Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 550- Because 3 is 21 in Dog Years

DUDES! Apparently it was my birthday on Sunday and I had NO IDEA because I don't have a calendar and I can't write! It was total awesomeness!

First, dad said that since I'm 3 and therefore 21 in dog years, I can legally purchase "special beverages" in the stores that sell feasting materials. He told me that there's this totally wacky right of passage for many American frat boys and since I'm a party animal I should experience it. So, dad gave me this this empty aluminum beer bottle~~and then he made me sit next to it for pictures. I was all like WHAT? What's so fun about this? Why do super crazy college boys like these things so much? Big Pupi decided that since he made it through all 4 years of college and never heard of such a tradition, he needed to investigate.
He checked inside for meat and found none. He said it smelled an awful lot like this place that's a short jog from home. It plays annoying music and always has the door open. He couldn't tell me what went on in that place because it's so dark inside, but he said it stunk like this beer bottle mixed with bad cologne. Humans are SO WEIRD!

I tried to tell my people that in MY world there's a tradition that on a dog's third birthday he gets to feast on roasted squirrel butt. Since my rather dense humans don't speak Stanislaw I had to do a little interpretive dance for them to explain the situation. They still didn't seem to get it. DUH! Didn't they get that on their third birthdays? Shouldn't they KNOW???

I did get to feast on some vanilla ice cream and dad and me played lots and lots with my favoritest squirrel log stuffy. That was SO AWESOME! (Here's a photo of my dorkus bro with the funnest toy in the WholeWideWorld:)
Dad holds the log and I shove my face into the holes and yank out one of those little squirrel nerds. Then I thrash the poobles out of it and go high-stepping into the office for some more quality thrashing and a few paw pounds and some manly prancing. Then I zip back to dad and YANK!!! Another squirrel is ready for the shaking of a lifetime. Once all the squirrels have been emancipated, I stare at dad until he goes to the office and puts it all back together. I LOVE THIS GAME!!

Speaking of games, mom ordered Big Pupi and me puzzle toys for our birthdays (BP's big day is August 8). My bro got this crazy cool tornado treat toy:
It has 3 layers each with 4 treat compartments. It spins and has white bone "locks" that increase the difficulty-ness. It is one of Nina Ottosson's "Advanced" level toys and it took Pupi all of 3 minutes to empty on his FIRST TRY - WITH the locks in place! Mom didn't even show him how it worked!
That blue treat dispensing puzzle in the background was my puzzle birthday toy present. I hate it. I barked at it for while and it did nothing, so I left to take a nap. Face it folks - I only like toys when they're attached to my dad. Otherwise I couldn't be less interested. So that means dad has to be home all the time to play with me. How's that for a birthday wish!

Paws crossed for next year,
Stanislaw da Birthday Manislaw

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 546- Idle Paws Do the Devil's Work

***
Big Pupi explains his brilliant idea:


So. A few weeks ago my folks were given a sofa by my grandhumans who were moving and could no longer use it. My people LOVE this "new" piece of furniture and have stupidly decided that they will not allow it to go to the dogs. HA! They did not know what they were up against.

They purchased these evil things called x-mats that are all spiky and ouchie and meant to train us canines off certain pieces of the furniture. Yeah, right! My folks touched our paws gently to the mats when they first arrived and we got the point (pun intended) right away. As long as we see them, we stay off that part of the sofa. However, we were always allowed on the old sofa and so this new off-limits thing is kind of confusing to us. To meet us half way, my people also got us a super fancy sofa protecting bolstered blankie thingy to mark our Good Boy Sit area. All seemed right in the world...

...to my people. NOT to me. I don't dig it.

That stupid bolstered blankie thingy was NOT placed on my FAVORITE part of the sofa - the part nearest the feasting area! And, well, depending on the time of day my favoritest area seems to change. I WILL NOT conform to this consistent and oh-so boring Good Boy location. And what's a boy to do when he's on lock-down from a shoulder injury and has all this wacky pent-up energy and he's bored to bits?

Embark on some problem solving. That's what.
I stole a pillow from mom. It's a "decorative" pillow, and to all of my canine folks out there who don't know what this means - something that is "decorative" just sits around and waits for you, the family canine, to give it a job to do. It waits patiently until we assign it a purpose, or a "raison d'être," to my french-speaking friends. This particular "decorative" pillow found a job protecting my sensitive little bum from the spikies. A noble occupation indeed. It's the perfect size for me to curl up on, and just small enough for me to carry it to any part of the sofa I please. Place it on the x-mat and...

...VOILA! A snoozel spot fit for a beast.

If mom takes the pillow away from me, I just pile up stuffies and continue doing as a beast of my intelligence will do. Of course I prefer my super snuggly pillow, but I can make do with any materials I might find. I even had mom's coat up there one day. How did I get her coat? Oh... I can't tell you that. I think she reads this blog.

And what about that fancy faux suede bolstered blankie thingy? Stanislaw can have that. I'm all set with my pillow, thank you very much.

To my people I say, "Nice try, folks." I'll add on a "Maybe next time." And to punctuate my thoughts on this topic:
Outwit. Outplay. Outpooble.
Big Pupi

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 543- Barkin' and Parkin'

Since Big Pupi is still on the DL, I got to go to the bark park - just me and my mom! First I was attacked by the buzzy thing, but it was all worth it for a morning at the park.

I like to make a dramatic entrance, and so I usually fling my 24lbs into the park and arrive completely airborne:
First up, I saw my little puppy buddy and we got our sniff on.
We gave our usual "What did YOU have for breakfast??" greeting by the infamous Weeble Tree.
He wasn't convinced it was me, so my puppy buddy had to make doubly sure it was Stanislaw the Great that he was about to wrastle with.
But before I can get any good wrastliness into my muscles, I must first cool off my groin in the hose wading pool. My puppy buddy was getting a little fresh as I enjoyed the icy cool awesomeness on my nether regions.Once my groin was satisfied with the degree of coldness, I hopped up like a spring and invited puppy buddy for a wee romp.He might be small but he's a Champion Wrastler! I made certain to show off my shiny white canines which happen to look rather menacing against my black fur. I'm all teeth and bendy gumby-ness. Watch out!!Then mom tossed a ball for me. I'm totally getting the gist of this whole "chase the round object" game. I prance like a man and do a huge flying pounce to catch that sneaky thing and bring it to my Jaws of Steel.
I ran hither and thither, doing the most important of important things.
I checked back in with mom for frequent drooly and howly-like updates - plus a bum scritching or two.
A little bird must have warned the living stuffies that The Beast was on the loose. I saw no galloping grub on this day - not one tasty niblet nibbling in my weeble grass for me to make a fuss over. Phooey.
I had a quick pow wow with the Bark Park regulars. I like this beagle mix since she's got a touch of The Feistiness in her bum, just like I do.
She's been working on her dissertation on the game of Chase. I gave her something to write about.
And we often enjoy critiquing each other's Downward Dog yoga positions.
Before I knew it, it was time to visit this corner of the park.
After a few high quality, feisty-cizing facial bum slaps by Yours Beastly, I got my terrier friend to play a game of chase.
She was a titch tired, so it didn't last very long.
So it was time to move on.
I was chillin' in my wading pool cooling off the ol' weeble when 2 kids came wandering my way. My puppy buddy and his wee friend were so into their wrestling that I pushed them out of my pool so they could get their thrashes in on dry land. I don't think they even noticed!
I tried a recipe for Chilled Ball Soup that I had found online. Turns out that I prefer raw meat.
Then my beagle friend and I greeted 2 new Shepard-ish dogs that had just come into the park. I did my best paw-slapping play bow and ginormous leap backwards to start a game of chase, but they weren't having it. I think they were in their golden years and weren't amused with my puppy antics.
And when mom saw me like this~
~she knew it was time to go home.

And I walked like a Good Boy should on a LOOSE LEASH almost the whole way back. I don't know why, but that crazy human made a big stinkin' deal out of my Good Boyness and I feasted on beefy treats every time I made eye contact while prancing all manly-like at her side. It was delicious!

And speaking of stink... those treats are talking to me now. I've been baking air biscuits all morning! AWESOME!

A beast by any other name would smell just a sweet,
Stanislaw

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 540- Beasts and Their Beards

Hello there fellow Beast-o-ramas!

Because of Big Pupi's surgery spots and his subsequent absence from therapy work, we have been able to run about stinking and beasting, avoiding all baths and attacks from the buzzy thing. It's been awesome!!! Check out how healthy, thick and manly my feasting beard is looking nowadays:Delicious! All the better to eat you with, my meatiness!

Big Pupi's schnozzle doesn't grow like mine, and so his face still looks all girly and clean:
Mom has never had to shave the last 1/2 of Pupi's schnoz because the furs don't grow on it. Lucky! Mine grows into thick, meat-clinging gobs of uneven fur, and if I don't get it shaved it all goes wackadoo and makes it hard for me to see. This means that I have to loose a lot of my whiskers to the buzzy thing, which my folks would rather avoid. Big Pupi always gets to keep all his whiskers! NOT FAIR! Without my whiskers I loose my 6th sense - my Sense of Beast!

We've been busy over here growing all shaggy and such, but my stinkbutt bro is hiding his curly furlies under his goofy "Big Pupi" t-shirt:
Mom keeps a non-stick bandage pad sewn into the shirt shoulder while Big Pupi's wound heals. It was doing so well with a beautiful, thick scab on top and mom was planning to walk him to pick up our weekend human guest (SO FUN!). But that never happened because at some point while mom was at work on Friday, Pupi tore that lovely protective scab right off his wound.

HA! So I got to go for the walk instead. Stupid brother! My folks can now see the progress his ouchie has made, and all the fresh, pink and healthy-looking granulation tissue is visible as it grows up and out and fills his wound. It's looking super good! But the dude is still on lock-down since it needs more time to close and heal. Big Pupi has just about gone bonkers from the lack of exercise.

As for me... I got to spend lots of time chillin' with my humans' good friend and future bridesmaid (what's that?). I was the Master of The Sneakiness and would skulk off to try and eat our lovely guest's leather purse and suitcase handle, but every attempt was foiled. I was being super naughty and totally Bad Boy, but our guest forgave me my evil doings. I mean... who can stay mad at this face?
I can almost smell my wonderful dog-park-running-fast-hunting-sprinkler-swimming-bird-feasting stink from here! DELISH!

Growing in stink and beard-i-ness,
Stanislaw

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 536- Where It Comes From

Hey Dudemeisters. My spoiled baby big brother FINALLY let me have my blog back. I'll tell ya that Big Pupi is doing almost shockingly well. He's healing so quickly now that he should be able to wear a harness for a good long walk this weekend. I bet he's excited to get out of the apartment to check his pee-mail!

I had to be Have today on a Good Boy Walk and, well, I was mostly Good Boy... I struggle when there are puddles all over with lots of reflections. We took a break at the bark park and I had a BLAST getting 2 dogs to chase and wrastle with me at the same time. I was SO AWESOME! The sprinkler was on as well and I spent a lot of time exposing the ol' groin to the icy coolness. Once I'm soaked from head to toe I make sure to help cool the humans off and rub against their shins. I'm such thoughtful little man!

Then on my Good Boy Walk home I met Mr. Great Dane who was 7 months old and looked like Big Pupi - but about a bagillion times his size. This dude was AWESOME! I jumped a few times trying to sniff his bum and attempted to start a game of chase, but our humans wouldn't drop our leashes. NO FUN! I wasn't the slightest bit put off by his size. I like the big party animals! I aspire to be a huge party animal myself some day.

Anyway, mom was telling me about the crazy critters that lived here before me, and the times she first learned about the benefits of special, homemade diets. She told me that it not only applies to beasts such as myself, but to all critters big and not-so-beastly. To start, I would like to introduce you to a tasty little niblet named Nutmeg:Mom got Nutmeg (and Pie, but we're missing photos of that lady bird) when mom was 11 years old, and that wacky bird stuck around through grammar school, middle school, high school, college and through mom's first job. Nutmeg was fed seeds for her first few years, but then the vet insisted she be put on a pellet diet. Well, it wasn't long after that switch and Nutmeg and Pie got LEAD POISONING! Can you believe it? They almost died! So it was back to seeds and veggies for them.

At about 5 years old, little Pie passed away from what they thought was a heart attack. It happened right in front of young mommy and she was a tad bit scarred from that whole event. Pie was an obese little bird because seeds are kind of like eating chocolate chip cookies every day and boy did Pie like her feasts! This left little Nutmeg all alone, but she was so bonded to mom that she didn't really mind it. She just followed mom from room to room running about on the ground like a puppy. (That sounds totally bizarre to me. I think mom is making that up.)

When Nutmeg was about 8 years old mom got her a buddy named Bean. He was a strapping young lad:
Bean LOVED Nutmeg and he would sing her Low Rider and other tunes and flash his wings and strut about for her. It was love... but she only loved mommy. Bean was a feisty sort and he never gave up on the quest for Nutmeg's affection.

It was around this time that their vet said that mom should try pellets again. He said that they've improved a whole lot and he gave her a very fancy brand to take home. The birdles ate a mix of this with a little seed, some veggies and fortified treats. Nutmeg actually liked her pellets and would chow down every day. However, at about 10 years old she was diagnosed with renal failure, brought on from Hypovitaminosis A - a severe lack of vitamin A in the diet. WHAT? Where was this "balanced" and "nutritious" fancy food now?? This was the BEST of the cockatiel pellets and here was Nutmeg with a terminal illness. WHAT THE BIRD?!?

They fought the kidney disease for 2 1/2 years until the kindest thing was to send little Nutmeg over the bridge. Bean called for his love for days on end, until he too became too ill to sing. Mom rushed him to the vet who diagnosed him with a rare fungal infection of the crop, and said that birds can become so attached to another being that they can actually die from a broken heart. Bean's love was gone, and so his body was calling it quits.

Until this little bugger came to town:
Meet Little Reggie the Cockatiel (AKA "Reggie"). Mom rushed out and adopted Reggie from a parrot rescue, and there was an instant connection between him and Bean. Within days Bean had made a full recovery and began to sing songs of love for his new brother. Reggie, (whose rescue was a little... em... questionable), almost doubled his weight from a emaciated 80 grams to a healthy 120. (The Regg-meister would like everyone to know that he was a large cockatiel, not a fat one!) That big boy would climb to the highest perch and puff his chest, singing the most horrible renditions of Low Rider you've ever heard. Bean would watch him adoringly from below.

At this point mom and dad had moved to Texas and Bean and Reggie were chillin' in the sunshine. Mom brought them to new vet who was a super duper parrot specialist, and he suggested once again she change their diet. Mom told him the story of Nutmeg, the lead poisoning, the vomiting... To this the vet said that he doesn't believe in these pre-made pellet diet thingies and he gave her a recipe especially for cockatiels that included a mix of grains and veggies and fruits. Mom could make it super duper cheap from the bulk organic grains at Whole Foods! It was crazy easy to make, and it cost 1/2 the cheese money of those silly seed mixes!

And well, the story ends with Reggie and Bean feasting on this new food and thriving. They went into a molt a few months after the diet change, and their new feathers could practically glow they were so brilliant. Their activity level went up, their molts became super easy and they stayed bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

"Hmmm..." she thought, "there might be something to this." And that idea stayed in the back of her mind until my bro and I came around with our health issues. And well, the rest is happy and meaty history.

I think I like those birdles! I would have liked to eat.... er... MEET them!
Stanislaw

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 535- Finally Climbing Uphill

****
Big Pupi comin' at ya with an update (a rather graphic update...):Oh. My. Feasting. I have had a rough few days. Do you see what I'm wearing??!! WHAT?? A t-shirt and a SNOOD. WHAT GIVES??

Over the past few days things went from bad to worse. The wound on my shoulder swelled and oozed, then the wounds on my neck and ear (which were behaving perfectly) suddenly went all crazy-like and decided to revolt. They got hot and swollen and they oozed and slimed all over. My ear STUNK and it became infected and brown stuff was pouring out. My folks were freaked!

My mom has been sewing non-stick absorbent pads into my shirt to keep my shoulder clean~ ~and the grossness soaked through! Mom called the vet in a panic, and together they found who to blame for my major ouchies -

a dude named Neosporin!! Evil Neo!

Turns out that this antibiotic ointment that doctor lady advised we use twice per day is causing a TERRIBLE reaction. (Very unusual but not unheard of.) Sure, my hind leg might have had something to do with my shoulder incision tearing, but my neck and ear were totally fine until mom swiped on the Evil Neo. Then it all 'sploded!

The tumor removal spots that never met Evil Neo look like this:

They're almost totally gone. It was a chain reaction - the worse those other incisions became and the more infected they looked, the more the Neosporin was applied. Ouch!

(Some yuck-o footage is up ahead, you may want to avert your eyes if you're squeamish.)

But mom put that nasty tube away and in only 24 hours all of the swelling has gone away, and everything has a nice, dry, solid scab on top. WOOHOO! The infection in my ear and the oozing from all locations has totally gone away. SWEETNESS!

Now my shoulder injury has been reduced to this:
Which I admit... it looks terrible, but that's actually a great big scab on top and the surrounding skin is no longer bright red and swollen. It was filled with yellow slime just yesterday! That one is about the size of a nickel and it used to be a deep, deep hole - almost 1/4" deep. The new skin has almost filled it and the pouch I tore into it is 90% closed!

And now, my neck wound looks like this:
This one is a little smaller than a dime and it too is totally scabbed up and swelling-free.

This terrible, ear smooshing snood has been removed~
~and now I'm in Stanislaw's clean Polish Eagle t-shirt with a fresh wound pad sewn in... and there's been zero drainage since. I have to wear socks on my hind itching tools to prevent my nails from catching a wound again, but that is so much better than the evil snoodish monster. I HATE him!

On top of all this, my eye infection is pretty much gone. Phew! This has been a rough few days, and to think... this could have probably all been avoided if the 'sporin monster wasn't living in my house. Mom says I'll never see that stuff again. Thank goodness.

I hope that when Evil Neo leaves he'll take my snoods with him. I'd rather not find myself in one of those again. ICK. Why do my folks keep so many torture devices in my home?

Overall, I really am an excellent healer. Now my body can continue to do as planned without any allergic reactions or inturruptions. If you saw what it looked like this time last night compared to now, you'd be amazed!

In fact, I plan to be out for a nice long walk by this weekend. Enough of this lock down!

Thinking healing thoughts,
Big
Pupi

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 532- Ouch x 10

Big Pupi has a few boo-boos:

- about 10 boo-boos to be exact. I was being all Good Boy and stuff at the vet on Thursday, and despite my manners and mellow attitude my doctor shoved a needle into my bum and I got totally woozely and wobbly and I DID NOT like it! Everything was kind of a blur from then on, but I can vaguely remember small needles going into me all over my body, some crazy machine thing that burned away my tumors and cauterized the area, and a set of those buzzy things that stole my fur in random patches all over my body. I couldn't even protest!

By the time mom came to get me I was still all wackadoo on sedatives and I kept BEGGING her to carry me. I've NEVER done that before! She said I sat all crooked in the car on the way home and despite the fact that I was crazy sleepy and couldn't really keep my balance, I INSISTED on sitting up so that I could see out the windows. I hate missing out on anything good. And I super-duper love car rides!

When we got home, mom plopped me in my crate then left to run some errands with Stanislaw in tow. I snoozeled hard, and by the time they returned I was a little more with it and totally queasy feeling and full of ouches from my head to my tail. I refused food and water until late that night. So unlike me!

Instead of taking only the 3 trouble-causing tumors, my doctor took them ALL from all over my body... even the one growing INSIDE my ear!! Each of those mean tumor guys was burnt off easily, except for the one on my shoulder. I hate that one the most! He's the whole reason this happened to me. That meany tumor-butt got infected and healed improperly, creating a spot that bled all the time and oozed all day long. Because he was attached to a blood supply, the vet had to go in super deep to make him go away. She applied liquid skin to the area to seal it up, and it was all neat and tidy and looking wonderful.

But then something happened, and I found myself in this:
Turns out that using your hind legs to go at an incision isn't the best idea. Late that night, I went to TOWN with the scratchies and tore the liquid skin right out of there leaving what looks like a bullet hole. Mom spent forever that night stopping the bleeding, and cleaning up the clear oozing mess that kept leaking from it. It was angry and irritated, but seemed to be cooperating and my wound sealed itself up. Mom put some sterile dressings on it and wrapped it all up in a thick cotton bandage to keep my teeth and claws away.

Once it was all clean and under control, we went to bed... with me in the human crate!!! IT WAS AWESOME!! I wedged myself in between mom and dad so tightly and buried myself under the covers. I kicked them the whole night through and shoved my back against mom's belly so hard she could barely breath. Despite their constant checks on me during the night, I had the BEST sleepies of my life! Now I know what I'm missing when I'm exiled to my stinky crate. No fair!

Anyway, a day has gone by since my shoulder fiasco, and I heard something about me going back to the Place of Tile and Steel this afternoon. I guess the incision that I destroyed was healing up quickly and beautifully, but it started looking a tad oozy this morning so my people want the vet to make sure all is as it should be. ICK! I totally don't want to go! What if they make me all drunk and woozely again? I hated that! It was so embarrassing.

Otherwise, the rest of my removal sites are healing at lightening speed. Here's the one from my bum:
That's what all of the removals but my shoulder one look like. The fur growing around it is a tad itchy, but otherwise I'm acting like nothing happened. In fact, I've even been taken off the painkillers as of this morning because I don't seem to be in any discomfort whatsoever. Now my folks are having a tough time stopping be from wrastling with Stanislaw and thrashing on my toys. HA! I'm a wild beast!

So... wish me luck again at the Place of Tile and Steel. Hopefully my shoulder incision (we'll avoid posting any photos of that one!) is doing well and I can continue on my merry way. My folks say that I'm a super good healer, and if I hadn't damaged that big one I would probably be as good as new in just a few days. Poo! Now I'm regretting that shoulder itch-fest. What was I thinking??! Now I'm stuck being a bandaged-up boy.

I miss thrashing.
Big Pupi

***
Update

Just got back from the Place of Tile and Steel. Turns out that I did a number on my shoulder, and not only tore the liquid skin sealant out of there but also made a pocket under about a 1/4 inch of skin as well. I'm now on a course of antibiotics for it and what's worse... I'm stuck wearing my Big Pupi t-shirt to keep the area clean. Also, to add insult to injury, it turns out that I have an eye infection. The sedative made me snoozel with my eyes open and the dryness allowed some germy monsters to take hold. Not fair! I had no control over that one! Grrrr....

The doc says that I'll be totally fine. The rest of my incisions are looking fabulous, and the naughty one on my shoulder will take a while but it should heal up as well. As for the eye infection... within 24 hours my body pretty much had it beat, but just to be on the safe side I'll be on ointment for that too. It's all so stinky!

Did I mention that my vet put some neon green stuff in my eye to check for a scratch on my cornea (there wasn't one) and the bright green liquid DRIPPED OUT MY NOSE??!!! She said that was NORMAL!

WHAT??!

I need a nap.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Raw Food Diet, Day 528- A Month Missed!

Heya Razzly Snazzly dudes! It's been long, but I haven't been gone!

My scribe managed to sniff herself a new job. That, combined with something awful called "wedding planning," has prevented me from giving my blog the attention it so dearly needs. I have SO MUCH to catch you up on, and unfortunately there's so little time to do it.

First, I wanted to let you know that I've been reading all of my buddies' blogs, but haven't had a moment to comment. My apologies... I'll be back in action soon enough.

While I've been taking this hiatus from cyberspace, I've been working on perfecting my Naughties by ignoring the rules and snoozeling on the human crate. Dad even left me some stinky socks to snuggle with! How could I resist???Dad lets me get away with everything, but mom is the Enforcer. ICK! I have to keep my eyes out for that killjoy.
To give you all an ultra-brief update and run down -
I'm still on melatonin therapy and while it no longer has a dramatic effect (like it did my first 2 weeks), my demons are ever so slightly quieted and my folks have been able to work on my obedience a little bit. The humans at the bark park continue to mention how they see a difference in me, and my Good Boy Walks are getting better and staying good for longer. Every little bit counts! So, my humans and my doctor have again decided to hold off on medication.

In fast hunting news -
Tonight, during my SuperAwesomeBeastlySquirrelChasing run with my folks, I got to meet this awesome scrazzly black dog that was a super cool border collie/lab dude. He was 20 YEARS OLD and he looked SO GOOD!!! Big Pupi has more grey on his face that this guy! He was out for his daily long walk with his lady human. Mom was saying that he was a touch rickety, but if it weren't for that he could have been a 9 month old puppy. After a few decent bum sniffs we all decided that we were best friends forever and I gave him my deepest Stanislaw-ish howl as we ran past. My humans told Big Pupi and me to take notes and ask that pup his secrets to eternal youth. They said that BP and I better plan on hanging around for that long too! Woah. Now that's pressure!

One last update for tonight-
Big Pupi is having some minor surgery on Thursday to remove some sebaceous adenomas that are causing problems. These are wart-like benign tumors that grow from the oil glands in the skin, and while most are usually harmless, others can fill with fluid, get infected, bleed and get in the way of grooming and harnesses/collars. Big Pupi has one on his shoulder that got badly infected and heeled improperly so now it bleeds all the time, another on his ear that's constantly full and draining, one that's in the way of his harness chest strap and one that's teeny tiny and just sprouting up right on the top of his head. Mom wants that one gone before it gets any larger. He has a bunch more, but they aren't an issue and so they will be left alone.

Fortunately, BP will avoid general anesthesia and just be sedated for a couple quick removals and stitches. But my folks are soooo nervous! And my stinky brother REALLY doesn't like going to the vet. He becomes a terrified mush the moment he walks through that door. To help comfort him, mom will pack his special SingingChristmasTreeMouseToy (his FAVORITE!) and give him a huge smooch on the schnozzle. Afterwards, he'll get to be the spoiled brat for the next day or so. Stinky butt boy!!

In the mean time, I'll be getting my Naughty on, stretching and snoozeling with Pa on the human crate.
That's one of my very best stretchy squench faces. Sweetness!

Send some good vibes for my bro!
Stanislaw