Thursday, March 27, 2014

Happy Birthday, Benjamin!

Today Benjamin turns 12 years old! Over the last few years, Benjamin has really embraced the senior pug lifestyle. He is the happiest old man you will ever meet. He loves nothing more than being with his peeps, eating, sleeping and giving kisses.

To celebrate his happy day here are some of my favorite Benny pics. One from each of the 12 magnificent years I have spent with him. If you can't get enough of this bag of wrinkles check out some Benny pictures on Flickr.

June 2002: This picture was taken on the 3rd day of owning Benjamin and commemorates his first trip to G-Ma's house. 3 days into this adventure with Benjamin we found out a lot of things quickly. Potty training him was going to be a nightmare. I never met a puppy that peed and pooped as much as he did. He had an unending appetite for sticks and mulch (look closely and you will see a stick in the photo) and he was full of boundless energy. Even Henry, who was also a rambunctious puppy, would look at Benny and wonder if Benny had an off switch. One other thing we learned about Benny during that short time was he was a total lover boy giving kisses to anyone that crossed his path.

May 2003: I'm pretty sure he is pouting for a treat here. Benny has always been a master of using his dashing good looks to get him snackies or to get himself out of trouble. Another thing that strikes me in this photo is how dirty his face is. As a puppy it was impossible to keep his wrinkles clean. Benny has such a strong smeller that he was always jamming his face in something. At one point in his younger years, he started to wear the color off his nose!

November 2004: I've always said that Benny operates only at two speeds - all out go and full on stop. When he plays he plays hard, but when it is time to rest he completely passes out.

Benny's favorite game has always been chase and he always loved to be the one being chased. And Henry was by far his favorite to play chase with. Every game started the same. Henry chasing Benny and Benny being in his glory. But somewhere along the line, Henry would always end up tricking Benny into chasing him.

July 2005: Silly has always been a good word to describe Benjamin. He has never taken himself or life in general too seriously. I've learned a lot about not stressing over things and making the most out of things from Benjamin over the years.

September 2006: I don't think I have ever met a gentler soul than Benjamin. He views everything in the world as a friend and never a foe. From welcoming Luna into the pack, living with Lou C the rabbit to all the frogs that he sidesteps on our summer walks, Benny is definitely a lover and not a fighter.

May 2007: Benny has always loved cats, but he has yet to meet a cat that likes him. I kinda feel bad for him because he means well, but I think his high energy disposition is too overwhelming for most cats. Luckily, Cupid has decided that she will tolerate Benny. They won't be the best of friends that Benny wants to be, but she will stop bapping at him constantly.

June 2008: Chewing has always been Benny's favorite past time. He's never really met a bone he hasn't liked. When he was a pup he was crazy over pig ears, then he went through a knuckle bone phase and for a while he has been stuck on bully sticks.

May 2009: Benny has always been very passionate about the things he loves. The list can get a little long at times, but his long time faves have always been his puffy, that he has had since he was 13 weeks old, pillows, pumpkin bread and pizza crust.

March 2010: Benjamin is always up for an adventure, whether it be on foot or by car. He loves taking walks around the neighborhood at local parks or on the beach. We always laugh, because while he loves to get out and about he is not that daring of an adventurer. The picture above pretty much shows how far he is willing to stick his head out of the window. And he will only do this when the car is stopped. When out for a walk he prefers to stick to the beaten path.

May 2011: Wrinkles, wrinkles and more wrinkles. Benny was wrinkly as a puppy, at least compared to Henry, but he really came into his luscious wrinkles as he grew older. When the boys would wrestle when they were puppies, Henry used to grab hold of wrinkles on the side of Benny's face and drag him around with them. Benny never seemed to mind. I, on the other hand, am always kissing those fabulous wrinkles of his. Benny never seems to mind that either.

March 2012: Benny is the eldest pug of the pack, but he will forever be Baby Benny. Not just because he is silly, but because he has been known to pitch a trantum or two over the years if he doesn't get what he wants.

February 2013: Charming would be a good word to describe Baby Benny. He always seems to find a way to be adorable and to make you feel completely loved.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Pillow Queen

Move over Pillow King! The Pillow Queen has arrived!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Caption This #324

A throwback caption this from May 2010. Looking forward to your captions in the comments.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Poor Henry

It turns out that Henry's ear infection was really the least of his problems. Last weekend, we noticed that his left eye was getting really cloudy. By the time Sunday night rolled around, his eye was super red and seemed extra big. We made an appointment for him at the vet on Monday. After seeing his eye, the vet did a pressure test and quickly confirmed that Henry has glaucoma in his left eye. The pressure in his left eye was a 22 and normal eye pressure is between 10-15. It was also confirmed that Henry had no vision in his left eye. However, if the pressure in the eye was reduced, there might be chance for him to regain his vision in that eye, assuming the pressure in his eye never goes above a 30.

We left with 3 different eye drops to give to Henry in hopes of reducing the pressure in his eye, making him more comfortable and potentially restoring his sight.

On Thursday we went back to the vet to check on Henry's progress. Unfortunately, the pressure in Henry's left eye was even higher (25). Our vet recommended that we take Henry to the eye specialist and in the interest of time we do it the next day.

We made the trek to the eye vet on Friday morning. The vet confirmed that Henry does indeed have glaucoma in his left eye and that he can not see out of his left eye. However, she also told us that the very small cataract that Henry had in his left eye has exploded in size. The size of the cataract means that Henry has no chance of regaining the vision in his left eye once we get the glaucoma under control.

Our main question was how did this come on so suddenly? The eye specialist explained that there are a few possibilities and we are currently waiting on blood work to help us determine what is the cause for the sudden glaucoma. The first scenario, is it is the result of an infection (most likely from a tick bite). We are waiting on the results of a blood test to confirm if this is the case. A second scenario is that this is the result of an auto immune disorder. A third possibility is that the glaucoma is caused by cancer that has spread to Henry's eye.

Of all these scenarios, the simple infection would be the easiest to treat and would offer the best long term outlook. The worst case scenario would be cancer of course. And while I immediately worry that it is the worst case scenario, I think if it was cancer that has already spread to his eye, Henry would be showing some other signs of sickness.

For now we wait and see how the blood results come back. From there we will figure out the next steps. In the meantime, Henry goes back to the eye specialist for a follow-up visit later this week to check on the status of his eye. Hopefully, the pressure in his eye will be much better.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Busted

Well, look who I found sitting in the shade! The sun loving pug!

The weather has been so gorgeous that we have had a hard time getting Henry to come in the house. The sun is getting a bit stronger so Henry lays in the sun for a bit, then moves to the shade, then moves back to the sun. Benjamin and Luna are such polar opposites of Henry that we have taken to calling them the house dwellers. They go outside, go potty and then want to go right back in. If the weather is nice enough Benjamin can be persuaded to spend a little time outside, but not Luna. She wants no parts of the great outdoors.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Side Sleeper Extraordinaire

I'm not sure if this is Benny brushing up on his Frenchie impersonation or a trick he is trying out to improve his hearing. What I do know is that Benny can saw some logs stretched out on his side with his head almost dangling off the pillow. This is not his cat nap sleeping position. This is his don't anyone go near the kitchen while I'm asleep and wake me in a few hours sleeping position.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Can You Hear Me Now?

We have been noticing that Henry's hearing has not been as sharp lately. Even with duller hearing, Henry shines in the hearing department compared to Benjamin and Luna who are practically completely deaf. But, one day last week we noticed that Henry was not being his normal self and we noticed that he couldn't hear anything at all. Later that day he started scratching his ears like crazy and we had a sneaking suspicion that he had an ear infection. So, off to the vet we went and the vet confirmed that Henry did indeed have an ear infection. Henry was prescribed ear drops to tackle the infection and we vowed to be more diligent about cleaning his ears.

The hope is that after Henry's ear infection is cleared up, his hearing will return to normal. Although, I must admit, I'm kinda concerned that it won't since there hasn't been any improvement so far.