Sam is recovering

First off, thank you to everyone who asked about Sam this weekend. We've been enjoying having him home and spoiling him like he deserves. He is still not fully recovered - his poops are still not quite normal. You know you are a dog lover when you want to wake your husband up at 4 AM to tell him your dog's poop is starting to look better!

In the meantime, Sam has been getting plenty of rest:


Eating nourishing home-made meals:


Receiving lots of lovin':


I've also been taking him for walks in the morning. They are quite a bit shorter than what we normally do, but I think Sam really enjoys them. This morning we met a very nice Pomeranian named Scarlett. Sam was a real gentleman - he laid down so that she wouldn't have to look up at him! Of course, I didn't have my camera!

Aaron and I are also taking care of my sister's dogs and cats while she and her family are away on vacation. Meet Sam's cousins!

Suzy is 14 years old, and a real lady!


Molly is a Golden Retrieve mix - she is a sweetheart!


This is Prince Caspian, a cookie-eating, sock stealing, maul-your-leg-like-an-angry-rottweiler cat. Everyone adores him, and he knows it! Sis, do you know your cat goes on the counter when you are away?


Georgie. My sister rescued her. She is very shy, and Sam is pretty sure she is the epitome of evil! What do you think?


We really missed Sam while he was away. It wasn't quite the same finding both shoes together, a clear path to walk through the house, and nothing to walk around when you are trying to cook. We wouldn't trade having Sam for anything!

This is a small example of how our floor looks. Sam has most of his toys pulled out and spread over the floor. He also made sure to beat up his pillow when he returned. Our friend Austin gave Sam the Coke bottle. Sam thought it was a great present!


We think Sam is very happy to be home too!


P.S. We did find Rhome, Texas! :)

Commercial possibilities

Hello all, Aaron here. Christine wanted me to mention that Sam has lost 7 lbs over the past month…You may recall that prior to his recent troubles Sam had been under vet’s orders to lose weight, and undoubtedly his ongoing illness has been a contributor to that loss; but I think his progress was admirable, even before this bout of Yorkie’s Revenge.

Thinking about that got me to looking closely at my Sam’s shaved belly this morning and I began to wonder if it bothered him, laying there on the cool tiles without a protective layer of fur…was he aware of how odd he looked with his pink skin on display? And once his morning walks resume will the other dogs make fun of him? Will they shout hurtful things like, “Hey Sam, uh, most guys go bald on top first!” or “Sam, uh, uh, nice pink belly ya got there!”

Dogs are often mean, but very seldom are they quick or clever.

I thought about how I might ease some of his embarrassment and hit upon an idea. So, after a trip to the garage for an old sheepskin seat cover, a couple of shoe strings and voila, I had it! The Tummy Toupee.


Looked pretty good I thought, could even have commercial possibilities. It’s warm, protective, only slightly unfashionable, and lacks vermin. An all around winner! Kind of like Ugg boots for your belly.

I began to have fantasies of financial independence, where late night Tummy Toupee infomercials become the stuff of legend and Hollywood stars are battling to appear in our life story, entitled:

Shave it again Sam, or How to be Hairless and Happy.

I saw Sam being played by Brad Pitt, with Wilfred Brimley taking my role.

Alas, it was not to be…Sam took offense to the whole concept and refused to play along, even when I suggested that instead of Brad Pitt and Wilfred Brimley, we go with Rupert Grint and Salma Hayek, respectively…sure, it would require a minor rewrite, but I felt it was doable. Sam still said no.

However, I’m not ready to give up on my dreams. Sam and I will capitalize on this opportunity somehow…


I wonder if GoldenPalace.com is still buying ad space?

Sam has returned!

That is the good news. We had one very traumatic day. It started out with the "t" word, which pretty much caused both Aaron and I to panic - me a little worse. Even though Sam was eating all right and had no more blood in his poop, our vet could not stop the diarrhea. She called this morning to let me know she suspected a tumor in his intestines, and recommended we bring him for an ultra sound at the oncologist. She wasn't entirely sure this was the case, but wanted to rule it out as a possible suspect. It was a joy to see him again and to have him in the truck with us, although he smelled pretty rank after 5 days at the vet. We didn't care!

Sam was in heaven at the Oncologist, where he was reunited with his favorite vet tech Jenny. He also got to meet a new doctor, Dr. Jones. They kept him for an hour and did an ultrasound. To our relief the ultra sound came back clear. Talk about wanting to cry again! We were supposed to bring him back to our vet, but decided enough is enough. We brought Sam home. He still has the runs, but we have been supplied a variety of pills and such to give him along with a detailed menu. Sam will be eating better than us for the next week!

We still don't know why he has the runs, but both vets agree that with time his stomach and intestines may settle enough to solve the issues. I won't feel completely relieved until he is 100% better, but Aaron and I are both very happy to have our boy home again!

First off, Sam got a bath. He smelled terrible! Of course, he wasn't happy with the whole thing...

He then spent some time reuniting with the carpet!


They shaved a rather larger patch of fuzz for his ultrasound!



We are just happy to have him home!

Day 4...

Still no Sam. The vet is thinking maybe tomorrow he can come home. He is eating well, still not vomiting, but still has the runs... They are hoping that this will right itself today.

They did say that they have been spoiling him, and that every time they go back to check on him that someone is sitting with him. I really hope so - Sam is very used to being the center of our attention!

Day 3...

Well, we are heading into day three with still no Sam. Since it is Sunday, it is very hard to get a hold of the vet to find out how he is. Last night, she called and said he was eating, with no more vomiting or blood in his poop; but said that he still had a bad case of the runs (which is how this whole episode started). We are missing him very much!

I took these photos with my cellphone. This is Sam behind bars:


You can't see it so well in this photo, but he has white medicine all over his face!


On a brighter side, we did commence with operation Spay/Neuter. We managed to catch two of the cats this morning. Momma and the shyest kitten (which turned out to be female) have both been spayed. We have four more to catch, if all of the remaining kittens continue to show up. They are resting at my Mom's house, ready to be released tomorrow morning.

Still no Sam...

Sam wasn't able to come home yesterday. The vet wanted to keep him for another day for observation. She mentioned that he is still so sick that he may not be able to come home on Saturday either! We did go and visit him yesterday. He looked so sad in his kennel. He sat in my lap for a bit while I scratched his back. The good news is that he is eating and, as of last night, has not vomited. We miss him so much!

One Sick Boy and Missing Cats

Sam spent the night at the vet's. He is pretty sick right now and I am sick with worry. We are not sure what he got into this time, but I think he must have found something in the yard, like last time!



The cats have been very frustrating too. There is only one left. Momma and four of the kittens have disappeared! At first there were two kittens left, but another one disappeared on Tuesday. We are still planning to try to catch the last one, but are very puzzled as to what happened to the others. What is so unusual about this is Momma has been showing up on schedule, twice a day, for feeding for about a year. This is the first time she has been completely gone!

I really want Sam home...