Filed under: animals, border collies, dogs, love, pets | Tags: animals, border collies, dogs, life, love, pets, valley fever
pickles has been my healthy girl. my cheapie, so to speak. from border collie rescue, for the most part she has cost no more than routine exams with clean bills of health, holistic pet food and an occasional supplement for a healthy coat. while cody bear has averaged $2000-4000 annually in medical expenses it’s been relatively smooth sailing for the last couple years with miss pickles.
until 3 weeks ago when she became visibly lazy, slower and just looked….depressed. on 12/31 she was fine: perky at her annual exam. 100% healthy. weeks later she turned into a different dog. blood test which immediately showed a thyroid condition and something else. valley fever. the doctor said we found it early; it would probably be another month before she started showing physical symptoms of the illness.
my last border collie mix, loki, died of complications from valley fever in 2004. it was the worst thing that i have ever gone through. it was a hard battle we thought we would win and it was a terrible ending. and while every keeps telling me they know so many dogs that have survived VF…that’s fine. my dog died. all the stories of survival aren’t able to shake the trauma i went through when i lost loki.
we started pickles on her thyroid meds monday night. maybe i’m imagining it, but she seemed perkier yesterday morning. after confirming the VF with a second bloodtest, with fear and sadness i started pickles on fluconozole last night. the doctor is positive and i am a mess.
for years my hyper dogs have taken the sound of the morning alarm clock not as a signal to get up and run and play, but as a signal snuggle in tight for cuddling before starting the daily romping. this morning the clock buzzed, i shut it off and the dogs opened their eyes and then buried their muzzles into the covers and wagged, ready to receive their cuddles and kisses.
one dog on either side of me, they both rested their heads on me as i kissed their muzzles and scratched their bellies. pickles followed me around while i got ready for work, always getting a kiss on the head or a squeeze.
i can’t lose you pickles. i’ll die, i swear.
Filed under: animals, beer, border collies, canine, dogs, friends, life, pets | Tags: animals, beer, border collies, canine, dogs, friends, pets
let me just preface this by saying, no dogs were given alcohol while these events took place. or ever, actually.
ok! it was tuesday night and pickles decided to go to the bar with some of her friends from border collie meetup! so we went to pickles’ favorite local brewery. all 6 of us packed into rehmy’s landrover and headed to the bar to freeze on the patio!
you know pickles. here is ashleigh…
here is frank….checking out the menu and considering my mocha java stout…
the dogs did well, but as we usually do, after a couple beers we get a little silly and take turns making our dogs do tricks at the bar. they love it because they love treats and attention.
(last time we went out rehmy gave pickles have a sonoran hot dog. that is NEVER happening again. what a mess.)
we got really cold and decided to put the rovers back in the rover and head home. a fun time was had by all!
cody bear's friends 