StuART Day

Today Blogville is honoring our pal Stuart, who went to the Rainbow Bridge last month, by sharing our own artistic creations like he always shared his StuART. I'm not super artistic, but here's our offering!

I decided to go for the dignified yet kerazy look that Stu always pulled off so well!

Jessie decided to be a little more artistic, and remember Black & White Sunday while she was at it. But if you ask me, that gal has Valentine's Day on the brain right now!!

Speaking of Jessie, we have grreat news! Her latest kidney test came back with the bad stuff a LOT lower -- cut in HALF!! That means the food and meds are working for her, woohoo!!!

Flashback Friday

People are starting to talk about getting in shape for summer. I guess it's time to start working out again, huh? BOL!

Told you so!!

Yesterday y'all were wondering why I was so smug.

Well, there's a VERY good reason! See, for years, Momma has said she wonders what I'm mixed with. I don't have as smooshy face as a traditional boxer, I'm a bit on the small side, and I have a super deep and narrow chest. Based on the chest, Momma kept saying she thought I might be part greyhound.

So I started wondering... what AM I?

Am I a secret relative of Bunny and Flattery?

 Maybe I'm a bird dog!

 Or I might be a Scottish terrier.

I could be an Afghan hound. 

Maybe I'm a cattle dog? 

Or one of those water hounds. 

I could be some kind of retriever 

But maybe I'm just a boozehound! BOL!

I just don't know. I still feel like a boxer! 

When you're this gorgeous, breed doesn't matter! 

Finally Momma decided to do one of those doggie DNA tests to figure out what all made me me. And the results are in!! Want to know???

HAH!!! I TOLD you I was 100% boxer, Momma!! You didn't believe me!! I think you've earned a little...

Human shaming!!!!

It's okay, Momma, I furgive you!

No matter what my breed, I'm still 100% CASEY, and that's what matters!!


PeeS: Momma and I both love mutts! She just got shamed because she didn't believe ME when I told her what I was. I should know, right?!?!

Wordless Wednesday: Smug Edition

(Why am I smug? Tune in tomorrow to find out!)

Shirley you know!

Wow, today sure is a fun day in Blogville! Our mayorz Murphy and Stanley decided that today is Shirley You Know Shirley Day! Because

BOL! We're supposed to introduce our furiends to our OTHER furiends. Just because we read a blog and know how pawesome it is doesn't mean that our other furiends know about it! So I want to talk about two good blogs today.

First up is the Army of Four. It's written by two Siberian huskies named Cammie and Maggie who live in Kansas. They talk all about their exciting adventures living near the Kansas Ocean and the pretty hikes they take. They love snow a whole lot more than I do, but I can love it when I see their pictures of how much they enjoy it! Jessie and I have learned SO much about how to play crazy river otter from them too! (Fun fact: my angel sissy Cinderella dated Cammie and Maggie's angel brothers Dave and Zim!)

My next furiends are the Critters in the Cottage, a group of kitties and puppies who live way up in Canada. They've taught me SO much about how to seek out proper sunpuddles. I love hearing about their nifty hiding places all over the house, and Duffy shares some really pretty flower pictures too!

So those are my furiends! SHIRLEY you know them already, but if not, go pay them a visit and say hello!

Back to the daily grind

Momma's off vacation and back at work today. Which means I've got to get back to work too.

This may take all day, but I'm a pawfessional.

We're BACK!

Yup, we're back from our big visit at Grandpa's! It was a BUSY week, let me tell you!

I think we're going to have to rest up for a while to recover! Hope you've all had a pawesome week. We'll try to catch up on blogs as we can, but please tell us if we missed anything big!

I did it!

Jessie here, everybodys, and guess WHAT?! I had my LAST obedience class yesterday. I'm a full-on obedience school graduate! We had a graduation ceremony and everything.

Momma was humming something she said was "Pomp and Circumstance" while Miss Aubrey was putting on my hat.

I am a serious graduate! 

 My own diploma and everything!

I'm so proud of myself! School was tough, but I DID it!!

Now I get what Momma calls a "graduation trip." How exciting! Casey and I are going to spend a whole WEEK with Grandpa!! Poor Momma and Grandma don't get to be in on any of the fun, they'll be off at something Momma calls a "spa." It can't pawsibly be as fun as Grandpa!! So we'll see you in a week, everyone!

Snuggles and snoopervision

Last night Auntie Jess came over and we snuggled while we watched Matt Damon try to get home from Mars. I told Momma that between The Martian, Saving Private Ryan, and Interstellar, we seem to spend an awful lot of time trying to bring Matt Damon home. Whatever. We got good snuggling in.

 This morning Momma got in her workout while Jessie and I snoopervised. Jessie is a lot more of a morning dog than I am. Sheesh. We could've still been in bed, Momma!!

PeeS: We're thinking of our furiend Sugar today for her surgery!

Jessie Pupdate!

News on Jessie! Best news, her heart is fine. She has a congenital murmur, but bit isn't causing any stress or problems with the rest of the heart. Basically hers just works a little different.

On the kidneys, the official word is renal dysplasia. Basically her kidneys just aren't formed right and aren't working properly. You need at least 33% of kidney capacity to work normally, and she's at about 20-25%. It's something congenital, not a disease or infection. It's not treatable, but it is manageable with special food and some meds.

The thing we still need to figure out is if and how fast it's progressing. If it's not progressing, she'll live a normal lifespan with the treatment we're starting. If it's progressing, that means her kidneys will function less and less well until it's not enough. So that would be a decreased lifespan, but we don't know how much until we know how fast it's progressing. We'll have to test her levels a few more times a few weeks apart to know that.

So overall not fantastic news but much better than I was afraid of and definitely manageable to some degree at least. Thank you everyone for all the POTP! I know it's helped. If anyone has any advice on kidney diets, especially as far as what treats are good, we'd appreciate it.

Wordless Wednesday: Five More Minutes edition

Paws crossed for Cousin Bear!

It's not a good week to be a dog in our family, it seems! My cousin Bear (Uncle Adam's dog) has been hurting for a long while, and today he's going to have knee surgery to try to fix his torn ACL. Please keep your paws crossed for him! He's 11, so surgery's ruff.

PeeS: Jessie has her specialist appointment tomorrow morning, so hopefully we'll have some information for you after that!!


Pupdate! Bear is out of surgery and is doing well. Phew! I hope he handles the recovery okay. I'd be wanting to RUN all the time!!

This & that

Jessie and I have been enjoying our cookies from Uncle Adam from Christmas. They're TREE RAT COOKIES!! I wonder if they got the recipe from Ziggy? We loves them VERY much!

 

Jessie saw the dogtor again yesterday for some pictures of her insides. The dogtor was hoping to see something that might explain her renal failure, like if she was missing a kidney or if they were really small or something. But she wasn't able to get a good enough picture to tell anything. Phooey. Jessie's started on an antibiotic, in case it's caused by an infection, and we're testing her blood for a few more diseases that might cause kidney problems. Now we're just waiting to get in with the specialist. He can take a special picture of her insides called an ultrasound that will see better than an X-ray, and hopefully know more about what's causing this.

In the meantime, Jessie's not too worried. She says she knows Momma and I are looking out for her -- and she's right!!

 Thanks for all the POTP so far, and keep it coming! We're going to figure this out yet. Jessie says she's still looking forward to dancing with Stanley at the BAR in June!

Terrible update

Jessie's second blood test results are in, and unfortunately they confirm she's definitely in renal failure. :( Momma and I are just reeling at this news. Right now we're just focusing on the next step, which is figuring out the cause so we know if and how we can treat it. Jessie will be going to the vet tomorrow for some abdominal scans to see if she has both kidneys, if they're normal-sized, etc. Then we'll be trying to get into the specialist early next week.

We were NOT expecting this news and aren't sure what's going to happen from here. I have some LBR cousins who have had long and happy lives with kidney problems, so we're trying to stay positive. Please extend some Power of the Paw for Jessie -- she needs every bit she can!!

Don't worry, kid. I'm here for you.

Flashback Friday

Today's flashback is to January 2010, when my foster sissy Tiana lived with us. She was a grreat dog, and I loved playing with her!

She was a young pup and playful like Jessie, so I got my workouts in!

But I taught her a few things too!

Tia was adopted by a fangtastic family after just a month with us, and we still get updates from them sometimes about her. She's living the life!!

Thanks for all the POTP for Jessie. We're supposed to get the new blood test results sometime today, but we don't know when. We'll update you when we hear anything!

PotP for Jessie!

What the heck??? Jessie had some blood drawn yesterday for some tests, and the lab is saying today that she's in renal failure!! The vet is really surprised, so she's having Momma bring Jessie back at her lunch break today to draw fresh blood just to make sure it's not a lab error. Please keep your paws crossed!

Minor pupdate: Momma ran home at lunch and took Jessie back for a new blood draw. We're supposed to have test results tomorrow. Keep the POTP up!!

A very impawtant question

Okay, I'm a little nervous about this one. Ahem. Uh... well, as you know, there's a big Blogville pawrade planned for Valentine's Day. I have a grreat idea for a ride, but I need a special lady to share it with. And I can only think of one lovely lady who would do...

Sweet Ciara, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on the Valentine's Pawrade?


Anxiously awaiting your reply,
Casey