Flower Friday

Well, it's been a tuff week for da humans.

Dis week, we found out that my momma's grandparents (Brinley's and Finley's momma's parents) have both tested positive for da COVID.

As of yesterday, they're both asymptomatic. They're 92 and 90 and live in a senior living facility. OUR humans haven't seen them in months becuz of COVID and the rules of the place they live - only staff and medical personnel are sposed to go in.  

But there's some other family members in this town, who apparently felt like they didn't hafta follow the rules and have been visiting and bringing them things. Including COVID. GRRRR!!!

Da mommas have a lot of problems wif dis branch of da family already. Let's just say their selfishness and stupidity is no surprise.

And that's not even the only stressful thing going on. It's a good thing they've got us to distract em! Here's some flowers too - those are always cheerful.  

Stay healthy pals. And don't go spread COVID to da old peeps! 

Good Friday!

Hey pals! Happy Good Friday and happy Passover to everyone who celebrates. And happy day 56794 of Quarantine to everyone else!

Ok, furst up is da obligatory health update. Hope we don't sound like old people talking bout health problems all da time! BOL!

Finley's hip is still in place. She's been really enjoying her homecooked meals, so that are what she are getting to eat now. And we're getting some too - YUM! She has to either hang out in the play pen or in someone's lap since she is not supposed to be walking around and we hafta be VERY careful about her hip. We would luv to sniff her better, but we only get a few sniffs in a day. At least she are doing good.   

And now for da kitties - Angelique seems a lot better - she's only got a few sneezes. Bowie and Travis are both voluntarily eating now, but they're still sneezy and obviously congested. Some of our pals have wondered if maybe they've got COVID. Truth are, we don't know and never will. They don't have the dry cough of COVID. They seem congested instead. And none of da humans here have had COVID (that we know of anyways). They're all inside-only kitties, so how they got sick are kind of a mystery. We just hafta hope they keep getting better.

And now for da BAD news. Me and Brinley had to have BAFFS last nite. What da woof?? Da world are coming to an end (or somefin), Finley's recovering from a hip being popped back in, da kitties are sick, my momma's natural hair color are starting to show and we hafta have BAFFS??

Finley got outta da baff thing cuz of her hip. LUCKY.

Quarantine Pluses and Perils

So da quarantine continues. Dere are pawsitives. Like da extra time snuggling, extra backyard time, and bike rides.

And of course da walks!

One GOOD thing my momma has done during dis whole thing are finish up my March dress. Ya saw da udder side yesterday.

Since March goes out like a lamb (supposedly) . . . 

Today it kinda did since it wuz sunshiney in da afternoon.

These lil lambs are cuties.

And there's lamb buttons.

But I gotta warn ya, quarantine has some perils too.

Like GROOMING! If my momma could go somewhere, she mighta not spent Saturday night sheering me like I wuz a sheep.

Seriously momma! I ended up wif my face a lil shorter dan she woulda liked since I jerked my head at a "bad time" but at least my hair grows fast.

Yikes. Well, at least I can see again.

Quarantine Day 568731

Hey pals! Well, we're still doing good here. At least us pups. Momma just might have yelled HBO words at a neighbor and flipped her off on our walk.

Ok, to be fair, da woman stopped her car and motioned for us to cross the street ahead of her and then honked her horn repeatedly while we were right in front of her car. She said she wuz trying to warn us another car was coming, but it scared me. And hurt momma's ears. And she's already very nuts from all this quarantine stuff. 

At least she can never give us a hard time for barking at other dogs! BOL!

Terrier Tuesday

Hey pals!

We hope all our pals are staying safe. My momma are going crazy - our county has a semi-lockdown. It's kinda confusing, but it duz mean momma are gonna be stuck wif dark roots for a while unless she gets adventurous wif da bleach at home.

Not everyone is lucky enuf to be a platinum blonde.

She are trying to keep busy wif fun stuff like bike rides and playing wif me. But she also gets upset becuz she's seeing people's rights being taken away (and not just the right to a good dye job, BOL) and no one seems to care. She gets the seriousness of all of this, but she's also a lawyer and is seeing some very big infringements on people's rights and she can't get anyone to care, so she gets mad.

We keep telling her to stop reading stuff on the internet that makes her mad and just play wif us.

She did a lil better at that today.

Hope your humans are healthy and less crazy than mine!

I recommend dey get some sunshine if they can - it's da best medicine!

Spring Smiles!

Hi pals! If your peeps are anything like my momma, they need to see a smile today.

We ackshually got a walk today. It wuz all fun and barking until well, da monsoon hit. We WOULDA been home, but someone named whose name starts wif a BRIN and ends wif a LEY took a long time to do dat second poop. Wif lotsa spinning. So we got VERY soaked. It wuz kinda fun though speshully running around like CRAZY when we got home.

If your humans are worried about YOU and da coronavirus, here are some good news from our vet:

Coronavirus and Your Pet

There’s been a lot of information in the recent media about the latest strain of human coronavirus, but nothing about pets and how they fit into this picture. In this short article I wanted to briefly discuss coronavirus and pets.

Dogs can become infected with a canine coronavirus. It is fairly species-specific and will not infect people but can infect cats (without causing clinical disease in naturally infected cats.) Most infected dogs do not show symptoms and recover without showing signs of infections; young puppies may exhibit mild diarrhea.

Cats have their own coronavirus that like dogs usually causes an asymptomatic infection or mild diarrhea or respiratory infection (especially in kittens.) However, this coronavirus, for unknown reasons, can mutate in the GI tract and transform into the (usually) lethal feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus (this occurs in about 10% of infected cats.) Again this feline cornonavirus will not infect dogs or people and only infects felids. (A curious note is that cats can become infected with the human SARS coronavirus experimentally and naturally but do not become ill, and the original SARS virus was suspected to have originated from a mongoose.) As with the human coronavirus, canine and feline coronaviruses can survive outside of the pet’s body for a period of time (especially in a colder environment) but are easily killed with most detergents or disinfectants.

So how do dogs and cats fit into the current picture of the human coronavirus?

First, it’s unlikely the pet will become infected and serve as a source of infection for people. 

Second, dogs and cats that develop their own coronaviral diseases will not infect people and contribute to the current spread of the human disease.

Third, by serving as fomites (objects that can carry an infectious organism,) dogs and cats MAY infect other family members IF the currently infected family member gets infected material (saliva, respiratory droplets, etc.) onto the skin or hair of the pet and another uninfected family member contacts the infected material on the pet. To be safe, it may be wise to keep the family pet away from the infected family member of at least have the infected family member bathe and/or wipe the pet’s coat with a wet washcloth before the pet is exposed to uninfected family members.

Finally, keep in mind that maintaining proper blood levels of vitamin D in people and in pets is important in minimizing infectious diseases. If you or your pet have not had recent vitamin D testing and started appropriate supplementation, this is a good wake-up call to do just this.

Shawn Messonnier DVM

Sunday Selfies

Well, it's Sunday, so it's selfie time.

It wuz anudder wet and cold day here. Which meant lotsa cuddle time.

My momma is not doing good wif da "social distancing." She feels like she's going nutso.

I'm not good wif social distancing either. I like kisses much better than elbow bumps!

Smooch!

  

Flower Friday

Hi pals!

We hope y'all are doing ok. Momma went to da grocery store last nite and she said da panic-buying was NUTS - it was 9 PM and the store wuz packed wif people stocking up on toilet paper and bottled water. There wuz almost NO flour left and one woman had 20 boxes of spaghetti. No sauce, no olive oil, no cream, just spaghetti. WEIRD.

We tried to convince da mommas to panic-buy steaks and dog treats, but no such luck.

Today we stayed home. But not cause of coronavirus. Cuz it wuz RAINING like crazy!

But for some reason, we had to get baffs too! What da woof??

So these flower pics aren't from today but they are from this week - our spring garden are getting started! Hope ya like seeing our blooms - it shure beats looking for toilet paper!

Flowers beat hysteria any day.