BROTHERLY LOVE AND BUTCHY UPDATE

Hey Pals,

Zeek, the cat that we rescued in December is getting more use to his new home day by day.  Sylvester our first Man Cat and Zeek like to snuggle up together in chairs, etc.

Here they are on one of the window perch benches.  Sylvester is actually laying across on the top of Zeek, cleaning him.

Am I clean enough already???

All clean!

Today Mama called the vet to talk about me Butchy.  I'm still getting seizures almost every night.  I had one again last night about 1:30AM.  Not fun at all.

So.............

Today we increase my dosage of Phenobarbital from 1/4 grain twice daily to 3/8 grain twice daily.  Then we watch for 2 more weeks.

If I improve, we keep tracking things for a few more weeks.

If I don't improve, then after the 2 weeks I must have blood tests done.  My blood serum Phenobarbital level will be checked.  If it is showing low, my dosage can be increased to 1/2 grain twice daily.  If it is showing normal, then I might have to add another drug to my battle defenses against the evil Seizure Monster.  Oh how we hate the Seizure Monster.

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

BUTCHY UPDATE AND BIRTHDAY CAKE

Hey Pals,

It's Katie here today.  Some of you have already seen my special birthday cakes that Mama made for us, but some of you have not.  Here is the RAW hamburger fox terriers before baking:

Here is the finished product with cheese added, hehehehe!

Papa had to hold me back on my leash so that Mama could get a picture of me with my cake before I devoured it.  I couldn't wait to dig into the cheezzzzzzzzburger.

Here I am sneaking a lick of the ear:

Yummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Since I am one year old now, Mama had to take some more photos of me.  I'm still sort of camera shy.  I usually hold my head down or look the other way or even close my eyes.  Mama says I'm not a photo model like Angel Snickers yet.  Maybe one day...............

I'm just the pawfect size for my breed.  I'm 14 1/2" high at the withers and 12" in length from withers to base of tail.  I weigh about 14 some pounds right now.  Mama says my chest will still fill out a bit, so I'll probably weigh between 15-16 lbs. in the next 6 months.  My doggie Mama Lily weighs about 16 lbs.

Here is my brudder Butchy:

Butchy started on the Epilepsy medication Phenobarbital on February 9th.  He is still having seizures.  He did go 3 nights without one seizure, but now he had 3 nights in a row with a seizure each night.

Luckily last night, he did not have a seizure that we know of.  Since he has been on the drug for 2 weeks now, it should be built up in his blood enough to start doing it's job of preventing seizures.  We will be tracking if he has a decrease in the number of seizures now and the severity of the seizures for the next few weeks.

If there is not much improvement, the dosage of Phenobarbital will be raised to the next level.  Butchy's weight was in between for the dosages, so he was started on the lower end which is common practice.  He weighs about 20 lbs.  If the dosage is raised, then we wait again to see if there is an improvement. 

Mama really hates this waiting stuff.  She went through all of this with Angel Snickers and it's not fun at all.  We're working on putting together a seizure tracking chart that we will post here on the blog for others to use if they wish.  Keeping a chart can be very useful to you and your vet.

We will be adding several more links in our sidebar to sites that have information about Epilepsy.  We hope this information will help someone, somewhere in the world.  Fighting back the Seizure Monster is not fun at all and it's a long hard battle sometimes.  Butchy's battle has just begun!

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY KATIE!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY KATIE!

Such a wee little pup a year ago:

( at 2 weeks old )

( at 4 weeks old )

( my first day home in Iowa )

( all grown up )

Be sure to visit ASTA'S bloggie to see my birthday pawty with Bertie in Camelot!


Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO BERTIE & KATIE!

Hey Pals,

Today is our pal Bouncing Bertie's 1st birthday!

He was born on Feb. 18th, 2010 in Scotland and just 2 days later, our own little Katie was born on Feb. 20th, 2010 in Ohio, USA.  Who would have known that two wirey pups living so far apart in this world would meet through the web???

Our Kousin Asta and Kousin Lacie have arranged a fabulous birthday celebration for the two young wirey kids at Camelot!

Just hop on over to Asta's bloggie to enter the pawty.  Everyone is welcome.  The pawty will go on through the weekend.

Since we'll be staying at a magical castle, I thought I should bring my costumes that Mama had made for me a few years ago.

Here is my Knight costume:

And here is my Jester costume:

Which one do you think my Fair Maiden Fergie will like best on me???

Our catsies came along to the pawty too.  Ruby has on her lovely Queen Outfit:

Ooops, better run.  One of the squires spotted Katie-Vewe and Bewtie-Lot  approaching the castle.  Is everyone ready to surprise them???

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

Happy 8th Birthday Gussie!

Hey Pals,

It's Gussie's 8th Birthday today! Be sure to send him some love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUSSIE!

( Muwahhh!  from Angel Snickers! )

Wirey Hugs,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 2011

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY from the Critters at Mutton Hollow:

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

FURIOUS FRIDAY!

Hey Pals,

I Butchy am FURIOUS today.  That SEIZURE MONSTER has some nerve, hmmmmph!

He had the nerve to come attack me in my sleep again last night.  Mama was sooooooo mad!

We just don't understand why he won't leave me alone.

Katie did some CRACKER DOG tricks to try and scare him away:

Then she tried some strange out of body experience:

Do you think those will work???

Man, I sure hope I can be seizure free on her birthday.  I promised Katie I would be, so I have to try really hard.  I don't want to miss out on her 1st big birthday bash with all of our pals.

Mama thinks she might as well start sleeping during the day so she can be awake with me at night.  The monster seems to hit at night most of the time.

Can you believe I had to have a bath today too???  Mama said my beard and moustache were getting pretty tinky from the seizures.  I certainly do not want to be tinky.  What would Miss Fergi think???

Mama says it's time for my Milk Thistle again.  I need to keep my liver in tip top shape since I'm taking the Phenobarbital now.

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

READY TO KILL THE SEIZURE MONSTER!

Hey Pals,

I'm ruff and tough and ready to kill that darn SEIZURE MONSTER for good!

That mean monster visited me last Friday before Mama had to leave for her test.  Then yesterday, he stopped here 2 times during the day and then again at 1:30AM this morning.  We just couldn't believe it.

SO, this morning our vet started me on the drug Phenobarbital.  For my weight, I'm in between for 2 different dosages, so I'm starting on the lower dose.  It will take 2 weeks for the drug to build up in my system so I could still have many seizures in this time period.  After the 2 weeks, we start tracking if the seizures become less in numbers or severity.  If not, then I will go up to the next size dosage.

If the higher dosage doesn't work, then blood tests are done to determine if the drug is in my blood like it should be.  If it is low, then the dosage can be raised again.  You must be careful when raising the dosage of this drug, too much can become toxic.  If you own a dog and it is on Phenobarbital, NEVER change the dosage yourself.  Always work with your vet to determine any changes in the dosage.

If that doesn't work, then the second drug of choice to add is Potassium Bromide.  This is what Angel Snickers had to take, both drugs together.  Eventually she was able to stop the Phenobarbital which is actually hard on the liver.  Potassium Bromide does not affect the liver, but this drug is very very expensive as Mama already knows, been there, done that.

If we get to this point and the seizures are not slowing down, then it is possible that I have a brain tumor.  This does happen to many older dogs.  We hate to even think about this, but it could be a possibility.

I've enlisted the help of my Kousin Toto, the Yorkie, to help me kill that mean monster.  He earned his battle stars last week by killing a MINK all by his little ol' self.  Can you believe that?  A little yorkie terrier killing a nasty darn mink?

This is me with Toto a few years ago.

Mama wants Toto to come sit by our ponds at night and catch those mean mink that kill our koi.  We need his help desperately.  This winter has been very bad for our koi.  We have lost many to the mink.  Makes Mama very sad.

I promised Katie that I won't have any seizures on her 1st birthday coming up.  We hope all of our furriends can come pawty with us.

Gotta run, Mama said it's time for my walkie down the driveway.  We can't walk around our land since the snow is soooooo deep.  But our long driveway is plowed by the farmer with his big green tractor.  So we can walk there for our exercise.

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LACIE!

Hey Pals,

It's Laciecake's 4th birthday today.  Be sure to visit her blog to wish her a Happy Birthday!!

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Butchy, Katie, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek

BURIED IN SNOW & SEIZURE MONSTER STRIKES

Hey Pals,

It's Katie here today.  We're getting buried in snow again.  So we decided to browse through the CSN Stores web site.  We were looking at things like 'outdoor playsets', dog agility equipment, hammocks, you know.  Things that you use outside with GREEN GRASS!  We're tired of this deep white fluffy stuff.  We received about 5 new inches of snow yesterday.  We have a blizzard warning here and 6-8 inches of more snow is to fall in our area later today.  Southern Iowa is expecting over 10 inches of more snow.  Better get Mama to crank that fireplace warmer!


I'm so worried about my brudder Butchy.  That nasty SEIZURE MONSTER visited him again very early this morning, about 3:30AM.  He is doing ok now, but sleeping of course.

After his first seizure last week, he was very tired for about 3 days.  I better go make him a batch of chicken noodle soup.  Nurse Asta is on her way from New York to help me take care of him.

Wirey Hugs, Purrz & Licks,
Katie, Butchy, Ruby, Sylvester, Scuby, Hootie & Zeek