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The KKK went to court to protect it’s right to participate in the Missouri “Adopt-A-Highway” cleanup program. However, they’ve been kicked out because they never collected any litter. Read about it.

catbird :: Apr.26.2001 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

Is anyone else out there a dog hypochondriac?

I notice everything about Pinto - every little scratch, bump, or new spot. So over the past year, I kept mentioning to Steve and the vet that the glands in his throat seem very large. Neither one really agreed with me, and I don’t blame them. By the time I usually got either person to feel the glands, they were smaller again. But being the hypochondriac I am, I continued to bring it up.

I’m not kidding when I say that there have been days when it felt like there were two golf balls in Pinto’s throat. He never seemed bothered or uncomfortable, but he has an extremely high tolerance for pain. So I’d worry.

Finally, at our last visit to the vet, our doctor took pity on me. She said that, although she wasn’t worried since none of his other glands were swollen, we could have Pinto tested. So we did. The vet used a needle to extract some cells from the gland after shaving the area. Poor Pinto: the first results came back indeterminate and they had to do a second procedure. Luckily, he considers going to the vet a big treat, a party just for him.

The second result came back negative - it actually isn’t lymph nodes; it’s his salivary glands. Our dog has extra large salivary glands. Lucky us! I guess that explains the puddles on the kitchen floor at dinner time.

Although I could have gone on the vet’s instincts and saved myself a chunk of change, my theory when it comes to the dog (or the cat) is better safe than sorry. The total cost of the proccedure was in the neighborhood of $90 (US) and I think it was well spent to not worry every time I feel those huge glands.

catbird :: Apr.26.2001 :: woof :: 3 Comments »

I really don’t know what I think about this. These women knew what the uniform was. If they didn’t want to wear it, don’t work there. However, I think that the rationale that short skirts suit “a new and modern means of transport such as the AVE [Spanish High Speed]” is very strange logic. What is so new and modern about a short skirt? Read about it.

catbird :: Apr.06.2001 :: socio-pop :: Comments Off

The other evening, Pinto started walking around and whining. He wouldn’t settle down for his normal after dinner nap, and he was incredibly thirsty. We took him to the emergency clinic where they did x-rays and told us what had happened: unbeknownst to me, Pinto had gorged himself on an unknown amount (although we are estimaing 8-12 cups) of his food. His stomach didn’t appear immensely bloated from the outside, but from the x-ray his stomach was giant - many times it’s normal size.

There wasn’t much the vet could do, we just had to watch him, not give him water, and limit his food intake and activity level for a few days. The danger was that if he was too active, his stomach could twist or flip, leading to the more serious - and life threatening - problem of gastric torsion (bloat).

The biggest lesson for me in this wasn’t, as you might think, to make sure the door to his food is securely shut (although I sure did learn that lesson). Instead it’s simply that if he can, he will - no matter what the food item is. Although we were careful about the door in the past, now we are extra careful. Also, we now keep the food in secure bins rather than the bag. This was an expensive lesson to learn and we’re lucky it wasn’t worse. He could have kept eating or his stomach could have twisted.

We know we aren’t the first dog owners to go through this (in fact, we also heard of a cat who did this), and we probably won’t be the last. If you’ve never really examined your food storage security, or even if you think that securing the food is common sense, I suggest that you take a look at your food storage from your dog’s point of view to ensure that it is, indeed, secure.

catbird :: Apr.03.2001 :: woof :: 1 Comment »