MAJOR catching up!!!

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Back after a long dry spell from posting. Lots of reasons for it – agility trial season, extra busy with things at home and bunch other things that left me not too motivated to post… I’l try to catch up piece by piece.

The good news is: We’re all still here! Bryce is doing well (more about him in another post). Ferals are still all accounted for.

JasmineThe bad news is, we discovered about a month ago that my oldest kitty Jasmine (15 1/2) has a mass growing under her tongue – probably a squamous cell carcinoma, which has a dismal prognosis in cats :( . No point in putting her through a biopsy because it isn’t in a place where it’s operable and I won’t put her through radiation (the only thing slightly effective against that form of cancer).

So for now poor Jas is on liquid chicken-flavored Prednisone, which is helping her feel fairly comfortable. She’s eating well, though it takes her a long time and is a messy process. The biggest problem is that when she tries to bathe herself it leaves whatever she tried to clean a sticky, soggy mess – I clean her up as best I can several times a day. Barring any major surprises with Bryce, her situation is much more dire than his – I’m hoping she makes it through the holidays, no guarantees on that.

Never a dull moment around here (sigh)!!!

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Bryce is an orphan :(

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I just got word this morning that Bryce’s birth mother passed away.

I didn’t know Cassidy well – I only met her when I went to see Bryce and bring him home – but she impressed me as a sweet, intelligent girl – sociable, but her world definitely revolved around “her” special human. Like Bryce’s father, she was a fun-loving Sheltie but a bit more of a gentle soul – personality traits she passed on to Bryce.

Here’s a picture of Bryce (as a young adult) with his mother – I have a larger version of this somewhere, but for now this will have to do.

Bryce and Cassidy

My thoughts are with Cassidy’s human family – it’s never easy to say goodbye.

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Why I haven’t posted much lately …

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Most people who read this blog probably know this already, but for those of you who don’t …

The end of last March everything was going smoothly and life was good. Raven was settling into the family, and I was looking forward to spring agility trials and starting to think about fall. With Bryce closing in on both his NADAC and CPE agility championships, I was cheerfully trying to determine the best strategy for completing them.

That was also the time of year I have the routine annual stuff done with my dogs and cats – heartworm tests, rabies shots as needed, etc. Last year at his dental Bryce’s kidney values were slightly elevated so I opted to have bloodwork run on him to make sure they weren’t getting out of hand.

What I subsequently found out turned my whole world upside down….

My beautiful Brycey

Bryce has cancer.

Multiple Myeloma, to be exact – a profileration of malignant plasma cells, generally originating in the bone marrow. It is not a common cancer in dogs. He has no particular risk factors for it. It’s not an extremely fast-moving cancer. It is treatable but not cureable.

MM is more common in people. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis lost a battle with Multiple myeloma. So did my mother – ironically. right before my birthday and almost 16 years ago to the day that I found out Bryce was ill.

My birthdays suck!!!

The good news, if there is any, is that at present time Bryce has no idea how sick he is. His appetite is as good as ever and he’s been playing with his sisters and generally acting like himself. We trialed through April and May, he finished 2 titles, earned a versatility award, accumulated some points towards his NADAC championship. He seemed a little “off” on a couple of times when the weather was unusually warm, but that may have been my imagination. Or it may have been because he’s nearly 10 and wasn’t acclimated to hot weather yet.

His treatment was delayed due to some intestinal issues, but that’s apparently under control now. Some bloodwork run last week shows that the disease is progressing and there’s a worrisome elevation of one of his liver enzymes so I expect he will go on chemo soon. We are working with an excellent oncologist and also with one of the best holistic vets in the area (neither of which I can really afford) – I can only hope that I’m making the right choices and that my bouncy little boy will continue to enjoy a good quality of life and still be bouncing around with all of us for quite a while yet.

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Two passings …

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Among all the happy things this year, like the arrival of Raven, has come the loss of two old canine friends of mine …

Before Bryce, I was still doing some obedience with Sally. Some people at my obedience club had a border collie they’d gotten for obedience competition, but he wasn’t working out. He was a handsome boy – finished his breed championship (with a handler) – but had developed some aggression issues towards people when with his owner. We got to talking, and they really wanted him to get out doing SOMETHING. I was kind of itching for a new challenge to train …

So Harley became my Rent-a-Collie. Fairly mellow for a BC, he was a big boy and a loveable goof! I took him to agility classes, trained him to novice/open level and worked on his social issues. My happiest memory was taking him to an agility match, where he met some strangers, kids, a man with a hat – and was fine with all of them! I also remember giving him a grape (no, I wasn’t trying to poison him – this was before all the problems with grapes and raisins being toxic to dogs started) – and laughing til tears rolled down my face watching it roll out of his mouth again and again as he figured out what to do with this weird little roly-poly thing :). OK, so maybe he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but he was a good guy and he certainly was amusing!

Harley the Border Collie

I never trialed with him. We parted ways for reasons I won’t go into here, but I remained fond of the big boy and was sad to hear of his passing.

The other loss was my friend Tracey’s rescue Sheltie, Tess.

Tracey was in my agility class with her GSD and, having seen Bryce, was thinking of trying a Sheltie for her next dog. She hopped on some breed lists, and soon heard about a 12-13 yr old unspayed Sheltie in a nearby rescue who had a severe heart murmur (and possibly bladder cancer) and wasn’t expected to live more than 6 mos. Not the dog you’d pick for an agility prospect, but Tracey felt sorry for her and figured that she’d learn a little about the breed and give the poor girl a loving home for her last few months.

Well, the predictions of Tess’ impending demise were premature! She younger than the rescue thought (my guess was around 9 or 10), her heart murmur was treatable and she didn’t have bladder cancer – just liked to mark when she went for a walk! Once in her new home, Tess absolutely BLOSSOMED under the love and care of her new family.

Here’s Tess “before” …
Tess - Before

And after …
Tess - After

Instead of 6 mos Tess had 4+ wonderfully happy years with Tracey and Brian, living the good life she deserved as a spoiled Sheltie princess and queen of their house. She even did a little agility!

Rest well, dear friends -

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We have PLAY :) !!!

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It finally happened – the puppy managed to coax cousin Jayda into playing with her!

She really had to work at it – poor girl’s been trying soooo hard to get someone, ANYONE to play with her. Bryce very sweetly ignores her, the cats (who are being UNUSUALLY tolerant) want nothing to do with her…

Finally this morning she bounced and yipped and play bowed and play bowed and play-bowed some more until Jayda couldn’t resist and gave her a little chase around the living room :) . Much-larger Jayda has a bit of an advantage in that she can (and does) run up on the sofa and the baby can’t – I was a little afraid she might LAND on the puppy en-route, but Jayda can also be surprisingly graceful (WHEN she’s paying attention).

Part Deux:

Having achieved success once, the baby tried even harder the next chance she got!

Play bow (subtle). Play bow (not so subtle). Play bow with your chin on the ground. Bark. Jump backwards. Jump backwards and bark. Jump forwards. Slap a paw on the ground. Run a few steps backwards. Back up, barking each step. Hop to the side. Play bow and bark. Play bow with your chin on the ground and bark. Hop to the other side. Bark and hop to the side. Playfully nibble at Jayda’s toes. Try nibbling the toes on another foot …

… all the while Jayda was standing there with this priceless expression on her face – observing, perplexed and a touch of horror as the awful realization dawned on her …

“OMIGOD – it NEVER STOPS!!!”

It was so funny – I couldn’t stop laughing at them!!!

… but eventually, Jayda was suckered into another game :) .

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