A few anniversaries

February is a big time around our house, even if Chad wasn't having brain surgery...

Two years ago I started my job at the VA. This is even a bigger anniversary than normal since my first two years I was in a probationary period of sorts... meaning they could really fire me at any point in time or really any reason. After two years I become a full time employee and it will take an "act of congress" to get rid of me... or at least that's what we joke. I'm just happy to still be happy at a place after two years. This is a place I could be happy for the rest of my working life.

Four years ago we moved into this house. I cannot believe we've been living here for four full years. It's amazing. Chad and I were only dating for roughly six months when we moved into this house together. Chad purchased the house, but he involved me in a the process... of course if our relationship had gone south I would have been moving out, luckily for both of us everything has worked out perfectly. It's pretty amazing to me that we've been here for four years and we're only now redecorating the place... taken us long enough to make decisions!! But I'm sure we have many many more years in this place.

Also, two years ago Rowdy joined our family. He's made such an impact on ours lives. While we're celebrating time in the family, we adopted Stitch 4 years ago (right before we moved into the house.) Pretty Kitty and I have been together for 6 years... I have a really hard time believing that one!! And if anyone is wondering we adopted Bozley in April and we'll have her for 3 years in April.

Here's Rowdy
Here's Stitch when she was a kitten and the only time you'll ever see Pretty Kitty looking big
And for fun, here's a Bozley picture...

Updated

I just realized that I have left a few things out there and never gave updates... so in case you were wondering what happened to some of those items well here you go (and if I forgot anything let me know!!)

• How did Rowdy's surgery go? Well, it went really well. He got neutered and got about 3 inches of tail removed. Rowdy was so cute when we picked him up from the vet. They brought him up front to lay with the receptionist. They said he was getting annoyed at a yappy dog in the back and wouldn't relax when he wasn't around people. So we got there and he freaked out b/c we were on one side of the barrier and he was on the other and couldn't get around to us. They even tied a cute bow to his collar. He was pretty drowsy for a couple of days, but recovered really great. It was sad b/c we couldn't play with him for a week (we had to keep his tail from busting open again) he would bring us a toy and we couldn't throw it for him. It's been over 2 months later and I'm happy to say Rowdy is his pre-surgery self. His tail did heal up and hopefully we never have to worry about it again. I would think most people wouldn't know he had to get a piece of it removed - but we can tell.
• Speaking of surgeries, how about Chad's?? Well, Chad is going to have surgery two weeks from today on February 16th. I think it's nice to get this over with. That week actually works out quite nicely since that following weekend is President's Day. I will be able to have a whole week off work work to take care of him. We are hoping the recovery time this time around will be just as quick as it was last time. Again, my work has been very understanding and lucky for Chad his work has been too. We were nervous because he had just started a new job, but everything is working out wonderfully. So I'll be back with a future update on his surgery after it happens.
• And finally what about my medical issue? Well, I'm happy to report that I'm not dying (ok that wasn't really an option.) But I do not have to have surgery. I have to go back in 6 months for another pap test - so hopefully things clear up by then or at least get better and then clear up 6 months after that. So I'm going to score that one in the good category!!
• Ok, I lied above the final update - I start school today. Sadly, I am sick, which is making reading a little difficult, but I'll power through!!
  

Poor Row-dizzy

You might recall that we took the dogs to Virginia for Thanksgiving... They had a ton of fun... they got to run and sniff and run and wander and run and pee on things (that was mostly Rowdy) and did I mention run?

Well, while we were there Rowdy managed to injure of all things... the tip of his tail. We didn't even realize it happened until we found blood all over (on the walls, furniture, floor, himself) We bandaged it up, and hoped that it would get better. Mostly he had trouble keeping a bandage on his tail... that dang thing just moves so fast.

We gave it a week to heal, but he just kept breaking it open, so last Friday Chad took him to the vet. They cleaned up the wound and bandaged it good. They said that it should get better in 10-12 days. Then Friday night late (I had a wedding to attend and Chad was at work) Chad noticed a big chunk missing from his tail, which was worrisome. We cleaned it up again.

But on Saturday while we were out he really did some damage. He pretty much chewed off the end of tail... disgusting I know!! Since our vet wasn't open until Monday we kept his tail clean and covered and made sure he didn't mess with his tail.

On Monday Chad took him back to the vet and we got the bad news... Rowdy will need to have surgery on his tail... he will have to get about 3 inches removed. The bone or whatever is in the tail is exposed right now. It's just too far gone at this point to do anything else... poor guy.

The good news is while they have Rowdy under for the surgery, he will also get neutered and chipped. No more balls for this guy!! Sadly, we'll have to keep him from being active for a few weeks, which seems very difficult. This guy is always going, going, going... but it will only be for a few weeks. He'll also have to wear a cone, which will be sad and funny all at the same time.

I just hate when the animals have to go into the vet or get surgery or we have to leave or anything that we can't explain to them. He won't really know what's happening to him, and that's sad to me. I know he will be ok, and this is all for the best... but it still sucks for him.

I hope that he gets better fast and everything heals correctly and easily!!

Look at that innocent face!!

Happy Pit Bull Awareness Day

Cleaning out the Camera

I finally got around to cleaning out my camera and had some pictures I wanted to share.

My mom, brother and I hung out one day, we concluded the day by going to Ted Drewes. I got a pineapple concrete and it was so tasty!!

My mom had never driven over the Ead's Bridge. So we took a drive over it. I scored this picture of the Arch.
We also checked out the City Garden, here's a cool sculpture that moves in the wind.
Just a nice downtown picture
And a goofy sculpture that's a bird with people legs.
And a picture of the sign
Another picture of City Garden
Chad made some yummy stir fry. I mean seriously, how good does it look. I'm getting hungry just looking at this picture.
Here's Chad and the dogs.
And a good one of Bozley
And Rowdy focusing on his ball (not in the picture)
Another one of Rowdy
Another one of the dogs, I uploaded the pictures last night and writing the post today, and accidentally deleted one of the pictures... Bozley was carrying around a piece of bread and here's the picture where Rowdy ate Boz's bread.

New Trick

This should be my weekend recap... but since the weekend was pretty uneventful due to El Chad being sick... I'll focus this post on R-diddy.

Chad taught Rowdy how to speak this weekend. It's so flipping adorable - he has quite the bark... Rowdy is very obedient... it's amazing how well he will listen. Thus far he will sit, stay, lay down, and speak... I really want Chad to get him to play dead and shake... I bet soon he will be able to do that as well.

Today is my AWS day... I went to the female doctor this morning... she said everything looks good... I also switched birth control pills, this might be a strange thing to be sharing, but I'm a sharing type of gal... so I'm excited to see how it works for me. Now I'm home... and the U-Verse guy will coming in a few hours... So I should probably clean up the house a bit... hmm... I also have some bulbs I've been wanting to plant, but haven't been able to due to all the rain... So how should I spend the rest of my day? Stay tuned.

Stitch-a-roo

Before we got the new furniture back in July Stitch pretty much kept to herself. She'd wake us up on Saturday mornings by meowing like crazy... but she wouldn't spend a whole lot of time with us on a daily basis... she'd rather sit in the window in the other room or a laundry basket in the bedroom, or in other random places.

Well when we got that new furniture she made more appearances in the living room... and would spend more time with us in the living room. I enjoyed that b/c I like having her around more...

But in the last few weeks she's been acting different. Now she wants to sit by or on me all the time. She'll crawl up in my lap (which she would RARELY do before) or in the crook of my legs or if I'm sitting she'll sit right next to me. I've really been loving the fact she's being so friendly to me lately... but it also makes me wonder why...

The only real conclusion I can come up with is she's missed me... I've been away from the house a lot in the past month or so... and let's face it these cats like me more than Chad (sorry Chad)... I think she has missed me being around... and if that is the case isn't that freaking adorable??

Stitch is an adorable cat... her and Pretty are way different... When we got Stitch as a kitten from the Humane Society she had a goofy tail... she must have gotten into a fight or something when she was a kitten b/c it was broken and the top is kinked to the side. What made her so funny looking then was they shaved it down to make she the tail wasn't getting infected... so she had a ball on the top... We knew she was the perfect cat when we saw that. This tail issue also has caused her to pretty much always walk around the house with her tail straight up in the air. She looks like she's prancing around the house... which is why we call her the house princess

Stitch is pretty goofy too... you can tell sometimes she just likes to mess with the dogs. She'll walk over to them and put her big fluffy tail in their faces...

The poor cat though is allergic to something around here... she scratches at her neck a lot which causes her to bleed and then it scabs over... I feel bad for her, but thus far we haven't figured out what to do... she's been to the vet a few times for it... I hope it gets better over the winter.

And here's way too many pics... enjoy

Dog Toys

This is a silly posts... but it's about dog toys!!

I finally have a dog that actually plays with dog toys!! It's so much fun to go to the store and pick them out. Rowdy is more of the toy lover, but Bozley plays a fair share too. So here are our favorite toys for the dogs.

The dogs seem to enjoy stuffed toys the best... but they would rip them to shreds in a matter of an hour so we needed to find more "heavy duty" toys... Since this epiphany we have found some toys that work well for our dogs.

First up we have "giraffe" - Kong Braidz
When it's new it looks like:
Ours looks like this... well worn (the head was about the first thing to go...), but still a great toy
Next up we have the "pig" - Tuffy Pet Toy Polly the Pig
New:
This was the first "tuffy" toy we bought and were very happy with it. Chad cut the tail off before we gave it to them... and Boz chewed off the ears, but it's lasting. I just happened across this at PetsMart, when we realized how much we liked it we went back to get another, but they were sold out... and how adorable is the pink and flowers?? Here's what ours looks like now
Next up we have "dragon" - Go Dog Baby Dragon
New:
This one is nice b/c there's no stuffing in the body (head yes) it's also got a weird netting on the inside that's suppost to make it more durable... but he's floppy which Rowdy seems to like... plus how freaking cute is a dragon!!
We have a rope and other Kong toys too, but since you've probably all seen it before then there's no reason to post pictures of them...

Finally we have "ring" - Tuffy Ultimate Ring
New:
We are way happy with this toy... it still pretty much looks like it's brand new. We like it b/c we can play fetch with him and also tug of war... it's pretty strong!!




(see Rowdy's new collar in this pic? He's pretty BA)

Pet Peeve (almost literally)

Yesterday/Today I noticed a new pet peeve I have... People who have something against cats... FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER... I understand if you are allergic (like my friend Liz, I saw her face swell up fast due to cats) but if you are not allergic and just think of yourself as a "dog person" I cannot stand it.

I guess this all comes from a person having a bad experience with cats, or no experience at all... My mom has a cat that is a grumpy grumpy cat... you can't get within 5 feet of that cat without it hissing at you (unless you are my sister) I guess if this is your only experience with a cat you may be tainted... but this is not how most cats are!!

I love my two cats... Pretty and Stitch have very different personalities yet they are both extrememly loving, and are people cats... people come around and they don't hide. They are great great cats, and most cats are like this.

Cats have the some of the same benefits as dogs... they are loving, they love attention, they are adorable, they will play with you, but they have some added benefits like can be on their own, and can take care of themselves.

I can understand if you like dogs more than cats... but saying you're "not a cat person" bothers me... chances are if you went out and got a cat you would fall in love and realize that you were way wrong about cats... I've heard MANY people say this...

So in the end, I get sick of people who are closed minded about cats... so stupid.

Sad Ending and New Beginnings

On Thursday night Chad wanted me to come home early (early being leave work slightly before 7 instead of at 7) When I got home I found Chad holding a puppy... I couldn't believe he had a puppy... I thought we had decided that we would wait awhile before getting another dog... but low and behold...

I asked him where this little guy came from... He said that a guy from his work had heard about our loss and wanted to give us one of his pitbull puppies... So meet Rowdy... our new addition... I haven't had a puppy in a very long time and it's pretty cool having him around... He already seems to get the idea that he has to bathroom outside... while he still has some accidents he's pretty good about going toward the door when he has to go... he's already playing with dog toys and he's adorable... While he will never replace Bear... he is loved... so here's some pics!!

This one is my favorite!!

RIP Bear

We had to put our Bear to sleep yesterday.

After Wednesday's surgery Bear seemed to be getting better, he started eating a bit of food and drinking... he even managed to have a BM... But on Friday he started to look worse... on Saturday Chad took him to the vet (I had to work :( ) The vet said that his intestine was leaking and they offered to do surgery free of charge... they called in the other vet and preform emergency surgery on him. He made it through the surgery... but his prognosis was not looking good. He slept through the night and seemed to be in better spirits Sunday... drinking and even eating a bit... but by Monday he was back to worse... Chad took him to the vet, and we both knew what was going to happen... he wouldn't be able to endure another surgery, and not sure we'd want to put him through that anyway... We had to put Bear to sleep.

Our poor puppy... he was only 5 months old but left such an impression on my heart. I've never met a sweeter dog. I'm really really going to miss him. I know he's not suffering now... and don't all dogs go to heaven?

Poor Bear...

Chad and I have been having a little drama with our poor wonderful Bear... Here's the story...

On Saturday night Bear started to vomit a little... we hoped he just ate something bad and it would pass... but on Sunday he was still vomiting and had diarrhea. He was so lethargic and wouldn't eat or drink anything. We decided that if on Monday he was still acting this way we would take him to the vet.

Monday came around and he still wasn't acting normal. Chad made him an appointment. At the appt they first thought it might be some type of viral infection... since they did a Parvo test as well as an x-ray... both negative. They gave him fluids and some meds through an IV. On Tuesday we took him back there for round two. About mid-way through the day he had still not made an progress... actually he may have even been worse off... he had lost more than 5 pounds over just a couple of days... We met with the vet that night and after a long talk we knew what we had to do... he needed to have surgery.

This morning he went into (basically) emergency surgery. And what did they find? He had a puncture in his intestine and was leaking fluid into his abdomen. The intestine had basically gone bad and they had to remove about 8-10 inches of intestine. They also found some foreign items in his stomach and intestine. Basically they think he had an upset stomach and then ate some grass or sticks outside and the stick punctured his intestine.

He recovered from surgery well... and is in much better spirits today... he gave kisses and wags his tail and has eaten and drank a little for us. He's not in the clear yet but thus far things are looking good. He made it through surgery which she said 1 in 4 don't make it through that. Since he leaked so much fluid there's the potential for a severe bacterial infection... so we have to give him loads of meds to help with that. We have to give him 4 different types of pills a day. We also have to moniter his bathroom visits and temperature.

We hope that he recovers well and pulls through for us. It was a lot of money to get all of this done, and it was a very tough decision on what to do, since there was the possibitly we could get him surgery and we still wouldn't be able to know what was wrong. We love him very much. He's such a sweetheart... please send your well wishes toward him... the little guy is tough... this could have easily killed him before we knew what was wrong.

I'm sorry I haven't been writing lately... I imagine I will have a very exciting blog entry to write soon...

Our new Addition

This weekend we got a new addition to the family... Bear. Bear is a pitbull and totally adorable. My cousin Ashley is not able to keep him anymore (which is sad b/c she and her kids love that dog) but Chad is in love with him and offered to take him... that way they can still come and visit. I think he will be a good additional to our family... once he and the cats get use to one another... I've included some pictures of him along with our other furbabies.

Here's Bear's best picture I've taken thus far... I'm sure there will be more... I love his color


He found one of Bozley's rawhides and loves it!!Here's where Chad had been for the last hour... on the floor playing with the dogs...


Aww... kisses




Here's after we let the dogs outside... Chad had to go get Stitch and give her loves... it's going to take awhile for her to get use to the new additionHere's just a great picture of Boz... goofy dog
Here's Pretty laying in one of her favorite spots on my coat in a little ball... so cute


I tried to take a picture of Stitch's favorite spot but the dog walked right in front of the pictureHere it is... The cats are smart and lay on the vents where the hot air comes out... Here's an adorable picture of Stitch... looks comfy doesn't it?