Henry has the Best Grandma

Henry's Grandma is pretty cool.

Actually she's more than cool, she's amazing. Not only has she listened to hours of me lamenting about the trials and tribulations of Henry, and helped to spoil the cute little mutt, but she has generously assisted with his health care.

She paid for his first knee surgery, part of his third surgery and multiple acupuncture appointments. She bought him the large round bolster bed when I was too cheap to buy anything larger than the medium. She has tolerated multiple attempts by Henry to turn shoes dangling off her toes, knitting projects, and purses into toys. She was the first (and so far only) person to make a donation on this website.

If that wasn't enough, her Christmas present to Henry resulted in this picture:

I don't think Henry knows how lucky he is to have a Grandma like that. But I know how lucky I am to have a mother like that.

Another Surgery or two....

We have been trying for over a year to get the bone chip out of Henry's elbow but his sensitive skin has been in a constant state irritation. Treating his doggy MRSA (with the insanely expensive Zeniquin), changing his diet has resulted in huge improvements in Henry's skin. But because Henry is Henry, we still can't wean him completely off of his prednisone.

Things got worse because Henry is Henry -- and apparently one pathology-free leg was one too much -- he tore his ACL about six months ago (or was it nine months ago...it all runs together at a certain point). Not only was surgery out of the question but NSAIDs were as well because when used with steroids they increase the risk of stomach ulcers.  Acupuncture and natural supplements have helped him but just don't seem to be enough. We were told the best thing to do for Henry is to keep him strong and to make sure he stays a healthy weight.

Walking Henry is frustrating. It used to be frustrating because you'd go on an hour long walk and come back exhausted but Henry would have more energy than he left with. More recently it has been frustrating because the last quarter of his twenty minute walk is super slow, like your trudging through molasses or like someone pushed the slow motion button. At times, it feels like you are pulling him along behind you.  Hyperactive, under-exercised Henry = crazy, frustrated, irritated Jensen and Christina.   It's hard to keep a dog you can't walk strong and skinny!

So we took Henry to see Dr. Lamb, the rehab vet at Sunset Hill Veterinary Clinic, to restart his hydrotherapy and found out that while it isn't ideal to operate on a dog taking steroids, that low-doses are okay. She referred us to Dr. Johnson at the Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle.

We grumpily made the 27 minute drive early one morning for a surgical consult. True to form, Henry won over the staff in no time at all. They oohed and aahed over his sweet face and his darling ears. Dr. Johnson told us the good news that he can repair Henry's knee AND remove the bone chip in his elbow at the same time! The bad news is that in addition to the TPLO to repair the ACL tear, he also needs a medial patellar luxation repair and, worse case scenario, might also require femoral correction (poor bow-legged Henry). The total estimate? $5,800 to $6,200. Ouch!

I hate getting Henry surgery. How do you explain to a dog that while you are taking him to an appointment that will result in more pain (initially) and in months of activity restriction it is for his own good? But I have to say that leaving him this morning amongst staff that were excited to see him and free with their affection makes it easier.

So here's to 2012, which will start out with a drained savings account but will hopefully end with a happier, healthier, pain-free Henry.

Things Henry Barks At

Henry barks for attention. Henry barks when he is scared. Henry barks when he is confused. Henry barks, barks, barks.

Here are some of the things that Henry barks at:

• vacuum cleaners
• guitars (amped, not amped, out of the case, in the case)
• drums (but only when they are being played)
• Jenn (she lives in our back yard) 
• cars that park on the street leading to our house
• people walking past our house (not every person, but I haven't figured out how he decides who he wants to bark at and who he just watches. Although he barks at some people because he likes them and he wants their attention and he barks at some people because he simply doesn't like them) 
• Birds
• Jensen (when he is turned away doing something, like cooking)
• Jensen and I (when we hug or kiss...actually anybody who hugs or kisses in our house...and actually, it's not really a bark it is a weird, whiny scream)
• any time we clean anything...dusting, mopping, vacuuming
• bicycles
• anybody that knocks on our door
• anybody that works on or around our house (yard work, painting, cable, etc)
• noises in the basement that come up through the heating vents
• his dreams (only his mouth stays shut, so it is a really high-pitched, half-squeak, half-bark)
• power tools
• And sometimes, he just looks out the window, and barks at what appears to be...nothing

He has gotten better (meaning less barking, not better barking) with age and with positive training methods. So he no longer barks anytime he is awake. Just most times.

Oh, Henry. 

Henry hates cleaning but likes his things in their place!

Henry is weird.

Henry hates it when we clean. He barks at us and gets this look on his face that seems to say, "I'm concerned." But there are things that he insists belong in certain places. He also has preferred locations for some of his different activities.

Henry has three beds. One in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one that does double duty in my office or on the deck (the last two are actually just the remains of two beds he destroyed). He is very specific about his living room bed and has been from day one. He seems to have a preference about the bedroom bed but he could care less about the office bed. I wonder if this is related to the comfort of the bed. The living room and bedroom beds are thicker and more padded but the office bed is quite thin.

When we first adopted him, I was still in grad school and spent most of my free time studying. When I was at my desk (concentrating on something other than him--a sin!) he would keep trying to climb into my lap -- he still does this only he doesn't fit as well anymore. In an attempt to focus more on my studies I tried to move his bed from the living room into my office. We have wood floors and I thought that if he had a more comfortable option my lap would lose some appeal.  After I set the bed down he just stared at me, for a second, as if questioning my sanity. Then he shook his head and dragged his bed back into the living room. I tried this many times, always with the same results. He has relaxed somewhat --he is okay with his living room bed being in the kitchen...but they are connected and are the two rooms he spends most of his time in. He seems to prefer his bedroom bed being in the living room and kitchen as well, and will move it there if we leave the door open.

He prefers his marrow bones and rawhide treats (when he used to get them) buried outside or "buried" in the basement in the dirty laundry or blankets on the spare beds.  Kongs filled with peanut butter are apparently better if eaten in the basement, but he doesn't feel the need to bury them. When we force him to eat his Kong upstairs, he eats it on his living room bed -- although he would prefer to eat it on the sofa, but we have a strict no treats on sofa rule. This may explain the most recent development in the bed/treat preferences of Henry the dog. Last night, he went down to hang out in the basement for a little  alone time. He came upstairs and threw his Kong around a bit (that's how he loosens up the bits he can't reach) then took his bed down the stairs, returning upstairs only briefly to get his Kong.

 There is one other thing Henry is very specific about: humping his bed. I feel I should mention that this doesn't occur very often and is usually reserved for new or freshly washed beds. That being said, he reserves humping for the living room. While anywhere in the living room is fair game, what he likes best is to drag his bed up onto the couch before he starts testing the thread count.

Oh, Henry.

Procrastination = Success!

Henry has many talents. For example, if he suspects there is a pill inside his pill pocket, he can eat the pocket and spit out the pill. And, while he is taking less pills, he still takes powdered supplements from his holistic vet. Therefore, we find it easier to feed him canned food: just mash it all up, mix it all in -- easy. (I would like to apologize at this point for my punctuation skills...grammar has never been my strong point)

For the last few months we have been buying his canned food weekly. But a couple of weeks ago we got lazy and kept putting off the trip to A Dog's Dream (only 2.5 miles away). After I crushed his pills, emptied his capsules, and measured his powders, I opened the cabinet and -- gasp -- no can. Luckily, I remembered that we had some frozen rabbit meat tubes from before he did his trial on prescription food.

This was good news. This gave us more time to procrastinate buying more food. But then a funny thing happened: his consistently loose stool disappeared -- a great development for those that have to try and pick it up with a poop bag! So we decided to keep up this raw rabbit regimen.

About a week later, we realized something else. Something big. Something earth-shattering. Ladies and gentleman (all six of you that read this) prepare yourself (and your nostrils) for wonderful news. Henry rarely farts anymore and when he does they don't smell.  In fact, only twice since we started feeding him the rabbit has he had bouts of multiple farts that smelled to high heaven. And you know what occurred right before the nasal onslaught? We gave him dry food.

In the words of his holistic vet, Dr. Rewers: some dogs just can't eat processed foods.

Luckily, for Henry's non-meat-eating humans, there is a company here in Seattle (Darwin's) that makes raw food meals for dogs. These meals have vegetables, including Henry's favorite: romaine lettuce. This way we are not feeding him just raw meat...which seems like a good thing. In addition, they deliver in Seattle for free (and are conveniently located right here in our neighborhood of South Park). So we are just about to start a trial of their meals. I do feel bad getting his food from somewhere other than A Dog's Dream. But at least we still get his treats there (dehydrated duck and dried fish sticks/discs).

I am pretty sure Henry is relieved at this chain of events as well. I don't think anyone likes loose stool -- I don't even like typing that phrase! He seems to eat up the food, medicine and all, with out hesitantly sniffing at it first. I think he is also relieved to not be farting as much. There were times, when he was farting so much (and they smelled so much) that he would look up at me with pained eyes as if to say, "I can't stop, what's wrong with me?"

Oh, Henry.

Henry at Acupuncture

When Dr. Rewers suggested Henry get acupuncture for his skin, knee, and elbow. I thought, 'yeah, right. With this dog?'. But believe it or not he actually calms down during the treatment, will even cuddle the doc. And there is a noticeable difference in regards to his knee...obviously feels less pain.

I never thought I'd have a dog that got acupuncture!

Oh, Henry.

Steroids and Henry's Bladder

It has been a good thing that I haven't been working because of Henry and his Steroids.

Steroids make Henry very thirsty and on "steroid days" he has to pee very, very frequently. It is hard for us to be away from the house for more than a couple of hours because we are likely to return home to a giant puddle or two. And just because he is peeing frequently doesn't mean that they are small in volume. I have timed minute long pees only a half-hour after his last pee. However, as we've been able to decrease the steroids this has gotten a bit better.

You can always tell how badly Henry has to pee when we get home by the speed of which he travels from the stairs to the outside door. And if you were gone for a while he has ways of making you feel guilty....

Yesterday, one of my appointments was delayed by over an hour and I ended up being away from the house for a total of seven hours. Immediately upon arriving home I take Henry outside. He almost falls down the stairs he is taking them so fast and he looks like he is tensing every muscle in the rear half of his body as he sprints to the door. I can barely get the door open because he is blocking it with his body in his urgency to get outside. The spot he chooses is with his body hidden between two of our trees but with his head sticking out.  For the duration of his two minute long pee he just stared at me. A constant, unblinking, pained expression that seemed to say, "you did this to me!"

Oh, Henry.

The Farts

Disclaimer: I apologize if the term fart is offensive. When I was a child saying fart was as bad as cussing. It seems that it has become a generally accepted term. My mom even uses it now. I am going to use it because it is a lot easier than writing flatulence AND not as silly as saying "passing gas" or "breaking wind" (the phrases I was told to use as a child).


Henry has always had bad gas. I figure I jinxed myself when I once said that I didn't think anyone had smellier farts than my husband (I've heard he cleared a subway car once). Henry out stinks Jensen any day.

We had a brief hiatus from Henry's farts while he was on the prescription, anti-allergen diet. They didn't go away completely but they didn't take over the room. We did notice that they started smelling different -- plastic-like, odd, and just plain unnatural. When we started reintroducing foods to Henry's diet his farts got worse. They still smell odd but now they take over the room and assault anyone with nostrils. Sometimes being in the same room with him is eye-watering, tolerance-testing, torture.

The farts aren't noisy. The only warning is a brief, subtle, quiet "poof." They are worse at night. One night they were so insanely stinky and frequent that we started attempting to time them -- like contractions. I sleep better with ear plugs but recently have discovered something that I really don't like about earplugs...when I am wearing them I don't hear the warning "poof"that precedes the nasal assault.

We haven't been able to narrow down the culprit. The odd-smell started around the time he started the prescription diet, the insanely expensive antibiotic, and the new anti-yeast/anti-fungal medicine. He is no longer on the prescription diet nor the antibiotic so they are ruled out. We wonder if it could possibly be canned food - quality or not. Unfortunately we need to use canned food as it is the only way to give Henry his various powders and medicines.

Henry's dermatologist, Dr. Mundell, suggested we give Henry activated charcoal. The back of the bottle is heartening, it says: Activated Charcoal is one of the finest natural absorbent agents. Each particle contains many small chambers, and cavities that "capture" or bind-up unwanted materials and gas, which are safely carried out of the digestive system. And thank you Dr Mundell! The farts are now a bit less...pungent. Meaning: they still smell unbelievably bad and take over the room BUT they don't clear the room and one can still manage to breathe.

Henry's response to his farts is really funny as well. When he farts his normal "poof" fart, he will twist around and smell his rear. Occasionally, when he has been sitting/laying on the couch and he "poofs" he will stand up, smell the spot his rear was and then lick the spot (sometimes Henry is really gross). But my favorite is when Henry has the surprising noisy fart. He has two responses to these. If he is sleeping it will startle him awake. When he is awake he will jump up and off the couch (or away from where he was) and across the room and stare back at where the fart occurred. Sometimes he will return to what he was doing right away. Other times he will look offended,  look back and forth between the spot and me, then, keeping his distance, turn his back and settle down.

For a long time it hasn't been easy to have people come over and hang out because of Henry's behavior. Constantly barking and always wanting to be the center of attention -- even if it means climbing on top of people to ensure it. Although, I do have to say that Henry has the magical ability to endear himself to people even when he is bad. I can't tell you how many times people have left our house and I have thought, "they must think that Henry is an annoying, terrible dog and hate being around him. But when I see them next they always ask about Henry and they always respond to my updates and stories with an affectionate "Oh, Henry." His behavior has been improving as he grows up and especially as we have become better at training him. But now we have this new problem...

Would you choose to relax in an environment where you were repeatedly exposed to one of the worst smells ever? If you have the choice of where you can spend time with one of your friends, would you choose the location that contained 'odeur de Henry'?

Oh, Henry!

Henry Update

I don't know how well any body ever reads this blog or pays attention to the changes I make but perhaps, you've noticed the changes under the now accepting donations heading?

Thanks to Dr. Rewers at Ancient Arts holistic vet, Dr. Mundell (animal dermatologist), Lien Animal Clinic and, last but certainly not least, A Dog's Dream Natural Pet Supply, Henry is doing better!

So please knock on wood, cross your fingers, thank lucky stars, or do any other thing designed to keep the luck going and to avoid tempting fate.

I kid you not:

•  Henry is back to being a white dog. The color pink only makes it's appearance when he is sleepy. In honor of this I am changing the background color to white!
• He is no longer on the insanely expensive antibiotic. 
• He takes only 1/4 steroid every other day (occasionally 1/2--when he seems itchier or when he's been exposed to anything that he's sensitive to) 
• Decreased the hydroxyzine to 1 3x/day (unless he is itchier and then we will give him 2 at the next time)
• His staph vaccine has decreased to 0.5cc from 1.0cc
• He only needs 1/2 pain pill every few days (which means he is only limping every few days)
• We have slowly been successfully reintroducing different foods
• Henry is less crazy (decreased 'roid rage) and is sometimes downright calm -- although this is so foreign to me that I start worrying that he is sad or depressed

He might actually be a normal dog someday!

Oh, Henry.

Henry & the Kids

Sometimes walking Henry feels like walking a celebrity. I don't know if it is the one eyebrow or the big ears that bounce when he walks but people tend to love Henry. If Henry is behaving well on his walk then we let people pet him when they ask -- with a few rules. The first rule is that Henry has to be sitting and the second is that the person cannot approach on any wheeled devices (skateboards, scooters, bikes, etc). 

Henry has always been very gentle with kids when they pet him. One time a young girl was gently petting his head and telling me a story. As she got excited her hand stopped petting and started patting. As she got even more excited she stopped patting and started hitting Henry on the head. Henry simply looked at me as if to say, "Do you see this? Do you see what I am putting up with? Are you going to do anything to stop this?"

A couple of days ago, Henry was especially popular on our walk. A gentleman asked to pet Henry and he kept saying, "Oh, you are a good boy. I can tell you are such a good boy." We received several more smiles, comments and waves. But don't think that this walk was just heavenly, we did have a small obstacle course of horse poop, barking dogs, and one leash-less, human-less chihuahua that did not like Henry. I did not want to see how Henry felt about this chihuahua so we swung wide and quickly escaped the situation--despite the chihuahua chasing us. But the obstacle course was quickly forgotten.

Two very darling children asked to pet Henry. I had Henry sit and the pet fest commenced. I noticed the children doing some no-nos: pulling on his tail and ears, putting their arms around Henry's neck, teasing him with treats. Henry is pretty tolerant of all of these things but I know that with another dog this could cause a bite. So, I turn into "annoying adult" and give them a little lesson on when it is ok to pet a dog (only with owners permission, no petting stray dogs) and what not to do with a dog (tail pulling, ear tugging, etc). They listen very well and repeat everything back to me after I am done. 

It's not all 'Boring Lecture by Christina.' I show them Henry's bag of tricks (sit, down, bang, up, say hi, speak, ask nice, shake, spin, and twirl). The kids get very excited and start giving the commands and treats. We all end up sitting on the sidewalk. After a couple of minutes sitting, Henry lays down and rests his head on the boy's lap. All three (Henry, the boy and the girl) are very fond of "kisses," which I am trying to discourage because of the run in with the horse poop earlier. After 15 or 20 minutes, I say goodbye. The kids tell me that they love Henry and that they are going to miss him. Henry pulls at the leash, he would rather stay with the kids then continue the walk home, but I insist we go. As we walk away, I hear the little boy say the sweetest thing to his sister:

"I'll never forget Henry!"

Oh, Henry.

Henry takes lots of medicine.

Jensen and I usually have pretty different schedules.

There was this one time, early on, when we almost had Henry's allergies under control. He was getting his shots regularly and had no flare ups or skin infections. Then for two weeks he didn't get any shots because Jensen thought I had given them to Henry and I thought he'd given them to Henry. That was well over a year ago & we are just now sort of  getting a bit of control over his allergies.

Needless to say, we learned our lesson and now we keep vigilant track of what Henry needs, when he needs it and if it has been given to him.

Henry's Theme Song

I love this song. I listen to it and pretend it was written for Henry. I pretend it's about a dog and not a boy. Today, I looked it up on youtube to post it and found a video for it. Turns out it might be about a dog!!! So until I hear a song about the world's most expensive, high maintenance, crazy lemon of a dog..... 

Henry & the Bee.

Our house came with a really wonderful yard. Wonderfully full of lavender bushes. Wonderfully full of bees that are attracted to blooming lavender. Henry thinks this is wonderful. Henry likes to try and chase the bees, to try and see if he can catch them with his mouth. The End.



Did you really think a Henry story would be so simple? Of course you didn't, this is Henry after all.

When I first saw him out in the yard chasing bees, I thought it was pretty dang cute but that I should bring him inside before he got stung.  I went downstairs to open the basement door and arrived just in time to see him shake his head as if he'd eaten something sour...or gotten stung by a bee. He came in the house right away, moping like he'd just lost his best friend. I examined him but couldn't find any evidence of a sting.

I returned to my chores in our kitchen. Henry hopped up onto the couch with our friend August (who, by the way, Henry adores).

"What's that face Henry is making?" August asked after a few minutes. "He looks really weird."

Henry looked like his cheeks were being pulled down and back in an eerie, grimace-like way. Every muscle on his head seemed tensed.

"Does he seem really red to you too?" August asked. We both stood and stared at him. Right before our eyes, hives started to appear all over his body. After about, oh 30 seconds, of watching as a grimacing, red, bumpy Henry rolled on his back and wiggled, wiggled, wiggled.

I finally snapped out of my confusion and started to panic.

It had started to rain and I am sure we made a silly picture to Jensen as he came home. I had run out of the house carrying Henry and August followed me carrying his shoes and socks.

"Henry tried to eat a bee. He's having some sort of reaction. We need to get him to the vet!" I exclaimed. Jensen turned the Malibu around as quick as he could and sped towards the emergency vet. Henry sat on my lap and after a minute or so, rested his head on my shoulder. Jensen glanced over and a look of panic appeared. Henry resting his head on my shoulder? In the car? This was not typical Henry behavior.

Henry and I were rushed right into a room at the vet hospital. I sat on the floor next to where Henry had flopped down and watched as he continued to get worse. He started to get puffy. His tongue no longer fit in his mouth. He started to wheeze.

The doctor finally came in. He listened to Henry's lungs. He pulled up one of his lips and pressed on his gums with his finger. Where he pressed stayed white for a while before the blood returned.

The doctor knelt there and repeated, "Wow, he's in very bad shock. I've never seen a dog in this bad of shock before."

He pressed on Henry's gums some more and then finally seemed to get over his shock. He called in his assistant and told me that Henry would be fine but that he would keep him overnight.

Jensen and August were sitting outside of the hospital on a bench. I stood in front of them and just as I was about to tell them Henry's status -- I burst into tears. Judging by their faces, they probably assumed the worst -- who wouldn't? Luckily, I was able to force out, a barely understandable: "He's ok."

When I picked Henry up, I asked the vet if we should have an epipen on hand. He told me that if it happened again to just give him some Benadryl and bring him in.

He has since been stung by one other bee (same circumstances, except this time I was chasing him yelling "nooooooooooo!") but without the anaphylactic shock. So, apparently he is allergic to one kind of stinging bee-type thing but unaffected by another.

Oh, Henry.

The Limp, the Surgery, the Dilemma that is Henry.

Henry starts limping in May 2008.

At first we can't tell if he is limping or not. He isn't consistent with his limping and it's just hard to tell. Henry has had a weird, flat-footed walk since we got him because of the interdigital erythema. Finally, we decide it's a limp and off he goes to the vet where he is sedated and x-rayed.

The vet doesn't see anything abnormal in the x-rays but decides to consult with a specialist to make sure. The specialist agrees. The vet does see bone shards in Henry's stomach and warns me to stop giving him bones. He also prescribes pain medication for Henry. I leave feeling frustrated because I didn't learn why Henry was limping...although, I did learn that x-rays and specialists are expensive.

In September, we have our new vet look at his knee. He feels the positioning of the leg in the initial x-rays was improper. He takes new x-rays and combined with the physical exam identifies the culprit as a subluxing patella. His recommendation is to perform surgery to deepen the patellar groove to prevent the patella from subluxing. This is important he tells me to prevent a future ACL injury. Jensen and I decide to go through with the surgery because we believe it will save us money in the long run.

Henry gets the surgery on September 10, 2008. The staff at the vet decorate his bandage with a red heart. This is the first time I am instructed to have Henry on "severe activity restriction." I quickly learn that this is impossible with Henry. We keep him kenneled most of the time but he jumps, pulls, and generally goes crazy when we take him out to "go potty."

At this time, I was just starting my second year graduate school to get my Doctorate of Physical Therapy. If I had received the recommendation to deepen his patellar groove 6 months or so later I would have questioned the doctor. A shallow patellar groove could definitely be a factor, however there are likely more factors (ligamentous laxity, muscular imbalance, malalignment, gait abnormality, soft-tissue contracture). This is important because these factors will continue to effect the knee even if the groove is deepened and therefore may not help the problem at all. And I would have been right!

After the surgery Henry demonstrates morning stiffness and so a few months later, when Henry stops weight bearing on the same leg for a couple of days, we hope it is also because of stiffness. This seems likely as he starts walking normally and being his regular, hyperactive, crazy self.

A few months later we are back at the vet to get Henry's right front limb examined. While he doesn't seem to be limping, we notice that he sits with his right front leg out to the side (abducted and internally rotated). The vet recommends we consult with a specialist about Henry's elbow. He checks Henry's knee as well after we tell him about the limping episode. The physical exam doesn't turn up anything abnormal and the vet thinks it is likely that stiffness caused the limping.

The specialist examines and x-rays Henry's right front leg. The x-rays are inconclusive but he thinks there may be a bone chip in the elbow joint. He gives us the choice of surgery or CT scan. We decide to do the surgery for monetary reasons. A CT scan costs about half of what the exploratory surgery was estimated to cost. If during the surgery they found a bone chip they could remove it and that would be it. If they found a chip with the CT scan then we would have to get the surgery anyway. The day before the surgery, Henry stops weight bearing on his left rear leg. The surgeon decides to do some imaging of the knee and finds Henry has an ACL tear. So we are given a choice: go along with the planned exploratory surgery and try and rehab his front leg with a injured rear leg OR get surgery to repair the ACL and get a CT scan of the front leg. We go with the latter. Henry receives a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy. This surgery affects the mechanics of the knee joint and so the PT in me is satisfied. The CT scans reveal that Henry has a fragmented medial coronoid process in his right elbow with a possible ununited medial epicondyle of the humerus.

Recovery is tough. Henry doesn't believe in "severe activity restriction." We have to confine him to a small room (an inclosed porch) otherwise he runs and jumps around like the crazy, little man that he is. We have to carry him up and down stairs to take him outside. It isn't difficult to carry his little 70 pound frame but catching him and lifting him can be difficulty. I disobey every directive about lifting I've ever given a patient and try and lift Henry while twisting and using only my back. This leads to the humiliating experience of having to call in to my final internship 2 days in a row. At least, I got to be a living example to patients as to why lifting improperly is bad. In addition, activity restriction for this surgery is long.

In July, he is still supposed to be on a leash at all times. I take Henry out to the backyard regularly to enjoy the summer. I start getting lazy and occasionally let him off leash. He is very good and doesn't run around--just stays next to me in the grass. Except one time...a bicyclist passing by the house inspires Henry to run like a bat out of hell across the yard. Once again Henry stops weight bearing on rear left leg.

After a night of feeling like the worst person on earth for giving H freedom we are back at the vet. This round of x-rays doesn't seem as bad. After all, CT scans are way more expensive. The x-rays are sent to the surgeon and after a couple agonizing days we learn the repair still looks good and Henry probably just strained a muscle.

The elbow surgery? Well, that has to wait until Henry's chest is clear of a skin infection for 3 weeks to reduce the risk of infection in the incision. Keeping him on antibiotics isn't helping. Steroid treatments are working but a round of steroids lasts about 20 days and his skin starts getting infected as soon as we start reducing the dose to 1/2 pill every other day. Half glass full: we have more time to save up for the elbow surgery. Half glass empty: treating his skin & allergies is preventing us from saving any money....

Canine or swine?

“Is your dog pink?”

This is a question I get on a regular basis and no wonder: Henry often looks pink (thus the occasional nickname of piglet). When his skin is irritated he turns a beautiful shade of pink all over his little body – and his skin is always irritated.

He was on antibiotics for a skin condition when we adopted him and he has been on and off of antibiotics and steroids ever since. And the scratching! Oh man, the scratching is enough to drive us all insane. I think that scratching might be higher on the “things that annoy me and prevent me from sleeping list” than snoring!

His most frequent itchy spot is his left armpit. This provides a lot of amusement as he sticks his tongue out with each forward sweep of his back foot but also gives him bright red armpits. 







He also scratches his forehead until it bleeds and chews and bites and licks his paws until they are bright red. 







Oh, and when he is tired he gets bright red around his lips and nose. Which means I have a pink dog with red spots.


I don't think this picture does it justice but to give you an idea:

For a long time there was this never-ending cycle of taking Henry to the vet, getting meds & sometimes a steroid shot, and having a less itchy dog for a couple of weeks and then returning to the vet in a month (at the most). Not only was this a drain on the pocketbook but I was worried about exposing H to so many meds so much. And we just felt bad for Henry and his quality of life or lack thereof.

One vet recommended that we draw blood and get it tested for allergies, leading to regular allergy shots for our little man. Surprisingly, he doesn’t mind getting the shots…or maybe not surprisingly as he gets treats after each shot. The blood test was positive for several food allergies as well and so Henry went on a hypoallergenic diet. He wasn’t much better with the shots but better enough that we were able to visit the vet a little less frequently.

We changed vets and were instructed to give Henry more frequent baths and were given the name of a specialist to take him too. Baths are surprisingly easy and leave us with the softest Henry of a dog.

The specialist? That would be a veterinary dermatologist. Right. I’ve been struggling with adult acne for years and it’s my dog that gets a dermatologist. The doctor told us that blood tests aren’t very reliable and so that the only way to determine food allergies was through an elimination diet. My favorite thing about the doctor was that he kept my pocketbook in mind and recommended we wait to do the gold standard skin test until we see the results of the current allergy serum we had with a modified shot schedule. The dermatologist also prescribed an antihistamine to be given twice daily (a steal at more than 50$ a month).

This gave us a little more time in between vet visits…until both Jensen & I thought the other had given H his shots. A mere two weeks without allergy shots and Henry’s skin was out of control. Back to the vet for more antibiotics. The vet also told us we could give Henry up to three Benadryl per dose when he was having such a bad reaction.

The dermatologist couldn’t see Henry for over a month (apparently there are lots of allergic pets in the greater Seattle area) and in the meantime I bought enough Benadryl to put an entire city to sleep. You would think that a diet augmented with six Benadryl would chill Henry out right? That six Benadryl would calm our hyperactive, crazy little canine right? Wrong. The pills may as well have been made of sugar, very expensive sugar.

Finally, the day of Henry’s skin test arrived. Even Henry was reluctant to go to the vet when we had to leave at the crack of dawn to make the 45-minute drive (without traffic) to get to our 7 a.m. appointment. The dermatologist and his assistant take Henry away for his test as I go off in search of coffee. I enter the office less then fifteen minutes later to the sound of laughter. The doctor emerges from the back still giggling: “I just reversed the sedative and Henry still has his sea legs!”

Surprise of surprises Henry is allergic to almost everything except saline: Human dander, cat dander, dust mites, storage mites, wool, a mix of insect venom (is that what you call it?), weeds, if it is/was alive, grows, blooms, etc., he is allergic to it. Oh, and the storage mites? Storage mites are in dried food when you buy it, which means that we now have to freeze Henry’s dried food before we give it to him…oh joy.

The new shots have to be given to Henry every other day. He has been on them for a couple of months. He is still itchy but he isn’t eating a horses share of Benadryl on a daily basis. But time will tell….

Oh, Henry.

What is Henry?

The Seattle Animal Shelter said he was a purebred American Pit Bull Terrier. Which never seemed quite right because of his height, his gargantuan ears, his face & chest (which are just not quite as broad as other pit bulls). I have been told he looks just like an American Bulldog, a Dogo Argentino, and many others.

What is he?

I wanted to know. Do I wear an "I love my American Pit Bull Terrier" or "I love my Dogo Argentino" shirt?

So I finally break down and get a DNA test. I mean really, I spend enough money on this dang dog that I should at least be able to know what the heck he is.

And the results:
At least 50%: American Staffordshire Terrier &....
At least 12.5%: Miniature Bull Terrier

What?




+

=







hmmm, well maybe the miniature bull terrier explains the ears?

The Shocker.

3/2008

I couldn’t write my term paper at my desk because Henry kept trying to climb into my lap. So I decided to sit on the sofa so that I could cuddle my pup and crank out the last paper before spring break at the same time. I had been working on the paper for the previous few days and not sleeping very much (I procrastinate a lot) and so took a nap the second the paper was e-mailed to my professor. To be awakened by a scream.

Wait, a scream?

I found Henry on his side shaking, foaming out of his mouth and having lost control of both bowel and bladder but still conscious. An awful smell seemed to emanate from him—unrelated to the mess on the floor. I got a paper towel and began to wipe the foam away from his gums and found two, whitish lines on his lip that look like a cauterization. That’s when I noticed the extension cord…chewed open to reveal two metal pieces that were perfect matches with the lines on his lip.

(This is a good point to mention that if I had just ignored Henry and stayed at my desk, like I should have, this never would have happened.)

The call to the vet consisted of: “my dog just electrocuted himself!!!” and “Bring him in! Bring him in!”

For the first 15 minutes of the car ride Henry was still, too still, in the passenger seat of the truck. I monitored his pulse and respiration rate for any detectable abnormalities (can you tell I was taking my Cardiopulmonary class at this time)? About two miles from the vet he sits up and starts trying to climb into my lap – all 50+ pounds of him. I push him back into his seat but he keeps frantically trying. He settles back down until I pull into the parking lot of the vet. He pops his head up and realizes where we are.

Have I mentioned that Henry loves, L-O-V-E-S the vet? He jumps up in his seat and can hardly wait for me to open the car door. He pulls me into the vet pulling so hard on the leash that he is constricting his breathing. A vet tech looks up and exclaims “Henry! You dork! Are you the dog that electrocuted himself?” Techs, front office staff, and the veterinarian gather around him and he is wagging his tail and jumping around like nothing ever happened. The vet looks up, “this is not the dog that electrocuted himself?”

The vet concludes that he must have just burned himself because there is no way he could be jumping around and so happy if he had electrocuted himself. She gives me instructions to monitor him for 36 hours for any pulmonary edema (bloody froth from the mouth) but that’s it.

He behaves normally after this but he continues to have just an “off” smell.

The smell gets worse. The whole house just…reeks. And it is definitely coming from H. Back to the vet we go….

The veterinarian examines his lip, which it turns out is basically rotting. Then he has me open Henry’s mouth so he can look around.

“Have you seen his tongue?” the vet asks. Jensen and I both peered inside H’s mouth to observe a pink tongue with a perfect half-circle, at least an inch, missing from the right side. “This is one lucky dog. The electricity entered his lip & exited his tongue, if it had gone to his heart he would have been killed instantly.”

We leave with antibiotics and a mouthwash to prevent food from getting into the wound on his lip. The smell gets marginally better. I notice that part of his gum is hanging off. I chase him around with a paper towel and manage to grab him long enough to grab the hanging skin, which comes away easily. The smell now seems to come from my hand and I run the – I don’t even want to think about what it was – outside to the trash can, gagging the entire way.

The stench in our house goes away and we are left with Henry minus a chunk of gum and a chunk of tongue. The missing gum means that Henry now drools out of the right side of his mouth, drools on the couch, drools on the coffee table, drools on Jensen and I, our guests, strangers – you name it!

On an interesting (but related) side note:

Henry is a little bit crazy. He gets overstimulated and freaks out. He only wags his tail when he is barking at Jensen or myself, he is a perfect angle on walks for months & then decides to jump and try and grab a strangers shirt, jacket, on one occasion a neighbors hair, or tries to eat a door:





 Vets and dog trainers all confidently aver that he is not aggressive at all. I have heard things such as he is: just misunderstood (said with humor), dorky, silly, etc. Two seperate people have commented that he acts just like crack babies do.

We come up with different hypotheses: he is simply crazy, he was exposed to some bad chemicals with his first owners (meth?), etc. But recently I came up with a new one. I take Henry to the doggy dermatologist who notices the drool/missing gum. After hearing the whole electrocution story he tells me his own electrocution story about an acquaintance’s 3 year old son that chewed an extension cord and despite being in his 30’s never progressed past 1st grade developmentally.

First reaction: Oh, crap! I have to worry about this with a kid?

Second reaction: ! Maybe that is Henry’s problem.

Oh, Henry.

Things Henry Has Eaten or Attempted to Eat

A * indicates attempt was successful

• A Blue latex glove*
• A Jelly fish*
• An extension cord (*sort of -- the extension cord won)
• Dead Bird x 4...* x 1.5
• A Dime bag full of marijuana
• Cat Feces *****************
• Pen(sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss)
• Pencil(ssssssssssssssss)
• Book(ssssssssssssssss)
• Shoe(ssssss)
• Dead Rat x 2
• Eye glasses x 3
• Dead snails*, lots & lots of dead snails*************
• Raspberries*, I'm kinda proud of this one, he picks them himself. When they are ripe it is very hard to get him to come inside, he is inside the raspberry bushes, just picking away.
• Packing peanuts*****. It appears to only be ones that are made out of cornstarch. Which can be funny because if he doesn't eat it fast enough it turns into a gluey glob that adheres itself to the roof of his mouth--not that he is allowed to eat these. We don't want him to but he is a sneaky little bugger and can sent them out...even in closed boxes.
• Horse poop*---This seems to be the favorites of all the poops
• Cat poop**
• Dog poop**

Nicknames & other names Henry has been called.

• H
• H Dale
• Hank
• Hankenstein
• Big Baby Lemonade
• Double H
• Henry Hamilton, Henry the Hamilton
• HP Lemoncraft: short for Henry Peefoot (because he did pee on his foot), Lemon because...well that's probably pretty self explanatory. 
• Bubba
• Bubbaganoush
• Piglet
• Monster
• Henry Herbert Hoover: this one is usually used when he is in trouble or when I want to get his attention...weird thing is that it works every time!
• Sweet Boy
• The White Monster
• Handsome
• The Great White Crazy
• Bubba Ho Tep
• Bubba Ho
• Bubba Lou
• Bubbaluffagus
• Sugarplum

Your dog? No.

I take Henry in for his initial exam with the same veterinarian that the shelter took him to after taking him away from his previous owner. The first thing I noticed was that Henry loved the vet and I mean l-o-v-e-d the vet. The minute he realized where we were he began jumping around and pulling on his leash to the point of almost suffocating himself. (My initial hypothesis was that this particular vet was the first place that Henry was shown love and positive attention – later I would discover he just plain loves going to any vet).

The doctor seemed genuinely endeared by Henry and pointed out to me the spot on the initial evaluation where he had written “Nice Dog.” He told me that Henry’s skin condition was so bad when he first saw him that he couldn’t close the exam room doors because Henry smelled so bad.

In our two weeks with Henry we couldn’t help but notice that he was hyperactive. Every day I took Henry on longer and longer walks and the only result was that I was exhausted and Henry was recharged, rip roaring and ready to go. And so I was impatient to ask the doctor, “I hear that puppies usually calm down by two years old?” The doctor replied, “yeah, but with your dog you’ll be lucky if it’s three.”

Henry’s first valentines day came and we celebrated by getting him neutered. I dropped him off in the morning and was instructed to call when I got out of school to see if he is ready for pick up. After school, I did as I was instructed and the receptionist states, “Hmm, let me see…” (I can only assume that she placed the handset through the door into the room where the kennels are kept because I suddenly could hear Henry barking) “We’ve already had to sedate him again, oh yes, I’d say he is ready!”

So when I picked him up I couldn’t wait to ask hopefully, “is it true that sometimes dogs calm down after they are neutered?” The receptionist snorted and said: “Some dogs: yes. Your dog? No.”

Oh, Henry….