My Fire Hydrant

Two beautiful days this weekend have forced me to work outdoors putting up Christmas lights. Every year when I take them down I say to myself, “Next year, I’m downsizing!” And every year when we start getting close to Thanksgiving I remember how beautiful the lights look…so fairy-like and pretty. Once again, I’ve stifled that voice inside me that says, “This will be a big pain in the patoot to have to take down, and who knows when the weather will allow you to do it!”

I’m so tired, and my back hurts. But they really do look nice……

I always advise hugging a vet, but today it’s the other kind of vet we should all hug. God bless all our veterans. Thank you for your service to our country!

This is a photo of my Grandmother’s living room during WW2. All the photos are my uncles and my Dad in their uniforms.

I’m really pleased to be participating today in Petside.com’s second annual Pet’Net Safety Event!

In an effort to heighten awareness about critical issues related to pet safety, Petside.com has organized a consortium of some of the Web’s favorite pet-focused sites (including My Fire Hydrant!) to launch the Pet‘Net Safety Event on Wednesday, October 21. Each participating site and blog is highlighting content devoted to the important topic of pet safety. Petside is hosting a comprehensive one-page hub with links to all of the special coverage–which I recommend that you visit.

 

IS YOUR PET READY FOR EVACUATION?
A few years ago, a chemical plant not too far from my house had an explosion, and my neighborhood had to quickly evacuate the area. We went first to a friend’s house, but ended up in a motel overnight. It was inconvenient, but more important, it was a frightening eye-opener.

We live in a scary world. Between the weather (Katrina) and terrorism (9/11) it seems to be wise to prepare and plan for the day you may need to evacuate and seek shelter away from your home. In the past few years, one of the most important things we’ve learned is DON’T LEAVE YOUR PET BEHIND.

This may seem like common sense, but it may not be as easy as you think. In an evacuation situation, it will probably be too dangerous to simply camp out in your car. Will the shelter in your area allow pets? Or can you find a motel that will also let you bring in your Great Dane? What if you have very limited time to evacuate–will you remember to grab your dog’s arthritis meds so that she can be comfortable?

You need to prepare. You need a plan, a kit, and some lists.

MAKE A PLAN
Sit down with your family members and think this through. Imagine all the possible things that might happen–both man-made and natural. Be overly cautious, and think of the worse possible scenarios. Imagine that you must vacate your home for a couple of weeks. Here are some questions to get you thinking about how your pets fit into your plan:

• What kind of disasters might effect you? Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Flooding? Chemical spills or explosions?
• Where will you go if you have to leave home?
• Has your regional emergency preparedness authorities designated in their planning which shelters will accept pets?
• Does your local animal shelter/SPCA, or local animal control office have any information on how to plan for your pet’s evacuation in your area?
• What if you’re not home–is there a neighbor who can evacuate your pets? Where will you meet up with them and your other family members?
• What about boarding your pet at a pet hotel, your local shelter, or your veterinarians?
• What supplies does your pet need during an evacuation? What are the bare essentials you need?
• What steps can you take to keep your pet calm? What if your pet panics and runs away?
• Can you rehearse your evacuation so that your four-legged family members become familiar with the actions you will need to take?
• What if the type of disaster restricts you to hour home–where is the safest place in your house? Is there room for your four-legged family along side your two-legged family?
• Do you have other animals like horses, goats, or cows? What happens to them?

Write your plan down–either on a legal pad on on your laptop. Consult with your veterinarian and your local emergency preparedness team. Refine your plan to account for as many variables as possible. Make sure everybody in the family knows what to do.

MAKE A KIT
Think of the things your pet needs each day. This list is just the bare minimum to get you thinking.

• Pet food
• Bottled water
• Medications
• Paperwork:
  • Veterinary records, including significant medical history, rabies certificate and vaccination record.
  • Proof of ownership.
  • Current photos of your pets (include some with you in the photo too) for identification purposes
• Cat litter/pan
• Food dishes
• First aid kit
• Crate/carrier/cage labeled with your contact information
• Comfort items
  • Toys
  • Treats
  • Blankets
• Leashes, harnesses, collars, muzzles
• Up-to-date ID tags, rabies tags securely attached to pet’s collar
• Stakes and tie-outs
• Paper towel and garbage bags (to clean up after your pet)

This kit list is not complete and focuses on dogs and cats. Birds, reptiles, small rodents like guinea pigs, horses, goats, sheep and other domesticated animals will have different needs.

MAKE SOME LISTS
Again, this is just to get you thinking. It’s not complete.

• Motels/hotels within a 90-mile radius that will take pets–include directions, address, phone number.
• Emergency phone numbers, like your veterinarian, your local police department, local fire department, local animal control, your insurance agent.
• Other phone numbers: Local shelters/rescue groups; friends and family who would be unaffected by an emergency in your region.

THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS!
Don’t wait. If an evacuation order has been issued, get moving. If its the type of emergency that will restrict you to your home, bring your animals inside and move to your home’s safe area. Don’t delay. Even just a couple of minutes can make a difference in your pet’s survival.

RESOURCES
I’ve barely scratched the surface! In researching this article, two sites were incredible information sources.  

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has a very complete disaster preparedness site which includes information not just for consumers, but also for veterinarians. The site is easy-to-understand and there’s an FAQ about the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, a bill signed into law by President Bush in 2006 to require the inclusion of companion animals in disaster planning at state and local levels.

The second site you will want to get familiar with is FEMA’s (Federal Emergency Management Agency)–not just for your pets, but also for your family. The FEMA site also offers some free-of-charge web-enabled training, including Animals in Disaster, for which you can receive college credit.

Do it now. Make your plan, make your kit, make your lists before you need them.

I mentioned on Saturday that Bailey had a hot spot. As of yesterday her tail is flying high again and she seems to be nearly back to her rotten-spoiled self (big sigh of relief!). 

 A hot spot happens when something irritates the skin–it’s a bacterial infection. The irritation starts a cycle where the dog licks and chews at the irritation site which further irritates the skin which makes it itch even more which makes the dog lick/chew more…you get the idea.

In Bailey’s case, she was licking her back paw making it very wet, then rubbing it against the remainder of the wart she somehow managed to slice off. The moisture from her foot and the bloody wart trapped by her fur against the skin caused bacteria to grow and the cycle of itching/scratching/further skin irritation to begin. I feel a little bit less like a bad mom who wasn’t paying attention because I read on WebMD Healthy Pets that hot spots develop really fast–sometimes within a matter of hours.

Things that can cause hot spots (other than pulling off a wart):

• Fleas (most common) and other bug bites
• Allergies
• Skin parasites
• Ear or anal gland infections
• Skin diseases
• Poor grooming
• Burrs
• Anything that starts an itch/scratch cycle

Heavy coated breeds seem to be more prone to hot spots than lighter coated breeds.

Treatment usually includes:

• Clipping away the hair around the hot spot–it’s usually bigger then it appears.
• Cleaning the skin with solutions that are antibacterial and/or have drying powers.
• Allowing the area to dry out.
• Antibiotics.
• An e-collar.
• (MOST IMPORTANT!) Stopping the itch/lick/itch cycle.

If your dog is scratching like crazy, and has crusty, scabbed, angry-red skin that might be oozing and moist, VISIT THE VET! Hot spots are extremely painful (as Bailey will testify)!

Here are some tips that got me through the past few days:

• On Saturday and Sunday I kept Bailey on her leash all the time so that I could keep close watch on her to keep her from scratching at her wound. Because of the location of the hot spot, an e-collar was not an option for us.
• The leash also helped me control her when I had to put ointment on the wound area (which she fought like crazy).
  

  Bailey's new neck ruff softly protects her neck where the hot spot is healing.

• I took an old, long sleeved tee shirt of mine and cut off a part of one of the sleeves. This became Bailey’s new neck ruff, covering the wound area and protecting it from more irritation (like rubbing against the sofa or scratching by that busy back leg).
• I let go of our schedule and went with the flow. I stopped stressing if Bailey missed a meal. She seemed to be sleeping more–if she was sleeping, I waited until she woke up on her own before offering a meal.
• Bailey is on an antibiotic, and antibiotics are indiscriminate about killing the bad and the GOOD bacteria. Along with her antibiotic med, Bailey is getting Prostora Max to help keep a balance of good bacteria in her digestive tract.

It’s been a long time since I posted an update on my little girl. Today, we went to see our favorite veterinarian, Dr. B., for Bailey’s monthly check up.

 In case you didn’t know, Bailey was diagnosed with cancer over 3 years ago, had surgery to remove her left anal gland and 2 lymph nodes, and given only a few months to live. That was in December, 2005. Since that time, we’ve gone monthly to our vet to keep track of any resurgence of the cancer. Some people might think the money would have been better spent paying off my Visa bill, but I disagree.

To check the status of Bailey’s cancer, Dr. B must (OK, this may gross you out) stick her finger up into Bailey’s butt. It’s a really good thing that Dr. B is a petite person–her fingers are small! And today we found…….everything NORMAL, NO CANCER! [[doing my happy dance!!]]

Bailey’s heart is beating very well–no murmurs, her lungs sound good–she’s taking nice deep breaths, her reflexes are good (though her back legs are a little weak), and her weight continues at 18.9 pounds.

Now the other side of the coin: her cataracs have gotten noticibly worse–Dr. B has said that every visit for the past 3 months. I suspect my girl is going to be blind very soon. And I have been a very neglectful mom in that I have gotten out of the habit of cleaning her teeth and it’s starting to show!! BAD MOM!!! (where’s the rolled up newspaper?) I have GOT to make a better effort to brush her teeth!

We also discussed the fact that Bailey has had a few more incidents of  “backwards sneezing” lately, and some rough breathing. Dr. B. feels very certain that this is due to environmental allergies which we will take care of with some baby Benadryl.

When the exam was over, Bailey retreated to her Sherpa bag–her safe place. Poor sweetheart! Not only did we inturrupt puppy nap time for the vet visit, but she had to undergo the indignity of having her butt checked! One of the wonderful women who work at the front desk at the clinic gave Bailey a cookie, which didn’t exactly make up for her lost dignity, but which certainly helped make her feel better.

1. What pets share your life?    
We currently have 5 cats sharing our home.  Three of the cats are rescues raging in age from 7 weeks to 6 years old named Bongo, BW and Beanie.  The other two cats were adopted through the Friends for Life program who are both 15 years old-Aunt Bea and Morticia. 

2. What is your pet’s most unusual habit?      
Our cats are indoor cats but to give them a more enriching life, we built a pen in the backyard so they could enjoy the outdoors.  They enjoy basking in the sun, eating grass and laying in the catnip I have planted. 

3. What’s your favorite story about participating in a Pet Care shelter dog event?
Furry Skurry is a great event to attend and “dog watch”.  It is great to see people interacting with their animals and enjoying them outside of their home. 

4. How does your job at Pet Care make a difference?  
On a daily basis my job at Pet Care improves the well being of the animals in our nutritional research program by providing them the best care possible.  Overall, my job improves the lives of animals around the globe because of the superb research that goes on at Pet Care.

Terri is one of my best buddies! She makes sure I don’t put my foot in my mouth, and she has a dry humor that always makes me laugh. One of the best parts about our move south to Mason will be that I’ll be able to have lunch with Terri more often. I’m looking forward to that.

1. What pets share your life?
Scout the Wonder Dog is a wonderful American Mixed Breed we rescued from a shelter.

2. What is your pet’s most unusual habit?
Every day is an adventure! Scout has a thing for socks…she puts them in her mouth and lines her ‘spaces’ with them. She doesn’t eat them, she just carries them around. I have determined that it’s not my dryer….

3. What’s your favorite story about pets in the office?
When I first came to Pet Care, I was unaware that Euka patrolled the floors. I signed in at the front desk and was greeted by the most beautiful brown eyes and wettest nose I had ever expected to see! From that moment I was hooked.

4. What is your favorite part of working at Pet Care?
My favorite part of working at Pet Care is the people….hands down. The ownership, accountability and passion for why we do what we do is inspiring.

For as long as I’ve worked for Iams/Eukanuba, we’ve been able to bring our dogs into the office with us when we feel like it. Bailey and I are very lucky because we are usually able to work from home—but this past Friday was TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY, so we just had to spend the day at Iams/Eukanuba headquarters to enjoy the celebration!

I took so many photos on Friday! It took me all weekend to sift through and narrow them down to a few representational shots. Also over the weekend I happened to read a post from Jaime, over at Thoughts Fur Paws that gave me some inspiration. I hope you like this photo essay of Take Your Dog to Work Day, Iams/Eukanuba-style!

This was the premier of Bailey’s new stroller! OK, go ahead and laugh at me for buying my dog a stroller. In my defense, my old girl has arthritis which causes her discomfort if she has to walk too far; her cataracts are interfering with her ability to see; her hearing is starting to fail; and she’s just not getting out of the way of people’s feet fast enough anymore. So I felt a new stroller was a good investment if I want to continue to share this kind of event with my pooch. And I think she likes it better this way too.

The first thing we did on Friday was to take a tour of the building to check out the four-footed fur buddies celebrating the day! (Normally we practice a little common sense—we don’t all bring our dogs at the same time—but on Friday, there were more dogs than usual!).

Allison and Lil’ Roo (Shih-tzu, “a bouncing 3-year-old baby boy!” Allison’s words, not mine!)

Roo says, “Hello Bailey!”

Annie and Champ (Yellow Labrador Retriever, 2-years old).

“Uh, no, I’m not doing any work today unless there’s a biscuit involved.”

Bunker, a 6.5 year old Golden Retriever.

Chelsea (Miniature Schnauzer, 5 years old) takes a meeting with mom, Chris (facing camera), Connie (left) and Valerie (right).

Meanwhile, back on Chris’ desk, Gladys the floor cat (she lives on the 4th floor of the building) is tremendously annoyed that today is about dogs. She refuses to participate and plans on spending the day in her box lid.

Tony (a Rat Terrier, who was 5 years old this month), is totally psyched that this is TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY, and cannot be persuaded to take a nap before the pawty (that’s his office bed, underneath the desk).

“That’s OK Tony,” mom Deanna says. “You can nap this afternoon.”

Atlas (2 years old, Doberman), who is a regular at the office, waits patiently for mom Christine to return from the copy machine.

In the next cube over Flash (Goldendoodle, 6.5 years old) is wishing mom would let him out so he could play with Atlas (more about that later).

Flash and Alison.

Julie is babysitting little Diva while Jason (Diva’s dad) attends a meeting.

Jason and Diva (10 weeks old, Afghan puppy). Jason breeds Afghans.

What a cute future champion (and I don’t mean Jason!).

Diva has her own special space in Jason’s office.

(Humans, left to right) Kim, Mario, Malisa and Pam talk about the Hope, the Poodle mix that Kim just adopted from Luv4k9s, and the shelter cats that live with Mario.

This is Jack (Affenpinscher, 9-years old), who shares his life with Malisa.

Bailey and Cricket (also an oldster, she’s a 14.5-years old Yorkiepoo adopted from SICSA) say hello.

Cricket and mom Pam (check out Pam’s interview).

Mere and Beaglegeuse (pronounced Beagle-juice), an 11-year old Beagle.

Mitch and Kuddles (10-year old Maltese)

That’s Carmella peeking round the post!

Carmella (7 month old puppy Mixed Breed) lives with Rebecca.

Bailey and I looked in on one meeting that seemed to be going to the dogs! (Flash, Atlas, and Champ figured since it was TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY, why not have a ruff-and-tumble meeting?)

Finally, cooler heads had to intervene or no work would have gotten done. Its rest time for playful pooches!

Scott and Bailey (11-year old Chocolate Labrador with a great name!) on their way to the pawty in the courtyard!

Teddi and Rachel from the Humane Society of Greater Dayton brought puppies (!) that were looking for forever homes.

Adoption discussion?

Our friends from SICSA (Travis, Sea, and Michael) had Kroger gift cards available. This is a great program—you get the Kroger gift card from SICSA, load it with money at Kroger, and then each time you use it Kroger gives 4% of your purchase back to SICSA.

Mick, Minnie, and Elizabeth were on hand from the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center–there’s a wonderful video of Mick on YouTube (see below).

Richard, Melody, and Deborah from the Miami Valley Pet Therapy Association also joined our celebration. They do incredible work in our local hospitals, libraries, schools and medical centers, with children, seniors, veterans, and others who need a furry shoulder to lean on.

We also were visited by Jessalyn and Jennifer who represented 4 Paws for Ability. This group is devoted to raising and training service dogs for children and adults who have developmental disabilities. This includes autism-assistance dogs, seizure response dogs, mobility-assistance dogs, hearing-ear dogs, in-home companions, and street companion dogs.

Bailey was having a great time at the pawty!!

At the end of our celebration, we took a group photo.

Bailey was exhausted! Good thing she could snooze the rest of the day away in her new stroller!

What a fabulous TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY!!

[7/18/09 Note: I have re-formatted this post because the formatting did not survive when it was imported from Blogspot to WordPress. Formating changes only, NO text changes.]

Bailey’s diabetes seems to be under better control. We did another blood test on Wednesday. Her initial sugar level was over 500. Now it’s down to 143. I’m still a little too nervous when I give her her insulin shots–she picks up on it and then that makes her nervous. But I’m getting better.

What I find amazing is the fact that she seems to be more frisky! Prior to the diagnosis, she slept alot. I figured it was old age creeping up. But now I think it was because of her blood sugar level–it’s a night-and-day difference!

We will both eventually get used to the shots. I’m thrilled that my senior pooch is acting puppyish again. And diabetes is certainly a better diagnosis than cancer.