Little Corgis

Marcel posted a picture of himself as a little one for today's Throwback Thursday so I thought I'd do the same.

Here's Gimli, the day we met him, at 6 weeks old. Mike's holding him. This is right before he bit a chunk of the Mickey Mouse graphic from Mike's shirt.

Here's Merida at about 6 weeks. She took a liking to me and my hand. She lay down soon after and started to doze next to my leg.

Picture time

MERIDA: Take the picture already, I'm posing.
GIMLI: Cheeeeeseeeee!

MERIDA: Gosh, you take forever. No more pictures today!
GIMLI: What, no cheese? *sad face*

Flat Corgi Friday - Merida and her brothers

Which one is Harris, Hubert, and Hamish?

Come back doggie friend

The farmer behind us has an Australian Cattle dog. This dog and Gimli are fence friends. Whenever the dog roams with his master or even if he's out on his own, he has to stop by our fence to check on Gimli. And anytime we see the farm dog at the fence, we allow Gimli to go out to see his friend.

They don't do much other than pee and sniff through the fence, but there's a sense of friendship.

Picture from a couple years ago.

Today, Mike noticed the farm dog sitting at the fence waiting for Gimli. However, by the time Gimli made it outside, the farm dog had walked away. Gimli then sat and waited by the fence, looking for his friend, but he didn't come back.

Picture from a couple years ago.

It was so sad to see. Two friends just missing each other.

Wordless Wednesday - Hallway blurs

Stones - An update

I've been meaning to post an update on Ms. Merida and the stones that were extracted from her bladder.

It turns out it she had struvite stones in the bladder. Of the stones, we were told these are the easiest to treat and prevent.

Merida finished her round of antibiotics and after a few days of rest from the medication, she was at the vet on Friday for a urine test to follow up that there was no crystals or bacteria etc. Everything was fine, except for the water to urine ratio. This was a little high, so we have started soaking her food in the hopes it increases her water intake.

We take her back in 3 weeks for another urine test. Provided the ratio improves, then we will scale back the tests to every 3 or 4 months. Other than that, she's fine.

We are giving her the same treats as Gimli, with the only difference being her food. She's on Royal Canin Urinary SO formula. To that end, we've been slowly bringing her back to eating fruits and veggies and that doesn't seem to have affected the level of ph in her urine. We'll see how things progress at the next visit, but I'm hopeful we can continue with the fruits and veggies.

Flat Corgi Friday - Backpack doggies

Our travelling backpack has 3 zippers at the top, which make a handy spot to store the corgis. The pockets also make it easy to stow the corgis away in case it starts to rain. The bag usually sits on the back of Mike's wheelchair as we roam around on our adventures.

One of my favorite pastimes is to watch for people's reactions when they see the corgis. Many times they do a double take and then smile or laugh. Often children see the corgis and think it's a real dog sitting in the backpack, (if only).

Sometimes, people will recognize them as corgis and we'll have a quick chat. We even had one person ask us if they were our dogs... because I would bring strange dog faces mounted on cardboard on a trip with me and pose for pictures... totally normal.

Wordless Wednesday - Corgi Security

Is that the cat?

GIMLI: Is that the cat walking by?

MERIDA: Psh, you'd never be fast enough to catch a cat!

Furry Siblings

It's National Siblings Day today and who better to illustrate this than a big brofur and his little sisfur.

First speed run

I've been doing the Runkeeper 5k training plan and tonight's run was my first ever speed run. It was 8 intervals of a minute of fast running and 90 seconds of slow walking.

To say that I'm tired now is an understatement.

The first minute, I thought my calves were going to explode. It was all I could do to hold on until the walking interval. I honestly thought the program on my phone was malfunctioning because that minute felt like forever. Then, it seemed like I was walking for just a few seconds before I had to start running again.

This was difficult, but I made it through. I keep telling myself that soon I'll be running the 5k from start to finish, but right now that doesn't seem possible.

Tomorrow is another day, not another run though - that's Saturday.

I don't think I'm at this level... yet, but I'll get there.

Year of the Corgi - April

Merida graces the calendar again this month because April is the month in which she was born.

Wordless Wednesday - I am 2 today

Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?

This past weekend, we took the corgis to the Canadian Pet Expo. We weren't looking for anything in particular, and we didn't partake in any of the events, we just went to get out of the house and take the corgis on an outing.

At this year's Expo, there was a reptile section selling reptile products as well as a bunch of terrariums housing various reptiles, insects and arachnids, and snakes.

There was one exhibitor who had transparent tubs housing Ball pythons and other small snakes. I picked up Merida to see if she'd be able to see the snakes moving around...

Well, she was having none of it! She wouldn't let me go near the table and when I turned her in their general direction, she dug her claws into my shoulder and cuddled in.

The poor dear, I won't let near any more scary snakies, except for Sir Hiss.

This is the face I made when I got close to the snakes.

The stony truth

Why is Merida smiling?

Because she's home and finally has a diagnosis.

To backtrack a little:

1. Back in November, we took her to the vet for a suspected UTI.  A urinalysis was performed and it was confirmed that there was bacteria etc. She was on antibiotics for 7 days and at the end of the course, the UTI seemed to clear up.

2. Fast forward to the end of February. On a surprisingly warm day, I took her for a walk and saw blood in her urine. Back to the vet we went and this time she received a 14 day course of antibiotics.

The course finished, another urinalysis was performed, but with different results.

There was no bacteria, but there was the presence of other foreign matter. An xray showed a small blob/lump/something in her bladder.

3. So, this past Monday, she spent a day and night at the vet's office where they cleaned/drained her bladder and scoped it. She had 3 small stones banging around in the bladder, causing irritation and bloody urine. The stones are currently in the lab and we're waiting for the results on their composition. This will determine her dietary needs for the rest of her life.

4. Right now, she's on Royal Canin Urinary SO dog food. She cannot have anything else because we don't know what caused the stones in the first place. This dog food will a) make her thirsty and force her to drink more water, which will cause increased urination. This is good to keep the bladder flushed. And b) it will inhibit the growth of future stones.

Temperament and behavior wise, she's back to normal. When we brought her home on Tuesday, she seemed glad to be home with us. It's always different when you come home, isn't it? She has shaved patches on her front legs where the IV was placed, but other than that, you wouldn't know she had a procedure done. She has one more day of anti-inflammatory meds - Metacalm, and about 8 or 9 days left of antibiotics. In a couple months she has to go back for another urinalysis test.

We are grateful it wasn't anything more serious with her kidneys and with this diagnosis, we have an action plan for the short and long term.

More to come once we have an update on the stones themselves.

Wordless Wednesday - What fools these corgis be