Wordless Wednesday: Every day we snugglin'

Adoptions?!

Sophie Sofa Snuggles here!  I know what you're all wondering... Did I gets the adoptions???

 

Nope, I doesn't have any adoptions.

 

I sure hope you're okay with me hanging around a bit longer...?

 

Because I'll be catchin' some snoozies on the foster couch

for at least another week!

 

 



Foster Friday: Sophie

Hiya Blogville!

 

I'm Sophie, but the foster momma lady likes to call me Sophie Sofa.  Wanna know why she calls me that?  Because I LOVESSSS the sofa!

I mean, who doesn't loves a sofa???

 

So, I'm hanging out with Mr. Corbin after a few other foster homes didn't quite pan out.  I'm in my search for a most perfectly wonderful forever home.  What would be at that home, you might ask?  Well, a sofa, of course!  I also like people, so I'd really like a human or two or three to hang around with.  Snuggles are super important to me!  I like warmer weather, but I hear it gets warmer up here in a little while, so I think I can tough out the cold a bit longer.  I also like other dogs, but I don't really need another one around... if my forever home comes with another dog, faaaaantastic!  If not, that's quite faaaaantastic, too.

 

Mr. Corbin doesn't come with me to my forever home???

 

I'm about 1 year old and I seem to be a Pit Bull/Boxer mix... or maybe Boxer/Bull Dog mix... or maybe I'm just a Cute/Super Cute mix!  That's what I think anyway.  I know that I have to do my potties outside, and I'm very good about doing that.  Even when it's super cold and I don't want to go out there, I'll do it for my foster momma lady.  BUT, when I'm done with my potties, I fly in the house so fast and I run right to my doggie bed and snuggles under the blankets to warm up.  I hang out in my crate all day while the foster peoples are at work and I sleep in a doggie bed at night (sometimes I sneak in Corbin's doggie bed and get some snuggles with him!).  I don't chew on much other than the doggie toys, except that one time I took the foster momma lady's slipper, but she told that wasn't for me to chew on and I said okay.

 

I'll do whatever you say, foster momma lady...

as long as I can be on the couch.

 

I really like it when the foster peoples are happy with me, so I do my best to please them.  Lately, the foster momma lady has been teaching me "sit" and "stay" and to "wait" for my food bowl.  I'm doing okay, but honestly?  I really just like to be next to her, and every time I hear her voice I get all sorts of excited and wiggly... so we're working on it.  The treats are good, and I'm starting to understand that wiggles and excitement are saved for times when there are no treats available!  I'm also learning that when the foster momma lady puts a leash on me, we're not in a race of any sorts.  You see, I thought I could just drag foster momma lady around and yank and pull for her to follow me, but instead I'm starting to learn that the foster momma lady leads the way.  That's okay, because it means knowing which way to go is one less thing I have to know!

 

I think I looks good in red...

 

I think I would make a super awesome friend to just about anyone - as long as they're nice.  I don't really like mean people and I've dealt with a few of them in my past.  But, foster momma lady tells me that my past is my past and we don't need to look there anymore.  Now, we look towards the future and foster momma lady says I can stay with her and foster dad dude and Mr. Corbin as long as I need to until I find a great home filled with nice people!  Sounds pretty awesome, huh?

 

Tomorrow's my adoption event...

so, wish me luck!

 

Meet Sophie!

So, yesterday I spied with my little eye... A Sophie!

 

Hi Sophie!

 

Sophie is my new foster sister.  You see, the momma said NO FOSTERING until the Corbin was 100% A-OK.  Well, the Corbin is 10 days ouchie free, but I'm most definitely not in the clear just yet.  And I still have to be hush hush with the activities.

 

She's quite cute.

 

But, little miss Sophie came up from Tenessee on Saturday and she didn't work out in the foster home planned for her.  The resident dog didn't care for her much.  So, Sophie went to another foster home, where she was also unwelcomed by the resident dogs.  Well, the momma couldn't stand that miss Sophie wasn't happy, so she decided to try her at our house -I get along with just about everyone.  What was the worst that could happen?  If we didn't offer to take her, she'd probably have to go into boarding anyway, so the least we could do was give it a shot. 

 

I think she's happy.

 

Turns out, Sophie and I hit it off.  She can be an active, playful girl but when I told her that I couldn't play just yet, she was completely respectful of that.  Sometimes she bunny hops around me in the house and I nudge her with my nose and she runs crazy.  It's our way of playing without me doing any of the activities.  But, honestly, most of the time she's a total couch sweet potato.  She loves to get snuggles and toasty warm on the couch. 

 

Watching the Cold.

 

She doesn't like the cold though, so I gave her one of the sweatshirts Santa brought me for Christmas that was too small.  She likes to run outside for her business and FLY back into the house and FLY onto the couch and snuggle up in a blanket.  She's quite a character!

 

She gives the Corbin smoochies.

 

Anyway, Sophie gal is looking for her perfect forever home.  I don't think it will take her long at all to find it!  She's as close to perfect as they come!  Check in tomorrow when I let Sophie introduce herself!

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: I spy with my little eye...

 

 

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on our last post

about all my ouchies! 

We appreciate all the support and advice!!!

 

We did get some good news... the videos that the momma took really helped Dr. Mike and the other vets involved in the case of Corbinitis.  They're 99% sure that it's a pinched nerve in my back by the way I hunch a little and position my legs under my body to relieve the pressure on my back.  The momma is looking into the acupunctures and we'll most likely give that a shot. 

 

Also, over the weekend, the momma and the dad found out they have a contact at Cornell who's in school there... so he might take all my informations to help figure out what's wrong.

 

Anywho, I'm 8 days ouchie free and I'm feelin' good!

The (long) story of the Corbin Ouchies

A post by the momma:

Well, settle in and get comfy, because this will be a long post. 

To say we were devastated and disappointed on Friday when Corbin's pain returned would be a complete understatement.  With the lack of occurrences, we were hopeful that the pain was being managed by the 5mg of Prednisone every other day and would no longer be an issue.  The thing that makes diagnosing him so difficult, is he doesn't show a single symptom while he's at the vets office.  So, this past weekend I started videoing him at home and sending clips to Dr. Mike.  It was torture watching him move around in pain, but we're pretty close to being out of options if our vets can't see this going on.  However, I do think his condition can't be something terribly awful if his adrenaline is enough to override the pain during a vet visit... but we still need to get to the bottom of it, because seeing him in pain like that, I don't care how infrequent, just isn't okay.

Momma, you're making me snooze already.

We've had a lot of new readers since the pain began last year and instead of tagging every single post we did on it, I decided to consolidate and post the time line that I've been keeping to document Corbin's pain, medications, treatments and diagnostic testings.  Plus, even for those who do read regularly and have been with us for the whole thing, it's hard to remember it all.  So, I'm going to get it out there, post it and pray that someone reading has experienced or has known someone who has experienced a pain similar to Corbin's.  We're pretty sure it's somewhere in his middle back, but with near perfect spinal MRI images and spinal fluid, we're left pretty baffled. Anywho, here's our time line if you want to read it, if you don't, there's a summary at the bottom!

Corbin’s Pain History:

• 1/28/12 –Pain began, abdomen x-rays at Latham Emergency Clinic. X-rays clear. Physical exam, no apparent problems –weight @70lbs
• 1/29/12 – Lethargic, pale gums, emergency visit w/BHV. Physical exam inconclusive. Blood test for pancreatitis, positive. Hospitalized for IV fluids and medications. High anxiety, so discharged to be treated at home, given fluids.
• 1/30/12 – BHV for recheck & fluids
• 1/31/12 – BHV for recheck, fluids, start Tramadol (50mg) 2 pills, twice a day for pain
• 2/1/12 – BHV Tramadol for pain, Metacam
• 2/2/12 – BHV for pain, retest pancreatitis (negative)
• 2/3/12 – Prednisone for suspected pinched nerve in back, restricted activity, Acepromazine to tranquilize and keep calm. Stop Metacam
• 2/5/12 –Start 1 Prednisone (20mg) twice a day, 2 Acepromazine (25mg) three times a day, 3 Tramadol (50mg) three times a day
• 2/7/12 – Pain stopped
• 2/9/12 – Decrease Prednisone to 1 (20mg) pill twice per day
• 2/14/12 – Decrease Prednisone to 1 (20mg) pill once per day
• 2/20/12 – Stopped Prednisone
• 2/22/12 – Pain returned
• 2/23/12 – Restart Prednisone, 1 (20mg) pill twice a day
• 2/27/12 – Decrease Prednisone, 1 (20mg) pill per day
• 2/29/12 – Stopped Tramadol
• 3/5/12 – Decrease Prednisone 1 (20mg) pill every other day
• 3/22/12 – Stopped Prednisone
• 3/23/12 – Pain returned
• 3/29/12 – Neurologist appt with Dr. Todd Bishop, MRI of back and neck, Spinal Tab, x-rays of hips and hind legs, thorough exam by Dr. Bishop –weight @68lbs. Physical exam inconclusive.
• 3/30 - 4/1/12 – Severe pain, was up every 45 minutes throughout the night, could not get comfortable and yelped every time he got up from laying down, yelped going up stairs/ramp, yelped squatting to urinate, yelped reaching to the ground while sitting or standing, yelped getting on furniture, yelped reaching down to eat or drink.
• 4/2/12 – Restarted Prednisone 1 (20mg) pill twice a day for 8 weeks.
• 4/14/12 – Found bump on flank area near hind left leg
• 4/19/12 – BHV for check on bump, aspiration analysis showed scar tissue –weight @65lbs
• 4/19/12 – Yelp getting up from laying down
• 4/24/12 – Yelp reaching down for treat from standing position
• 4/28/12 – Notice severe weight loss
• 4/30/12 – Pale gums, labored breathing, lethargic
• 5/1/12 – Yelped getting up from laying down during the night
• 5/1/12 – BHV, abdominal ultrasound clear, possible enlarged heart -weight @60lbs
• 5/2/12 – BHV all day for testing, full heart ultrasound showing an enlarged heart, start on Vetmedin (5mg) 1.5 tablet twice a day, 1 Enacard (5mg) twice a day
• 5/3/12 – Recheck bump, lyme test (negative), decrease Prednisone to ¾ pill, twice a day
• 5/10/12 – Recheck bump
• 5/11/12 – Yelped in crate –possibly bending down to nibble up treat crumbs.
• 5/14/12 – Cytology for skin lesion, Mupirocin Ointment (22g) apply 3 times per day
• 5/17/12 – Yelp free
• 5/24/12 – Decrease Prednisone to ½ pill, twice a day
• 6/7/12 – Recheck bump, add 6tbls Welnectin supplement per day
• 6/14/12 – Decrease Prednisone to ¼ pill, twice a day
• 6/26/12 – Decrease Prednisone to ¼ pill, once per day
• 8/16/12 – Decrease Prednisone to ¼ pill, every other day
• 8/21/12 – Yelping, getting up from laying down, attempt to get on bed.
• 8/22/12 – Increase Prednisone ¼ pill every day.
• 9/20/12 – Decreased Prednisone ¼ pill, every other day.
• 10/11/12 – Stopped Prednisone
• 10/16/12 – Yelping
• 10/17/12 – Restarted prednisone, ¼ pill, every other day.
• 11/7/12 – Decreased Prednisone to ¼ pill every 3 days.
• 11/23/12 – Yelping, increased prednisone to ¼ pill every other day.
• 12/6/12 – Yearly check up, found broken tooth on right side, infected molar on right side.
• 12/10/12 – Follow up heart ultrasound. Heart stronger than it was in May, still slightly weaker than should be. Discussed decreasing heart medications to see if Corbin can be stable on a lower dose
• 12/14/12 – Surgery to remove broken tooth and infected molar. Tail amputation. Heart remained stable during surgery. Infected tooth was severely infected, started Clindamycin: 2 (150mg) pills, twice a day for 28 days. Mushy food for 10 days, Tramadol as needed for tail pain.
• 12/20/12 – Recheck exam for teeth and tail. Stitches removed from tail. Back molar healed, broken tooth still healing, mushy food for an additional week. Tail rewrapped. Decrease Vetmedin to 1 (5mg) pill, twice a day.
• 12/22/12 – Emergency vet visit, Corbin got his neck brace off and reopened his tail incision. Stapled tail, started on Acepromazine (25mg) 2-3 pills when left alone.
• 12/24/12 – Emergency vet visit, Corbin ripped out the staples.
• 12/26/12 – Second tail amputation surgery. Started Gabapentin (100mg) 2 pills, 3 times a day. Continued 3 Acepromazine (25mg) when left alone. 3 Tramadol twice a day (additional if needed for pain).
• 1/3/13 – Recheck exam for tail, half stitches removed, tail rewrapped. Continue with medications.
• 1/10/13 – Recheck exam for tail and heart. Remaining stitches removed. Tail rewrapped, continue with pain medications. Heart sounds good, decrease Vetmedin ½ (5mg) pill, twice a day.
• 1/11/13 – Yelping, pain returns. Yelping when getting up from lying down, yelping when walking, yelping going up/down stairs, yelping when squatting to urinate. Seems comfortable while laying down, pain gets worse as the night goes on.
• 1/12/13 – Vet visit. Corbin acts crazy and shows no sign of pain until we return him to the car to go home. Dr. Knapp increases prednisone to 20mg twice a day. Took videos during yelping at home and sent to Dr. Mike. Seems tender on his middle back, at the bottom of his ribs. No stairs, no couch, limited activity.
• 1/14/12 – Yelp free since 8am

Momma, you're boring my readers.

Told ya it would be long. 

So, to sum it all up...
Corbin is currently on 1 Prednisone (20mg) twice a day, 1/2 Vetmedin (5mg) twice a day 1 Enacard (5mg) twice a day, 2 Gabapentin (100mg) three times a day, 3 Tramadol (50mg) three times a day, 1 Glycoflex (600mg) twice a day and 3 Acepromazine as needed when left alone.

He has had an MRI, spinal tap, x-rays of his abdomen, hind legs and hips and a handful of blood tests testing for lyme and lupus. 

Skeletally, he is perfect.   There isn't a part of his body that causes concern for any vet (which, by the way, he's seen 5 vets and 2 specialists: Neuro and Ortho).  If I didn't have such a great relationship with Dr. Mike and if he didn't trust me to know my dog so well, we'd totally be flying down a river with no paddle.

Thanks to everyone who has already offered up advice.  I won't post the videos on here because, well, they're heart wrenching to watch and I don't know that they'll do any good and my boyfriend will probably shoot me for posting them, like he wanted to shoot me for taking them.

Momma... this post megaly lacked Corbin pictures.

I made up that word, megaly, to make this post more interesting.

We have discussed going to Cornell or Tufts University.  They're each about 3 hours away and I'm not concerned about the drive as much as I'm concerned that we're going to get there and also get no where because Corbin will not show his issues for them to assess.  And, as far as I know, neither university will look at his history without seeing him in person.

Okay, this is long enough, so I'll leave it at that.  If anyone has any ideas or clues to help us, it's all very much appreciated!!!!  He is stable now and we'll hopefully decrease his Prednisone on Monday.  The increased dose causes concerns for his heart, so it makes me nervous...

Wordless Wednesday: Find a Corbin?

Ouchies update

24 hours ouchie free!

The ouchies return

Well, friends.... I don't have good news today.  You see, Friday night my ouchies came back, and they came back with a vengeance.

These are the worst ouchies ever.

 

We've had my mystery ouchies under control since about April last year.  I've had a few ouchies here and there while adjusting my steroids, but nothing major.  Until Friday night... All of the sudden it hurt to do just about anything.  I was screaming when I had to get up from laying down and even walking.  This was, by far, the worst my ouchies have ever been.  The momma took me to the vets on Saturday and talked with Dr. Mike... of course I acted like nothing was wrong when I got there so the vets would think the momma is a crazy person.  But, they increased my steroids again and I'm now back to taking 20mg of Prednisone twice a day... which makes everyone worry about my heart because we started decreasing my heart meds.

 

Anywho... I've had 5 doses of the 20mg Prednisone so far, but I'm still quite ouchie.  Not as bad as Friday night, but usually the medications help me get ouchie free quicker than this.  I'm just going to relax and chill out until all my meds take control.  What is super concerning is the fact that I'm on 300mg of gabapentin (a nerve blocker)/3 times a day, 3 tramadol/3 times a day and now the increased Prednisone (I was previously on 5mg, every other day).  That's a lot of medications that I've been on for my tail that should make me ouchie free anyway! 

 

Ah well... here we go again.

Oh, 2012...

A post by the momma:

Well, it's now 10 days into the New Year.  I thought about doing a 2012 recap, then I decided not to do one... then I figured we should do it.  If for no other reason than to have it to look back on when we recap 2013.  Then I debated whether Corbin should write it or whether I should write it... then I wrote it, then I deleted it... then I started from scratch again. So, 10 days late, but whatever.  Maybe in 2013, I'll be more organized and more decisive.  Doubtful.

Hi, this is us.

Although, Adam has nothing to do with the blog :-)

So, what did 2012 bring?  Worry, love, heartache, grief and homes for 10 of our foster dogs.  Overall, it was a crappy year for me personally, but some good things did happen along the way.  This post won't be nearly as organized as I would like, since I'm sort of scatter brained lately and throwing this together at the last minute because my undecidable mind delayed me.  But, here goes.

The Good:
10 foster kids found forever homes: Brookie Lynn, Jamesy, Lexie, Susie, Eva, Brutus, Cleo, Carly, Snickers and Layla.

The Giants won the Superbowl!

Adam and I took 2 vacations: Jamaica where we drank lots of rum and the Carolina's where we saw the Giants play and got to meet Puddles and her wonderful family.

Corbee made it to the lake once on a mild temperature day because of his heart condition.  We brought Brutey along.

Corbs celebrated his 3rd birthday with the very first Pitty Post Day.  We had 73 amazing blog posts from great bloggers, all about the wonderfulness of Pit Bulls.  We're hoping to do it again this year!

Lots of new stuff was also brought into the house this year.  Corbin got a new couch, a new Orvis bed (making 2 total), a sweater from Tiennot Knits @ Our Waldo Bungie, 2 new sweatshirts, a snood, 3 new Sirius Republic collars (making 6 total) and lots of new toys and treats.

Corbin won the Cracker Dog title and Readers Choice during the 2012 Mango Minster!

We had Corbin's DNAs tested and found out he was a Boxastaffabullitahoundskybordaterrier.

And, wrote one of my favorite blog posts to date: You call me a Pit Bull like it's a bad thing.

A Corbee picture makes everything all good.

The bummers:
Corbin had crazy medical issues: Late night Emergency Vet visit, Pancreatitis (and I had to sprain my ankle this week to add to the madness), Dr. Mike induced drunkenness for pinched spinal nerve, an MRI, lots of steroids, diagnosed with an enlarged heart, infected tooth, broken tooth, and of course, tail amputation... TWICE.  The good side... We've weaned Corbin down to 5mg of Prednizone every other day and we have started decreasing his heart medications, which he's done very well with so far.  We'll continue to decrease the heart medications in hopes he'll be stable on a lower dose.  The other good: we have pet insurance.  Thank God.

Brutus and Snickers were returned, but they were both re-adopted into FANTASTIC homes, so this is actually kind of a "good" and not a real "bummer."

My mom had back surgery, which she's still recovering from, but doing excellent and in a lot less pain. 

My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away just 5 short weeks later.  By far, the worst time in my life.

Looking towards our future...

The Goals:
I'm not huge on resolutions.  So, I've set a few goals for this coming year.  It's always good to take a look at life and evaluate it, right?  Eh, something like that.

Obviously, from the sounds of it earlier in this post, getting a bit more organized is at the top of the list.  Isn't it always though?  Who couldn't be a little more organized?  Okay, perhaps a "little" organized is an understatement, but we'll start there.

Corbee would like to utilize his facebook account more, so he created an album "Project 365" there and will be adding a photo every day.  Don't like the Corbin on facebook, yet?  Well, you better get on that!  Click here!

I set a goal of 14 foster dogs this year.  Now, a lot will read that and think it's a crazy goal.  Yea, it might be a stretch to reach 14.  I didn't set the goal super high so we'd be set up to fail, but as something to work towards.  I don't know whether or not we'll reach 14, but it'll be my motivation on those days when I'm on the fence about taking someone home.  Another life saved.

In other rescuing goals, I hope to work with a local shelter more often.  More on this soon.

And, the last thing, I plan on taking over the blog a bit more.  No, don't worry... it still is, and always will be, Corbin's blog.  But, after blogging for 2.5 years (Seriously, can't believe we've been around that long), Corbin and I finally have a better perspective on this bloggin' thing.  There will be some posts geared towards rescue, fostering, training and other things that will be from my point of view.  Other than that, there will be a lot more of the same... crazy Corbin antics, Foster Friday, foster stories and facts of life as we continue on through 2013.

Oh, and I'd also like to give the blog a face lift, but we'll see about that... I'm not all that techie.

Anyway... So long 2012.

 Hopefully 2013 will be a healthy, happy year for all.

Wordless Wednesday: Soaring

Tale of my Tail: Day 13 Post Surgery

Almost two weeks since my tail surgery!  I've been really good about not going near it.  The momma had some things to do this weekend and the dad had some plans, so I spent a few hours Saturday and Sunday with my girls and Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jack!

 

 

We played a lot, therefor did a lot of snoozin'

 

I survived my 3 hours alone on Friday, and I was alone for the WHOLE work day yesterday, except the hour for the momma's lunchy break.  The momma feels bad when she puts all my gear on, but I can't get out of it, so I guess it's what has to be done until my tail is all better.  I've been feeling much better though, and I was romping and playing with my girls in the snow!  It's been a while since I've been super fun and playful.
 

 

So, I wait until Thursday when I go back to see Dr. Mike and get rid of the last of my stitches.  Until then, I'll just keep being a good boy and staying away from it.

Tale of my Tail: Day 8 Post Surgery

I know everyone has been super worried about my tail.  But, guess what!  I've totally left it alone.  So, I went to see Dr. Mike last night and he removed half of my stitches.  He said he was leaving the others in until next week because I make him super nervous and he wants me to have the best chance at succeeding this time. 

 

 

I'm still on the nerve blockers and the momma gives me pain meds when I seem to need them.  I've managed to keep either the momma or the dad home with me at all times.  But, both the momma and the dad have to go into work today... so I'm going to be alone for 3 hours.  The momma spiked my creamy cheeses and I've got all my gear on, plus the nerve blockers and pain meds... so lets hope I just sleep and leave my tail alone.  I'm going to try my best.

 

 

Otherwise, Dr. Mike said I looked good and was healing up nicely!  It's been super cold up here, so my bad leg as been bothering me a bit when I come in from outside... The momma practically had a heart attack yesterday morning when I came in on 3 legs, but as soon as I warmed up, I was okay.  Dr.  Mike took a look and didn't see anything wrong, so he agreed it's probably just the cold. 

 

 

Anywho, that's my update!  Dr. Mike is at the vet office today, just in case we need him later on, but I'm telling you... I'm trying my best to stay away from my short tail!

New Year

Hope everyone enjoyed their New Year!