Lila-dog's sudden illness and departure

Note: I've wanted to post this for a while, but I never had it quite the way I wanted it.  I wanted more pictures, better pictures to capture her joie-de-vivre, but circumstances have forced my hand. Yesterday morning, our other dog, Casey, died of a sudden illness. Both dogs in six months. We are pretty devastated here, but at the very least, I have to get Lila's memorium up now so I can make way for Casey's as well. What a horrible problem to have.

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A couple of weeks before Hallowe'en 2012, I wanted to get Lila's shots up to date, so she could go to the park for walks again. She had developed a small squishy area on her tail 2 weeks prior, so I mentioned that as well when we went into the vet's.  The vet said to wait on the shots, because the tail lump looked suspicious - I truly had no idea, it just looked like water retention.  The doctor took a biopsy, but said he had to send it away for further tests - it didn't look like a fatty deposit under the microscope. It turned out it was cancer, and she needed surgery. She had a tumor within a tumor - a small malignant one surrounded by a large fatty benign one. The post-op examiners had never seen one like it.

But as awesome as the surgery went, and as clean as her wound recovered, she never did. She shook all the time, had difficulty eating. We tried pain meds, and mood meds to calm her, and appetite increasers - nothing really worked well, she ate sparingly and kept losing weight. She stayed in this state for about a month. And always, in the back of our minds - had the cancer already spread? The margins still had cancer cells in them, it was possible. Then she finally took an upturn and started eating more. We thought she'd make it! Definitely to Christmas. I bought her a special Christmas collar with bells on. But a week after that, one week before Christmas, she took a terrible downturn. She couldn't even take in water. It was over. It was the weekend, the hospital was closed. I wanted her regular care doc to see her, so we had to wait until Monday. Give her till Monday, and maybe she'll turn it around again? But that Sunday night I stayed downstairs with her all night. She was at the end, and we both knew it.  She refused even the water I tried to put on her lips with my fingers.

Monday morning we got her in, and her regular care doc was able to send her on her way, with Dave and I gently rubbing her body as she faded away. Her doctor was just so awesome throughout this whole thing - he has Jack Russells himself, and he understands their moods and how to deal with them. All the reception/tech girls were really pulling for her too, and all were sad to hear she couldn't make it. The girls used their casual day monies for an "angels with fur" charity, and they made a donation to that charity (which helps animals in need), in Lila's name. So sweet!

Lila and Dave and I tried so hard, but it just wasn't enough. I'm still having flashbacks the grocery store - I made so many soups and cooked strange meats and things to try to get her appetite going, every aisle reminds me of her.

But I wanted this post to celebrate the good things about her life - for most of it, she was a very happy puppy! She loved to flop on her back at the top of a sunny, grassy hill (flower-filled was even better still), and wiggle her way back and forth slowly down the hill, belly to the sun. She loved the summer - the hotter, the better. Sitting in the grass, out in the hot sun of a summer's day, she looked perfectly content and at peace. Winter - she hated. Couldn't wait to get back inside after a quick pee outside. Hated to wear her little sweater, too, which she was very cute looking in, regardless. She did enjoy a short game of 'catch the snowball', however. She shook when she got excited. Or scared. Or hungry. Or happy... To Lila, every time we left felt like she'd never see us again (a result, we think, of us being her 3rd owners). She greeted us with an effusive abandon I've never seen before. It was darling. We called her wiggle puppy sometimes, and that's why - she'd shimmy and twist her whole body in delight, jumping up and down and wanting to give kisses each and every night we came home. We also called her football, because she was built like one, LOL. She loved peanuts. She honked when she was happy. She snored adorably at night. She barked almost constantly during play. It was a habit she picked up early in her life and despite our best efforts, she never overcame. We got her a mini soft frisbee to hold in her mouth during outdoor play time so she would carry it around and growl through it instead of outright barking. She was a picky eater! We went through many different brands to find something she'd love. They stopped making her favorite brand (Alpo soft beef) and we never found it's equal.

She was a dear, sweet puppy who died young for her breed, only 10 1/2 years old, and deserved a far better life than she was given.  Rest in peace, wiggle puppy!

She loved the kotatsu almost as much as the cats. No pics of her underneath as she liked to do on cold winter nights, but here's a couple of her on top, enjoying the sunshine through the window - having so little fur, she was a big fan of all things warm.

Every now and then, we'd take off her collar, she found them itchy. Here she is 'naked' on the back hill enjoying a warm summer day.

Enjoying her new doggie bed a couple of years ago. When Casey got a new, bigger one, Lila tended to hijack that one, and Casey was left fitting into this tiny one, just big enough for her butt. Dogs...

Kotatsu for world peace?

Mainichi has a wonderful opinion piece on how the world might be a better place if the use of the kotatsu was more widespread.  Personally, we can't imagine why on earth use of the kotatsu hasn't caught on more in Canada, and other northern areas. They are just the best!  In brief, it's the way the Japanese stay warm in the winter, with limited central heating. Its a special, small electric heater screwed to the bottom of a square or coffee table, with a large duvet sort of blanket over-top, and a piece of board the same size as the surface of the table put on top.  Its super warm and cozy, there's nothing like the feeling of having your lower half tucked in and warm while watching TV or playing games, reading, surfing on the laptop, etc.

I've written about our family kotatsu before, its become an indispensable part of our winter-time life. We all gather around it come evening, the cats jostling for position on top, little Lila jostling for position underneath, with our legs in there too.  Our old table was quite old and it broke, and the new one we have is smaller, so we all have to squeeze in a little tighter!

We joke about the "peace of the kotatsu" often at our house.  But it really is true, it calms and soothes tempers, even amongst the cats! Cats that normally want to smack at each other, once they get settled down on top, will sleep close together, happy as can be.

For instance, Baby and Peepers:

And Peepers and Kuroi:


No clawing, no fighting, just everyone enjoying the warm cuddly nature of the kotatsu. So maybe that gentleman from Mainichi wasn't too far off after all! :)

From all of us here....

Casey...


Lila...


Baby Boy...


Peepers...


And Kuroi...

We hope you had a great Christmas holiday, and a wonderful 2011! Here's to a new year, with new hopes and new opportunities!

Cats will be Cats

Kuroi (Pretty Kitty) has a fun game he plays every morning for about a half hour. He chases around a (imaginary or real) kibble that escaped the dogs' dish.  Perhaps at one point, there actually was a kibble that ended up underneath the old drip tray we use to protect the floor from the water bowl.  Now, who knows? But Kuroi is convinced it's there, and every morning, pokes randomly under the mat - it's quite hilarious. Today, Peepers watched in quiet awe while he did this, wondering what the heck he was doing. It's the first time one of the other cats has taken an interest in Kuroi's little hobby. 

God, cats are such spazzes.  :D

So, I didn't go...

Once I got up in the morning on Saturday, I realized that the long walk to Marginal Road just wasn't worth it to check out the new location of the old Halifax Farmers' Market, when we have a much easier-to-access market right here in Dartmouth that I hadn't been to before. I mean, I like the idea of the new market in Halifax, but honestly, it's just too far out of the way - and no buses! FRED (the free rides everywhere downtown bus) does go by, but only operates for 2 months in the summer, on a 40 minute loop, so I'd have to catch it near the beginning of the loop, after an already 40 minute long trip to get to the downtown. Or have a 15+ minute hike from my nearest bus stop. Or wait, transfer and *still* have to walk a distance. Loaded down with produce? I don't think so. It's really unfortunate, I wonder how many elderly and encumbered people won't be able to get to the new market - the eco-friendly building is great, but if you need a car to get there, what's the point? AND, after looking at their new website, I noticed something. It says "Free parking the month of August". That implies you'll have to *pay* for parking afterwards. What?! This new location looks like it has a *lot* of "getting there" issues...at least from my perspective.

And I think I made the right choice, looking at the photos of opening day from The Coast - it looked as packed as the old market was! :) Not my cup of tea, so glad I didn't go. :)

Instead, I took a short walk down my street, caught a bus that took me right to the (admittedly much smaller) Dartmouth Market, located in Alderney Landing (a Dartmouth side ferry terminal). At least 2 farms had large displays, two or three others were much smaller with limited produce. But really, that's more than enough variety, they had just about everything you could want there - if one place had beans, the other had cabbages. There were several baked goods stalls, and one I'm definitely going to try next time is the German Baker (oddly enough, run by an actual German). :) Their breads looked wonderful. There were a large number of crafters there, too.





See? Not too packed - busy, but not crazy.

Once I was done, I had some time to kill before the bus came back (it only runs once an hour) - so I walked over to the boardwalk (the Market is right next to it) and had a lovely sit looking at the harbour - beat the heck out of fighting with crowds and walking all over creation loaded down with veggies!


I looked at Halifax...


I looked at boats tied up on the docks...


...at George's Island in the distance...


...at the adorable Theodore Tugboat...SO funny to see him darting around the harbour...


...at the Angus L. MacDonald bridge...


...at boats under the bridge...


...and the ferry as it went past (it docks right next to the Market).



It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, not too cold. Soon enough, the bus came, and I arrived home with all my goodies. As usual, the animals FREAK when I bring home stuff fresh from a farm. Groceries are "interesting" but they go hog-wild over farm fresh stuff, must be lots of interesting smells in there. Here, Baby Boy tries to fend off the other cats from getting a sniff, but Peepers manages to get in there.



This time around, I went looking for borscht ingredients. Everything's in season for borscht, and I got some gorgeous produce from Noggins Corner Farm (in operation since 1760!). The meat (antibiotic-free!) I got from Meadowbrook Meat Market, a local farm that sells daily at Alderney Landing. They had a great deal on back bacon this week, so I got some of that. I got the free-range eggs from another farmer there, but unfortunately I missed the name.

All in all, time well spent! Glad I went, and will definitely return. :)

Now that it's been a while, I wonder how things are going over at the Halifax Market...? Hmmmm...

Peepers in the Sunshine

Peepers was really enjoying the sunshine streaming into the kitchen this morning...

He's leaning against a box of dog cookies, that we're actually using to hold bulk bird seed... :)

Pigeons and Photography

Thought I'd make a quick point about appropriate use of flash. And show off a cute pic of Peepers, sitting on the edge of the kitchen sink this afternoon, watching the doves/pigeons in the falling snow. :)

Sometimes, the flash will not go off when taking a photo, if it detects there's enough light. However, if you're taking a photo of something with drastic light and shadow, flash may still be appropriate. Take for example, the first photo. There is a ton of white light coming in from the window, so the flash doesn't automatically go off. But this leaves Peepers and the rest of the foreground in the dark:

So, you change the flash from AUTO to ON (it's called different things on different cameras), and try again. You'll get a shot like this one:

Now you can see Peepers more clearly!

Then you can muck around in your favorite image editing program, and get a much better result. Sometimes the bright part will be a little washed out, but it's a big improvement over a blackened-out pic you can't see. :)

And, if you really want to muck about and crop the photo and selectively darken/brighten certain areas, you end up with something pretty cute:

So this is where we are...

He's back from his trip to the vet. And he's not talking to us.

Right now he's under my bed, and crying. He finally peed...after holding it all night and all day...in the carrier. Oh well, at least it's easy to clean. :) He was pretty good at the vet's too. We think we might have made a mistake with Peepers - we had thought bringing him directly from outdoors to the vet's would be less traumatic, but he totally freaked out and destroyed the back area. Pretty Kitty spent only one night under a people-roof, and at the vet's he was totally calm! Allowing the vet to examine him, and even take his blood calmly! The only time he panicked was when he accidentally tipped the weighing scales - it made a noise, and he spent the next 30 seconds trying to climb shelves and knocking all the pamphlets in their plastic containers on the ground, making more noise and freaking him out more. Dave finally caught him, and only had to bleed a little for his trouble.

But, it's all over now. Aside from a little heart murmur, which Baby Boy has too, he seems in good health. We've got a dewormer for him, and next week he'll be able to go in and get the Big Snip. His blood tests came back negative (Hooray!), so we're starting to introduce him to the rest of the family. He came out from under the bed briefly and met Peepers, which went okay. Peeps hissed a bit, but after a nose-to-nose sniff, nothing else happened. Pretty Kitty actually purred while looking at Peepers, so that's good. Hopefully the rest of the meetings will go as smoothly as that one did. We'll see!

PhotoRama: Peepers the Cat and his new Indoor Life

Thought I'd share some photos to show you all how Peepers (also known as Peeperman, Peeper-man, PeeperDeeper, Peeps, Peeper-cat, and more) is adjusting to indoor life.

It's quite shocking really! Aside from spending all his days lazing on our back deck, he seemed very independent and older when he was outside - but now, he's completely reverted to kittenhood.

He mews in the litterbox when he's having a poo, when Dave is in the washroom and he's outside, and when he's outside our den door, until we invite him in. (The door's open, mind you - he just wants the invite!)

He is truly the sort of cat that inspired the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat" - he jumps up beside the kitchen sink when I'm doing dishes; he sits on the kitchen table, mesmerized, to watch the microwave cook things; he jumps by the bathroom sink while Dave is trying to shave, and walks back and forth under Dave's arms; and a couple of times, he's started to head for the oven when a pot is burbling. He gets chased away from even thinking about that VERY quickly!

He is more "actively" affectionate than any cat we've known. Baby loves to receive affection: he will greet you in the morning, but spends most of the day crashed out on the couch - you have to go to him to pet him. At which point he'll roll over and stretch out to touch you, while you rub his belly. But Peepers will follow you around constantly, rubbing up against your legs as you walk around the house. He'll rub noses with you, and he never really wants to be alone. He's been a joy to have around the house, and is a wonderful addition to our little family!

Baby and Peepers are getting along better! They sleep on the same couch without incident, and only occasionally chase each other a little - no actual tussling though.

Peepers nervous about the bathroom cupboard being open for the first time in his life...I don't think he realized it could open up like that. :)

Peeps and Casey are big-time friends - they are constantly rubbing noses and grooming each other. Adorable!

Dave tries to shave, with a Peeper-cat running along the edge of the sink, back and forth across Dave's chest. Silly boy!

Litter Box Wars: A Kitten's Revenge

We've been trying to wean the cats off of using the upstairs litter box (in our bedroom....ugh). We cover it with cardboard during the day so they'll head on downstairs, and uncover it at night when Peepers sleeps with us. Dave and I were chatting in the bedroom the other day, and noticed that even though the cardboard was still in place, there was a tiny spray of litter on the outside of the box. We lifted up the edge of the cardboard, and saw that SOMEONE (read: Baby Boy) decided that he could wiggle just his butt under the cardboard and still use the box, and no one would be the wiser. Baby Boy is VERY territorial, he couldn't stand that Peepers has a virtually private box all to himself. What a little jerk.

But that afternoon, Peepers had the last laugh. I went to take a nap, and Peepers wanted to stay with me. I uncovered the box for him in case he needed it, and went to lie down. It sounded like he was digging in the box for 5 minutes or so - I wondered if he was having troubles. I got up to take a look, and saw that Peepers had remedied the "This is Baby Boy territory" situation. He moved all of the litter that Baby had used, or even touched, and created a pile of litter almost half a foot high - OUTSIDE the box!

What petty, petty behaviour on the part of both cats! We love you both, Dudes, no need for squabbles!

Peepers: "I miss killing things..."

Peepers looks outside at the little birds and squirrels, and you can almost see the thought bubble over his head, "I miss killing things". Sorry Dude, you'll have to content yourself with hunting the tennis ball - we love you, but we love our birdies too! :)

Mega Storm last night in NS

We had a MASSIVE thunderstorm last night, the likes of which I can't ever remember happening before (and neither can Dave's mom, and she's in her 70s)! It lasted well over an hour, probably closer to two, with the height of it lasting over 40 minutes. They showed on the news today that there were over 1200 lightning strikes in the province (a typical storm has about 200). Insane! We even had actual bolts of lightning, half hidden through layers of clouds, and not just our typical sheet lightning. Although, of course, there was lots of sheet lightning too! I don't know how long the storm went on while I just lay in bed, half asleep, expecting it to go away--but when it kept going on and on, and Peepers let out a questioning little "meooow?", I thought it best to get the rest of the furries together to make sure everyone was okay.

We gathered them all together in the living room upstairs. Baby Boy & Molly took it the best, they weren't worried at all, it seemed. Casey was a little freaky for a bit, but half of that was because it was 3 am and everybody was awake. She did her head-down-wagging-tail whole body wiggle, sticking her head in everybody's face to give kisses. She settled down pretty quickly, though. The worst for wear was Dave's mom's little Jack Russell terrier, Lila. She is scared by just fireworks, so a storm where the rumbling of thunder never stopped had her hyperventilating to where she nearly passed out! Poor little dear, it took her a LONG time to calm down. Once it had settled down and everyone went to bed, Baby decided that he was hungry, and started meowing and clawing under the door. I had to get up and give him some dinner, and he came in to sleep with us for a bit afterwards - a very rare event (so maybe he was affected after all).

This morning, all the birds and squirrels looked a little ragged. They were soaked through, and seemed more squabbly than usual, fighting over position at the feeder. Even saw a nuthatch and a sweet little yellow bird with a pointed bill that I didn't recognize - I guess they must have been blown here by the storm.

Never seen anything like it! Wow!

Caught ya!

I see you, you little kitten! Playing around like a little baby! (I'm glad to see Peepers is indoors and safe with a family, but still young enough to enjoy some kittenish behaviour!)

Peepers Approves of the Harvest

I did some harvesting from the garden today, picking all of the radishes, peas, and thinning the beets. Peeking out from behind my Coke Zero, Peepers supervises the shelling of peas, and seems to approve!


More on my BeanDreams 2007 update, coming soon!

Milk treat, and the Gulf Between, Part II

Peepers is WILD for milk - Baby Boy enjoys a little in the evening, but Peepers wants it whenever Dave has some - lunch time, snack time, whenever! He runs around, curling around our legs and meowing until he gets some!

Look at the size of that tongue!!

Here's the second in the series, the Gulf Between. Watch out Peepers, Baby is on a diet, and HE IS ANGRY!

Poor Peepers, he's trying very hard to fit in, but both Molly and Baby Boy hiss at him whenever he gets close, no matter how "supplicant-ly" he approaches. Hopefully they'll relax soon, and get things sorted out between each other. :) Hopefully. Because I'm REALLY sick of having a secondary litter box in our bedroom. I'd REALLY like him to get used to using the main kitty box in the basement. :)

All done! Peepers is fixed

The surgery went well, no problems to report, and now Peepers is back home, safe and sound, if a little lighter. :) Having him neutered at this stage will head off any potential future issues with developing spraying (marking his territory - our house - with urine) and also possibly impregnating other cats, creating more unwanted kitties. It's an important thing to do - we think of it as a social duty, a duty to society and animal welfare in general, not just for us).

Now, he can rest up in our bedroom for a couple of days, then he will be given full reign of the house for the first time, and can have some fun exploring. :)

The Gulf Between

Oh well, at least Molly doesn't growl and hiss at him as much. An uneasy truce is better than nothing! Hopefully, things will continue to improve. Peepers goes in for his neutering tomorrow morning (I'm glad he doesn't know what's coming!), and then we can let him explore the house more freely. He's getting more daring though, he went all the way down to the basement this morning. Very cautiously, though!

Baby Boy won't go near him, he still acts like he's scared of this kitten that's half his size. Good grief. Between that, and Baby's refusing to make eye contact with me anymore, because he's too busy pouting, it's been a tough week. Well, that, and Peepers has had to sleep in our room, and is keeping Dave up all night by sleeping on various parts of his head and neck, and meowing. It'd be really funny if we weren't so tired! :)

"Treachery!" Peepers says - Peepers and the Vet

Monday was time for Peeper's big visit to the vet. We had a plan, and the first part went pretty well. Dave goes outside as usual to pet Peepers, I wait inside by the door. Dave grabs Peepers, I open the door, he rushes inside, I slam the door behind him. He tosses Peepers in the carrier, I slam the carrier door shut behind him. Perfect!

But then, Peepers had a Level 1 FreakOut. He smashed his face and paws repeatedly into the side of the carrier to the point that he cut his nose and started bleeding. I ran off to call the vet and see if they could take him early - they could, so we were off quick as a wink. He was meowing plaintively, and trying to tear apart the carrier. Once we got to the vet's, they took him to the back room to do his blood test. And then we heard the noise. Things crashing and banging, and people yelling. We said, "Oh crap, that's Peepers". After about 10 minutes, during which we heard things being yelled from the back room like "Can you come in here!" (to yet another veterinary assistant - at least 3 people were needed!), we were called in to the exam room, where we found the vet holding a towel-wrapped Peepers. She said she had to sedate him, and was still waiting for it to take affect. Apparently, he had gotten free in the back area, and had tore all around the room, eventually getting to the ceiling, running around the highest shelves, stocked with food and equipment, that he knocked down. *sigh* Eventually, the sedation took affect, blood was taken, vaccinations given, and he was let go. Poor little guy, he was still so very scared and trying to run, but couldn't take a step without falling over on his side. We tucked him away in his carrier, and waited for a while in the office. Because he was so over excited, they needed to keep an eye on him, in case he had a bad reaction with his heart to the sedation.

But, on the plus side, his tests came back negative, so he can come and live with us and the other cats! Hurray! We're so blessed!

But it has been exhausting, though. He spent the whole first night under the bed, and wouldn't come out for love or money (or food or water for that matter). The next morning, he came out for short visits, and finally on Tuesday night, went to the kitty litter box (we were prepared for him to not go for a while because of our previous experience with totally freaked out/feral cats - they don't eat or drink or go to the bathroom for a long time, sometimes for days - I've actually heard that a terrified cat could actually stay in one place long enough to starve to death).

His first meetings with Baby and Molly haven't gone very well - he wanted to be friendly with molly, but she growled and hissed at him - Baby kept his distance, hissed, then pouted the rest of the day like "But I'M THE BABY!! NOT THIS OTHER GUY!"

But Casey...well, Casey is Casey. She was grooming him right away, and he loved it. Adorable.



*sigh*. Looking forward to getting Peepers neutered next week, and finishing the deworming, so he can have the run of the house, and they can work things out amongst themselves.

I think he's a lot younger than we thought at first. Outdoors, he was very affectionate, but seemed very sure of himself, and larger. Now that he's inside, he's reverted to total kitten behaviour, and even acted to Molly like she was a mommy cat (too bad, she grew up with ferrets and dogs, not other cats, so she's scared of cats! We have a house full of dysfunctional cats). :) Now that we've had a better look at his fur, you can see that he has two types of fur on his back, a soft downy part and a more adult, sleek type fur. The vet couldn't tell us how young he was without looking at his teeth (and that wasn't going to happen!!), so she'll check him when he's unconscious for his neutering surgery.

I'll keep everyone posted on his progress. :)

BeanDreams: When the heck did THIS happen???!!

Last I saw, I had a lot of flowers on my sugar peas, but all of a sudden, BOOM! It's covered in peas! I've been totally absorbed the last week dealing with Peepers (more to come on that) and in researching my genealogy that I haven't gotten out to the garden. Apparently it was a good week for it!

More to come...

[EDIT, July 18th - added my update to BeanDreams, with new pics!]

Bleargh, update

Called the vet hospital a little while ago, looks like we'll have to wait until next week to catch Peepers & bring him in anyway, as they are booked solid with surgeries and appointments. So we'll just have to double our vigilance and hope that nothing else gets hurt on our watch (what he does at night in the swamp, we have no control over).

Poor little squirrel, we'll be burying him tomorrow.

*sigh*