Me So Sleepy...

My mom got me a snuggle sack back in April for my birfday and I haven't been in it much because I am terrified of it it's been too hot. However the other night I went in it and my mom of course had to capture it on camera..


In other news I had to go to the House of Satan vet yesterday for my allergy shot. Everything went great. I was such a good boy. I didn't even cry or flinch or anything. Mommy is so proud of me! However, this morning my mom woke up and noticed that there was red bumps under my skin on my belly, but they weren't raised or anything. She called the vet and they said that I had to come back in. So I had to get tortured go to the vet twice in two days. It was horrible let me tell you. The vet looked at my stomach and said (in real serious vet voice) "Mmmmhhhhmmmm..looks like Avery scraped his belly and it is just a bruise." Let's just say that my mom wasn't too thrilled about spending $34 on a BRUISE, but she thought that I was having some freak allergy reaction from the shot.

Also, remember how my mom was thinking that I was due for my annual and the 3yr rabies and DHHP shots in October..nope we gots a card in the mail and it was for THIS month..My mom about had a heart attack. She is really scared that I am going to have a reaction to the rabies shot, but she talked to the vet today and he is just going to do the physical exam part and just the rabies shot and then we will have to go back again to get the rest. This makes Mommy feels tons better. So one week from today is SHOT DAY..my mawmaw is going to take the day off from work to go with us in case I have a reaction and we are going to stay at the vet's office for a little while after the shot just to make sure I don't have a reaction. Paws crossed that everythings goes okay...

Lazy Day...

Today was pretty much a lazy day. I looked out the window some..

Then I played peek-a-boo with Mommy..


And then I did this for the rest of the day...


Me wants to wish all my furfriends a happy and safe Labor Day weekend..


Pee Ess: My mom wanted me to pass along some information. I am on Royal Canin Rabbit and Potato food. She also wanted me to thank all of you for your wonderful suggestions. She says that she will discuss some of these things with the Devil Vet...also she wants to know if any of your furfriends have had any allergic reactions to the rabies vaccine. I am due for my 3 year rabies shot next month..I didn't have any allergic reactions to my first one, but my mom is super paranoid and wants to be prepared just in case (she seems to think that I might have a reaction because of all my allergies popping up since the last time the shot was done)..if you could be so kind to let her know what to expect with a rabies shot allergic reaction then we all might just be able to get some sleep around here...BOL!

Award...

My friend Miley gave me an award. Isn't it pretty?...


My mom says that I have to follow the rules (sheesh..mom..Ok)..

1. Please thank the dog who gave this to you, and link to them.
(Thanks Miley for being such a wonderful furfriend and for giving me this pawsome award!)

2. Name 10 (yes 10) things about yourself. Try to be as creative as possible.
(I have decided that because I just did this about myself not too long ago, that I will do ten things for my mommy but things that have to do with me..ok?)

*My mom is MAJOR paranoid about me. She worries all the time over every little thing. Like if I sneeze or something (maybe not that drastic), she is ready to run off to the v-e-t..(shudders)..I do have to admit though she has gotten better since she can't afford to run to the vet all the time because she works part time only now...but she still calls the vet just to give her peace of mind..

*My mom wants to write a chihuahua mystery series featuring a dog like me (DUH!)...

*My mom has problems sleeping if I am not in the bed with her (which rarely happens.) She likes to feel me up against her leg. She says it helps her sleep knowing that I am right beside her..

*My mom is a sucker for my sad puppy dog eyes..I can get away with mostly everything, if I give her sad eyes..like that time I ate her retainers and her Harry Potter book..

*My mom has a million nicknames for me..in fact she can't even remember all the ones she has used over the past 4 years..

*One time, my mom thought she lost me and she cried and cried..even though I was just hiding..she felt so happy that I wasn't gone that she gave me all her ice cream cone..numm..

*My mom once gave me a piece of chocolate...this was before she knew the dangers of chocolate and it didn't even make me sick..a little hyper and a little more crazier then normal but I was just fine..she still won't forgive herself for that...

*My mom had my name picked out before she even saw me for the first time. She was going to name whatever dog she got "Avery"..but luckily my name fits me..I looks like an "Avery"...

*My mom has a necklace with my name on that she wears all the time. She says she likes having me close to her heart all the time..(MUSHY!)

*And finally, my mom would do anything for me to make sure that I was happy. She quit smoking for me and gave up a lot for me when I was going through all that allergy stuff. She was quite poor for some time, but it didn't bother her because she wants to make sure that I get everything that I need. I loves her..


(Please ignore the horrible hairdo of mine..mom needed to take me to the groomers really bad)

So now the last thing for me to do is to give away the award to 15 of my friends and because I am really too lazy to pick anyone I want to give this award to all my furfriends and say thank you for following my blog and my adventures (cough cough)..you are the bestest furfriends in the wholes wides world!

Avery's Allergy Ordeal...

Hey everybody. Avery's mom here. Taking over the blog for a post. A lot of you know through Avery's blog and comments left on your blogs about Avery's allergies. Some of you have questions and etc about what were his symptoms were/are and etc. So I decided to post about them on here to answer everyone's questions all at once...

Ever since Avery was a little puppy of 4 months or so he was on that Moist n' Meaty Cheeseburger Moist/Dry food (I think Purina makes it..I cant remember though). However after hearing about how bad that is for dogs for weight gain and how bad it is for their teeth I decided to switch Avery to a dry food. This all happened last fall and the decision was made after consulting with the vet about which food to get and all that. I went to Petsmart and got him some Iam's dry dog food and started him on it right away. He loved that food. However, within minutes of eating it, he was itching so bad he couldn't even walk. I figured that he had an allergic reaction and so I gave him benadryl and called the vet and explained what was going on. They told me that he probably had a reaction and told me that for dogs with food allergies to get him some food that was made out of duck or venison. So I rushed out with my mom that night back to Petsmart and spent $30 on different dog foods. I think I got two different kinds to start. I then gave Avery venison based food at his next meal and he ate it, but I could tell that he hated it. He only ate it because he knew that he wasn't getting anything else to eat.

Let's take a moment and go back a little bit before we finish. Avery has always had dry skin. It looked like he had dandruff, poor guy. He would scratch and stuff but nothing really too bad to be worried about. I bought some oatmeal bath knowing that it was good for dry skin. It didn't really seem to help all that much. Also, Avery used to get table scraps and all kinds of goodies. However Avery started to pack on the pounds and I knew that it was really bad for him, so I informed the rest of the family that he was NOT allowed anything other than the occasional DOG treat and his food. It was tough at first, but I am so glad that we stopped knowing what we do now. He used to weigh in at almost 13 pounds when he should ideally weigh in close to 10 pounds. He weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces now. That comes with strict rules on the amount he gets to eat. He gets two meals a day. One in the morning and one at night. And he gets treats 3-4 times a month. I am like dog food nazi around here.

Okay back to the allergies. So after I switched him to the venison, we still had the very prominent itching and runny eyes and nose, scratching at his ears, sneezing. So back to the vet he went. The vet then switch his food to a $30 bag of rabbit and potato. Thank god Avery ate it right up. He has been on it ever since. Well even with the food seeming to be good, the allergies symptoms were not going away. They were better, but still bothering him. The vet and I discussed having Avery allergy tested as we knew he had food allergies, but couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly and obviously there was something else that was bothering him as it wasn't going away.. Seeing as I am just starting out in this crap economy with my career and all I didn't have a lot of money. The allergy test was going to cost me close to $500 just for the test and then based on the result he might have to have allergy shots which cost about another $112 or so. I was in a panic. Where was I going to get this money. Well thankfully by this point we were well into February, so I hurried up and did my taxes and used my tax return to pay for Avery's allergy test.

On the day of the test, he was not allowed to have any benadryl or steroids (we had to resort to that somewhere along the way as the benadryl wasn't working there for a while) as it could throw the results of the test. They took two vials of blood and sent it off to the lab. I waited an anxious week before I got the results back.

Side story real quick..I smoked cigarettes pretty much off and on the whole time Avery has been with me (since 6 weeks). I noticed that the cigarette smoke bothered him, so I was pretty sure it was going to come up positive in his test. So that being said, I told myself that if Avery came up positive for a cigarette smoke allergy that I would quit for him (and myself) so that wouldn't be a cause of his allergies acting up.

I was at work when the vet called me to inform me of Avery's allergies. She asked me if I had the time to talk to her and I said that I did. I knew right then and there that this wasn't going to be good. Avery has tested positive for 21 different allergies. Some of them food and some of them environmental. Here's a quick list- (Foodwise): Corn, Carrots, Oats, Soy, Venison, and Kelp. (Environmental): All kinds of Grass, Trees, Weeds, and Fungi.

Here are the ones that when the vet told me, I cried. He WAS allergic to cigarette smoke (no surprise there..not a big deal either, I knew what had to be done). I quit the next day and haven't smoked since. He was also allergic to fleas, and the biggest one of all...COTTON..Yes my dog had/has a cotton allergy. Not very common in humans, but more common in dogs. Rare, but still. My dog had to be one of the rare ones with this allergy. Figures.

Talk about major life change. Avery sleeps with me at night. Always has and always will. I will never make him sleep on the floor. However I had 100% cotton t-shirt sheets and so I went that night after work with my mom again and went all over the whole town to find non-cotton sheets. Let me tell you, not a lot of places carry non-cotton sheets. Walmart, Target, etc. do not carry non-cotton sheets in their stores. You can buy them online, but not in the stores, at least not here where I live. Finally I found some Microfiber sheets that were on sale (thank god) at JC Penney's. I bought two sets. Now I had to draw the line with our clothes being cotton. I couldn't make everyone go around in silk clothes now and I wasn't wearing silk clothes. I will do many things for Avery, but wearing silk clothes is not one of them. So I talked to the vet about this too and it wasn't a big deal if Avery came into contact with our clothes as long as he wasn't in cotton all the time.

So because of the numerous allergies it was determined that he needed to be on allergy shots. So I forked out the extra money and ordered the allergy vaccines. He started out getting allergy shots every two days. We give them to him here at home. My mom gives them to him in the neck and I hold him down and still because I don't have it in my heart to stick him. I hate giving him the shots, but they really do seem to have helped him a lot. The worst part of the shots are that they burn once they get in. He cries the most pitiful scream as I know it hurts him so bad. It breaks my heart to pieces to hear him/see him like that, but I am helping him and I have to tell myself that. However, after the shot we gave last week I have decided that I am going to take him to the vet to get them. I can't stand to hear him cry like that any more. I just can't do it anymore. It has gotten to the point where I have asked myself is it necessary to keep doing this to him and the only thing that keeps me going is that he has gotten so much better with them and it would almost be wrong of me to deny him something that is helping him. We have been giving him the shots since the beginning of March and now he gets them once a month. He will probably be on these shots for the rest of his life so I have been told, but if they help him then I will do it. He still has to get benadryl maybe once or twice a week but it overall has gotten better, since we have eliminate as much contact as we can with all his trigger allergens.

Apparently terrier breeds are very common for having severe allergies the vet told me. Avery didn't inherit much Schnauzer traits from whichever parent was the Schnauzer. Just the beard, bushy eyebrows, and floppy ears, but he sure did get the allergies. Now some other breeds can get allergies too, in fact I'm sure all breeds can, but terrier breeds are more common allergy sufferers. The vet told me something that I would like to pass on to you so that you are aware. When humans have allergies they show symptoms with runny eyes and nose, sneezing, head and chest congestion. When dogs show symptoms of allergies, it shows in their skin. Dogs' allergy receptors are in their skin. So when your dog has flaky constant dry skin, it could possibly be an allergy to something. A lot of dogs have food allergies but they don't show up severely enough to cause their owners to notice anything. Every dog reacts differently, just like us humans.

So we have learned to live with Avery's allergies. Strict diet limitations. I have found only two treats that he can have that don't mess his stomach up or cause reactions. The food is working wonderfully. It's expensive, but it helps. I can't eliminate the grass/weed allergies, but he has a box in the garage that is filled with sod so that he can use the bathroom (we have coyotes and hawks) in the safety of the garage. This is also helpful because it doesn't have tree pollen and other stuff in it because it is safe from these things.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I didn't want to skim on anything. Just in case some of this sounded familiar to you and it might lead you to do some more investigation to help your dog. Also, if any of you guys have any questions in regards to allergies or treatment feel free to ask me. I am pretty sure at some point and time we have tried almost everything and we can offer some insight with our experiences and try to answer your questions. However, I strongly encourage you to talk to your vet if you have some concerns, as I am not a vet and they will of course be the one who can help you decide treatment options or diagnose symptoms.

Kimberlee

The Not So Lost Photos...

These are the photos that didn't quite make it into previous blog posts. Hope that you enjoy them..BOL!

Chi Attitude..

I swear furfriends that this dog in this video is NOT me! It is another dog that just happens to look like me..BOL! My mom is trying to defame my good name..so embarrassed...



Going now to hide in shame...

Stretch...

My mom took these pictures of me stretching (thats why they're so blurry...BOL!) and she says that I look as long as a Weenie dog. What do you guys think?


Well that's all from me right now. I am getting ready to go to cuddle and go to sleep with my mom...if she would ever cut off that laptop of hers.. Nighty Night and sweet dreams my furfriends..