The Little Pack

Jack and Cheyenne have had a rocky relationship from the moment that they met. She loved him immediately, and he hated her from the beginning. He loved to chase his toy, and she loved to chase him. She flaunted her speed, which inspired him to prove he could outrun this new annoyance that had been brought into his life against his will. She would herd him as he brought the toy to one of us and he would glare at her, as if to say, hey, I am the one who is supposed to herd everyone else, noone herds me. Although she has only wanted to be his friend, she also delights in taunting him, by sniffing him, or putting her face really close to his face, or nipping at his back and running away really fast. I have literally seen her leap over his back repeatedly for no other purpose than to infuriate him.

Jackson, on the other hand, does not try to hide his dislike of her. When she comes near, he growls and shows his teeth, snarling at her. She disregards this warning and will often playbow him. Sometimes he will bite her hard enough to make her cry. Of course, being the good dog that he is, he immediately punishes himself and goes to lie down. He seems to  resent her very presence, as though his life was perfect before her arrival.

Recently, however, his resolve has began to crack. We have known for last few months that he has been playing with her outside when we are not looking. Last week my husband stood at the door watching them chase each other and play until Jack saw my husband. He promptly bit her and snarled in her face. And then. Today. We woke up to Jackson and Cheyenne curled up together. Her head was literally on his back, and they were content as can be.  He forgot that he is supposed to hate her. It all just a matter of time until he gives into loving her.

I think by now we’ve established that Cheyenne is a little weirdo. Should you need proof, please visit here and here. I’ve written in the past about how she has started to play odd little games with her dinner. She is beginning to “save” most of her dinner so she can herd the other animals-dogs and cats, away from her food dish. The herding thing is quite new, this used to only happen outside. Perhaps she is part Australian cattle dog after all.

Apparently merely herding the other animals away from her dish lacked challenge and excitement. While she has always been a messy eater, she has begun to leave food everywhere. This began 2 days ago and I really hoped it was a fluke. It wasn’t. We now have the standard half-chewed pieces not only around her dish but in at least 4 additional piles throughout the entire house, often with a trail between the piles. Was she afraid she might lose her way? IO thinks this is the best thing ever, and follows the trail of crumbs, quickly inhaling the food along the way. I can just see her thinking, “Pinch me, I must be dreaming!”

Can this dog’s week get any worse? We received a call today from the vet, who let us know that they ran a urinalysis on the urine removed from Dixie’s bladder at the time of her surgery. The urine showed an E.coli infection that is resistant to Baytril, the antibiotic she’s been taking since after surgery. And when we got home, her incision was oozing badly. So, yes, you guessed it-we have been to the vet tonight. I’m pretty sure 5 visits since last Wednesday is excessive. Anyway, the incision is oozing due to infection. When they open the bladder, some urine spills into the body, and since the infection is immune to the antibiotic she has been on, it has spread. She is okay though. She had a shot of the new antibiotic and started the new antibiotic tonight. It makes sense why she has felt so crummy now. We go back to the vet Thursday. We should see a big improvement by then.

Dixie in happier times above. Dixie seems to be doing a little better today. She ate a little bit and rested alot. But she admonished the neighbors for being in their own yard, kicked her back legs after peeing, and I even saw her lift her leg while peeing a couple of times. (Both her and Cheyenne do this.) She may only weigh 10 pounds, but she is strong and brave.

Dixie came home from the vet. However, the surgery she had was much more extensive than last time. She really has little control of her bladder, so even though we are taking her out at least every 45 minutes, she is still having accidents. When she goes it is very bloody, and it is obvious that she just doesn’t feel good. We took her for  her 3 day check up today. Her temperature is normal, her incision is fine, they did an ultrasound on her bladder, and it looks good. However, apparently this time, the stone was lodged in her urethra which is what was causing her to be in so much pain. Unfortunately that meant more invasive treatment and her bladder is still weak from the surgery in October. Everything she is experiencing is normal for the surgery she had.

She has hardly eaten a thing since her surgery on Thusday, so although she is supposed to be on 100% U/D and nothing else, our task now is to get her to eat anything at all. On the way home from the vet she began vomiting until she was dry heaving and literally crying and trembling so we turned around and headed back to vet’s. Meanwhile there is a snow storm–why wouldn’t there be?–so the roads are terrible. Once there, they gave her anti-nausea medication and fluids in an IV. We now have her in her kennel and she is sad and confused that she is in there. But until she regains a little more control of her bladder, we don’t really have a good alternative.

Part of the problem facing us is the type of bladder stone that she has. Hers are calcium-oxalate stones. Sometimes diet helps, but I am learning that in some cases with these types of stones, diet can only slow the production of these stones in the body. All you can do is try to catch the stones before surgery is required while they can still be flushed out. Her body seems to generate new stones very quickly. The stone she just had removed was very large, and occurred in 6 short weeks. It seems we have a rough road ahead.