Ode to the Hounds

This is a poem that I had wrote after we got Gloria in April of 2011.  I had called it "Basset Hound Momma x2"   Enjoy! :)

I spend all my days now cleaning up mud,
From Freddie Spaghetti and Gloria, his bud.
Then there's the drool on the cupboards and floor,
Everywhere I turn, there's a little bit more!

It's on all our furniture, even our t.v.
'Cause when these two hounds shake,(thank God there's not three)
The drool it does fly and sticks just like muck,
So if you're within range, you'd better just duck!

Then there's the fur all over our bed.
Not to mention that bassets love to curl by your head!
Our couch and our chair we no longer own,
They haven't figured out yet, how to use the home phone.

Then there's the smell when two bassets have gas,
Nobody ever said that this breeds got class!
They puke and they drool, they fart and they snore,
But who could ever ask for anything more?

For a nice clean house and room on my bed,
Would I ever give up Gloria and Fred?
Not on your life, I would never trade places
Or give up the love from these precious faces!

Wordless Wednesday - My Sunshine

Note: I will be back to my Monday Mischief posts next week with Freddie's options and our plans for Freddie Spaghetti.

                                                      


Freddie Update - Not Good

Imagine the worst........it's worse.

The vet called me to come in and see Fred's x-rays and talk to him around 4:00 p.m. yesterday.  When I walked in he just looked at me and said it's bad.  He said this is hip dyplasia plus plus.  It's both of Freddie's hips and it's the worst he's ever seen. And it's both of his hips. Poor Freddie's hip bones don't even look like hip bones and the socket doesn't even resemble a socket. The prognosis with what we're doing and adding something for pain...............6 months, maybe a year.   My heart is breaking and I've just stopped crying long enough to right this update. I spent most of the night just laying with Fred caressing him, feeling his breath and his warmth.

I know for the next few days I will just be in a fog.  Heck, I don't even remember leaving the vets office. But I will have to snap out of it as my goal is to spend as much quality time as I  can with my baby and keep him as happy and comfortable for as long as I can. I can't even bear to look ahead so I will just try to focus on the here and now.

I want to thank everyone for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers for Freddie.  I will be MIA for, well I don't know how long, while I try to come to come to terms with this.  Please keep praying for my baby!

Monday Mischief - Seahawk Sock

Freddie was a little ticked off that the Seattle Seahawks were on before the Detroit Lions yesterday. So he decided to get up to some "Seahawk" Mischief.

And steal one of his Dad's "special" socks.

His Dad was not impressed.  I on the other hand turned my head to this heinous crime. teehee!

Note:  Freddie's itching is a bit better and he is sleeping through the night (whew!) But I had to take him to the vets last Thursday because his one hip is clunking all the time now.  The vet definitely felt a divot in his hip where the cartilage is gone and has started him on Glucosamine HCL which he will have to be on for the rest of his life.  We also had to switch him to a low calorie diet and he is restricted to no playing (ya right) just getting exercise on a lead right now.  I was pretty upset at the end of last week as he is just so young having turned two this year.  Today I will have Fred at the vets having x-rays done to see just how bad things are. Wish us luck! 

Peace and Quiet & Peace of Mind

Peace and Quiet is having two bassets hounds sound asleep.

Peace of Mind is my Mother's silver tea set freshly polished since I promised her I would keep it cleaned.

It's a good day!

Wordless Wednesday - Hmmm....I Think Fred's Feeling Better

Okay, you can't expect me to be wordless, I've been without the internet for 4 1/2 days!! My new modem arrived and well, you know it wasn't going to be just an easy "hook it up and go" set-up.  No of course it had to involve being on the phone with a technician to work through the issues.  But it's over now and I'm free to blog and pin ('cause I'm officially addicted to Pinterest now) like crazy!

You don't realize just how much you depend on the internet until you don't have access anymore.  Between having no internet and camera, I think I was in severe withdrawal! lol
  

Freddie really seems to be getting better.  I first noticed it when we got home from the Detroit Lions home opener game on Sunday night.  He was actually wagging his tail and played outside with Gloria.  It was only for about 10 minutes, but that's the first he's played or even wagged his tail since the beginning of August! His body isn't hot and red anymore.  Just his feet are red and his eyes are still a little swelled and yucky and he's still itchy.  But not like he was.  I kept saying I just wanted him back to his normal "little bugger" self.  Well, he is!

I took this picture this morning.  That's just another recipe I should have copied into my book.

All these pictures are with my new camera.  It's a small Nikon Coolpix I bought last weekend.  My good camera has been sent back to Nikon under warranty as the flash shorted out.  It sounded like firecrackers going off when I tried to take a picture.  Not good.  So it could be weeks or I'm sure months, before I see that camera again and I had to have one by Sunday as the football game was going to be a very special one and I wanted pictures.  I was going to meet a blogger friend at the game during half time!

So Sunday after 2 1/2 hours on the 401 and stopping at every On Route to pee.

'Cause that's just the way it is when you get older. Travelling is all about timing your pee breaks.

We made it to the tunnel.

I'm still nervous going through the tunnel but I just try not to think about the water that you see seeping in some of the cracks.

Half an hour later we were in the stadium...

and I was posing with Roary.

I was anxious waiting for half time so I could stand in front of the Pro Shop and wait to meet that special blogger friend.

The stadium was packed and I was nervous wondering if we could really find each other in all these thousands of people.  But we did. 

Standing outside the Pro Shop in a sea of people I heard "Janet? Janet is that you!"

And there she was.

My blogger friend.
Yep,

It's Caren from Cat Chat with Caren and Cody and Dakota's Den!!   What a wonderful, beautiful woman!  I was so happy to finally meet her in person.  It felt like I'd known her forever and we could have talked for hours!  We chatted a little past half time. Then we said our goodbyes, hugged and went back to our seats to join our husbands for the second half of the game.  I am still in awe!  It was just so exciting to meet her in person!  Caren, your the best!

So, Freddie's getting better, I have another camera for pictures, I finally met Caren and my internet is back just in time for me to display my new backpack that Sarge's Momma made for me for the back to school bash!! If you want to see all the cool back packs just pop over to Sarge's blog.

What a great job!  It is so me. :)

All is right with the world.........for now.

Queue music................

"Stop the music! STOP THE MUSIC!!"

"What am I Momma?  Chopped liver?!"

"Oh, right.  Sorry Gloria."
"And Gloria did this"

Queue music...................

And yes, the Lions won! Yay!







No Internet....

Hi everyone, it's Basset Momma's daughter, Brandi, from Yee Wittle Things. 

 Mom just wants me to let everyone know that her modem is "pooched" (hehe), and she's waiting for another one to come from Bell Canada. It should be here by mid-week (fingers crossed!). 

 Once she's back online, she'll update everyone on Fred (he's getting better), football, and meeting a special blogger friend. 

 She hopes everyone is having a good week!

Not So Wordless Wednesday - Freddie Update

Freddie's constant itching persists and it's heartbreaking to see him so depressed and uncomfortable all the time. The Vanectyl pills he was on, which are a combination trimprazine (anti-itch) and prednisolone (anti-inflammatory) did nothing.  I found that Benadryl didn't work but Dristan does help so I have been giving it to him every 4-5 hours just so he can rest a bit. I've also been trying the Benadryl spray. Right now it's 1:14 a.m. and I just got finished giving Fred a Dristan and a couple of tablespoons of this stuff I got at the pet store today called Melissa's Aloe Pet for hot spots, itchy skin and allergies.  Then I sat on the kitchen floor beside him and tried soothing him by slowly wiping him down with a cool cloth until he fell asleep.  He is now sleeping comfortably beside me on the couch as I write.  He doesn't have a rash or anything but it's like he's itchy from the inside out.  His whole body turns hot and red when he gets itchy and he is constantly scratching at his mouth and eyes.  I think the roof of his mouth gets itchy like us when our allergies bother us.  His eyes just run. I spend all day trying to stop him from itching and I just feel so bad because all he does is whimper.  He doesn't play or wag his tail and yes, he's very vocal and dramatic.

   

Today, or yesterday I should say, I got him a cone from the vets for when I just can't stop him from scratching his face or chewing on his legs. I would hate to use it, but if I have to I will.  I also went to the pet store and got him some booties so he can't scratch himself so much and something called Melissa's Aloe Pet. You can put the Aloe Pet on their food and apply it to their itchy spots as it's all organic.  As soon as I got home I gave him some of the Aloe Pet which he lapped right up and I put some on his itchy spots. So far I think it is helping, but time will tell.  He's having a very rough time and Gloria doesn't know what to think as he doesn't even want to play.

She's constantly going over and sniffing him and checking on him and sleeps by him a lot.

Uh oh, he's up and itching...........

I'm back and Fred's at it again so I'll make this a little quicker.  He is also having some trouble with his back end.  We can hear a clunking noise sometimes when he is walking and his back legs really seem to be turning in and actually give out on him sometimes.  He had x-rays done a year ago and they said his hips were fine, but when he goes back to the vet we'll have to get more done.  This really worries me and I try not to think about it.  Right now we have enough with his itching problem that we can't figure out.  If it was the Trumpet Vine, I have read that it can take six weeks or more to get out of the system.  That would be fine as long as I knew he was going to get better. 

I probably won't be around much as this has me very stressed and worried and I want to concentrate my time on getting Freddie well.  You know what it's like when there's something wrong with your furbaby, you would do anything to make them better.  It would be so easy if I knew what it was and I could just give him something to make it go away.  But sometimes it's just not that simple.  I want thank you all for thinking of Fred and hope you will keep him in your thoughts.