The Pets

I know there are several people who read this blog who do wonder how the menagerie of animals in our house are doing these days, so in honor of my love of bulleted lists, here's an update:

• Stetson: He is about to turn 12yo and so far seems to be doing well after his chemo finished back in February. He's currently being treated for a staph skin infection, but this has been something chronic for him for years, so it's not a big issue. He's down to only getting probiotics, K9 Immunity Plus, &  Omega3 each day, and monthly he gets a shot of Adequan for his arthritis. It seems to help the stiffness so I'll stick with it. His activity level and appetite haven't changed at all; AB and I had the dogs at the lake recently and they were sprinting all over the place.

• Indy: He just turned 12yo and seems to be doing fine. His last vet check up showed perfect lab work, but he did have a new heart murmur. He actually goes to the vet this Thursday to have a cardiac BMP drawn (blood work); if it's elevated then I'll probably consent to an ultrasound just to see if he needs heart medications. Sigh. He also has to have his anal glands expressed every 2 months due to the scar tissue from the abscess years ago. Otherwise, he's tolerating Penny and spends most of his time sleeping (no difference from the past 12 years). I just recently switched the cats' food to Blue Buffalo Indoor Wilderness and they are doing great on it; less poop, less scavenging for food, and [cross fingers] fewer hairballs.

• Baer: Baer is now (and I could be wrong b/c every time I ask AB his age I get a different answer) closing in on 9yo and for those who don't know, is at a pretty good age for a dog his size (105lbs). He did have a rough week recently; AB had put him out first thing in the morning a couple of weeks ago and when I went to let him in before lunch, he could hardly walk. His back legs weren't functioning well at all, he was painting, and his eyes were gooping. Needless to say, I panicked and rushed him straight to our vet. The vet was guessing that he may have been having an issue with hip dysplasia or an ACL injury, so she asked to run blood work, sedate him, and do x-rays. I left him with her and less than 30 minutes later she called to say that the blood work showed a platelet level of 47,000 (Stetson's is usually 300-400,000) and that he also was running a temp of 104. Rather than sedate him she asked to do a rapid tick titer due to the platelet levels. Next thing we know Baer has been diagnosed with canine ehrlichiosis and needs to start a long treatment of tetracycline antibiotics and pain medication. Ehrlichiosis is a tick-borne disease, and despite being on Frontline Plus, Baer had managed to get it. My vet said this is the first case she's seen in 9 years; considering my luck that's not a shocker. We started him on antibiotics and within a few days he was back to his annoyingly stubborn, food-obsessed self. He goes back this Thursday (with Indy) for a follow up CBC, at which time the vet will decide if he needs to continue on Tetracycline or switch to a different medication.

• Penny: Penny just turned 1yo and is a deviant; she reminds me A LOT of Harrison when he was a kitten. She gets into everything, tears through the house, pounces on everything (human and animal), has a voracious appetite, and stinky farts. She's made a habit of streaking out the back door with the dogs so AB and I finally gave up on yelling at her and instead got her a bright green collar with a tag and a bell. So far she's good about coming back in after a little while. Health wise she seems okay, although she pants after heavy exercise- with my luck she will also have a heart problem!

Expensive Neuroticism

Indy (oldest cat) has been due for his senior check up and blood work for about a month now. After the expenses we incurred from Stetson's chemo, needless to say, I've been putting things off while paying the debt off! I finally gave in and decided to take Indy in, along with Stetson. It never hurts to check Stetson; he has/had cancer after all and he grows new lumps and bumps every day.

Indy hates getting in the crate. Actually, Indy hates being moved outside of his comfort zone which is the four corners of the house. I have to find new stealth ways to get him into his crate because a lack of speed results in being peed on from chest to feet. It's happened many times and it's something I can do without. Today I managed to get him packed up without incident, although the howling happened regardless. I drove both Indy and Stetson over to our vet (10 minutes or less thank goodness) and got settled into a room in record time.

The vet tech came in and wrote down my long neurotic list of things to check and off Indy went into the back. Fifteen minutes later he returned with vet and tech, exam complete, blood work drawn, anal glands expressed, and urine tested. The vet was happy with his exam except for the fact that he has a new heart murmur. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? For those who don't know my last two cats passed away suddenly from heart disease (in both cases cardiomyopathy). Both had heart murmurs present at a young age; one received daily meds while the other one did not. I'm pretty sure I just gave the vet a look of utter disbelief to which her response was "I feel really bad- every time you come I give you bad news". Yeah, no kidding. I asked her my options and after she went through them I decided to hold off on the heart disease test for a few months; I was more concerned about his possibility of hyperthyroidism. Besides, Indy is 12 years old so I have to be realistic about what I would want to put him through.

Next up was Stetson and luckily his exam was fairly benign. The vet didn't seem too concerned about any of his lumps/bumps and she thinks his other issues (dry mouth, anxiety, random limping) are a combination of his newer deafness and arthritis. I have resumed his Adequan and hope that it will at least help the arthritis again. Otherwise he seemed to be okay. I left after paying a large bill (partially for my neuroticism) with strong hopes that Indy's blood work would be okay.

**Edited to add: The vet called a little while ago and Indy's blood work was BEAUTIFUL. Liver, kidney, and thyroid values were all right in normal range; his thyroid value wasn't even as high as it was last time. At least that gives me only heart disease to worry about now (which isn't a shocker- cats, HCM, and I have a long history).

Protein Packed Salad

Despite still have a massive amount of eggplant lasagna leftover from the other night, I decided to throw together a salad for dinner. I had AB grill while I did the cutting indoors. This salad is super-tasty and chocked full of protein. I would link the recipe I used but I honestly just threw together a bunch of stuff (and a friend of my parent's used to make something similar to this).

Ingredients (for 3-4 servings):

• 4 pieces of corn-on-the-cob, grilled with butter
• 1 avocado
• 2 pieces of chicken breast grilled
• 1 can of black beans
• Handful fresh cilantro
• Cherry tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

What I Did:

• Grill corn on the cob and chicken- AB seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
• Rinse black beans and strain
• Chop cherry tomatoes in 2-3 slices each
• Put black beans and tomatoes in bowl, toss in some olive oil (enough to coat everything), and salt and pepper to taste
• Finely chop cilantro and stir in
• Once corn and chicken is grilled, cut the kernels off the cobs and chop the chicken into small pieces
• Toss corn kernels and chicken in with beans/tomatoes
• At the very end, cut the avocado into small pieces and stir in with everything else

I prefer to add the chicken and avocado right before I eat the salad, but everything else can be stored in the fridge (I don't like the stink of chicken or my avocados to get brown).

AB bought some pineapple today- he loves his pineapple...

Earlier this morning I drove out to my parent's house and snapped a picture of their Koi. The white one is HUGE (probably the length of my 18lb cat)...

In the last post I mentioned starting the dogs on Adequan today; that didn't happen. The vet was closed and apparently the girl that made my appointment forgot that. I will try again tomorrow before work! Lastly (is that a word?) AB bought a chess set and I survived my first game...and I liked it! Who would have thought?

Cookies and Cheesecake

AB and I have been craving cheesecake for almost a week now, so yesterday I did a Google search for "mini cheesecake recipes" and found one for cookies and cream cheesecake. Yum. I went and grabbed the ingredients from the store, came home, and got baking (but only after I made some more kale chips, which of course my husband refuses to try because of the smell). The recipe was very easy, and the cheesecakes are wonderful. They're even better today after sitting in the fridge all night than they were yesterday.

Ingredients:

• A bag of Oreos (because they're better than the cheap sandwich cookies)
• 1lb cream cheese at room temp
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 275. Line muffin tray with liners (I used foil) and put an Oreo in the bottom of each one

Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth (so it REALLY needs to be at room temp) and then slowly add sugar, vanilla, eggs, sour cream, and salt. Once that's mixed, crush up some Oreos (I used around 10) and fold them into the mixture (not using the beater)

Fill each muffin cup with batter- I did all the way to the top- then pop in the over for 20 minutes

Once done, remove, let cool, and then stick in fridge. The longer they cool the better they get; it gives the bottom oreo time to soften up a little. Enjoy!

They were definitely a success- I think AB ate 3-4 before bed last night.

Next up on the attempt to be creative, I'm going to try an artsy-type project I found on Pinterest. I went to Michael's and bought the paints and canvases so I'll do an update once I get that done.

In a little while I'm headed to the vet to get the dogs started on Adequan; it's supposed to work wonders for arthritis and with both of the dogs getting old I don't want to wait until they're really uncomfortable!