Gots The Shivers

We've recently had a few days that have been unseasonably cool lately, that is instead of the mid 90's, the high has been in the mid 70's.  When I was gone for a few hours and got home, Rowdy greeted me in the usual fashion, but I was surprised to notice that he was shivering.  Feeling of his extremities, I fount they were cold with very little body heat.  He must have been inactive for that part of the day and got cold.  I just held him in my arms to warm him up and gave him the 'Awh Poor Doggie' chant, as I felt the shivers slowly subside.

Crafty Little Butt!

At the beginning of this blog I told how Rowdy was a stray that showed up on the farm.  Well the farm was his home for several months before I decided to take him, so he knows it well.

About a month and a half ago, when I was bringing my mother home from a weekend visit down to Sarah's and Wrigley's, we were about a quarter mile from the farm and Rowdy started getting excited.  He was in the back seat this time and he got up on the door panel to look out.  Well, he hit the window button with his paw, rolled the window down and stuck his head out.  It was hilarious to see him roll that window down, like a little kid arriving at an amusement park, who cant wait to ride the rides.  When we pulled up to the house, he had to wait for us to open the door, but he was out in a flash, exploring his old stomping grounds!

Another Damn Trip To The Vet

After taking Rowdy to the Vet last week, I had to take him again this Saturday.  He kept us up half the night acting like he was choking.  We were all in bed and he got up and ran down to the back door.  I got up and went down to let him out, because he was scratching frantically at the glass and whining. 

Thinking he really had to go, or possibly throw up, instead he tore out into the yard and started chomping on grass.  After a minute he came back to the door and upchucked a little of the grass he ingested and waited at the door panting, gulping and slobbering. 

I let him in and he immediately started begging up against me as to say, 'Help Me, Daddy!'  I tried to check his throat and petted him till he calmed down some and after the gulping slowed considerably, we tried to go back to bed.  Shortly we were back up with him making more choking and hacking noises and I finally shoved my finger down his throat to see if I could feel anything.  Though I did feel something, the vet said it was probably part of his larynx.  But after I did that, he finally calmed down enough for all of us to get a little sleep at 3AM.

The next morning I observed him for a while and when he started feeling really hot and obviously not feeling well, we took him to the Vet and they x-rayed him and checked his throat.  There were no obstructions in his throat or stomach, but there was some redness and irritation back in his throat to indicate that there may have been something lodged there for a while.  The Vet gave him some Prednisone for the inflammation and some Sucralfate to settle his stomach.  Though tired, he seems to be back to normal right now!    

Might Have Got Poisned!?!?

Last Wednesday, Rowdy was exposed to rat poison, antifreeze and brush killer, none in any large quantity, neither was he seen ingesting any of the substances.  Thursday evening, he threw up his entire dinner just after eating it.  That in itself did not indicate a potential poisoning, because he has thrown up several times in the past and I could chock it up to an upset stomach.  But, shortly after that, there was a spot of fresh blood on the floor, so I checked his mouth and his gums had been bleeding.

I took him to the Vet first thing Friday morning and he did a full blood work up, which showed everything to be normal and in good ranges.  Mainly he wanted to check for his liver and kidney count, because each one would indicate if he ingested either antifreeze or brush killer.  I don't remember which is which without looking it up, but those are the indicators and both were normal.  His exam showed nothing wrong, but the bleeding gums that I reported to him, was of concern and is an indicator of poisoning, possibly the rat poison.  If Rowdy ingested any of it, it would have been a small amount because the bait trap was still pretty full.  The Vet gave him a vitamin K shot and some vitamin K pills for him to take, to counteract the poison if in fact he ate some of it.

The rat poison has been dealt with, so he won't be exposed to that again.  Usually he is not around when I am spraying the brush killer and I will take extra precautions, if I should have him with me when I need to spray the next time.  The antifreeze exposure would have come from leaking tractors and rain runoff at an auction site that I took him too when it rained that day.  His exposure would have been limited and diluted.  I tried to keep him from drinking the ground water and provided my own water for him, but my eyes were not on him 100% of the time.

Crisis averted!

Google Sucks

This rant is not about Rowdy, but about the way Google wants to link accounts and why I haven't made very many posts for a while!

Because Google downloads cookies that automatically tries to link accounts, it makes it difficult to go from one Google owned site to another.  Between Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, Yahoo email and Google email, I have different usernames and accounts.  I DO NOT want to link the accounts with one another and wish to keep them separate.  And when I log-out the wrong username for that site and log-in with the correct one, Google's cookies change all of my log-ins to that one and now I have to go through the process over and over again, sometimes with difficulity!

I don't mind Google offering a link to link sites together, if other people wish to do that, but I don't want them to assume that I want to do that and automatically do it.  If I wish to link an account with another or provide a link in my blog, that's my business, not Google's. 

So, even though I have had some interesting and funny things to post about Rowdy, they have gone unposted, thanks to Google!

My message to Google; How about you keep things simple and stay out of other peoples business!

Daddy, Your Home!

One of the cutest thing Rowdy does is when I am gone all day and come home.  He comes at me, all whining and happy to see me and stands on his hind legs with his front paws stretched out like he wants to hug me.  It sort of reminds me of a little boy who comes running to his father to hug him when he comes home, excitedly saying, 'Daddy!"

The Sign Monster

Recently we have been going on regular walks and since they widened the highway in front of our neighborhood, they put in a nice wide sidewalk along each side.  On one side of the road, there is a large sign for the Visitors Center, that is a sort of lighthouse with a lighted banner across the upper middle of it.  It sort of looks like a giant with his arms out to his side, resting his hands on his hips.

Well, we have been walking past that sign on the opposite side of the road for weeks, but one day all the sudden, Rowdy stops and started barking at it.  It must have scared him because he barked and peed on the side walk.  For several days he shied away from it when we went past.  He would try to position himself behind me as we past it, putting me between him and it.  I finally took him across the highway several times and drug him up to it, till he finally got desensitized to it and it no longer bothers him.  Silly dog!