Another Lab...

This sweet gal is Tanya - we pulled her almost a month ago from the same north Alabama animal control facility that Cena came from. Not quiet a year old, she's VERY calm and laid back...not Lab-like at all! Tanya is leaving this afternoon for her Pennsylvania foster home.

We'll miss you sweet girl - good luck!!

Does this guy look familiar?

HERE is a hint.

There's a new kid in town.

And she's kicking ass and taking names!!

This is Marley, our almost 3yo Alabama Brown Dog (that simply means we have no clue what breed(s) she might be). She ran in her very first flyball tournament (much to everyone's surprise) the last weekend in May and earned her first TWO titles (FD, FDX). Granted the first two are easy in terms of points...but still...

Marley is going to be our speed demon and if we can build some sort of box turn, she'll be amazing!! With that said, I refuse to handle her. She's a little too Border Collie-like for me - jumping, barking, lunging, nipping...no thanks. I'll stick with slow but consistent Veronica!

Baby H is a...

GIRL! At least the tech was 90% sure... We'll have a follow up u/s on the 24th because they weren't able to get all the anatomy measurements they needed given the baby's position (she's basically wrapped lengthwise around my waist).

I'm excited about smocking and sewing (you can't find nice girl clothes with DOGS on them) but in a cruel twist of fate, it seems I've developed a lovely case of pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome. In both hands. And in case you're wondering, this shit HURTS! The little hand/wrist braces only help so much considering that the pain goes straight up to my shoulders.

Ralphie - diagnosed.

Are you sitting down? Ralphie has HEARTWORMS.

**crickets chirping**

Yep, that's right. A moderate to severe case at that. He spent the day at my vet's clinic the week following our emergency vet adventure. His EKG looked great (whew!) so they moved on to a chest x-ray that showed the right side of his heart enlarged. Doc could see the worms on the film.

Strange part? He tested NEGATIVE (for the THIRD time since we found him a year ago) that same day. Even though it's quite obvious he's infested. We now think that the worms either temporarily affected one of his heart valves or that the entire load shifted, basically causing him to pass out that Sunday.

Heartworms explain all of his cardiac symptoms perfectly, but they weren't even on our radar since he tested negative in April 08, again in October 08 and since he's been on preventative (that I now know could have killed him) religiously since we found him.

Ralphie received his first immiticide injection that same day (May 27th). He was out of commission for about 72 hours before returning to his old self. Which leaves us the difficult task of keeping him calm. Sadly, he's spending a lot of time in his crate these days. But it's only temporary.

I guess if I had to choose between a treatable case of heartworms or getting to know our local veterinary cardiologist on a first name basis...I'd pick heartworms. His treatment will be over in 8-10 more weeks and there should be no long term effects.