Of Fear, Food and Friendship

An "awww" moment on thursday:
As you may know, Cleo the kitty is now roaming freely in the appartment with Ginga and Booboo. They are indifferent to each other most of the time. It's especially true for the kitty and Ginga because Ginga is a bit intimidated by cats, for reason that Daisuke explained previously. Booboo is still trying to run at the kitty from time to time but kitty is less and less impressed so it's not as fun for Booboo.
Thursday, Ginga was in the bedroom with me, Kitty was napping in the hallway between the bedroom and the living room and Booboo was with I-mei in the living. I decided to get a drink for myself and treats for the doggies. I stepped over the stretching cat and open the treat bag, a sure signal that two fluffy heads will come soon enough with very interested looks on them. So I am quite surprised when only one set of pointy ears approached the kitchen. I turned around to look for the other 4-legged barker and I saw a doggy anxiously seating down by the end of the hallway, torn between proceeding towards the kitchen and not disturbing the queen kitty laying in the middle of the hallway.

You have to understand that there are very few things that can keep Ginga away from snacks. A burning fire is probably one ( not positive though) and the cat apparently, is another one. Cleo's psychological ascendancy on Ginga by now is well established. Cleo is, dare I say, the alpha-dog in the group. Booboo at first, was totally focused on not missing out on his treats but he realized that his partner-in-crime is oddly missing. He observed the whole scene, Ginga, the cat and the treats, then he analyzed the situation and knew what he had to do. He growled slightly to let the cat know he was coming and got a starting run. The cat jumped up and ran towards the other room. Ginga knew he had only a short window to escape so he got the clue and rushed towards the kitchen as Booboo made the diversion.
And that's how Booboo delivered Ginga from the "mean queen" Cleo and got him to get his favorite treats.
Another tale of fear, food and friendship in Lafayette, IN. Expect the unexpected. Booboo would never openly admit it but he does have a soft spot for his rounder brother Ginga. He is also warming up to his new sister but, one day at a time.

Booboo's song to the warrier

What are the odds ?

Here is a spooky coincidence as we enjoy a bit of tennis watching the French Open in Paris. You ma think this has nothing to do with Ginga and Booboo but you would be mistaken.
Check out the picture below: Nothing out of the ordinary, right ?


Well, let me explain:
This mixed double match at the French Open features Mirza/Santoro vs King/Cermak.
Sonia Mirza is is not only Mosi's compatriot but she is also his favorite lady with a racquet :D.
She is playing with Fabrice Santoro, who not only is French but was born in St-Martin ( in the hospital where my dad works ) and my favorite player under 6 feet :D. They decided to team up for the 1st time this year at the French open. Hum,.... weird, hey?
But wait, the spooky stuff 's not over. The other team is made of V. King, who is a Taiwanese-born American (I-mei's turf) and the other guy, D. Cermak is Czech (The GB's favorite aunty is fluent in Czech).
I told you it would be spooky.
So is that all coincidence ? Let me rephrase, would you bet against the odds that Gingaboo's distant cousins are currently sitting courtside this double's match, barking instructions at the players ?
I know I wouldn't and I would not be surprised either if a hamster or an obese cat find their way on the court at some point.... Game, set, match GB's !

OK, many apologies for that nonsensical-tennis-interlude post on the Gingaboo blog. To make up for it, here are pictures of Ginga and Booboo doing the victory celebration with their own teamates:

Save the dogs concert

There's going to be a concert to save the dogs at Stein Auditorium at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on April 24th. Govindrajan Elangovan and Rekha Raj will be singing. It will be carnatic and sufi music.

I'm not sure if this is related to the Delhi concert, but I encourage Bangaloreans to learn more about the stray dog issue. Stray dogs of Bangalore who are being killed by the local authorities in gruesome ways to cover up their own corruption and inefficiency. The authorities do not dispose of garbage in time, leading to stray dogs on the street. A culling programme has been instituted for the strays. The Bangalore authorities have failed to realise that killing the dogs will have no effect as long as they have food on the streets to live on. Other dogs will just come in from the villages to replace the dead ones. A similar thing happened in Mumbai before and they realised that there was no use to the killing. Instead they have sterilization programmes now which have been effective in keeping the dogs from hurting people and each other.

Sushruta and others are trying to work towards a reasonable solution in Bangalore but have been stymied by the politics so far. Anyone who is on the fence about the stray dogs can take a look at this post (warning: extremely graphic images) by raccoon who demolishes some of the common myths about the usefulness of culling.

BooBoo's injured

BooBoo's mummy I-mei has a post on her blog about BooBoo's latest injury.

Update - BooBoo's recovering very fast so it was probably just that he slept a little wrong and got a crick in his neck or so rather than the worst-case scenarios that the emergency vets were describing :)

sweet athletic Booboo

Booboo is getting much better today. He is probably used to walk on three legs and starts to run a bit today (trailed by Lova). Although he is still very tired because of all the pills he is taking , he is in good spirit and is eating and drinking fine. He keeps licking the spot they shaved him, maybe a little irritating or something. Obviously he got much better handling the big heavy red bandage and performed a little "athletic feat"
pas de bourre !! :)


He also learned to use the pillow and help him turn to lay on the bad leg side for a change so the other leg is not always sleepy. Good booboo!!

Booboo is home

We picked up booboo from the vet this morning. He has a big bandage on his leg. He was very happy to see us and tried to jump with only three legs. We put him into his new cage, he drank lots of water and ate lots of treats and food. The doctor said he has one of the worst knee he has seen, but believed the surgery went very well and he put all the things into the right places; and now it's up to booboo for the healing process. Booboo seems very happy to get back, although not pleased with us left him in the cage. He will be on antibiotics and pain killer for the next 10 days and hopefully he will behave and rest a lot. The doctor wouldn't be able to see anything obviously wrong when checked his throat/vocal cord? thus we don't really know why he has a voice breaking problem yet. I think we should just take one thing at a time so he doesn't get overwhelmed. Because of how bad the knee looked like, the doctor believes its genetically dislocated to start with and I think probably some later injuries had made it worse. I wonder how he could run so fast and so beautifully when he has a bad knee like that. I hope he'll recover well and be able to run like before again. In the meantime we need to make sure he gets lots rest, little activities, very clean bandages, on time for all his pills, lots of treats, lots of kisses and lots of loves.

BooBoo update, Ginga and Lily

BooBoo went for his surgery today. The doctor took one look at his dislocated knee and said that it's pretty bad and needs surgery with 3 things - shortening the tendon that holds the kneecap in place (or out of place in this case), relocation to the opposite side and deepening the groove so that the kneecap fits there better. It will take 3 months before he is fully fit again and we really have to watch it in the next two weeks that he does not exert himself at all. Well, now we all have imprinted upon our souls what 'patellar luxation' means. In other health news, Ginga's sprained tail seems to be getting better by the day. He can hold it up higher today and it's no longer completely constrained by the vicissitudes of gravity.

Just yesterday BooBoo got his summer haircut which makes us a little unhappy but him extremely happy because he feels light and cool.

Ginga in the meantime got kissed by his aunty and also got some treats (yes motomama I took the treat picture for you):

He also played with Lily at a party, they were wrestling for most of the evening:

BooBoo will come back home tomorrow, we could not visit him at the hospital today because he would get too worked up. Then he has to go into a cage with very short potty breaks outside so that he doesn't hurt himself. Ginga will continue to be on vacation at aunty Doc's house until BooBoo gets well enough to play.

Ginga the tailsprained scientist dog

Given all the attention that BooBoo is getting because of his impending surgery and past seizures and being underweight, Ginga was feeling a little left out. So he decided that he would do something dramatic so that we would notice him as much. Since yesterday he decided to walk around with a limp tail and to try to reach around to bite his own butt. He also stopped sitting properly and started sitting to the side rather than on his anus. When we lifted up his tail we were introduced to a new smell that previously had only been circulating in our worst nightmares. A quick google search revealed that his anal sacs may be blocked.

Anal sacs - they have an extremely stinky liquid in them, most animals can spray the contents out in self-defense or if they just feel like stinking up the neighbourhood. Cats and dogs have lost this ability (thankfully, otherwise we would be living our worst nightmares) and the act of doing No. 2 (pooping) actually releases this liquid. When the sacs get blocked they has to be relieved (expressed is the vet term) by actually pushing the anal sacs physically to remove it. So I tried to relieve the pressure but that didn't seem to work as doggie was still trying to bite around there.

Then BooBoo decided to come outside and Ginga started to sniff his behind as a control experiment to figure out what an arse should really smell like. Exposure to so many scientists has taught him a lot. Anyway then BooBoo turned around and smelt Ginga's nose. He didn't say it but he was thinking, "Dude you got problems. Your face smells like your arse. And it stinks."

Well I'm happy to report that I took Ginga went to the vet, by then his anal sacs were empty so he must have unblocked it himself. His tail is still down and the docs think that he might have sprained it, although we have no idea how. Hmm... maybe he sat on it, come to think of it. Oddly enough it raises when he is urinating. I don't know what to make of that.

edit - it took about a week for Ginga's tail to get back to normal. it improved a lot in 2 days, he could raise about 60% of it by then and 100% 4-5 days after that.

Ginga went!

Those were some super antibiotics! I was complaining that Ginga had to eat 2g a day, but it seems to have cleared up the problem already. No blood in peepee today and no shooting blanks either. G-dog is back on track.

In other news, GeeBee were very well behaved today on their walk. Maybe it was the heat, but they kept focusing on me rather than assorted smells in the neighbourhood. There was an incident where they tried to chase a rabbit, but I diverted their attention successfully so it was all good.

Ginga can't go

The poor Ginga, he had some trouble with a little blood coming out after he finished urination. Since then he's tried to go a few times and nothing comes out. He wouldn't eat ice either but he managed to drink some yoghurt. If it continues tomorrow I'll take him to the doc. He has to get his vaccination anyway, next month is the 1 year anniversary of the Ginga / Boo!

OK G-dog update - I couldn't go to the doc with him so I-mei did. They gave her some antibiotics for 2 weeks and then we have to go back with a urine sample. She said the antibiotics should start working by Sunday... heavy dose... 500mg tablets, Ginga has to take 4 / day! It'll be a job feeding him that stuff twice a day. Well, as long as it gets rid of the bacteria in his bladder.

Tags: GINGA GERMAN SHEPHERD MIX URINATION PROBLEM BLOOD ANNIVERSARY DOG SICK

BooBoo seizure and Ginga ulcer

I didn't blog about this before, because we didn't want to worry BooBoo's mum while she was in Taiwan, but here are my notes from BooBoo's epileptic seizures.

The first one that we witnessed was on 4 January 2006. Before all of you guys get worried, it wasn't a bad seizure, relatively. BooBoo was conscious the whole time, and it looked like he just had a nervous tic spread throughout his body. The limbs were affected, and so was his head. Here are my notes directly after the events :

did not lose consciousness, lasted about 10 minutes, right after ginga got his antibiotic - cephalex. ginga lost some on the floor and booboo was lying right there when it happened. Booboo had also had the hip/joint medication about 5 minutes before. also, he played with ginga 10-15 minutes before

Since this was the first time that we had seen something like this, we immediately put him into the car and drove him to the emergency clinic (this happened at approximately 2200 hours, so his normal vet was closed). He was by the time he got to the emergency clinic, and they advised us that it was common in dogs and to shut off tv and lights and record the event as well as we could so that we could potentially find some common triggers. Later, doing research, we found that some border collies are genetically predisposed to seizures and it may be much worse, with the dog actually losing consciousness. There are medications that control the seizures, but that's a lifetime thing once you start because if you stop after that you can actually induce seizures.


My notes from today:

Booboo had another seizure. He was under the couch, Ginga was on top of the couch. There was a loud noise like Booboo hit something and Ginga jumped off the couch. Booboo then crawled close to the edge of the couch and I noticed that he was having a seizure, time 2046. His feet were trembling but his head looked fine at that time. I set up the camera to record a movie of it but since he was under the couch it was difficult to see. Anyway, the seizure moved up to his neck and head and lasted for approximately 5 minutes. During this time the camera battery ran out and I didn't notice. I waited about 2 minutes after it subsided and lifted up the couch so that BooBoo would get out. He did, and walked towards the door. He then lay down by the door and I checked his limbs. His limbs were still trembling, his lower jaw was still trembling. It gradually subsided. Strange event - this morning Ginga was smelling BooBoo all over, from his mouth to his paws to his head and body. I got a little worried because I know that dogs can detect when an epileptic seizure is about to occur in humans, maybe they can detect this in dogs as well. I wonder if we can train him to warn us closer to the event.

This time I was not as worried as last time and knew what to do. I let him have his space and it was all fine. We have a video record now of the seizure so we can compare it to any future ones.

I don't think BooBoo needs medication. He is not in any pain due to the seizure and is still conscious. It's just something we have to live with and make sure that he doesn't bang his head on anything while this is going on. We could call him "Seizure Milan", ok doc, that wasn't funny, we agree.

Earlier in the day, Ginga was also sick. He vomited some blood and did not want to eat bread or anything else. He just dropped the bread! Now if you know Ginga, this is amazing as the guy lives to eat. So we called the vet and they asked us to bring him over. It's not a problem if he pukes a little, but if he doesn't eat afterwards it might be something blocking the route of the food. Lova and I-mei collected some of the vomit and we took it with us so they could analyse it. According to them it could be something he ate, something blocking his alimentary canal, or an ulcer. We took an x-ray that showed that there is no obvious blockage, but he did have a lot of "Number 2". The doc said he needed to get rid of that and gave us some pills to deacidify the stomach a little to help the ulcer heal. Ginga disagreed with the doctor and did not want to "release his load," as it were until later in the evening. I was very worried that it would be cancer but so far we don't think it's anything like that. It's funny, it's something that we wouldn't go to the doctor for ourselves, but when it's a helpless little thing we feel much more responsible.

The moral of the story is that when it rains it pours, and Ginga might be able to detect epilepsy in BooBoo. And dog owners, if your dog shows signs of seizure for more than 20 minutes you must take the dog to the vet. Otherwise, just record the events and take him (or her) later. Don't panic, it's a common thing. Shut off the tv/radio/mp3 player/lights and just chill. If it does last more than 20 minutes, try and get some ice cubes to keep the dog cool as seizures can cause them to overheat suddenly. If it is a bad seizure (when the dog loses consciousness) then do not get anywhere near the paws or the mouth. The do not know what they are doing and can hurt you seriously. Try to keep some cushions around so that the dog does not hurt himself or herself. That's all for the moment, we will update when we know more.

Tags: GINGA BOOBOO GERMAN SHEPHERD BORDER COLLIE EPILEPSY SEIZURE ULCER SWALLOW FOOD GENETIC PREDISPOSITION

BooBoo update 2

BooBoo is doing great today, he can walk on his leg. I wonder if dogs have a funny bone and he hit that hard yesterday? He's still limping a little, and it may also be the pain reliever that we gave him is making him use his foot more, but right now he looks good.

BooBoo's paw update

When we went home in the evening BooBoo's paw seemed worse. Outside he was only walking on it some of the time. Well, until he got distracted by smelling some rabbit. Inside it was the same, so we took him to the doctor's. He got a thorough examination there, and the doctor thought it was a sprain, so we have to keep the guys from playing with each other and let him rest it for a bit. He'll be fine. The doctor said that because it was Booboo it was easy to check his limbs to see if anything was dislocated, it would have been much harder with a "well-built" dog like Ginga. Ginga, if you are reading, this does not mean that you are a fatass. It is all muscle!

Well hopefully the little Booboo gets well soon, right now he looks like he wants a permanent handshake :(

Tags: BOOBOO PAW SPRAIN DOGS BORDER COLLIE GINGA GERMAN SHEPHERD

ginga update and behaving booboo

Hello new update from the Gingster, his swelling has gone down now, looks like a normal wound, but there was still some plasma coming out. For no reason Booboo was behaving very nicely the other day and sitting like there was some pig ear involved, he had just finished walking as well so I'm not sure why he was so well-behaved. Anyways I took a snap of the freshly showered well behaved booboo.

The guys had a good time at the park today, racing through the lake and meeting 3 other dogs. They met a big dog who basically ignored their running around and playing, another dog who seemed a little shy, hiding behind his mommy and running when they wanted to play, and then there was a dog behind a fence in his backyard who they just had to meet. I think they were having a lot of fun although they couldn't get to any arse-sniffing. Luckily they didn't stink too much after all that, so the effects of the shower are still there.

Well Happy 2006 from the guys and may the new year bring lots of bones and doggies and parks and walks and sleeping and cuddling.

ginga sick

Ginga last night had a little red swelling on one of his legs, with some plasma coming out when squeezed. It doesn't seem to hurt him, he's playing and running around like normal but it may be a little itchy. So he got a doctor's visit because I don't know what it is. He had a good time at the doctor's, running around smelling everyone and being cuddled by all the waiting people. Eventually he got weighed - he's 25 Kg, which makes him a few Kg heavier than when he last got weighed in August or so. I think it's all muscle ha ha ha. Anyway he finally saw the doctor who thought it was his front foot with the abscess. I told her about the back foot and she looked at it, pulled out a 10ml syringe and a small needle to aspirate some cells from the abscess. She put the needle in, G-man didn't even seem to notice, and aspirated some blood/cells. She was worried it might be a tumour :( so she looked at it under the microscope and just saw pus and cells, no tumour. Good that he saw the doc though, poor little guy. He has some antibiotics to take until the swelling goes down, but if it increases he has to go back for another visit. Very brave Ginga.