Happy Otisaversary!

It’s been one year since Otis joined our household, and we are all happier for it. Even Zoe.

Cat Scratch Fever

A few minutes ago, I was in the office and Zoe and Otis were in the living room, staring out the big picture window and waiting for Tim to arrive home. Zoe barked once, so I figured someone was walking by. Then she started making loud whimpering sounds.

I looked out the window, and a man and a woman in their 20s were walking by, with a cat. The interesting part? The cat was on a leash, being walked like a dog.

We’re all very lucky Zoe didn’t decide to jump through the window. She was going absolutely crazy. I hope she doesn’t take it out on the bunny living under the deck.

Puppy Hotel

The dogs got to spend some time at the puppy hotel a couple weeks ago while we were in Vegas.

When we picked them up, we learned they had treated Otis for stress diarrhea. There had been a loud dog boarding over the weekend, and they even brought Otis upstairs so he’d be away from the noise. They put him on antibiotics and we continued the course of treatment after we all got home. The worst part was that my brother’s wedding was a few days later (in Kentucky), and we had no choice but to board them again. I agonized about sending Otis back there. Even though they take excellent care of him, I was concerned about dropping him off at a place that obviously stressed him out. It was too late to make other arrangements, so we took the dogs there again and hoped for the best.

We requested that they be kenneled together, and I think that made a huge difference in the little guy’s stress level (and I’m sure Zoe didn’t mind either). Nothing seems to bother Zoe, but Otis is a little more sensitive. They were also there for a shorter time, so that helped too.

I talked to a friend at work, and she said that one of her dogs gets stress diarrhea no matter where they board, so that makes me reluctant to shake up their boarding routine. I trust our vet completely and if something were to happen, they would be able to respond immediately (which they’ve done in the past, many times). Also, the dogs are used to going there and they know we’ll come back for them (at least I hope they know that). But occasionally I wonder how they would do at a pet hotel– if they would be more isolated and would be in a room that felt more like home with beds and TVs, or if they would still have to deal with loud dogs there too. I also wonder if it would make more sense to hire a petsitter to stay with them in the house.

At least we’ve got some time to think about it before our next vacation. They’ve settled nicely into their routines again, so life is back to normal for now.

Dogs 3, Moles 0

Last week, the dogs discovered moles– particularly, the moles in our yard.

We had let them out so they could do one more round of business before bed, and they took a lot longer than usual. We went to check on them, and they were both hovering over a spot in the grass. Tim took a closer look with the flashlight, and there were three moles in various states of consciousness nestled in the ground. For the dogs, I’m sure it was like finding three new squeaky toys that moved and smelled funny.

Luckily, there haven’t been any incidents since, but we’re keeping a watchful eye on the dogs (even more so than usual).