It’s been a while since I really gave any health updates, and we’ve had a few other things going on with the move that I wanted to update as well.
Sheba
It’s been easier to keep our minds off of Sheba’s cancer since we’ve been so busy with the move and now settling in. I was concerned the stress of the move might not be good for her as well. She gave us a scare a few days ago. After playing in the yard I noticed she was moving kind of slowly. She then refused treats and was kind of hanging her head when she walked around the house. This has been typical behavior from her when she has an arthritis flare-up or overdoes it when playing.
Usually a couple doses of Rimadyl will set her straight; but after two days of taking it she still wasn’t feeling well. She was walking better but when out in the yard she just kind of hung around. She didn’t want to play ball and she wouldn’t play with Luke or dig any holes. I was very concerned that it wasn’t the arthritis; and considering a trip to the vet. However, by day three she finally felt better! What a relief it was when she started chasing the ball and playing with her toys and her brother again.
It’s such a joy to see her enjoying life in spite of fighting cancer. She will be turning 12 later this year, but she still acts like a puppy. Last night when eating supper my hubby started chuckling. Luke was staring at us eating, Cricket was completely passed out, but Sheba was pulling toys out of the toy box to play with! I love it.
Cricket
Cricket has arthritis as well and she was prescribed daily Rimadyl. She was taking two 25 mg pills per day but after she had been feeling better for quite a while we decided to try to cut her back (she takes joint supplements as well). We got her down to 1/2 pill per day. My sister has a beagle the same age as Cricket who also has arthritis. She had told me they were able to get Trixie off Rimadyl completely and she was doing well.
So when I lost track of the box of dog meds during the move (I had them set aside but in the commotion of last minute moving they got grabbed by someone and put on the moving truck), it was two days before I could track them down again. It seemed like the perfect time to get Cricket off them completely and she has been doing great! She is just as active as ever and we’ve seen no sign of a limp. This way she doesn’t have to have her periodic blood tests to monitor her liver, and I feel like if she gets worse as she gets older, or has a bad spell, we’ll be able to go back on it then.
Luke
Even though we have 17 acres of land with our new house, the house itself sits very close to the street (typical of old homesteads like this). It’s a pretty quiet street but traffic still goes by. It hasn’t taken Luke long to figure out which windows he needs to keep an eye out in order to see anything going by. At first he barked at every vehicle that drove past. No matter how many times I tell him we don’t own the street, he still feels the need to let us know when anyone is out there! He seems to be getting better about that, he must be recognizing some of the vehicles. There is one he just doesn’t like though….the people that had maple sugar lines across the street and stopped nightly to empty their buckets. I guess he thought they lingered too long close by.
I was pleased when he went on a barking spree the last two nights but I got him to stop. We’ll let him bark a little bit but when it goes on we want him to stop. These nights he was on a good roll and I finally yelled down the hall “Leave it!”. Wasn’t I thrilled when he stopped barking and came running down the hall to me! I gave him a treat and praised him immediately.
I had been working with him more on the “leave it” command, not just for not picking up things I don’t want him to, but for getting him to leave Samantha alone and hopefully that means I am getting somewhere.
Samantha
Sam still doesn’t have total run of the house full time, but we’re making gains there. Right now she is still mostly kept in the office, but we just have a baby gate to the room so she can at least see the rest of the household. In the other door we put another gate, with her kitty litter on the other side of it and from there she can go upstairs and hang out in the two rooms which she likes to do more and more. She has a favorite spot on a futon up there.
I had hoped to have her fully in the house by now, but Luke has still gone after her at times when she’s on the other side of the gate. He seems to do it when the light is low. Luke has always seemed to have poor eyesight in low light, and he’s been known to even bark at us at times when he can’t see us well and doesn’t recognize us immediately!
Samantha is doing fine though (and her health has been great). She’s always been a loner who likes her own space anyway. When the dogs are outside, which is more and more as the weather improves, I let her have full run of the house. She has never slept with us. She had gotten used to the older, calmer dogs, but Luke has always been a bit too rambunctious for her, even when he’s just playing. We want to be sure she always has places to go to that she feels safe and secure, and we also figure “better safe than sorry”. When we go to work we close the door to the office since gates can be knocked over. Sam is older (she’ll be 14 soon) and I know Luke is faster than she is. We’ll do everything we can to keep her safe and happy; and she has a nice area to hang out in. We’ll continue to work with Luke and hope we get past this soon.
Living with pets, especially aging ones with health issues and even younger ones with emotional issues, can be challenging at times. Moving to a new home has brought new situations to deal with as well. However, it’s always worth it – the love they give us every day makes us forget the tough times!
Sounds to me like you purchased a dream house for ALL… Thanks for getting us caught up on how everyone is adjusting to the new place. 17 acres sounds dreamy.
I thought of you reading Jessica’s post (youdidwhatwithyourweiner) on CBD treats/supplements (hemp/marijuana). If I had a dog going through what Sheba is it looks like it could be a great option for her. Jessica’s post is very informative with more resources available for additional information. I hope you get a chance to check it out.
Other than that it looks like everyone is settling in nicely!
Thank you for sharing that, Dolly, I went over and read Jessica’s article. It definitely sounds like something that could benefit Sheba and the other dogs as well! I didn’t get to read all of her links yet but I plan to and we just might try that.
I’m glad they are all doing good and settling in at the new house.
I love that Sheba was looking for toys to play with while you all were eating. So awesome to have that love of playing and I am so happy to hear everyone is doing well. It is crazy sometimes with these pups and kitties but their love is the best!!
It is great that Sheba is still loving to play and enjoying herself. I love your gang so much. I wonder if it is a hound dog head thing when they sleep? Bentley sleeps just like Cricket. LOL
*P.S. Thanks for the thoughts and POTP. They made a world of difference in what has been a very weird week but awesome week.
You are very welcome! I’m so glad you are recovering and that your week ended on a high note.
Hound dogs do have some silly habits, don’t they? I just love ’em!
Sorry I didn’t get to this yesterday, but it was a little crazy around here.
So, so very glad that Sheba is feeling better!! You know I would have worried about her as much as I do Shadow! 🙂 Shadow’s been doing her finicky-eater act again the last 10 days or so and making me nuts. I had to have a talk with Callie on Thursday afternoon, to ask her for help. Some improvement but not enough. Will talk to her again.
Anyway, glad the pups and Sam are settling into their new home and routines! And that Luke did so well with your yelled “leave it!” Sounds like progress to me! And I would definitely get Luke’s eyes checked to be sure they aren’t getting worse. I’m thinking of getting Shadow’s eyes checked next week. I’m putting together a blog post about it.
Callie would have been 12 today. Instead it’s her first birthday in Heaven. But she’s not suffering any more. She’s happy and romping around Heaven with Moses, Charlie (her Auntie Andrea’s Golden), Jeffie, Lucas, and all her other blogging buddies. And watching over her mama, her sisters, and her friends, like Sheba, who need a Guardian Angel. 🙂
Oh, Callie’s birthday must have been such a tough day for you. I’m glad you can think good thoughts about all the wonderful things she is doing as a Guardian Angel.
I hope Shadow gets doing better too. It’s so tough when they give us that worry. I have to be careful about not watching Sheba too closely all the time, and making myself worry when I probably don’t need to, if you know what I mean.
I’ll look forward to your post about having Shadow’s eyes checked, I am definitely interested in that.
Have you thought about having Luke’s eyes checked? Maybe he has vision issues and that may explain some of his behavior.
I had a week this week with our seniors and vet visits so I totally understand what you are saying about living with seniors. 🙂
We had talked about having Luke’s eyes checked in the past, but then we weren’t noticing things so much, and he’s so good at catching the ball it’s hard to believe he’s having any trouble seeing. But maybe it could just be a low light thing too. We’re definitely going to think about it again.
We’re glad to hear everybuddy seems to be doing well…’specially after the move. It can be so stressful. We’re really glad Sheba is feeling good too.
I’m glad Sheba is feeling better and Cricket is off her meds! I hope Luke and Samantha settle in soon. It’s always something with pets, right?
It sounds like you’ve got a really good handle on it and that the gang is settling in to their new digs and new routine.
I think sometimes when we move with all the busyness that goes with it, we sometimes forget it’s an adjustment for our pets too. But it really sounds like you’ve covered all your bases.
Glad all the pets are doing well health wise, that’s got to give you a little bit of breathing room. 🙂
It definitely does. I kept worrying that Sheba was going to take a turn for the worse in the middle of everything too, especially with the stress we were putting her under. Thank goodness she got through it all OK. Every day we get with her is a true blessing.
It’s true – love conquers all and having loving hearts helps deal with older pets and those with disabilities or health issues too…….It sounds like everyone is doing just great in the new house and new yard……..Sheba looks happy and what more can we ask for than seeing those dog smiles (!) and getting those leg rubs from the cat?!
Hugs, Pam
Sounds like everyone is adjusting – tough to keep track of everything going on as they age, isn’t it?
It sounds like things are going pretty well! I’m glad everybody seems to be settling in okay and I’m glad Sheba is feeling better and still acting like a puppy!
Glad to hear that even though it is challenging, everyone is doing ok. We are fortunately the dogs only bark at cars that stop at the end of the driveway (like the garbage truck who is actually taking our stuff) and people walking by. Which doesn’t happen too often!
Our other house sat further off the street, which was a good thing, because it had a lot more traffic going by! There they only barked at cars at the end of the driveway and they can only see people going by during the winter when there were no leaves.
For a dead end street we do get a bit of traffic here, but really not much, and they seem to be calming down more all the time. It’s all new too, which I’m sure is part of it.
We went through the same thing with our Benny boy
Lily & Edward
You have so much to keep track of, you are super woman. Roxy takes a 1/2 dose of rimadyl too, it keeps her old self feeling ok. Sometimes I forget, and depending on the weather she either is Ok, or gets gimpy. My vet says as long as her blood work is fine, she is Ok to be on it. Dang animals anyway, LOL
I do believe that the Rimadyl is pretty safe, and so far Cricket’s blood work has always been fine. But the darn stuff is expensive too, and when we were going through two pills a day, that was rough! So we just slowly cut her back to see how she would do. When we get the pool out in the summer and she’s jumping a bit more we might have to at least put her back on that low dose though; at least that’s not quite so bad.
I get Roxy’s rimadyl at costco. Waaaayyyyy cheaper than from the vet. Just ask for a prescription from your vet.
Thank you for the tip, Mary! We don’t have a Costco around here but I’m sure there must be other places where we could get a prescription filled.
I’m so glad things are working out and that Sheba’s doing so well. It’s wonderful that you got Cricket off the pain meds! Sounds like you’ve got all these new house challenges well in hand. 🙂
your attitude is wonderful!!! I am glad that all in all they are doing well! They are blessed to have you as their Mom. Oh, Dakota ALWAYS feels the need to let us know EVERYONE and every woofie and every leaf that is outside….even people and dogs who go by EVERY DAY! lol
I can’t imagine what these guys would be like if we lived in a busy place! Luke barks the most, but Cricket can get going too and Sheba will also chime in (or start it) at times! Imagine Dakota times 3 – LOL!
We had a wild turkey in the yard the other day….you can imagine how that went over!
I’m glad that everybody seems to be doing well health-wise, especially Cricket getting off the meds! My sister was able to cut her dog back a lot, too, so I know how much of a relief that must be. It doesn’t sound like Sam minds having her own area of the house. Barley’s definitely been more interested in chasing him, too, but luckily a firm “Barley” is all it takes to get her to stop in her tracks (now if only it was that easy with other dogs, and squirrels, and rabbits).
Sam certainly seems pretty happy in her own little area, and I imagine she’ll hang out there mostly once she does have full run of the house. I also think that Luke will probably (hopefully) settle down a bit as he gets older too.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Luke settles down. Barley’s 6.5 now and she’s still rambunctious!
Sounds like you all are starting to settle in and get a new routine in your new home. It takes a while, but change is good for everyone.
I bet Sam will find her favorite place in the new house soon… maybe a window with berd-tv? I love that this place became your home soon… otherwise Luke wouldn’t protect it :o)
You’re so right – and Luke is doing a great job of protecting it!
I don’t know about birds, but Sam was watching a big old squirrel out the window this morning – I think it was almost as big as she is!