Dachshunds | 3 Doxies

One of these days I need to compose and sing a Dachshund Song … after all I do sing to my doxies everyday.  But for now, you can enjoy a really good song about dogs:

Chloe is doing much better after taking her 1/2 dosage of Deramaxx 25mg. Last night I gave her the same dosage of Deramaxx after she twisted her back trying to jump onto the couch.

According to Chloe’s Vet, Dr. T., Deramaxx is a non-steroid anti-inflammatory pain medication which reduces the swelling and pain.  Since Dachshunds are a small dogs, about 12mg is the approximate dosage.

Typically, Deramaxx is used to relief arthritis problems in older dogs, but it has been working quite well for our Dachshunds with back problems.

We’re still observing Chloe for a few days to make sure that she didn’t rupture a disk, but for now the Deramaxx is working and she’s a happy camper cause she’s getting all the special attention for being sick.

Yesterday we celebrated Chloe’s 10th birthday.  Despite the grey showing around her muzzle, she is still young for a dachshund.

She started off the day by trying to onto the couch only to bounce backwards twisting her back and hitting her head on the coffee table.

She was well enough to go to PetSmart to get a new ball where she managed to play with it in the car until we got home.  Then her little sister took the ball away…

By night time, Chloe was hunched up in pain.  She had one more Dermaxx which seem to get her through the night.  She’s still having some problems this morning and is going to the Vet.

It was unusually chilly this morning in Thousand Oaks when we went out for a walk.  Odie knows that it’s time for the morning walk when I grab a poop bag from the kitchen instead of a coffee refill.

We headed outside and immediately returned for the warmth of the house.  We were both shivering and I required a heavy jacket and Odie a pet sweater to keep him warm.

After that, the thirty degree weather had no effect on us and we continued our brisk walk. Sometimes short-haired dachshunds have  advantages since they get to wear a nice looking sweater once in a while.

The patches of ice reminded to keep careful and not to start jogging to get our blood flowing.  But at least we warm with a extra layer of clothing.

The girls didn’t need a sweater this morning due to the fact that they have a lot of fur and we only dress them up when they go to the snow.

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We switched our dachshunds over to a new homemade pumpkin and chicken dog food recipe. Chloe – who is very finicky – just loves it.

The main reason we switched to this diet is to bulk up Odie’s poops so it will help him express his anal glands naturally.

It’s very simple to make.  I just pick up frozen chicken breasts from CostCo and a small can of pumpkin.  Two breasts are defrosted in a microwave for about 20 min and then cooked about 7 minutes on high until done.

I slice the breasts into small pieces and add a can of pumpkin.  It makes about 6 servings for a small dog a miniature daschund.  Total cost runs around $0.75 per serving which is cheaper and far better than normal dog food.

Odie was back at Midtown Veterinary Clinic last Saturday.  He had problem walking so with my over protective imagination, I thought he injured his back again.   His symptom was that he would walk a few feet then sit, walk a few more feet then sit.

We went for the “ride” to the Vet and he seemed ok.  The normal bad dog jump from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat trying to get a good look out the window.  As soon as we got there, he took off with a strong walk towards the Vet’s office and got a good whiff of dog fear and headed back to the car.

I knew at that point it wasn’t his back but his anal glands or something else.  Sure enough, his right gland was not coming out clean.  (Thanks, Dr. Martin, that was something I didn’t need to see or smell.)

Dr. Martin gave Odie an anti-inflammatory shot for the pain and a round of antibiotics to clear up any infection.  That seemed to do the trick.  He also recommended adding fiber such as Metamucil to his diet to bulk up his bowel movements.

I found a really good fiber (Konsyl) that is made for Diabetics and does not contain added sugar or sugar substitutes found in other over-the-counter fibers.  My thought is that this is a really good fiber for dogs.   I just mix in about a 1/4 teaspoon to his dinner every night and he gets a nice bulking poop to help clean out his anal glands.

This is sorta off Dachshund topic, but it brings back some nightmares I had while we were considering relocating to Florida a few years back.  I had an insane fear of one of my Dachshunds being eaten by an alligator.

This nightmare came true for Greg Lenoir who saved his Rat Terrier from a shark attack.  He letting his dog swim in a lagoon where a 5 ft shark viciously grabbed the dog and took it under water.  Greg dove head first with his fists balled and slammed into the shark.

He said it felt like “punching concrete,” but the shark let go off his dog and both swam back to shore while the shark went off in the other direction.  He rushed his dog to the vet to take care of some serious bite wounds.  Greg’s dog survived the shark attack and he will always be a hero to me and the Three Dachshunds.

Our sleep was interrupted this morning with a loud “clunk.”  Usually that means that I feel asleep watching TV and the remote slipped off the bed and hit the wood part of the sleigh bed.

Last night we weren’t watching TV and the remote was safely on top of the night stand, so what hit the side of the bed?

You guessed it right, a Dachshund.

Chloe has been having a difficult time finding a “safe” place to sleep on our bed.  She usually sleeps on our son’s bed so there’s be plenty of room for the four of us.  But with the summer break, he’s been staying up late and Chloe been with us during the night.

It’s not really all that bad since the two girls sleep at the foot of the bed and Odie in between us, but I had a nightmare  and end up kicking Chloe hard enough to make her yelp out of her sleep.

I typically don’t react to the dream state and it was a weird dream coming back from LAX on a bus through some of the less desirable neighborhoods. When some thugs decided to pull a knife, the reflexes kicked in an Chloe got the brunt of it.

Since that “Freddy Kruger” episode, Chloe moved from the foot of the bed to edge of the bed and out of kicking distance.

But apparently, she doesn’t know that I also like to knee “Freddy” in the groin and she went sailing off the bed landing 3 feet below with a “clunk.”

I picked her up and she went to the safety of the center of the bed.  At least that’s what she thinks for now…

It was too hot to take the Doxies for a ride yesterday so we missed the Grand Opening event at the Newbury Park PetSmart.  But we managed to get over there to check out the dog mega store the next day.

The new PetSmart store well within walking distance and I can only imagine how often they’re going to get a new ball as a reward.

The store is very clean and outfitted with lots of oops stations.  I can never understand how dog owners let their dogs pee and poop in the store, but it does happen.  I guess they just get excited about all the toys, treats and other dogs running around marking their territory.

The store was surprisingly empty, but it’s a brand new shopping center and PetSmart hasn’t done much advertising to announce the opening.  There was a little dachshund puppy named Andie joyously and curiously inspecting the squeaky toys I was testing.  (Of course I picked the loudest toy!)   Andie approved of the selection so we bought a set of three.

Our Doxies Like the Newbury Park PetSmart and can’t wait to return.

June 20, 2008: Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day. But when you have three Dachshunds, which one do you take? Both Chloe and Odie have been to the office before and it proved quite embarrassing.

The first time Chloe when to work, she peed on the carpet on top where another Take Your Dog to Work Day dog previously peed. Apparently she’s housebroken but not office broken.

Then while I’m trying to work, she just had to sit in my lap which basically made it impossible to work. Eventually she settled down and slept at my feet until…

Someone poked their head in my cube and she let out one fierce bark. The sound of it was magnified 10x because she was under the desk so she must have sounded like a really big dog.

Odie was the same way. He would climb into my lap an try to sleep. He was worse than Chloe since his boney legs really start poking into you after a while. Too bad he doesn’t have a little more padding like Chloe.

The President of the Company I was working for at the time had several Dacshunds and just had to take Odie for a walk around company to show him off. I went to pick Odie up a little later in his office only to find that Odie left a nice little doggy sausage for me to cleanup.

So today is Take Your Dog to Work Day. It’s Molly’s turn. It should be interesting. Dachshunds are not office broken.