The Chronicle of Woos

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

HAPPY HOWLWEEN

(At least SHE didn't find any hats:)

Happy Howlween fromThe OP Pack!!!

Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

It's a great day for the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop sponsored by Comedy Plus.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Sunday Selfies

Mom said we each had to do a Selfie for today before the big freeze came and killed all her pretty flowers. So we tried.

LIGHTNING

TIMBER (who thinks there is a ghost lurking behind him)

MISTY

Who do you think did it best?

Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

Thanks to The Cat on My Head blog for sponsoring the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Wordy Wednesday

We always like to cross our paws for all our friends who need our support. We think we found a new way to do that.

TOGETHER!!!

Lightning and Timber
Misty and Lightning

Timber and Misty

Today we are sending our POTP to our friend Fenris. We hope you are doing much better soon.

And now a wordy update on where things stand with Misty:

We are happy to report that it appears that her undercoat is starting to grow back. She feels a lot softer and fuller compared to how coarse her fur was after losing all the undercoat and being left with just her guard hairs. The vet was hoping this would happen before the winter but cautioned us that it could take until the spring for the change to happen. We think that all the steroid medications she was on for so long might finally be out of her system. We are being cautiously optimistic that she will have her full and beautiful coat back by the winter.

Then there is the whole IBD issue. As we told you the other day, Misty is now trying a new food, and a pricey one at that, even pricier than the one she has been on for quite some time now. After almost two years on Hill's Prescription Diet z/d with no obvious improvement in her inflammatory bowel disease and her bloody, runny stools, the vet recommended we try a different formula made by Royal Canin called Ultamino. Per the Royal Canin website, "Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Ultamino Dry Dog Food is an innovative diet formulated as a nutritional solution for pets with severe food sensitivities. Its clinically proven and highly palatable formula contains a protein source that is broken down to an amino acid level, so it can be absorbed in the digestive tract with reduced risk of triggering a food sensitivity. Optimal amounts of B vitamins and amino acids reinforce your dog’s skin barrier. Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA help promote healthy skin and coat. An exclusive blend of fibers helps support healthy digestion in dogs prone to digestive upsets, including diarrhea. And with strict manufacturing procedures to help avoid cross contamination, you can confidently feed Royal Canin Ultamino long-term to dogs with food sensitivities."

We aren't really sure if Misty's problems are due to food sensitivities or just a lousy gut, but at this point with no benefit from any and all of the recommended treatments of medication and diet, why not try something new?

Here is the funny part about this food. It has "chicken by products", which in this case amounts to CHICKEN FEATHERS!!!! Yes, you read that correctly. Per the vet, chicken feathers are very high in protein but the protein in the feathers is too large for the body to utilize as just feathers. So the feathers are processed and broken down into minuscule bits of protein that the body can effectively absorb.

Misty seems to like this food very much, although Mom says it has a very odd odor. Hard to say what it smells like, but it is definitely distinctive. Misty has been eating it for about 10 days now, with a very slow switch from the other food. She is now at about 1/3 z/d and 2/3 Ultamino and should be fully on Ultamino by the end of the week. The big change we have noticed is that her stools are much firmer for the first time in two years. Unfortunately there is still substantial blood mixed in. The vet says the prognosis is that this will likely never change since she doesn't respond to any availabe treatments We really don't know what to expect long term, but it HAS to be a good sign that she isn't all runny and loose. She should be absorbing the benefits of the food beter now. We just hope it lasts and with a miracle the blood will stop. We can always have hope.

Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

So Wordless or Wordy, we still enjoy hopping along with the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop sponsored by Comedy Plus.

Friday, October 20, 2023

Freaky Friday OR Nature Friday???

I think I will let you decide after you look at what I encountered on my walk today.

For some reason I don't think this looks much like a natural phenomenon from Nature. A bloody skeleton popping out of the ground??? Seems a bit freaky to me.

Maybe this is more like what you were hoping to see. Me with some pretty flowers.

I also encountered a giant skeleton along the way, but he was SO GIANT that Mom couldn't get me and him in the photo unless she backed up and dropped my leash. I don't know why, but she said that was NOT happening.

Woos - Misty (brief update on me, nothing much has changed, still producing bloody stools daily but am now trying another prescription dog food made from chicken feathers - more on that another time!!!)

Let's join the Nature Friday Blog Hop sponsored by our friends at The Adventures of the LLB Gang.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Wordy Wednesday with the Woos

Mom would describe it as her 10 days from hell, but in the end the result was good. We got a new deck!!! For over a week there was no way for us to go out in the yard because there were no stairs for several days and there was too much debris around for us to be safe out there.

So we got lots and lots of walks day and night, one at a time, up and down the street, and at least one longer one around the neighborhood. Mom's health app on her iPhone was blowing up with messages to her about the BIG changes in her daily activity:). At least it was a beautiful week weather-wise, nice temps and no rain. The hardest part was that first outing of the morning when we all had to pee at the same time and urgently. Mom says we were very patient and helped her out a lot by waiting our turn.

As you can see, the new deck is basically the same footprint as the old one, but the materials are different. Aside from the underpinning supports, there is little wood now, no more wood rot and no more puppy chewing, not that there are any hopes of a puppy here anyway:(

But there was one problem that we had to work to overcome. The new stairs had to meet current code requirements so the steps are a little closer together in height and they are wider from front to back. The old steps were made of a solid board and the new ones have two boards with a space through the middle. One of us does not like change at all, and it took some work to get him to adjust. If you are guessing it was Lightning, you would be correct.

"Are you crazy??? Surely you don't expect me to go down those scary steps!!!"

"OK, I will try one, maybe two, but nope, not working for me, I am going back up. I can't trust those boards. With that crack down the middle, I am not sure how many steps there really are."

"Seriously, Mom, now you expect me to come up the stairs???? I am really going to have to think about this one."

So it took a good week, lots of coaxing and help, and lots of treats, but the old boy has finally mastered the challenge. He has some very serious bad leg problems and struggles with the stairs anyway. But he is a trooper and figured it out.