stop this. When he was first diagnosed, my sister found a couple of plant stands for Gus and Doc's food bowls, which turned out to be a perfect height for all of them. They're over Tony's head, but easy and more comfortable for the Pyrs. When it comes to treats, however, all bets are off. My mother was in the habit of giving Tony treats whenever he seemed to want one (a classic grandmother!). She still does this with the other two, but now she lets me know if she's given Tony anything, and her contributions to his diet tend to be things like the last bit of scrambled Egg Beaters on her plate; in other words, protein. She doesn't do it often, thankfully. Dealing with the treats is tough for me, too. It's so sad when the big dogs are being showered with rawhides or whatever, and the Pomeranian can't share in the fun. It would be easier if Tony liked toys, but he rarely plays with them.

If your dog is in frequent contact with other, non-diabetic dogs, you will probably find that the most difficult thing is getting the people of the other dogs to cooperate. They may need continual education and reminders about how their actions affect your dog, and after a while, this becomes tedious for both parties. I can't help you there. One of my housemates has memory issues, yet he becomes upset if you remind him (or if you don't remind him, for that matter). Your best bet is to establish as rigid a routine as you can, so that it becomes second nature for everyone in the household, not just you and your dog.

I'll leave this here for now, but I expect to revisit it from time to time. Right now, Tony still hasn't eaten, and I need to shop for our 4th of July celebration.

C'mon and eat, for crying out loud!

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Tony had the staples from his surgery out yesterday, and, unfortunately that was the high point of our day. It started when he turned up his nose at his food. All dogs spurn their food now and then, but when the dog is diabetic, it causes problems. Our appointment was at 11:45, and he still hadn't eaten by the time we were to leave. This meant that it would be at least an hour and a half before he could eat and have his shot. I tried everything I could think of, but he just wasn't interested. In the past, he has occasionally not eaten in the morning at all, and it seemed this was one of those days. It was frustrating for me, though, since I knew that the vet visit was going to put some added stress on him, which can affect blood sugar. Even worse, the vet wanted to keep him for a few hours because she was having trouble getting a urine sample.

I was relieved when she called to say that I could pick him up (by this time it was 3PM-- a long time to go without food), and I figured that I could get him home by 4 and set him up with an early dinner. Alas, it was not to be.

It was a hot day, and I had been running errands while waiting for her call. When I went out to my car and started it, the oil light and electrical light both stayed on. AARGH! I checked the oil -- it was fine. I got out the manual, read up on both lights, decided that a. I couldn't do anything about this myself, and b. I couldn't drive the car without running the risk of ruining my engine. And things didn't get any better. My sister was going to drive me, so I needed to clean out Tony's carrier (he rides in a car seat in my car, but it couldn't fit on the back seat of her car). I discovered that my brother, who had borrowed the carrier a while back for a truly obnoxious Schipperke puppy he had at the time (the pup ate a huge hole in his kitchen linoleum, and that was just the tip of the iceberg), had forgotten to tell me that his chewing machine had been at work on the carrier. It was a mess. I washed it out, put it back together, and realized that I had to put the door in while it was apart. I had broken three nails getting it apart in the first place, and I was in a hurry, and I discovered that I couldn't get the clamps off again. AARGH! AARGH! (yes, that's a double AARGH). I'm ashamed to admit that I burst into hysterical tears.

The upshot of the whole deal was that my sister went by herself (with the car seat) and left me at home to recover (thanks, Leslie). After some sleep, I felt that I could maintain again. But he did it again! Right now, I'm typing this with his untouched bowl sitting next to me, it's 11:30, and he's taking a little nap. About an hour ago, I offered him a Liv-a-Snap (something he gets very rarely), hoping to "prime the pump," so to speak, but it was not to be.

Priming the pump actually works a lot of the time. It's as if the dog doesn't realize he's hungry, and a special treat reminds him. The problem with treats is that you're trying to control what he eats -- the carbs, the protein, and the fat -- and you really don't want to screw that up. When he won't eat, I sometimes think that he's holding out for the treat he gets after his shot (I use freeze-dried lamb lung slices for that; he doesn't get them at any other time, and they seem to be highly addictive). He hasn't quite gotten the idea that he can't have the shot and get the lamb lung unless he eats his food. And sometimes, it's as if he needs to make room for food: he wants to go out in the yard and empty the tanks before he eats. I thought he was doing that just now, but no such luck. He came back in, raring to go, sniffed at the food and walked away. It's pretty annoying, since I need to take the car in asap. Well, he'll eat or he won't. He's had enough disruptions to his routine the last few weeks to put anyone off eating, so I'm not going to panic. The bottom line, I guess, is that you have to be flexible, if you can.