Jolie has a lovely neighborhood young lady who walks her during the week. The other day, however, we broke heat records for April here in Annapolis. When walking your dog you need to be very aware of the outside temperature. Little and really big dogs can overheat very quickly. Heat stroke is a real thing and should be avoided at all costs.
I use the 5-second ground test before walking: I place my hand on the pavement for 5 seconds, and if it is too hot for my hand then it is definitely too hot for a paw.
Also, you need to apply this temperature warning before taking your pets in the car. Even with the windows open a car can heat up or freeze very fast. If it is over 70 or under 40 degrees, leave them at home.
Spring is an awesome time to play in the fields and take nice walks. Keep everyone COOL!
Charles here to explain some really important life-saving things to you:
It is always a good idea, before something happens medically, to have a thought about what you should do. Now that I have seizures and collapse sometimes from congestive heart failure, my Mom really needed to learn more about the steps to take if/when bad things happen.
I want to focus on my 2 medical issues: Seizures and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
SEIZURES
Please make sure that I am in a safe place. Move me if you have to. I should not be somewhere, like a bed, that I can roll off of.
Move me away from toys or other things that might hurt me (even furniture) while I am in the event.
Try to keep other animals away so that they don’t bother me (or me scare them).
Don’t try to hold me or stop me from doing what my body needs to do.
If you have emergency medication, like Diazepam, administer it as soon as I come out of the event.
When I come out of the event, if I peed on myself, or did other stuff, just wrap me in a towel or blanket until I know where I am.
Make sure there is water nearby because I could be thirsty.
I may wander around the house because seizures can be very disorienting to me. Don’t worry but keep me safe.
Since I have already been diagnosed with a seizure disorder, contact the Vet if my seizure lasts more than 2 or 3 minutes or if I have a cluster of them.
CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE
Please make sure that I get my medicines several times a day, because they are keeping me alive. (Furosemide and Pimobendan).
Make sure that there is always fresh water around because I get dehydrated.
I am pretty stable right now, but if I collapse on my meds, emergency treatment may be required. Don’t wait, get me to the emergency vet if I collapse and do not respond within 30 to 40 seconds of the event.
Check if my heart is beating. If it isn’t do the following to resuscitate me:
Lay me on my right side on the floor (my heart is located in the lower half of my chest on the left side).
With your hands around me, gently press down on my heart (I am little so you don’t need much force).
Massage my heart (with your hands around my chest, fingers on the right side, and your thumb on the left side, and compress the chest by squeezing it between your thumb and fingers 100-150 times a minute (because I am so little). Around 80-120 for bigger animals.
Keep doing this for about 4 to 5 minutes while on the way to the Vet. Hopefully, you will hear a heartbeat and my breathing will return to normal.
I know that emergency medical treatment is the best way to save my life and the life of other animals with medical issues. But I do want you to know about other serious medical emergencies that happen every day especially, POISONING and EXPOSURE to TOXINS. Please make sure that you learn how to take care of those. You should have the number of your local Animal Poison Control hotline on your fridge (ASPCA # 888-426-4435 (there is a fee for the consultation)).
It was great to see Noel at the front door the other day. When Noel was younger she would lie for hours by the front door. It was her domain (see the picture below from 2012). She rarely goes down the long staircase anymore to watch the world go by so when she does it is a very special occasion.
I was out to do something the other day and when I returned she was waiting for me. I must have had the dogs with me or she would not have been down there. The dogs usually hog the glass door and she won’t push her way through them. Sometimes it is nice when the cats get to rule!
Did I tell you that 2 of my grand cats, Hazel Bear and Freddie Purrcury, now have their own Instagram and Facebook sites? I am biased of course, but I do think they are just some of the most fun kitties to watch. My bonus daughter, K8, is a graphic designer and does the most creative little videos with her 2 loves.
Mini Cooper has always loved FishTV. She watches the fish tanks for hours. When she discovered that there was a little slit in the top of the kitchen tank, she decided it would be a good time to take a taste. As you can see if you look closely the fish are not phased by her at all. They must be so used to her presence at this point it is just another day at the FISHDaz zoo.
The beauty of having feline dementia is that Noel rediscovers things she used to love. If you remember a month or so ago she rediscovered my office down the hall. She had not been in there for years. Now she rediscovered the cat tree. Even though the tree has been in the dining room in front of her eyes all this time, I have not seen her go on it for a very long time. The beauty of rediscovery with a forgetful brain.
Charles had to go back to the vet (going to vet pictures above) to make sure all the heart medicine for his advanced congestive heart failure (see post on March 21: Charles’ 2d Chance) was OK. Jolie, of course, suffering from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), came for moral support. Well maybe Charles was her support, but I digress…
Charles at the Vet with Jolie butting in as usual
Dr. Buchanan said everything is looking good. We are watching his liver and kidneys and all that stuff because between the Phenobarbital, for seizures, and the VetMedIn and Lasix, for the heart, his poor little organs are under a lot of strain. But Charles does not know this, so he is as happy as a lark.(Coming home from the vet – smiling – pictures below.)
One side effect of these meds is that he is really hungry. I mean, eat the wallpaper hungry. He is not only constantly barking at us and demanding more than ever (he is a Pomeranian CHIHUAHUA as you know and currently we must place a very heavy accent on the little demanding dog part of the breed), but now he has taken to jumping up at my arm when I am in the recliner and giving a little nip if I am not listening to him (since I try hard to ignore him if I can).
We are really glad that Mr. New-lease-on-life is still with us, but we really would like to watch at least one TV show undisturbed.
He finally did conk out after all that excitement at the vet, at least for a little while.
You might not understand this situation, because you don’t live here, but this is one of the strangest pairings at the top of the steps that you will ever see. Noel is not a cat that sits with the other animals. Well, maybe she will sit with Mini Cooper in the herb window or on the kitchen table if it happens by accident. But sitting with a dog – that is out of the question! Well, until now.
I am sure that they both were wanting something from me, probably food, and it just happened spontaneously. What an odd couple these 2 make – I just love their expressions.
DogDaz Zoo 