Monday, June 22, 2009

An auction for the hounds

Our local rescue group, SEGA (Southeastern Greyhound Adoptions), is the sponsor and beneficiary of an auction at the Carpe Canem Web site. Many of the items are dog-related, but there are some non-hound items...including a baby surprise jacket with booties, and two doilies, donated by someone who does lots of that sort of thing. ;)

The auction starts Tuesday the 23rd at 10 am (Eastern) and ends Monday the 29th at 10 pm (Eastern). Take a look, and see what you can find for your own dogs or as gifts for your dog-owning friends.

1939

1939 was a phenomenal year in Hollywood. One incredible movie topped another one as future movie classics rolled out of the studios.

That was 70 years ago, and TCM is paying tribute to that year during the month of July. Every Thursday evening, TCM will be showing 1939 movies (listings below taken from the TCM Web site):

The 2nd
  • 8:00 PM The Wizard Of Oz (1939): A Kansas farm girl dreams herself into a magical land where she must fight a wicked witch to escape. Cast: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr. Dir: Victor Fleming. C-102 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS
  • 10:00 PM 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009): This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special. BW-75 mins, TV-G, CC
  • 11:15 PM The Women (1939): A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays. Cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell. Dir: George Cukor. BW-133 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
  • 1:30 AM Ninotchka (1939): A coldhearted Soviet agent is warmed up by a trip to Paris and a night of love. Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. BW-111 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS
  • 3:30 AM Babes in Arms (1939): A group of second-generation entertainers puts on a show to launch their careers. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Charles Winninger. Dir: Busby Berkeley. BW-96 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS
  • 5:15 AM The Story Of Vernon And Irene Castle (1939): True story of the dancing team who taught the world to two-step. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver. Dir: H.C. Potter. BW-94 mins, TV-G, CC
The 9th
  • 8:00 PM Union Pacific (1939): A crooked politician tries to stop construction of the first intercontinental railroad. Cast: Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston. Dir: Cecil B. DeMille. BW-135 mins, TV-PG, CC
  • 10:30 PM Dodge City (1939): A soldier of fortune takes on the corrupt boss of a Western town. Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-104 mins, TV-PG, CC
  • 12:30 AM Stagecoach (1939): A group of disparate passengers battle personal demons and each other while racing through Indian country. Cast: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, George Bancroft. Dir: John Ford. BW-96 mins, TV-G, CC
  • 2:15 AM The Oklahoma Kid (1939): A cowboy sets out to avenge his father's lynching. Cast: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-81 mins, TV-PG, CC
  • 3:45 AM Blind Alley (1939): When a gangster takes him hostage, a psychiatrist psychoanalyzes the criminal. Cast: Ralph Bellamy, Chester Morris, Ann Dvorak. Dir: Charles Vidor. BW-69 mins, TV-PG
  • 5:00 AM Each Dawn I Die (1939): A crusading reporter becomes a hardened convict when he's framed. Cast: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan. Dir: William Keighley. BW-92 mins, TV-PG, CC
The 16th
  • 8:00 PM Stanley and Livingstone (1939): An American newspaper searches Africa for a lost explorer. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Nancy Kelly, Richard Greene. Dir: Henry King, Otto Brower BW-101 mins, , CC
  • 10:00 PM Beau Geste (1939): Three brothers in the French foreign legion fight off murderous Arabs and a sadistic sergeant. Cast: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-113 mins, TV-PG
  • 12:00 AM Golden Boy (1939): A crooked promoter lures a young violinist to give up music for boxing. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden. Dir: Rouben Mamoulian. BW-99 mins, TV-PG
  • 2:00 AM Gunga Din (1939): Three British soldiers seek treasure during an uprising in India. Cast: Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Victor McLaglen. Dir: George Stevens. BW-117 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
  • 4:00 AM Only Angels Have Wings (1939): A team of flyers risks their lives to deliver the mail in a mountainous South American country. Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth. Dir: Howard Hawks. BW-121 mins, TV-PG, CC
The 23rd
  • 8:00 PM Of Mice and Men (1939): A drifter and his slow-witted pal try to make their way in the West. Cast: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Betty Field. Dir: Lewis Milestone. BW-106 mins, TV-14
  • 10:00 PM Dark Victory (1939): A flighty heiress discovers inner strength when she develops a brain tumor. Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart. Dir: Edmund Goulding. BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
  • 12:00 AM Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939): A cold-hearted teacher becomes the school favorite when he's thawed by a beautiful young woman. Cast: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Paul Henreid. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
  • 2:00 AM Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): An idealistic Senate replacement takes on political corruption. Cast: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-130 mins, TV-G, CC
  • 4:15 AM The Old Maid (1939): An unmarried mother gives her illegitimate child to her cousin. Cast: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Jane Bryan. Dir: Edmund Goulding. BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC
The 30th
  • 8:00 PM Gone With the Wind (1939): Classic tale of Scarlett O'Hara's battle to save her beloved Tara and find love during the Civil War. Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland. Dir: Victor Fleming. C-233 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
  • 12:00 AM The Rains Came (1939): A Hindu doctor's affair with a British noblewoman is disrupted by a violent flood. Cast: Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC
  • 2:00 AM Wuthering Heights (1939): A married noblewoman fights her lifelong attraction to a charismatic gypsy. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, Geraldine Fitzgerald. Dir: William Wyler. BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC
  • 4:00 AM Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939): A married violinist deserts his family when he falls for his accompanist. Cast: Leslie Howard, Ingrid Bergman, Edna Best. Dir: Gregory Ratoff. BW-70 mins, TV-14, CC
  • 5:15 AM Love Affair (1939): Near-tragic misunderstandings threaten a shipboard romance. Cast: Charles Boyer, Irene Dunne, Maria Ouspenskaya. Dir: Leo McCarey. BW-86 mins, TV-G, CC

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Never thought I'd be grateful for a dog who gulps his food.

But yay, Sam!

Three days of Panacur and six days of Metronidazole didn't help his digestive issues, so the vet changed Sam over to Tylan powder (.5 ml, 2xdaily for 3 weeks). Tylan tastes lousy, I've been told, and folks who have mixed the powder with their chow-hound's food have found Fido going on a hunger strike.

Sam is used to getting his thyroid pills wrapped in a bit of cheese, and he just gulps them down. (Thyroid pills are tiny; putting them in cheese is a way to make sure they get swallowed, and not just flicked across the room by someone's big, floppy tongue. Both dogs get thyroid pills.) So I've just been using a bigger piece of cheese and putting the Tylan powder in the center (with a thyroid pill) and rolling up the cheese and popping it into the boy's mouth. He's gulped his meds down like a champ!

But I'm tempted to ask the vet to check that they actually gave me Tylan powder...and not unadulterated caffeine. After two days on the Tylan, Sam's got more energy than the Energizer Bunny, and he's throwing his toys and chasing them.

Then, of course, he sacks out on the dog bed and sleeps the sleep of the thoroughly exhausted greyhound. :)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sam redux

Sam's home from the vet. He's on Metronidazole (aka Flagyl) for the next 6 days (at least), and Panacur for 3 days. Panacur (aka Febendazole) is a powder you mix with the dog's soft food, so Sam's getting canned food once a day for a while (he doesn't mind the taste of the Metronidazole in the food); Jacey gets to have the canned food, too, and she's delighted.

Panacur is used to fight parasites, and the fecal test from 18 May didn't show any signs of parasites. But Panacur also tends to give a quick kick to a dog's immune system, so in that sense it should be good for Sam.

The working theory is that the dogs picked up some bad bacteria from the chicken that sickened both of them in March. Jacey kicked the bad bugs, Sam didn't--quite. We need to get this under control before Sam suffers permanent damage (like thickening of the intestinal walls) that would cause more serious health issues. Inflammatory bowel disease in dogs can be a nightmare.

The Metronidazole can be extended if necessary, but if it seems not to be working, we'll change to Tylan (aka Tylosin). I'm hoping to avoid this since Tylan tastes nasty (so I've heard), and dogs hate it. It also is a powder, and if you can't get the dog to eat food you've mixed it in, you've got a problem getting it down a dog's throat. Determined pet owners have had to buy empty capsule shells and make their own pills for their dogs. I'm hoping we don't have to go that route.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Sam

Sam's sick.

He's been "not right" since March, when both dogs had chicken backs and had digestive blowouts afterwards. They went on metronidazole for 9 days, although I think their subsequent improvement was due more to my keeping them on a strict and careful diet.

Since then, I've been careful about what they eat, and to help I've used yogurt, pumpkin, and probiotics (not all at the same time!). They had no more raw poultry for two months, and when I started them back on some raw food a couple of weeks ago, I changed them to turkey necks instead of chicken backs (much less fat).

Jacey got better and stayed pretty sound. Sam has been sporadically better--and then worse. He's had at least one all-liquid blowout a month--as well as lots of soft poop--and that's just not like him.

I don't think he's developed an allergy or intolerance to anything he's routinely eating. If that were it, he'd stay sick instead of getting better between blowouts. And he's been on good behavior and hasn't gotten into anything he shouldn't. (He's gotten his muzzle off a few times in the last couple of weeks, but he hasn't gotten into anything--mostly because the potatoes are locked away in a bin, the bread is on top of the refrigerator, and there's really nothing he can get into. I learned my lesson from past experiences, even if Sam didn't.)

Fecal samples for both dogs were checked a few weeks ago: no signs of any parasites.

But Sam had another blowout on Friday. Afterwards, the dogs had rice for supper Friday, fasted Saturday during the day, and rice for supper Saturday night. (When one dog is sick, both dogs go on a restricted diet.) Sam's a bit better today, but I'm taking him to the vet on my next day off. I'm wondering if both dogs picked up a bug back in March (when they both got sick from the chicken)--something that Jacey recovered from but Sam didn't...quite.

Anyway, there are a couple of other things I want to ask the vet about, so we're seeing our favorite vet Tuesday at 11:40.

Meanwhile, he seems to feel well--plenty of appetite for anything I give him.