Straydog UPDATE posted TUESDAY 12/31/02 at ~5:35 p.m. CT

Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log

TUESDAY DECEMBER 31 2002

Doodle Bug comes home from spay surgery

     All has gone fairly smoothly, so far today. I picked up little Doodles from the vet clinic this morning, where she had stayed the night following her spay surgery. (Today I did not find any homeless dogs or puppies on the way to the clinic, at the clinic, or on the way home from the clinic!)

Blind Puppy Chubs meets Puppy Melinda

     Also this morning I introduced tiny, little Chubs to bigger, six-week-old Puppy Melinda to see if Melinda could become Chubs seeing-eye buddy. Melinda (one of the three motherless puppies we still have) is a sweet, little fluffy bundle of joy, and a very gentle pup, so she seemed to be a perfect match for tiny Chubs. As soon as I put Melinda in the kennel with Chubby, he was drawn right to her, thinking, of course, that Melinda was his mommy.

"I'm not his mama. I'm a baby myself," says Melissa.

     But he soon found out differently and was content to snuggle up close to Melinda, who began to wash his face, which put Chubs soundly to sleep. Then Melinda spent the rest of the day with her siblings, Bonnie and Blake. We'll put Melinda back in with Chubs for a visit later this evening.

Chubs' appetite is improving

     Last night little Chubs woke me up twice because he was hungry, and he ate two little meals of soupy puppy mush. All day today his appetite has been good, but he doesn't seem to eat enough to keep him satisfied for very long.

Chubs eating his puppy mush.

     Thinking that this tiny puppy might still need puppy milk, I gave him his first bottle feeding at noon. He eagerly drank every single ounce of his puppy milk, burped so loud Bill heard the burp from his office down our hallway, and the little fellow has been sleeping soundly ever since, which has been for the last four hours!

Snowflake has been limping today

     This little 14-year-old dog has severe arthritis, and it may be the cold, damp weather that is bothering her today, even tho she stays in the house almost all the time, going outside for "exercise" and sniffing around fun whenever she lets us know she is ready, which is at least every couple of hours.

Happy Safe New Year to you all!