About DogDaz
The DogDaz Zoo is the best place in the world. Meet the rescued dogs: Jolie, the ShihTsu mix princess, BEARnard, the Papillion mix, and the alley cats: Stella (the loner, and, the boss, Mini Cooper, and of course, the humans who love them.
Tuesday, December 21 is the Winter Solstice if you are in the Northern Hemisphere and the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere. On the Winter Solstice, we observe a Germanic holiday that pre-dates the Christmas holiday by thousands of years – YULE. Yule celebrates the wheel of the year with bonfires, decorations of holly, mistletoe, and boughs of evergreen trees (sound like Christmas?). There are also feasts and gift-giving. This is a celebration of the rebirth of the sun and the light that it brings to the Earth (remember from here on it starts to get lighter every day until Summer Solstice in the north).
It is interesting to look at the similarities between Yule and the Christmas traditions:
- The midwinter feast lasts for 12 days
- Vikings decorated evergreen trees with gifts
- Mistletoe was believed to have healing powers (kiss kiss)
- In the Norse tradition, Old Man Winter visited homes to join the festivities. The Viking god, Odin, was described as a wanderer with a long white beard. He is considered the first Father Christmas.
- Viking children left their shoes out by the hearth on the eve of the winter solstice with sugar and hay for Odin’s 8-legged horse, Sleipnir.
Whatever you celebrate – have a wonderful time doing it!
What kind of mischief did you get into today?
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, solstice, Winter solstice, Yule
The sun beamed washed over Mini Cooper and diluted her already diluted tortie* coloring. When I turned it to black and white, you really see her stripping vs her coloring.
Diluted Tortie Cats
Tortie is short for “tortoiseshell”, a popular coat pattern seen on many cat breeds. In the world of cat fanciers, some coat colors elicit more curiosity than others. Tortoiseshell cats attract attention wherever they go.
Standard torties have a mix of orange and black fur, either finely interspersed (a brindle tortie), in big splodges (a patchwork tortie), or somewhere in between (just a tortoiseshell tortie!) Dilute tortie cats have a tortoiseshell coat pattern with one remarkable difference: instead of the striking, dark mix of orange and black, dilute tortoiseshell cats have a muted, almost blue and yellow color.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: black and white photography, Black and White Sunday, cats, diluted tortie, DogDaz, lorian lipton, Pet, petblog, pets
I think I will nap until the man in the red suit really arrives.
I cannot imagine a life without cats!
Just another CATDogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: animals, Cat, Cat People, catmas, cats, caturday, christmas, DogDaz, lorian lipton, pets, white cat
We got the results from pathology regarding the growth that was biopsied in Louise’s mouth. It is a fast-growing tumor that destroys the jaw called Canine Acanthamotous Ameloblastoma (CAA).
WARNING: Stop reading now if you will get uncomfortable with the details.
Basically, she has a mass in the lower part of her front jaw that is visible and is around her front teeth. The good news is that CAA has never been reported to spread to other parts of the body (metastasize), so it is often called ‘benign.’ However, it is locally aggressive and her tumor is doubling in size every 10 days or so. Underneath what we see it is destroying the jaw bone. It is life-threatening.
The first option for treatment, due to a large amount of underlying bone involved, is to surgically remove a portion of the jaw, called a mandibulectomy (graphic link), and to take large margins around the tumor to ensure it is all removed. For patients, like Louise, where surgery is not an option because of multiple reasons, the second option would be radiation.
Louise turned 12 last October. The normal life expectance of a dog her size is 10 to 12 years. She has pancreatitis and irritable bowel disease. Figuring out what health intervention is in her best interest is one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make. We do not want to put her through either of these options. The surgery would take her lower jaw, which I think at her age would be a difficult recovery to regain function, and the side-effects of radiation are horrible (if her IBD would even tolerate it.)
I have started a Facebook group dedicated to this journey. It is called Canine Acanthamotous Ameloblastoma – Dog Oral Tumors Please feel free to join if you want to follow what is going on. I am not going to fill DogDaz with her medical stuff because it is graphic and sad, so I will put it there.
Keep us in your prayers as we go through this thing. We are heartbroken.
Please, don’t post any negative comments on the choices we have made for Louise’s care – they will be deleted.
NOT Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: canine acanthomatous ameloblatoma, dog, dog health, Dog People, dog rescue, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, oral tumor
Charlie, you have come a long way from this adoption picture online (who named you ‘Chi-chi Forest?’).
You are our Mr. Charles, the Mugwump, Handsome.
Happy 5 years of Gotcha days, Charles.
You are a superstar here at DogDaz Zoo.
We are so glad you rescued us.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: adoptdontshop, Dog People, dog rescue, DogBlog, DogDaz, gotcha, lorian lipton, Pet adoption, pet blog, pomchi
Someone likes to be king of the pillow hill these days. Happy Black and White Sunday!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Black and White Sunday, cute dogs, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Pet, pets, pomchi, pomchi mix, small dogs
Louise here. Sofie decided that she was too tired to continue on our walk. She laid down in a neighbor’s yard and just would not move. So Mommy left her there and continued on with me. Sofie wasn’t sure if she liked that idea, but I did. I am tired of those other 2 goofballs tagging along on my walks.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: dog, Dog People, dog rescue, dog walking, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Pet, pets
Tags: biopsy, dog, dog health, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, tumor
It always makes me sad when it is the last night of Hanukkah because I really enjoy the lights. Noel, on the other paw, isn’t sure that having this big hanukkiah (menorah) in her window, taking up a lot of space, is a good use of her favorite place.
Happy Black and White Sunday!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Black and White Sunday, Cat, DogDaz, Hanukkah, Pet, pets, white cat
DogDaz Zoo 