Maisie Update

Poor Maisie...

I spent the day following her around with paper towels and cleaner, wiping up diarrhea. We all went to my husband's parents' house for Christmas and Maisie got into the turkey carcass. Whoops! So when she got diarrhea, I assumed it was from the turkey. Then I saw something wiggle. Upon closer inspection-- worms! Ugh!

I called the vet, hoping I could get an appointment for Maisie, like NOW, TODAY, PRONTO!! Luckily, they had an opening and we got an appointment for 4:30. In the meantime, I had to collect a stool sample-- ewww! It's not my idea of fun, grabbing wormy diarrhea and scooping it into a zippy bag.

Maisie has become a well-loved member of the family! It's already hard to imagine life without her! Maisie has claimed this kiddie chair for her own, and seeing Baby in it has not deterred her from sitting in it, she just plops herself on top of Baby! Good thing Baby thinks it's funny!

The girls have much fun pretending Maisie is a doll-baby. They make little beds for her and dress her in doll clothes. When I found out Maisie had worms and a friend of mine told me to not let Maisie lick our faces, I quickly had to put a stop to the playtime and warn the girls that Maisie was sick.

Turns out, poor Maisie has BOTH roundworms and tapeworms. She got 3 shots today, plus 3 oral doses of different medicines and a topical dose of flea medicine. Poor girl is all sore and konked out on the couch. We got rid of all her chew toys (thankfully it was only a couple of rawhide sticks and 2 squeaky toys) and I am in the process of washing all the doggy bedding. Hopefully we can kick some wormy butt and she'll be back in all her puppy glory in no time!

Introducing...

We drove long and far yesterday.

It was a long and winding drive, through snow-covered mountains, icy cliffs and lonely, deserted towns. The kids were amazingly good during the trip, because they knew where we were going and they didn't want to risk making Mom and Dad mad, or we'd turn around and go back home.

We ended up in a tiny town over 130 miles away, in the middle of the mountains. We came away with...

...this. A puppy!

After a near daily search on petfinder.com, we found a shelter that had this beauty and her 6 brothers and sisters. A cocker spaniel/boxer mix. You can see the boxer in her, and the spaniel, too, but mostly boxer. By the time we got there, 4 of her siblings were already adopted and we had to choose from 3. Such a hard decision, but we zeroed in on this one and we love her already!


Hi!

She's still so little, she can't get up on the furniture without a little boost from us. She's around 7 weeks old. We gave her a bath and then let her explore her new digs.

She fascinates everyone! Even the husband is in love with her! She can't even eat without an audience! Good thing she isn't a shy eater.

I'm tired, can I sleep now? No more pictures, please.

We're glad we got her. She is fun and the girls just love her. She's smaller than the cats are and the cats don't seem threatened by her. Oh sure, the cats puff up their tails and one even swatted her on the head, but she hasn't barked at them or chased them down, so I am hoping they will accept her soon.

No name yet... we are still getting to know her and the right name will come to us eventually.