Pebbles...

On my way home from work on Wednesday (april 25) I decided to stop by the pound. I walked in and asked to see the dogs as I was considering adopting a dog if we found the perfect one for our family... Well I was escorted to the back room, that reeked, and to a row of dog cages, all of which had some kind of bark coming from it. When I finally got my footing back, after the stench almost knocked me over, I started the walk throgh the cages. The first cage on my right appeared to be empty, but all the other were filled with very large, very loud barking dogs. We do not want a large, loud dog. As I was descending down the row, sad that I didn't find the perfect dog, I heard this very meager yelping bark coming from the first cage on the right. Well, I walked over to the cage and there stood a white maltese... I thought "how perfect". So I went out to the car and called Paul. I told him that I think I found the perfect dog for us, her card says she's good with cats, kids, and is potty trained... He wasn't too thrilled but agreed to meet me at the pound. I went back in and told them that I wanted to play with the white maltese to see how we interacted, they told me that if it wasn't raining I could put the leash on her and take her outside, so I did!!! She was soooo happy to be out of that cage, you could just see it in her eyes... pure joy! So we walked around on the grass, and played a little. Then I saw Paul pull up... Needless to say I talked him into letting us get her... So now we have a 9.8 lb, white, maltese dog!!! Her name is Pebbles!!!

So, after we bought her, we had to make the manditory stop at PetCo to get her some dog food. She liked Petco, walking around, meeting new people... It seemed to suit her very well...

On Thursday (april 26) we took her to the vet. I found a vet up in Richmond (not far from our house) and made an appointment. We soon learned that our dog has problems, or as Beth says "You have a handicapped dog" lol... She's not handicapped!!! I swear!!! She just has issues... The pound told us that she had kennel cough, well the vet said that it could be kennel cough, but in Malteses a collapsing trachea is very common, so now it appears that her trachea collapses when she gets too excited or scared... I sounds horrible when this happens, she does this awful wheezing - can't breath - hacking sound... She also has knee problems... Lol... Her back knees tend to pop in and out of socket, which is why she avoids stairs! The vet said that neither the collapsing trachea or the knee thing were major issues.. HOWEVER, her teeth are terrible. So we are now taking her back to the vet on May 10 to have her teeth cleaned, and some extractions done.. this is going to cost around $300... But something that has to be done, if left unattended then the disease in her teeth could travel to her blood, and either be life threatening, or end up costing HUNDREDS more then a dental! lol... so we're having that done on May 10...

Now I hope that you haven't forgot about the cat through all of this... Yes, we have a cat... a very large cat... Now remember, Pebbles weighs 9.8 lbs.... Precious weighs roughly 23 lbs!!! lol... that's a big difference!!!

When we brought Pebbles home, Precious was none to thrilled. Precious took off running to the basement, and there he stayed until Friday afternoon!!! So for around 36 hours Precious locked himself in the basement and refused to come up stairs... Also, Precious wouldn't eat... Not wet food, not dry food... it was crazy!! Precious wouldn't come to us for petting, but didn't pull away when we went to pet him, and we went to pet him a lot... We wanted to let him know that we hadn't forgotten about him, and we still loved him... Well on Friday morning we went down into the basement and Precious had thrown up about 5 times... We started worrying. Paul decided to work from home Friday so he could keep and eye on the cat, to make sure he was okay. Precious ended up throwing up again, but it was like pure water. So when I got off work, I called the cat vet and talked to them, of course they said it was just because of the dog, but I was worried about him not eating and throwin up. So I made an appointment for 2. Well, when I got home the cat was upstairs with Paul, laying on the dining room floor, soakin up the rays... So that was a big improvement. So I called and cancelled the appointment. Precious has finally come upstairs and is willing to stay up. But he won't go in the living room, or get on the couch yet... which is where the dog always is... I know it's going to take time, but for the day and a half that Precious was in the basement, it broke my heart... I couldn't stand it...

Not to mention Paul stressing out about it... I had to work on Wed. night, which meant that Paul was alone with Pebbles... Paul was so stressed out about that... And he's still a little stressed out by the dog, but not nearly as much as he was... he's getting a little bit better.... He pets Pebbles... This is what he did when we got the cat, and now he loves the cat to death, so it's just a matter of time until he loves Pebbels to death too. I can already see/feel the love he has for Pebbles... LOL.. but if you asked him, he'd say he's still stressed out about the dog...lol

Pebbles doesn't care too much for baths... but she lets you bathe her for the most part. But ocassionally she tries to get out of the tub, and she doesn't care to be blow dried or brushed, so it'll be interesting to see how she does on Friday at the groomers! lol... She has her grooming appt on Friday the 4th at 4 pm... And her dental on May 10th... I have to drop her off at 8:30 and pick her up in the afternoon... That's gonna be sad..

I just gave her a bath, and I noticed a HUGE blood red spot on her chest... It's HUGE... I don't know if it's just her skin color, cause it doesn't seem to be bothering her, but it doesn't look good. The vet didn't catch it the other day, so I don't know if I should call the vet and ask about it, and possibly take her back in, or wait until the 10th, but that's a ways off... Not sure what to do... I'll prolly call the vet tomorrow and talk to someone about it, and see if they think I should bring her in or not... So we'll see...

Well, it took me all day to write this entry, as I kept getting interupted... but I think I've finally finished it...

Pebbles is so pretty when she all clean, and shiny, and very white!!! Gorgeous!!!