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March 13, 2013

Lilly is doing pretty well, if you don’t count the 2 super-soaker / super-messy diaper days in the last week and the renewed urge to eat paper products. Oh, and we even had to break out the dog toy Jaws of Life today. Honestly!

Incontinence Flare-ups

Last Friday, Lilly went through more than 10 diapers. A bummer for sure, but a super-bummer since I gave her a bath after the first two. I really wanted her to stay clean for a bit, but it didn’t last long at all.

Today, Weds (3/13) has been another monster wet, wet day:

  • All of her blankets got soaked overnight.
  • She peed through all the blankets in her upstairs crate this morning (even with a diaper on).
  • She just soaked the towel over her bed in my office (even with a diaper on).
  • AND, Lilly keeps soaking through her disposable pee pads inside her washable diapers.

Let’s hope she rebounds tomorrow, like she did over the weekend.

We missed acupuncture last week due to scheduling trouble, but we have an appointment tomorrow.

Paper Eating

I’m not sure if Lilly feels well enough to be bored / ornery, or if resuming the chemo has somehow made her steroid hunger worse, but she has started eating tissues and paper towels out of the trash again.

Last night, we put all the trash cans out of reach, and she discovered the joy of unrolling toilet paper for snacking.

best dog blog, champion of my heart, toilet paper unrolled by dog

 

I guess we’ll have to start closing the bathroom doors.

Dog Toy Emergency

And, finally, today at lunch I thought myself clever to stuff some banana into her Petstages Occupi toy.  Lilly’s latest strategy with food toys is to stuff her entire chin inside the toy to get food out. I didn’t think the hole in the Occupi was big enough.

I was wrong.

She got her chin and lower canine teeth stuck inside the large end of the toy. We couldn’t get it off without risking breaking her teeth.

Thankfully, Tom was working at home today and used a tool from the garage to cut the toy enough that we could pry it off Lilly’s chin. There was almost no clearance between her chin and the toy, but he was super careful and snipped a bit at a time.

best dog blog, champion of my heart, petstages occupi dog toy
Old photo from our original dog toy review

So, crisis averted. I swear … Lilly was an active and adventurous puppy, but I don’t remember quite this many dramas back then.

Some Fetch

On the upside, we’ve started playing a little short-distance fetch in the evenings inside the house with Lilly’s favorite ball.

best dog blog, champion of my heart, border collie with favorite ball

Coming Up

Lilly has acupuncture tomorrow and chemo next Tuesday and Wednesday. We’ll post again as news warrants.

 

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. Sure glad Tom was there to handle the toy being stuck problem – that sure was scary. My BC had a problem when she was growing up conerning rope chew toys. I finally had to quit letting her have any since she wanted to take all of them apart and then eat them.

    I think the pica problem would worry me. I wonder what it is in her diet that Lilly is craving. What is it about TP? I’ll see about my dog homeopathy book and see if it says anything about TP cravings.

    My vet is very insistant about certain toys, only Kong toys and no other toys.

    My friend has a Jack Russell terrier that wears diapers. She bought him some regular bably diapers. Cut a hole for the tail. These baby diapers seem to handle his problems better.

    Praying for Lilly and you.

  2. I had a dog before I knew you who lost the use of her back legs (and became incontinent) in the last year of her life. I taught her a fun game. I’d sit about 5 yds from her and roll a ball to her. Then I taught her to toss it back in my direction – we’d play “catch” with her ball a lot even though she wasn’t mobile. It was really fun, and might be a fun one for you and Lilly on her quieter days.

    1. That’s a good idea, KB. Right now, Lilly can run and bring things back, and sometimes she can even hop into the air to catch the ball. Often when she brings it back, she puts a foot on it, like she doesn’t really want me to have it. Silly!

  3. Holy smokes, Lilly, I don’t know if we can take it!

    I’m inclined to HOPE that the ornery behavior is because of boredom, and not steroids. The toilet paper is kind of funny…it’s like a Jetson’s style conveyor belt of chewables! The incident with the toy is scary, thank God for your husband.

    (While Elka will occasionally tear up a piece of paper or a paper towel, I was EXTREMELY grateful when I was sick last month that she left my pathetic shopping bag of used tissues alone without my remembering to instruct her).

    1. No kidding, Jen. I was freaking out. I’m glad Tom (who used to be a firefighter) stayed calm and snipped it enough to get the toy off safely. We threw it away. Makes me sad, but I cannot risk it happening again.

  4. Too bad about the bath. Sorry she kept having accidents after you bathed her. You tried though. 🙂

    I hope the toilet paper eating was just temporary. I remember back when my Lab was obsessed with the stuff. Yup, keeping the door closed is the easiest solution, but a hard habit to remember.

    How weird about the toy – and so glad your husband was able to figure out a way to safely remove it. Are you going to write the manufacturer? I can’t imagine if someone gave it to their dog to keep them busy and then went out!

  5. Oh my goodness–never a dull moment in the land of Lilly! I’m so glad Tom was able to safely remove the toy. I’m not sure I’d have kept a cool head when faced with that situation. Sorry about the worsening incontinence issues. I’m sure you’re anxious to see what the situation is with the bladder infection. As I recall, you’ll be wrapping up the latest round of antibiotics in a few days. Sounds like Lilly is doing well otherwise (other than the big appetite for items that aren’t edible), and that is great news. As always, wishing you and Lilly all the best.

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