Local dog has a money saving epiphany and an old friend moves across town

Skeletor finally decided that his chewable heart pills are actually chewable! Hooray! This means a drastic reduction in the number of pill pockets per day (PPD) this guy uses up ;)

Way to go Skeletor!

We're about 2 weeks out from his next vet visit. He has been doing fantastically! He's been working on a couple of new tricks. His energy levels are up. I've actually cut back a little on his feedings because he was starting to look a little chunky.

While he still prefers his bed or the couch, he seems to be enjoying the comfy new pad inside his crate.

Skelly's pal Insano has gone to live with his soulmate, Ian. Insano is a rather old cat (11 years old this year) and as you may have noticed in the videos, is not a fan of Skelly's antics. I think Insano will enjoy his golden years a bit more if he doesn't have a feisty puppy yelling in his face.

I miss Insano already. He's the best cat in the world. One of these days, I'll locate the video of Insano's youthful days when he was an acrobat. It's great stuff! The furry menace was kind enough to leave a bloody forget-me-not on the side of my neck as I was carrying him to the car.

Ian says that Insano is doing what he does best... making sure the furniture doesn't float away, and seeing to it that every comfy surface and clean garment of clothing is outfitted with a nice layer of cat hair.

Bone Chompin' Photos

Happy "Birthday" Skeletor!

That's right! It was one year ago today that this bony little guy wandered up to my front porch. Our best guess is that he was about a year old at the time, so what better day for his birthday?

A lot has changed since that day. Skeletor has gone from 37 to nearly 67 lbs. His coat has gone from straw to silk. His bed sores are barely noticeable scars. He has become quite the spoiled pup. He's a complete inside dog now. He never sets food in his dog house. He's one of the pack! He has learned quite a few nifty tricks. He has undergone both of his heartworm injections!

Just a few short weeks from now, Skelly should be "out of the woods" so to speak. At that point the dangers of exercise will be reduced. He'll be able to go on walks and visits to parks and beaches! He's certainly been bored out of his mind cooped up in the house all the time with 2 cats that don't want to play with him. I've also got a new girly friend I'm going to introduce him to soon. A very friendly pit bull named Shay.

For his special day, Mel and I took Skelly to Petsmart to have his nails grinded. It was his first time ever. He was a bit nervous, but thrilled to see all the people and dogs. Mel bought him a huge bone (video on that below) and I got him a comfy pad for his kennel.

Happy Birthday Skeletor! You've really enriched my life this past year and I'm happy to have been given the chance to help save yours!

Skelly's appetite has returned

I returned from my morning errands and found that Skelly's bowl of breakfast (and dinner from last night) was completely full. I decided to jazz it up a bit.

I gave him a bowl of wet food with some dry food sprinkled on top.

He gingerly ate up the whole bowl and seemed more and more interested as he ate.

After that, I put the rest of his dry food down and he kept on eating!

Good job Skelly! Glad to see him eating again.

He's back!

Skelly is very pathetic. He moves like he is underwater. He doesn't want much to do with his food.

However this is pretty much normal after a painful shot of immiticide.

Dr chick said he's doing very well. Looking better than ever! Skeletor tipped the scales at nearly 65lbs.

Tonight, I'm letting him sleep in my bed. I can tell that he's jumping for joy under his lethargic exterior.

Dr chick was surprised that skelly ran out of Viagra over a week ago. He said that we should try and keep him on it and reminded me that skeletor is and may always suffer from pulmonary hypertension.

Poor little guy!

Well gnite!

We're off to the vet. Skelly's final round of heart worm injections are today!

Good luck sweet boy!

Skeletor gets his kicks barking at cats

Ready for round 2 with the immiticide

I'm happy to report that Skeletor is looking and acting as healthy as a horse. He is due this week for round two of two of his heartworm injections. I'm going to call San Juan Animal Hospital today and see when Dr. Chick will be available for me to drop him off.

A bit of TMI for you...
Skeletor seems to have experienced his first case of "morning wood." The other morning he was making some strange sounds. I let him out of his cage and he was frantically licking himself. It appeared that he was in pain. I was a little concerned. Upon close inspection, I was actually more concerned. It appeared that his "lipstick" was trying to pop out sideways. I looked understandably painful.

After he calmed down a bit, the swelling went down and he was back to normal. This is seriously the first time I've seen him "get excited" since we rescued him. This must mean that his body is healthy enough to start producing reproductive hormones!

Sorry it turned out to be a painful experience Skeletor, but I'm pretty sure it's a good sign! I'll be sure and mention the incident to Dr. Chick later this week.

In other news, Skelly has been out of Viagra for over a week and his coughing has not really gotten any worse! It's still fairly rare... mostly in the mornings and sometimes he'll get through a morning without a single cough.

This one is my favorite. Look at that grin haha!

It's becoming a bit of an artform - waking him up and trying not to get him coughing... I let him out of his cage as quickly as possible so he doesn't have time to get antsy. For the first 5 or 10 minutes I don't give him much attention. Once he calms down a bit, then he often gets the belly rubs he's after.

Like I said... some days he doesn't cough at all!

We're all very excited about his final stage of heartworm treatment! Go Skelly!