w w w . S t r a y d o g*. o r g U p d a t e
POSTED EVERY DAY AT NOON CENTRAL TIME U.S.A.
Straydog Inc., The Arnolds' Happy Home for Strays, a No-Kill Dog Shelter
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147 * (903) 479-3497 * EMAIL: straydog@straydog.org

* When Straydog is in red, we're running out of funds to sustain our mission.

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

THURSDAY APRIL 15 2004

Happy Birthday, Jed!

Jed with Larry the day Jed was adopted

An email from Larry, who adopted Jed eight months ago:

Bill and Erin,

According to the paperwork passed on to me from Straydog, Big Jed is 13 years old today! According to this chart:

http://www.cdhs.net/dog_age.htm

that makes him 101 in people years (I think, since it stops at 12 years for dogs his size). Wow! It's also about eight months since I adopted him. He moves pretty slow and sleeps a LOT, but he sure seems content when he's awake. He likes to go out in the morning, have a nice roll in the grass, then lie in the sun for about 15 minutes. Then he gives his "let me in" bark, has a bite to eat, gets his daily belly rub, and it's back to bed.

The only problem with this routine is that he's gained a few pounds - not too bad though. (Plus, he probably gets too many treats, because, at his age, I figure he deserves to enjoy himself.)

We do get out for walks, but he tires pretty quick, and his legs get stiff on him so we go nice and slow and keep the walks short. Jed likes to stop about every three feet, but so do I, so it works out well!

Anyway, Jed and I both appreciate what you've done for him and all the other fine canines at Straydog, and also want to say "thank you" to all the donors who make it possible.

Regards,

Larry

 

Rocky's about 13 also, and he's sick again

Rocky's feeling bad as he walks across the park this morning

     Two weeks ago (on April 1st) Rocky was very sick (bloody diarrhea and no appetite), but after a dose of Panacur he snapped out of it and has been fine till yesterday. His bowel movements have turned bad again, and he has very little appetite. We gave him another dose of Panacur yesterday, but this time the medicine seems to have made him feel worse. He didn't even want to go to the park today. We took his temperature, which is low at 100.6 degrees. (Normal for dogs is around 102 degrees.) Rocky may be going to the vet this afternoon or tomorrow morning, but if he doesn't recover from this bout with bowel disease, we're probably going to have to take him to the diagnostic center in Dallas to see if they can get to the bottom of his problem.

     I'm wondering if he ate some of Ginger's rabbit kill this past Monday morning. He was out in the yard with Ginger, and and he may have joined in with her during that unfortunate event for the rabbit, though Rocky doesn't seem like the rabbit-killing type. (Ginger has always become frantic upon seeing a cat or a squirrel or a rabbit.)

     I've talked before about how frustrating it is to try to keep the dogs on a strict dietary regimen only to have them ruin it by eating their own (and other dogs') stools, hunks of dirt, pieces of plastic toys and now raw rabbit, which I know is the proper diet for their cousins, the coyotes (as well as other wolves), but I don't think raw rabbit sits well with dogs who are used to eating regular (along with home cooked) dog food.

     Ginger hasn't shown signs of illness since the rabbit incident, but she's had very little appetite all this week.

     As always, we'll watch them both very closely and report more tomorrow.