Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Caption This #17

Here we have Henry lounging on the raft and soaking up the sun.  He has had a lot of fun swimming this summer and it has been almost impossible to keep him out of the pool.  As always, I can’t wait to read your captions.  You can leave them in the comments.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Luna’s Close Up (Part One)

Beware, that the photos below may not be for the faint of heart.  The next couple of blogs will be about Luna and her eyes.  You see, we recently went to the eye specialist and this was the first time that Luna’s medication stayed the same as it has been for the last few months. The news was the best it has ever been!  Luna’s eyes are as healthy as we could ever expect them to be! The vet was thrilled.  (As were we, of course!)

I explained to the ophthalmologist that we do a website about pugs and write stories detailing Benjamin, Henry & Luna’s adventures.  I asked if they could possibly email some of the photos that they have taken of her eye over the last year and a half.  I explained that we would like to share the photos with our readers and do whatever we could to help our readers learn a little bit about eye issues, especially in pugs since they are so common.

But I must say, when the email came, I was taken a little aback because the photos sure are an up close and personal look at Luna’s eyes in various stages of healthiness (or unhealthiness, if you will.)  When we got Luna, we knew that she had dry eye.  We definitely felt that that was a condition that we could easily manage.  Unfortunately, her eye issues developed further and she developed a tumor on her eye.  As you can see from the photo, the bright red bulbous spot was unsightly.  I am quite sure it was very uncomfortable, as well.  (Initially, there was some concern as to whether or not it was cancerous, too, but fortunately, when all was said and done, Luna had a super prognosis.)

Luna went in for surgery and had the tumor removed.

The vet said it wasn’t too bad and that she would be fine in no time.  (What made it so unfortunate was that while we knew that Luna had not really been taken care of very well and was used mostly for breeding, that her overall unhealthiness was a result of moderate neglect and could have been prevented with reasonable care.)  It was just the tip of the iceberg for us because while we knew that she would have some health issues, it just seemed to be one thing after the other.  Our bubble would be repeatedly burst each time a new issue would come up.  We just kept thinking that we could make her well.  We would just feed her right, medicate her properly and love her to pieces and she would be 100% sometime soon.  Well, the reality of it is that she had been taken for granted for too long before we rescued her.  There would be no amount of love, kindness and special treatment that would make her medicine free for the rest of her life.

This photo is the “after” shot of Luna’s eye following her tumor surgery.  As you can see, she there is a scar on the eyeball.  It has healed nicely.  This is her right eye.  Her “good eye.”  This eye has chronic dry eye and doesn’t close all the way since it is so poorly lubricated.  The vet says that since there is so much scar tissue, she doesn’t have the sensation to know if her own eye is open or closed.  It’s a shame.  As sad as it, though, she truly doesn’t seem to know the difference.  She never feels sorry for herself.  She never doubts that she a beautiful princess!  She really is a princess.  Inside & out!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Freshly Cut Grass

There is nothing the pugs seem to enjoy more than freshly cut grass.  As soon as we are done mowing, the pugs are very anxious to get out int the yard and run and roll around.  There is just something about the smell and feel of the grass that just gets them all fired up.

Benjamin really runs around like a mad man and with the summer heat his face gets dirty real quick.  Just look at how filthy his wrinkles are in the picture above.  His face gets dirty so quickly and he has the deepest wrinkles.  We use Malacetic wipes to clean him up and while he isn’t fond of them he does let us wipe out his wrinkles.  More details on wrinkle cleaning to come, I am just amazed at how quickly Benny’s wrinkles get dirty compared to the other two.  What about your pugs?  How often do their wrinkles need to be cleaned?

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Keeping Busy

Last weekend, the pugs were pretty restless.  I really wanted to take them out on a long walk, but it was just too hot for them outside.  So, I decided to give them a peanut butter filled kong.  It is not as great as exercise, but it sure does keep the pugs busy for at least an hour.  It gives them something to focus on and is mentally stimulating, which in turn tires them out.

Benjamin loves peanut butter so you can rest assured that he will not stop licking the kong until every spec of peanut butter is gone.

Unlike the others, Henry likes to chew on the kong.  So he will spend hours chewing on the kong even after he has licked all of the peanut butter.  When he chews on the kong, it makes an awful squeaking sound that just drives me crazy.  But Henry really seems to like chewing on it so I just try to drown out the noise.

And little Luna, she gets very excited when she gets a peanut butter filled kong.  She is still working on mastering holding the kong while feverishly licking the peanut butter out, so I guess she does get some exercise in because she is always chasing the kong all over the house.  She has gotten a lot better at holding the kong, though.  The first time we gave her one she would lick the kong for a few minutes and then look at us with a look that said, “Hey, why did you stick my peanut butter in there?  Couldn’t you have just put it in my bowl?”

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Caption This #16

For this week’s Caption This, we have little Luna sporting one of the gangs most liked plush toys.  Her brothers actually helped her put the toy around her neck.  They were playing tug and the little girl had to get in the middle of everything.  As always, I look forward to reading your captions in the comments.

Monday, July 16, 2007

More Snakes

So the snake saga continues.  I see my friend the black racer a few times each week.  I can’t be 100% sure that it is the same snake, but I like to tell myself that we only have one.  However, this guy in the picture is definitely not a black racer.  I found him in the gutter in front of my house and as soon as I saw him the little rhyme, “red on yellow can kill a fellow” popped into my head.  I looked him up in a little book that I have and I believe it is a coral snake.

Other than that, I have spotted a grayish snake in the backyard as well.  He was very hard to spot because it looked like he was trying to go under ground.  I’m not exactly sure what was going on.

As you can tell, I don’t really know that much about snakes.  I’m not really sure why we have so many either.  We do have a lot of frogs, so I guess they are here for them.

They just make me a little nervous because it seems like we are always stumbling upon one.  I guess, I am going to have to read up on snakes and other Florida wildlife so that I am just more prepared.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Silly Ben

Ben has a thing for scratching and flipping pillows around.  He can clear the sofa of all throw pillows in a matter of seconds and once he does he just rolls around on the couch all proud of himself.  It’s not just the throw pillows either.  If it is fluffy and not attached he will do his best to fling it somewhere.  I’m trying to get a picture of this, but sometimes when he scratches, his front paws move so fast that he has to prop himself up on his head.  It is the funniest thing.  He is supporting himself with his head and his little paws are going 90 mph.  He is an odd guy.