Another week gone by — out with a bang…
and this weekend’s selection of
adifrentdrumr’s choice song lyrics
Once again, I have had a…well…interesting few days. Never a dull moment around here. All is well now, more or less, but it could have been a very serious problem. You see, I was out on Friday afternoon, into the early evening, getting some errands done and the oil changed in the truck. Meanwhile, Bernie came home from work, nuked a couple of leftover ears of corn-on-the-cob, which he ate, and then left his plate (with the corncobs) on the tray table next to his chair in the living room while he went out in the yard to put some chicken on the grill…
I came home, and puttered around in the yard a bit, and then Bernie told me that our little Pearl – the “problem child” apparently had consumed nearly two corncobs! He only found a small piece, about 1/2 of one, and the little plastic and metal corncob holders, sitting on the day bed where Pearl likes to munch on her chewies. Well, corncobs are not approved chewies! And that was an awful lot of sheer volume for one little dog to swallow.
Even though she seemed fine, and had a normal appetite (she ate her regular dinner after the “episode”) I called the vet, they told me that dogs and corncobs definitely don’t mix. To keep a close eye on her and if she began vomiting, lost her appetite, seemed to be in pain or acted lethargic, to get her into the office ASAP. The danger is in obstruction of the small intestine, or other parts of the digestive system, which can require surgery, or even be fatal.
I stayed up all night with her, watching her sleep, mostly… She tried to vomit a few times, with no results, and her belly was distended up under her ribs (which would indicate stomach or small intestine) but not at all in the softer part of her belly, where the large intestine is, and I can always feel if they have been eating too much – at their size you can pretty much feel everyting going on inside their little bellies. Since it apparently hadn’t traveled down very far, I was really worried about blockage, and the belly seemed to be a bit blown up with gas (not completely solid) so I worried about bloat as well (also potentiall fatal, but not really common in small dogs) Fortunately she is really cooperative with any medications, and licked up a spoonful of liquid antacid/anti-gas medicine ith no complaints. That seemed to help the gas a bit. She puked up a couple of small pieces of her dinner kibble, and didn’t appear to be in any pain. On the other hand, I was in my own sort of agony, wide awake worrying about her.
Saturday morning she pooped as usual, and it definitely had some corncob in it. Feeling a bit relieved, I climbed into Bernie’s bed with the dogs after he went to work and got a little bit of sleep with Pearl next to me. But she didn’t quite seem to be herself, and the belly was still oddly swollen up high. She had a normal appetite, ate some dog cookies and drank some water. She pooped again, and then vomited quite a bit of partly digested food and corncob. She just wasn’t as bouncy and alert as usual, and did appear to be moving like her belly was uncomfortable. No obvious tender spots when I touched it, though, a good sign.
I went on my saturday Post Office trip, and when I came home, Pearl had puked again, this time more corncob and it didn’t appear digested at all. I was worried that she might get worse as time passed, and then we would be in big trouble since the vet is closed on Sunday. At that time, we were also planing on going to camp for the weekend. So I decided to take her to the vet, who had walk-in hours on Saturday afternoon. Dolly was due for her distemper shot, so I could get that done and get Pearl checked out as well.
The vet examined her throughly and explained to me that the biggest danger with corncobs is when people don’t know dogs have eaten them, and they don’t find out until after a blockage has formed and impacted in the intestine. Since we knew almost immediately, we were able to keep a close watch on her, which should help prevent serious complications. But there really was no way of telling exactly what is going on inside at that point. He said he felt no lumps that would indicate a blockage, but it was really too soon to tell. But she acted quite normal, despite having a very full tummy, so he was optimistic.
He gave her some liquid barium (squirted it in her mouth with a syringe — which she was very indignant about) so that if she had t come back in for x-rays, they would be able to see how it was traveling through her. He told me she still had some gas, to give her the liquid antacid again for that, and keep feeding her small amounts, so her digestive system would keep things moving through (and I could see that she continued to have a good appetite) A little vomiting should not be a cause for alarm, and as long as she continued eating, drinking and pooping (the normal dog routine) and didn’t act sick or lethargic, it would probably pass through in a few days.
Bernie and I decided not to go to camp. It was raining saturday evening anyway, so we figured we would stay home and then if Pearl wasn’t doing well in the morning we could take her in for an emergency vet visit sunday morning. If she was doing okay (which she was) we would just leave the dogs home so Pearl could continue digesting, and we would take the jeep and go on a day trip (which we did — down to the shore to visit my cousin, and out to a couple of kayak stores, it was a beautiful day for a ride)
So Dolly had her shot. She is up to date. The vet checked her knees, too, because she has been a little stiff. One of the kneecaps was out (she has a problem with that — common occurence in toy dogs) so he popped it back in place. Told me it would be okay for me to start her on a glucosamine supplement for her joints.
Pearl is continuing to eliminate corncob, she’s not puking anymore, and her belly is getting back to normal. The fullness is more evenly distributed — I can feel that it has shifted toward the large intestine. The vet said the barium would turn her poo yellow, so we would be able to tell when most had passed through when we could see the color change from the barium. Still not changing color, so I guess her intestines haven’t processed all the corncob yet. But I am optimistic at this point. I think the worst part has passed (no pun intended — honest!)
So just when things are calming down with the dogs, the cats have started up. Angel is getting adventurous. She must be getting tired of the garage and breezeway and really wants to come in the house. We have been leaving the doors open, but she has stayed just outside the kitchen door, in the breezeway, glaring and growling at Tom. Tommy started out just being friendly, and not trying to start any trouble at all with the new cats. But I think he is getttnig tired of her agression toward him. He started returning some of the yowls and growls. We are hoping they will sort things out.
But tonight they got in a bit of a row. Bernie went out to see what the noise was, Tommy was in the doorway, and Angel was just outside the doorway on the breezeway and the were glaring at each other and making some threatening noises (like they have been) When bernie went out, he must have disturbed whatever tenuous balance there was, because Angel lunged at Tom, and Tom fought back. Bernie didn’t realize that one cannot reach into a catfight to break it up. Fortunately, neither one has front claws, so the damage wasn’tserious, but Bernie was quite upset when his Tommy started going for him! I had run to the kitchen sink to grab a glass of water — so I could startle them apart, but I was too late — Bernie’s attempts to break the fight up had worked. They obviously were not very serious about fighting because the went off in opposite directions without me even having to splash them.
After Angel went back to the garage, Tommy sat outside the door “singing” and “calling” to her. In his friendly voice again. I am surprised to find that the new cat is the obvious agressor here, especially since she is a really timid cat. Remember — Angel is the one that hid under the woodstove for the first three weeks she was here. I hope that eventually they get this thing sorted out. We will not leave the door open so that they could get together when we are not here to supervise until we are sure they won’t beat each other up. But we really hope that all of the animals can start living inside the house soon, before cold weather comes and we have to use the wood stove to heat the garage. It would be too dangerous to have the cats living out there then, with a fire going in the stove they have gotten used to climbing on and under.
Funny thing is, Ziggy either hasn’t realized Tommy is there, or else she just doesn’t care. And she is usually the adventurous and curious one!
Well, at least the dogs no longer freak them out. They pretty much ignore the dogs now. I think they would prefer if that other cat wasn’t here — but they just have to get used to the fact that it is his house too, and he was here first!
On to the song lyrics…
In all the excitement at the beginning of this month, with the jury duty and all, I never even wrote about the concert we went to on August 4th. We went to see Boz Scaggs at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA, a beautifully restored, acoustically wonderful, small historic theatre. It is one of our favorite venues, and Boz is one of our favorite artists. This show was a part of his “Essentials” tour, in which he showcased many of his best loved songs from all eras of his long and varied career.
With a six piece band and two incredibly talented female backup vocalists, he played to a full house of enthralled fans. The crowd was so engrossed in the magic of the music, there were barely whispers in the audience during the quieter passages, but they responded with energetic applause for every song, and several standing ovations during the show, as well as for the wonderful encores at the end. Needless to say, we loved it as well. And it was a very welcome distraction during the end of my tenure as a juror, taking my mind off the days events for a few hours.
The following lyrics are from one of my favorite Boz Scaggs songs, a highlight of the evening for me. The extended instrumental jam at the end of this song alone was well worth the price of the tickets! One major thrill for me was to hear the old Fender Rhodes piano prominently featured — not a common occurence these days, but a distinctive sound that just can’t quite be replicated with the newer keyboards.
From one of the albums that I would include in my list of “desert island albums” – you know, those dozen or so albums that you would want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island — this is one of the most gorgeous, most melancholic, most moodily evocative love songs ever sung, and one that strikes a particular chord within my heart…
Son of a Tokyo Rose
I was bound to wander from home
Stranger to whatever I’d awaken to
Spun the wheel, took a shot in the dark
One way ticket and runaway heart
Sailor’s dream came true
The night I dreamed you
Through the neon doorways
Down the stony streets, I fell
All hands hi-side, all eyes a-wreck, I followed
Sailing shadows, reds and blues
Curtains drawn, but I saw through
The window to your soul and I found you
Oh oh oh oh
The harbor lights of Venus shining
Through the breeze
That brings me back to you, my love
To you, my love, to you my love
Oh-oooh
My eyes must be betraying
But that lonesome jukebox playing
Something ‘bout the harbor lights is calling me
Back to some Jamaican bay
Doesn’t seem so far away
Keep the change, but I’ll repay these memories
Dawn came in this mornin’
Like some old junked-out melody
The words she spoke as we awoke
still haunt me…
What you feel too, won’t reveal you
Let me steal you, for my life
– Boz Scaggs “Harbor Lights”
Recent Comments