Sunday at the park

In celebration of Skeletor's one week anniversary, we took him and his girlfriend, Sophie to the park!

On the way, we stopped and picked up a harness for Skelly so he wouldn't hurt his throat learning to walk on a leash.

Skeletor was in a hurry to go explore!

Skeletor and Sophie: The Odd Couple

Foster Dad Wesley and Skeletor

Foster Mama Mel and Skells

Skeletor learning to heel

It was a beautiful day for the park
That is one hot foster mama!! ;)

Skeletor's Video - Week One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a23lzFNEeA

My video editing skills are rusty, but I thought you would appreciate seeing this guy in motion.



Enjoy!! Thanks again for all of the support!

Love,
Skeletor and his Foster Family

Up and at them!

Hmmm, I guess Skeletor's not such a picky eater, he just likes to sleep in.

"Zzzzzzzzzzz..."

"Huh?"

"Ok, I'm up!"

"You got anything for me?"

"Fine, I'll eat my breakfast now!"

Such exquisite taste!

Sadly, I don't have my camera so I couldn't take any photos last night. (my phone takes great shots in daylight but not indoors)

After the vet yesterday, we went out to Mayport (about 50 minutes away) to pick up a big dog house that was donated to Skeletor. This is seriously the biggest dog house on the planet.

It takes 3 men and a dolly to get the thing in the back of the truck. We get it home and realize that there are a couple of issues.

1. The 2 of us can not lift this dog house.
2. This dog house will not fit through the gate.

I called a couple dudes to see if I could get some extra manpower. After a while, my friend Justin shows up. Ian, Justin and I go to work with just about 20-30 minutes of daylight left.

We quickly remove a section of the fence, as there was simply no way we could lift this monster 6 ft in the air to get it over the gate. The three of us grab the thing and muscle it off the tailgate of the truck. It instantly falls to the ground.

It's possible for us to lift and even carry this dog house, but not 100+ feet. We had to just roll the thing end over end. Down the side of the house, into the neighbor's yard, through the fence, through Skeletor's landmine field, across the back yard and into the corner by the back door. *whew!*

It was quite a feat, but we did it! I tore down Skelly's old makeshift house and put the cage in the living room. It was supposed to get down to 28 degrees that night. Pretty low temps for a walking skeleton!

I ran an extension cord and put a small light fixture in the dog house. The 60 watt bulb should provide enough heat for the little guy.

After putting the fence back together we were finally ready to relax and unwind after a long day.

Skeletor was chilling out in his new mansion. We decided to give him a final feeding before bed, since the day's events distracted him from his meals.

I took some chunks of chicken from our dinner, mixed them in with some purina one, some peanut butter and a splash of chicken broth. Melanie and I threw on our coats and went out back to feed Skeletor.

He was a huge fan of the dish! After he was done eating and using the bathroom, we invited him inside for a spell. Melanie worked with him for nearly an hour, teaching him how to sit. He did a really good job!

After learning time, we kicked back on the couch to watch some TV. Skeletor was more calm than he's ever been indoors. I decided this might be a good time to clip his nails. With the guard on so I don't cut too much off, I took a snip. It didn't seem to hurt him, but it started bleeding. Poor guy's nails may have never been cut. I don't know. I barely cut anything off and it was bleeding.

I read something about styptic powder (which we obviously don't have) being used to stop this type of bleeding. It could be substituted with corn starch or flour. Flour is all we had. We dipped his paw in flour a few times and the bleeding finally stopped.

I'm sure you can imagine what the kitchen floor was looking like by then. A veritable work of modern art - there were tiny blood spatters and piles of flour everywhere!

After a while, things settled down a bit. When it was time for bed, I wanted to see if Skelly would behave in the cage so he could sleep indoors tonight. This cage is a little small for a dog his size, but he fits nicely when he's laying down. He barked a bit at first, but after about 5 minutes, he was out like a light.

Is this dog trainable or what!?!? He slept all through the night without so much as a peep.

He was thrilled this morning. I let him out for a quick pee, and made him some breakfast. Some purina one with an egg mixed in. Our pit bulls went crazy when we put an egg in their food, but Skelly's appetite was lacking. He picked away at the food but really wasn't interested.

He's got some exquisite taste! Perhaps he just needs to make a contribution to his landmine field before he'll eat. Anyways, the weird thing is that when he was playing with a stuffed animal, his nail started bleeding again!

Poor little guy. I'll have to do some research about these nails. Maybe a professional can work on them. I don't know.

If you need me, I'll be mopping!

At the vet

Skeletor being a backseat driver on the way to his first vet visit

He was nervous at first, but got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Skelly was thrilled to meet new people and explore the vet's office

He wasn't quite so thrilled when he found out how vets like to shake hands!

"Whoa... hey, you're putting WHAT WHERE??!!??"
"Skelly don't play that!! Exit only fools!"

Skeletor got a little too tail-happy and the tip started bleeding. He then proceeded to decorate the interior of the room. His way of saying thanks.

There were plenty of crunchy biscuits for Skelly to munch on.

Dr. Fish and his staff were very professional and friendly.

After giving up on getting his temperature,
the nice vets bandaged up his tail.

We're still waiting on the fecal results. So far the bad news is that skeletor is heartworm positive. The vet says that his heart sounds good though. More info to come...


His fecal float test was clean. The vet gave him de-wormer just in case.


He got the rabies vaccination and vaccination dhpp (whatever that is)

He weighed in at 39.20 lbs. It seems like our scale is off. No big surprise.

We're off to get him a doghouse that a friend is donating.

Once Skeletor is up to weight, he can hopefully begin the heartworm treatment. It's curable, but there is a risk associated with it.

Dr. Fish prescribed some anti-biotics for Skelly's wounds and said to come back in 2 weeks. We'll see how much weight we can pack onto this little guy in the meantime!

Chewy toys, bones, etc

Last night at PetSmart I was shocked to see the prices of some of these dog related chewing items!

I reluctantly settled on a variety pack containing a rather macabre assortment...

Ingredients: Pork Bone, Beef Bones, Beef Hooves, Beef Trachea, Pork Skin, Beef Ligament, Lamb Ear

Mmmmm... Delicious, wouldn't you agree?

Well, Skeletor certainly thinks so!

Variety... the spice of life


Skeletor came to us on the verge of starvation. It's only day 4 of his rehab and he's already developing distinguished taste! It was time for his 1pm feeding and I looked out to find his bowl still full of Bil-Jac Puppy Food. Then he started eating the bil-jac that he had spilled on the ground - totally uninterested in the full bowl!

Fortunately, I bought another variety... some purina one puppy chow of some sort. I brought out a second bowl full of the new stuff and what do you know? Skeletor descended upon the new chow like a ravenous fiend!


As he was devouring the purina, I was tossing in handfuls of bil-jac haha.

After lunch, it was time for some exercise...

He really looks like a cartoon sometimes with his tiny body and giant head!

Good doggie!

Not quite THAT humane

My roommate called the Jacksonville Humane Society today. Here's what she said:

"So, I just called the jacksonville humane society and they only accept animals that are being given up by their owners... "pet surrender" no strays, lost and founds or anything. If you have a pet that you want to surrender you have to make an appointment and have like all kinds of reasoning of why you are surrendering your pet and how long you have owned it "

This comes as no surprise to me, which is why I have already decided to help Skeletor myself and try to find him a loving new home. He wouldn't last a week if picked up by animal control.

The good news! (a little TMI)

Skeletor is pleased to announce that he's made a seemingly healthy BM!

It was a unique experience scooping up a sample and dissolving it in water to check for worms. I'm sure this test only applies to certain types of worms, but it looks like he passed with flying colors (mostly brown)!

Exercise!

Today, Skelly's appetite has decreased. I did notice 3 more landmines though! I think he just needs some exercise to help keep his appetite up. He gets winded pretty quickly, so I'll need to play with him in small increments just like I've been feeding him.

Another bit of info from Kim (my roommate)

Jacksonville animal "care and protective services" pretty much said you can drop him off and then they decide if he is suitable for rehoming and it depends on how many animals they already have and how healthy he is.

The exercise is doing the trick!

Skeletor suffers from some A.D.D. when it comes to chasing tennis balls. However, I just returned from running some errands and was delighted to find an empty food bowl. I gave him his 3 o'clock feeding. He devoured the entire bowl and tried to steal the cup it came in.

It looks like his appetite has returned! Probably just had to make some room :)

More and more dog-like!

When Kim got home from work and went out to play with Skeletor, he was going buck wild!

He's stronger and more playful than ever!

The first time he has rolled around in the grass

Lovin' the purple squid thing

Getting better at, and more interested in tug-of-war!

I think maybe the weight reported yesterday was wrong. Today he weighed in at 43.5lbs. Perhaps yesterday we got a bad reading or miscalculated. He definitely looks and acts better.

Toys, a leash, and food - Oh My!!!

Thanks to your donations, we made a trip to PetSmart to pick up some various goods for Skeletor. It's dark now, so I'll post pics tomorrow. One thing is for sure... dog toys is a racket!