Pets

  • Day 5: Toe Touches

    Anyone whose had major surgery or knows someone (or some pet) that has had major surgery understands that the days are made up of little victories.  For Sam, that’s toe touches.  Why is it a big deal?  Because Sam went over a week after her last surgery without trying to put her leg down.  The…

  • Day 2: A Look Back at Day 1

    Yesterday, I created a Sam cave, which is one of her favorite things (behind food and food) by throwing a blanket over her crate. Sam finally fell asleep after the harrowing drive from the surgeons office involving pouring rain and a few misjudged hairpin turns. Once things started resembling normal (normal circa mid January), it occurred…

  • Day 1: The Continuing Saga of Sam & Some Bum Knees

    Blinking in the Sun Originally uploaded by Big Blue Mess Deja-extracapsular repair, Beagle-philes! Here we are again. Sam just came home after tearing the CCL on her left knee and is sacked out in her crate, which I parked next to me. Our girl can’t seem to catch a break. Our vet claims that fate…

  • Post CCL Surgery: A Beagle’s Story

    Three months after Sam’s surgery for her torn CCL and I’m here to report that all involved survived.  Sam walks, runs, plays, hops and dances.  She may need to stretch a bit, before bounding out the door, but overall she is looking good. I’m basically going to evangelize a bit to those thinking about surgery for ligament tears,…

  • “She” is Not Code for “Him”

    Sam came with her name, which is a fine name, but not necessarily a name I’d give a pet. If I’d actually had the opportunity to name Sam, she would have been given a name generally reserved for pets, hillbillies or very old people, and it wouldn’t have been anything like Sam or even Renee…

  • The Chronicles of Sam: Week Two – Milestones

    I know you’ve been waiting around all week hoping for the latest Sam update and you’re in luck. I know! How exciting! (We all know “shut up about the dog already” is actually just a thinly veiled plea for more beagle news. It’s “code”. I have it on the best authority. Mine.) This week Sam…

  • The Chronicles of Sam: Week 1

    This first week has been about establishing new routines and I’m very glad to be on the end of that week and not back at the beginning. Taking a dog that used to have the use of four legs and free range of the house and forcing her to become one who lives with a…

  • Worth It

    Sam just got home… if she could speak I’m sure it would be something like: you feed me, you betray me and now you have a camera – on a suck scale you’re rating a 10. Good job.

  • The Sam Chronicles: A Rant

    “Is she worth it?” If you suddenly feel this question coming out of your mouth and you’re talking to me, the high-pitched sound of someone slamming on their brakes at top speed to avoid a disastrous incident with an immovable object better have played in your head before even the slightest little hiss pops out…

  • The Sam Chronicles: Surgery

    As most of you know, today we start the lengthy process of getting our beagle Sam back on track to being the goofy, glad to greet the world, ever-starving, flappy earred mess that we love and adore. Sam recently tore her cranial cruciate ligament (CCL), which is a lot like your ACL – it’s one…