Good morning beautiful sunshine! Kenai 3 yrs
The Big K and Little Bro BB are in boy heaven these days; in and out as they please, not too hot, not too cold (is it ever too cold when you have a fur coat?). I’ve gotten Mom to dine, achem, al fresco on the back deck a couple times, and have the windows et all opened up most of the day.
Fresh air!
There is a bit of trouble in paradise though, with Kenai in particular. Three weeks of doxycycline for the tick diseases has resulted in the absolute worst, most distressing side effect of all: anorexia.
Big guy won’t eat. He won’t touch the raw food at all, and will only eat small amounts of kibble if I gussy it up some. Since he cannot digest kibble at all, he has to have enzymes with it, and his coat invariably goes to pot. But it’s that or…
So I’ve bit down on the bullet and ordered some elk, venison, and goat meat from an online company. It doesn’t contain bone, so I’ll have to scavange about for ground bone, but if they eat it and do well, I hope it’ll be worth it. www.elkusa.com
If I even get Kenai to eat half raw/half kibble, that would be a major improvement. He does need off the kibble though. He can’t digest it, it gives him tummy troubles, the works. It took months for the anorexia to wear off last time. Hope it’s shorter this time.
Being the big time outdoorsman that he is, Kenai is mentally pretty darn perky with the whole lotta extra fresh air and sunshine!
Morning or evening, he just loves to stretch those legs. And cold doesn’t bother him until it gets blistering frigid.
Thankfully our winters aren’t usually so chronically bad that the golden grizzly has to “hibernate”. You northern folks know what I mean: out to pee, in for the day.
My health hasn’t improved much, so the outside time doesn’t involve gardening, but such is life…I’m managing to keep the guys fed, exercised, and dinner for us. Sometimes the sweeper or carpet cleaner, but really, not much by way of activity for moi.
Mom made the mistake of letting both guys out together (Kenai! You dont’ run doors), so I had to go collar and fetch. Beebs was looking for rescue too. He’d made the mistake of thinkin that was gonna be fun, free together at last.
Kenai’s play is fairly vigorous, so Beebs got the thunk and wunk treatment, knocked down once before I got there. Droopy ears was happy to see me! Kenai collared up fine and walked very politely with me, and booby butt tagged along behind best as his sore spots could go…poor guy!
No harm done though, other than being a bit more sore and slow than usual. Some traumeel did the trick and he’s back to bouncy butt now. He still wants outside, just not with big bro. Alone isn’t fun either. Crazy auntie and a ball is his idea of the best!
last light, time to go in…BB 3 yrs old
Anne
/ September 28, 2011Lisa, I cant remember if I asked this already but have your tried giving them kefir? Especially with all the antibiotics I think it might help keep them shall we say more “regular”?
just a thought. It sure has helped me a lot.
em
/ September 28, 2011Ooof, that explains why Kenai and BB can’t rumble around together outside! Pictures of BB are always so animated, I guess I never really grasped how much of a physical disadvantage he was operating under.
Otis is very good about pulling his ‘punches’ with smaller dogs, but like Kenai, he has a very hard time understanding that dogs his own size may also need the kid glove treatment. On one notable occasion a few years ago, a 220 lb English mastiff ended up eating dirt repeatedly-Otis was just so delighted and excited (and not yet his oh-so-dignified totally grown up self) to meet such a big playmate. The mastiff was strong and good natured, willing to play, but he was ponderous and slow and just couldn’t run the way that a dane can. Otis would literally do circles around him, then a burst of explosive speed, then full-force WHAMMO! Gleeful at finally finding a dog as bigger than he was, Otis was ecstatic and totally playful, but he was also relentless and holding nothing back. This poor dog had nearly 80lbs on Otis, but he just could not keep up with him physically. He was overwhelmed and starting to get scared and Otis could not seem to believe it. It ended on a good note, but we definitely had to intervene to get the whompmonster in check. Crazy, crazy dog.
Glad to hear about the boys enjoying the weather, though I hope Kenai’s appetite starts picking up. (I’m sure you don’t need any more of my two cents, but when Otis used to refuse to eat, not eating itself would start to be a big part of the problem-he’d start to show symptoms consistent with dehydration and low blood sugar, which would only make him even more reluctant to eat. It wouldn’t work in every case, but when I saw this cycle starting, it sometimes helped to ‘prime the pump’ by force feeding him a small amount of ice cream or frozen yogurt (he wouldn’t eat it out of a dish, but if I stuck it in his mouth he’d swallow it). Then I’d wait ten or twenty minutes and offer his food again. About half the time, the sugar would perk him up enough that he would eat. Just an idea.)
Yippee for fall, in any case!
em
/ October 13, 2011Hi Lisa, hope y’all are still doing well and enjoying the season. Just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that we’re thinking of you.
em
/ November 14, 2011Hi Lisa,
I’m hoping that you’ve just been off the grid lately and that nothing major has happened. Just wanted to wish you well-I hope you and the boys are hanging in there!
ralph and me
/ January 8, 2012Thinking of you and yours. Hope you are doing well.
Anne
Becky Burke
/ January 10, 2012Lisa…I Hope you keep writing. Hang in there…Jesus loves you and your babies. You have captured the spirits of your beautiful dogs in your photos and words. I love your writing so please keep it up.
Hang tight and let prayers and Him carry you now.
Your Kenai and B.B. are playing with my beloved B.J. and my Eric. I wish I had the answers for the pain in this life, but all we can do is to look back as we get older and see how our story is used over time. “When I’m lost in the mystery…to you my future is a memory…cause Your already there …standing at the end of my life…waiting on the other side…Your already there”. (Casting Crowns Come to the Well album “Your Already There”)
Prayers are coming for you and your mom. I wish that I could be there for you.
Love, Becky
vince stead
/ January 20, 2012I really like your site you have here. My name is Vince Stead, and I wrote a book called “New Improved Great Dane Understanding and Training Guide Book” that you can find at Amazon and Barnes & Noble as digital downloads and paperback books. I would love it if you could put a picture of it up, that would be nice of you to let others see it.
Becky Burke
/ February 16, 2012I don’t think that Vince (above) picked up on what your going through here Lisa. I think that it’s a sign though, because you can surely write your own book, with all of your heart-felt knowledge. God bless you and you’re two boys who recently crossed over the rainbow bridge.