Sleeping with Pets

This is really what happens when we sleep with the furkids.  I can attest to it!

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Eight

Dear Sugar,

Happy Birthday sweetheart!  You would have been 8 if you were still around with us.  Have fun galloping in the meadows with your newfound friends, and while you are at it, do pause and think of us.

Love Always,

Mummy

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The Belated Birthday Outing

The 2nd birthday in canine terms is quite a milestone simply because after the age of 2, a puppy is supposedly no longer a puppy.  Works out to be something like the age of 18 (in Western culture) or 21 (in Eastern culture) in general.  Because the hubby was out of town on her actual birthdate, we postponed Belle’s birthday celebration to a couple of days ago.  We had the grandest plan to bring the girls out swimming, and then bathing them after the swim.  Only that we didn’t factor in the weird weather conditions of late.  There were thunderstorms heard as we were just preparing to go out.  And in no time, the rain started pouring.  Disappointed (believe me, we were disappointed), we went back to sleep.  All 4 of us.

The weather improved by noon, but we were somewhat not in the mood to bring them for a swim anymore.  And so I drove off, with no fixed destination in mind when suddenly, I thought of visiting Lorong Halus Wetland.  We talked about visiting a long time back, but that conversation came to naught.

There is nothing really interesting about the Wetland, but we walked a little further, and saw an interesting bridge structure that connected the wetland to Punggol Promenade.  And that was about the time I realised I forgot to bring a proper camera.  No DSLR, no P&S.  So I had to rely on my iphone to serve as a camera.  And based on the quality of the pictures, I conclude that an iphone will never, ever take over the role of a proper camera.  Note to self: revert to the habit of always bringing a P&S around with you.

It didn’t matter where we were – the furkids were just glad to be with us, out of the house, exploring new territory.  Because it was mid-week, right smack in the afternoon, the park was almost deserted save for some workers and a pair of elderly lovebirds.  And a lunatic who growled at the furkids and scared the hell out of them.

It was the perfect place to try get a decent shot of the two furkids, except that Paris decided she wanted to be camera-shy again.  No amount of coaxing or scolding could make the both of them look into the camera, at the same time.  We gave up.  Whatever.  It was their walk, not ours.  And it was about the same time that we noticed that the girls were panting rather heavily, a sign that they need some water to cool down.  Fortunately, the car was parked close by.  The hubby brought Paris along with him to fetch the water while I explored the area with the birthday girl.

If you think Belle looks rather slight for a 2-year old puppy, you are right.  She is on the small side, and after the recent visit to the vet, we are intending to keep her this small, to put pressure off her bad hip.  She was being her curious self, looking and sniffing all around, on leash (park regulations) while we waited for water to come.

I used to pride on Sugar’s instincts (not that I am responsible for her having them) because no matter where she was, she could sense either the hubby or I were nearby.  And she would suddenly stop whatever she was doing, and look in the direction.  This is where the two younger kids fail – Paris couldn’t locate me when I was calling her from a level atop, and Belle didn’t know that the hubby and Paris were crossing the bridge, nearing us as we waited nearby.  Sugar would have sensed them long time ago, the moment they stepped on the bridge.  Perhaps they are too young and too distracted to listen to their instincts.  You know, I just call them dumb.

After the water-drinking, we walked quite a bit more at the promenade before deciding to call it a day.  You see, while we remembered to bring water for the furkids, we forgot to bring water for ourselves.

The furkids were bushed when we got home.  We too, actually.  I want to return to the wetland at night.  I’m rather certain it’s a prettier sight, and I will be armed with my DSLR this time.  Maybe even bring along my tripod.

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Balls Crazy

Not the man in the house, but the puppy.  She is so balls crazy it can drive you insane, because she just won’t stop bringing the ball to you requesting that you throw for her to fetch.  Definitely takes after her parents.  Her real dog parents, that is.

We cordon off some areas in the house because this two furkids are not that trustworthy, yet.  Sometimes we get so annoyed with her repeated requests for ball play that we take the ball from her and throw it into the restricted areas on purpose.  I know… we are evil.

In particular, I have noticed that she loves tennis balls and this soccer-sized stuff ball I bought from Ikea.  All in all, she has destroyed 4 of these balls.  This last one we have in the house is her 5th.  And it doesn’t look like it will last for long.  High time I make a trip to Ikea to stock up.

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Puppy is 2!

My precious puppy Belle turns 2 today!

Between the hubby and I, we have concluded that Belle puppy is the most happy-go-lucky one of the 3 furkids we ever had.  She’s the most smiley one, unlike her two jie-jies.  She is also the easiest puppy to handle, and the least destructive.  It’s really very difficult not to love this furball of nonsense.

I’ve decided to postpone her birthday celebration because the hubby is not in town.  I’ve already ordered a cake for her, to be delivered on the day the hubby returns home.  Pictures to follow, after that.

Stay happy always, my sweet Belle-Belle!

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Doggies Checked

This annual visit to the vet’s is long overdue, in part due to a shortage of proheart injections throughout the world last year.  The girls were on oral heartworm tablets for a while but we really hate giving oral pills because we tend to forget.  The tablets ran out last month, and so the visit is in order.

I like to track their weights on my blog, so here’s for the record.

Paris – 32.5kg

Belle – 21.8kg

As usual, the hubby preferred sitting outside of the clinic with one of the girls while I sat inside with the other girl.  Belle was with me (since she is the calmer dog) and her weight didn’t surprise me at all.  But oh Paris, I genuinely gasped in surprise as she stood on the weighing scale.  She’s over 30kg!  For many, many years, Sugar and Paris’ weights were kept under 25kg.  I don’t know what happened to account for the sharp increase.  The vet assured that Paris is a good weight for her big muscular frame, so we should not worry unduly.  Still, I’m going to make her diet a bit – her vaccination costs $60 more because of the 10kg weight difference.

Belle, on the other hand, does not have a very good hip.  In particular, the right hip.  We were told it’s not a cause for much worry at the moment, but we could start her on glucosamine and fish oil supplements now to lubricate the joints.

Other than that, both girls are in the pink of health.  Especially Paris.

The girls used to not feel very good after their annual vaccinations, every time.  I’ve noticed today that Paris is a lot quieter the whole day.  But that Belle, nothing stops this energiser bunny… not even some puking, some diarrhea and blood in stools.  Back to monitoring her.  This cycle repeats itself once every few weeks it’s getting really tiresome.  I might send her in for checks soon.

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Paris’ Prayer

I’ve always maintained that Paris is the prettiest of all my furkids.  The problem is, she isn’t very… cordial in front of the camera lenses.  Might have been as a result of me pointing the camera at her too often when she was a tiny puppy.  She never had much patience or tolerance in that respect.

But but but… I think age has mellowed her considerably.  She still doesn’t like it much, but she has become a lot more tolerable.  And it takes a little longer for her to get annoyed.  That has given me loads of opportunity to get some nice shots of her.

She is growing old so rapidly, right before my very eyes.

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Unwell

The puppy hasn’t been well of late.  She has always somewhat have a problem with her digestive system, and once every few months, it will recur.  For no rhyme or reason.  This bout of diarrhea started two days ago.  Twice, she had to go, and she had to go immediately in the living room.  I told the hubby she should abstain from solids for a day while we rest her system.  I was thinking of putting her on glucolin for a day or so till the situation eased up.

The next (which was yesterday), she had to go in the study room.  Immediately I texted the hubby (who was at work) and asked if he foolishly fed her in the morning.  It was an affirmative reply.  I was so mad!  For very good reasons too!  One, it is not helping Belle and two, I had to clean up the mess!  The poor puppy pooped in her enclosure when I was away for dinner, and because she pooped right in the middle, she had to stand the whole time.  When I got home, I found some poop on one side of her.  Didn’t have the heart to scold her because she must have been too tired standing up the whole time, thus lying down and getting soiled.

It was just a mess.  She was shoo-ed to the bathroom immediately while I cleaned up the mess first.  The good girl just waited patiently in the bathroom for me without fussing.  I was grateful for that because I really hated clearing the mess (I’m really squeamish with faeces and vomit – most people are, but I react in an extreme manner; oftentimes it turns my stomach) and I didn’t want to rush through it.  Kind of oxymoronic I know, but my concern is with not letting my hands touch the… material.

She has been a little less bright these few days, and she kept wanting my company.  She’s usually not allowed up the sofa but because she was in such a sorry state, I granted her special permission, just for a couple of days.  Getting her well is one issue which we have to solve at hand, but there is another long-term issue.  It’s back to the source – food again.  We switched her food to a hypoallergenic one for a while, and she did very well on it.  Problem is, it is really expensive.  Let me just give you an idea… normal non-premium dog food could cost as low as $60.  For the same weight, their food now costs $240.  And the hypoallergenic one costs $400.  It’s insane to put her on the hypoallergenic kibbles long-term.  We could well afford it, but it doesn’t make any sense.

I’m now looking for other alternatives.  Hoping to solve this once and for all.  Maybe I should concentrate on training her to do her businesses in the bathroom.

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I Don’t Wanna Grow Up

Paris came to our home when she was about 9 weeks’ old and the first thing she did was to find a surrogate mother, but no I wasn’t the identified one.  Instead Sugar, who was only 1.5 years her senior, became her ‘mother’.  The puppy Paris had an annoying habit of resting her head on Sugar’s body, and while it was cute when she was a 5kg puppy, it was no longer cute when she continued her habit well into her adult years.  Sugar was often annoyed senseless.  Sometimes when she thought we weren’t looking, she would even try to kick Paris away using her legs.

That’s my evil Sugar.

Paris is now 6.5 years old and the eldest ever since Sugar passed on.  The age gap between Paris and Belle?  4.5 years.  You would think she would put Belle in her place, wouldn’t you?  But no.  In fact she defers to Belle’s preferences, follows her like a shadow (and not the other way round), and the worst of all, even lies on her little sister.

Apparently it doesn’t matter who she rests on, so long as she has a dog to rest on.  As the old adage goes, old habits die hard.

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Puppy Love

The puppy loves her daddy so much you could literally see stars in her eyes as she gazes lovingly at her idol.  While we always accuse each other of spoiling her (resulting in some very bad behaviour from her), I think this photo is proof enough as to who the ultimate perpetrator is.

Hi darling, I hope the weather there in Bangkok is fine.  Do take care of that sore throat of yours.  Drink lots of water, and by water I don’t mean carbonated drinks.  The girls are fine.  Don’t worry about us.

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