Babies and Pets

Bella, Reno, and Katie were our kids for a long time.  We got married in 1995 but didn't have our first child until 2003.  We were worried about how our pets would react to a baby in the house.  They noticed the baby things creeping into our home and would often go and smell them.  The day our daughter was born, we took a hat she had worn for our dogs to smell prior to us leaving the hospital.  They were happy to see us when we got back from the hospital.  They smelled our daughter and were satisfied with doing that.  Over the years, our daughter tried to ride the dogs, aggressively pet the cat, dress up the dogs, and race the dogs.  They were eager to have someone solely dedicated to playing with them. 

In 2009 we had our second child and our dogs were now 12 and 13 and our cat was 11.  Our pets were less concerned with the arrival of our newest daughter.  Our first daughter luckily kept them entertained when the baby got fussy.  Our boy dog Reno did not get to spend too much time with the baby - he passed away the day after Thanksgiving.  We feel bad that our second daughter will never really know him.

Before having kids we never thought our pets would be neglected in any way.  But after having kids it seems it is more of a balancing act.  We constantly have to remind ourselves to pay attention to them.  Our eldest daughter is good about giving them the extra attention they need.  I can't imagine life without our furry kids and our human kids.

Late night disturbance

My dog Bella who is 13 years old chooses to do her licking/scratching late at night.  She spends most of the the daylight hours sleeping, smelling, and walking around.  Lately, she has dedicated the hours of 12-3am as licking hours!  She obsesses over certain spots.  She's had allergies all her life.  We don't know if the current licking habit is due to her allergies or just becoming a bad habit.  To top it off, she also scratches her ears and then begins to whine when it hurts.  Poor dog!  Poor us!  She can't hear us telling her to stop licking - she lost her hearing about a year ago.  She sleeps one level above us since she can't climb down the stairs anymore.  It is a hassle to have to go up and tell her to stop.  Any suggestions?

Too much licking!

Our cat Katie had been licking for the past week excessively.  To the point that she was started to get a lot of hot spots all over her body.  She looked terrible.  She was throwing up a lot of hairballs and was constantly moving around.  She just could not get comfortable for a long period of time.  We have found hairballs all over the house with no end in sight.  We needed to do something quick!

We took her to the vet today.  They checked her for fleas, which she did not have.  They ended up giving her an injection of antibodies and steriod pills to help with the discomfort.  If only she could tell the vet what she felt was going on!  The simple checkup turned out to cost us over $200.  Nothing is simple with owning pets.  They also shaved her hot spots and poured medicated powder to help heal the sores.  Poor cat, looks worse!

We bought some flea medication for her.  The vet said that there was a chance that she had had fleas but ate them.  The itchiness was a residual effect and would take longer to go away.  We hope she goes back to her normal self soon.  We will definitely not miss the hairballs...

Growing Old Together

I wonder when it happened.  Did the two of them decide to call a truce?  My dog and cat seemed to be at peace with one another.  Finally.

My dog Bella was two years old when Katie our cat walked into our lives.  Bella has always been curious about Katie but kept her distance.  Katie has always been fiesty and made it clear that she would not tolerate being smelled.  Katie seemed to like our other dog Reno (who recently passed away).  She weighs about 11 pounds, Reno weighed over 60.  Katie was his boss.  Poor Reno!  I often caught Katie swiping at Reno as he passed by her.  She would stare at him until he moved from the bed she wanted to lay on.  I would often find them sleeping together on the cold nights.  Bella had her own bed.  I believed they had a mutual understanding to stay away from each other.  For over 12 years that's what their relationship was - separate.

In the last couple of weeks, maybe they finally noticed Reno's absence and felt they had no choice but to interact.  I caught Bella a few times whining over a bed with Katie.  Katie would not budge.  But lately, they have been sleeping next to one another.  Bella is now 13 and Katie is 11.  With our 6 year old (going on 30!) and our new baby, life has been hectic.  It's nice to see that they have each other.  I hope that somewhere somehow they reached an agreement to accept one another and live amicably.  I hope that they learn to love one another as we love them individually.  If Reno was here (or maybe he's the one who convinced them?) he would be sleeping in the middle of them.  We'll see how long this lasts...