an upper valley ursine visitor (UVUV!)

The little bear who visited us last year is back. Here you can see her just outside my kitchen window. She's licking the fallen sunflower seeds off the ground, since she can't reach the feeders.

You can see lots more pictures of her here. (If you click that link, be patient; it goes to my October archive, which has a lot of posts.)

It looks as if she did very well through the winter. Look at that gorgeous coat!


Ambling away.

Little bear has been an honorary dog at Sweetnicks' Weekend Dog Blogging before, so this is my entry for this week. This Sunday, head on over to Sweetnicks' place for a peek at more, shall we say, traditional dog shots!

Simba says "Bye, Zeke!"

In loving memory of Zeke, gentle companion of Faith and Jerry for 14 years

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!
more pictures of Simba
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dropping by for a quick visit

It seems odd to say I'm dropping by for a quick visit to my own blog, but gee, it's been a while since I stopped by, and I can't stay long! Have you missed me? I've been so doggone busy, but I do have good Simba news --- he's feeling much better! --- and the murder mystery weekend has come & gone with some photos that are dying to be shown, so I wanted to at least share that much with you.

Especially the part about Simba. He suffered through several weeks of illness about a month ago, with high white blood cell counts, inability to eat, and other intestinal distresses too nasty to mention but which entailed getting me up in the night for help. Whenever I gave him his meds he became desperately clingy, so I'm certain they bothered his stomach terribly ... and they didn't help. So, after several weeks of this, I took him off all his meds, quit giving him the boiled hamburger and rice that the vet recommended and put him back on good ol' Iams dry dog food, and I'm not sure what did it but he's OK now. I have my happy little guy back! With a few bad habits from all the pampering he got while he was so sick, but hey! He's still my little guy.

It's been 4 months now since his spinal cord injury, and he's doing well. He still doesn't have as much strength in his hind end as he used to, and he slips & slides more when on the wooden floors, but he's not complaining and neither am I. If you didn't watch him verrrry carefully, you'd never know there was anything wrong. So I am more than willing to label this his happy "end"ing (sorry) and put this story to rest.

So this is my little shout "Hello" to my blogging pals who haven't heard from me in a while and, truthfully, I haven't been checking in with you, either, but life is slowing down a tad and I'm hopeful I'll be able to get back in touch with the goings-on in your lives now. Spring is coming! I hope you're loving it!

P.S. The MMW story will have to wait for another day ...

Our little dog Simba suffered a spinal cord injury in December. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.

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modest? no. spatially oriented? no.

Cute? Yes.

For some reason, Simba often chooses to sleep across his bed rather that in it. Sometimes he's face down, with his butt up on the bed and his chin on the floor. Other times he does one of these numbers. Variety being the spice of life and all, you know, and a dog's life being a bit short of variety, what's a dog to do but make his own?

A brief update: recently, de dawg has been struggling with a nasty bacterial infection that has his listless and poopless, although he is eating and doing his Jackson Pollack imitation on the snow ... always yellow, he's a monochrome artist, this one.

The infection didn't yield to the first prescription so now he's taking cannonball pills aimed at every bug in his system. Today he seems to have perked up some, so I'm hopeful it's finally starting to help.

In the course of treating this illness, the vet introduced some especially yummy (to a dog) smelly (to people) canned dog food. I have a feeling there's no turning back; that dried dog food just isn't getting any love from the Simbug since he's had canned. I figure it's a good step toward transitioning him to the whole foods I was wanting to feed him, anyway!

So, I'd appreciate your good thoughts and prayers on Simba's behalf as he fights off this bug. It seems odd that he's gotten so sick so soon after his spinal cord injury (you can read about that here). It makes me wonder if they're connected.

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

Follow the links in the sidebar to lots more pictures of Simba.

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Simba wednesday

When I let Simba out to chase squirrels recently, he came to a dead stop right outside the door, and this little squirrel also did a sudden freeze-frame. I stood waiting for one or the other to break it, but there they stood, moment after moment, staring at each other. So I quietly walked to the table, picked up my camera, turned it on, and took a shot from where I stood, certain I wouldn't have a chance at another shot. And then I got closer and took another shot. Then down on my knees for another. This was the fourth shot, shooting right over Simba's head at the little squirrel. I was preparing to take another one when somebody moved, and then it was all over. The squirrel disappeared under the deck as Simba scrabbled his way across the it, and there was no more peace in the land.

How curious! A dog and a squirrel playing chicken, was it?

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

Follow the links in the sidebar to lots more Simba wednesdays. This is #28!

more pictures of Simba

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a nice soft rug, a rawhide chewie ... who cares if there's a doggone camera in my face?

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

more pictures of Simba

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simba's sweet smooshed face

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

Follow the links in the sidebar to lots more wordless wednesdays. This is #27!

more pictures of Simba

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update, day 36

This is an update on the health of our courageous little dog Simba, who has suffered a spinal cord injury. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.

A few of you have inquired about how Simba has been doing lately. I'm touched by your concern and really appreciate your interest; thank you!

I haven't been posting about him lately because not that much has changed. He's stable, and he's good with that, as far as I can tell. His back end doesn't work as well as it used to, but it doesn't seem to bother him much. He can get himself up & down stairs, although a bit slower than he used to and going up is much harder work now that his hind end doesn't provide as much boost as in days of yore. Sometimes he stops halfway, gathers his strength, and then finishes getting to the top. He can't jump up on the furniture any more, and while there may be some folks who think that's a good thing, we've never considered the furniture off limits and I'm sorry his options are limited when I'm not there to help. But he jumps down handily. I've put rugs near the places where he tends to jump down from furniture to help him with traction on the landing and that seems to be working well for him. So, all in all, we can't complain!

The vet showed me a test for whether his back was paining him: two fingers placed on either side of the spine, starting at the shoulders, exerting firm pressure, and slowly sliding toward the hind end. If there's pain, the skin will start to "crawl" as you approach the painful spot. I'm happy to report his skin is staying where it's supposed to when I do this!

The next 6 or 8 months will be the time period when his spinal cord's nerve cells regrow, if they're going to. In the interest of supporting his healing, I've begun investigating a cooked food diet for him rather than kibble. I've always given him a good brand of Kibble (IAMS) plus a good brand of dog biscuits (Mother Hubbard), but I went looking for articles on canine nutrition for dogs recovering from injuries and found a wealth of info that's convinced me it will be worth trying giving him more natural foods. We're starting with supplementing his diet with some cooked chicken and rice, and over the next week or two will gradually increase that amount and reduce the kibble to zero. Once he's completely on natural foods, we'll start adding some cooked veggies.

If this sounds odd to you, I totally understand. I have always believed that dried dog food was the best choice because it is nutritionally balanced. I also liked that because he never got people food, he never begged for it. Making this switch has made him inclined to watch me very closely every moment I'm in the kitchen. (My good dog knows he cannot come into the kitchen when I'm there. But the minute I leave, he zooms right in and gives the floor a good working over!)

But the processing of the components of dried dog food includes cooking them at very high heat both to dry them out and eliminate anything that could cause a smell, as well as adding preservatives so the food will keep without refrigeration. The high heat kills nutrients, the preservatives are unnatural, and when his body is struggling to rebuild itself, I don't want to remove good nutrients or add bad stuff. Time will tell if this is an improvement over his current diet. I'm convinced it will be at least as good for him, certainly not worse. So it's worth a try.

If you're interested, the book I'm using is called Barker's Grub.

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wordless wednesday

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

Follow the links in the sidebar to lots more wordless wednesdays. This is #28!

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how to keep peeled garlic fresh

Do you ever buy fresh peeled garlic? I've seen it at BJ's in huge plastic jars like this. Our local food cooperative buys it in bulk and packages it in plastic clamshell containers. I love using fresh garlic; the pre-pressed jarred kind is pretty awful. But I don't like peeling the stuff.

(Sometimes I feel like such a spoiled American when I express such sentiments. We can get our garlic pressed and jarred, in whole heads, or in peeled cloves. How pampered is that? Very.)

But anyway, because there are only two of us (OK, three with Simba, but he doesn't beg for garlic much), even the smallest clamshells held too much peeled garlic for me to use up without some of it going moldy. Until I figured out The Solution: a paper towel.

No kidding, folks, this really works. The mold is caused by moisture. So now, when I bring home the clamshells, I take all the garlic out, put an unfolded paper towel in the bottom with the excess hanging over the edges, pour the garlic cloves back in, fold the paper towel over them, and close the clamshell. The paper towel seems to wick the moisture away from the garlic. Whenever I open the clamshell to take out some garlic, the paper towel is always just slightly damp. I take it out, drape it over something for a few minutes to let it dry out while I go about my cooking, and later put it all back in.

It really, really works. I have garlic in my refrigerator, right this very minute, that I bought in November. Scout's honor.

By the way, my favorite way to peel garlic, when I need to, is using a silicone sleeve like this one (not meaning to endorse this specific one, although the picture is a link to the product if you're interested). You just put a few cloves in it and roll the sleeve around on your counter. Tip it vertical, and the papery skins and the cloves tumble right out. It works amazingly well, keeps your fingers from smelling like garlic, and can do several cloves at once.

And did you know that rubbing your garlicky smelling fingers on stainless steel will neutralize the smell? That's so, like, woo-EE-ooo!

Speaking of garlic, don't forget to go check out Weekend Herb Blogging over at Real Epicurean tomorrow night. You'll be sure to find a recipe or two that tempts your taste buds. And you still have time to submit an entry. 3pm Sunday is the deadline!

update, day 20

This is an update on the health of our courageous little dog who has suffered a spinal cord injury. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.

It's quite amazing, hard to believe, more than I could allow myself to hope for, but Simba continues to improve. I've seen such heartening evidence of healing, and "heart"ening is exactly the word; it does my heart such good!

Yesterday, he jumped off the couch when I wasn't looking. I often leave him for a moment and tell him to stay, and I don't think he's disobedient, he just has a short memory (is that an indulgent mommy talking?) Usually I remember to turn around and give him the "stay" hand motion or say it to him from time to time when I'm away from him, but this time I was busy getting something in the kitchen and I heard him jump down onto the wood floor. I turned around, saw he was fine, but wondered if he'd done any slipping & sliding as he hit the floor. (Slipping and sliding probably also mean abruptly twisting his back.) So later, when we were on the couch and I had put a bath rug on the floor in front of the couch (because they have that nice sticky rubber backing and don't slide), I watched him jump down. It was absolutely no.big.deal. for him. Isn't that cool?

In the past couple of days, I haven't tried to stop him when he wanted to jump up onto the deck himself. It's about a 12-inch jump, which seems pretty high to me for such a little dog with a bad back, but he gets a bit of a running start and jumps right up. Slides just a bit on landing. He looks so pleased with himself, I swear if he could dust his hands and put them on his hips he'd do it. He's really enjoying gaining a bit of independence.

This morning when we went outside together, several red and gray squirrels scattered in different directions. When squirrels are in the neighborhood, I always wait to put him down until after they've gotten away because I don't want him putting full stress on his back as he gets up to speed chasing them. In past days he's just looked in the direction that they headed and then shrugged and gone about his business. But not today. Today he trotted off, even did a bit of a canter if that term isn't strictly restricted to horses, and clambered over things in the forest on his way off to more independence, sniffing around and seeking prey. He stopped to look back at me once, and I didn't ask him to come back, so he spent probably about 5 minutes off in the forest by himself, as I muttered prayers for his safety. I actually went back in the house without him. First time since December 22. In a couple of minutes, there he was at the back door, so DOGGONE HAPPY it brought tears to my eyes.

Today marked the end of the two-week period during which he needed to be restrained from taking stairs, standing on his hind legs, and jumping off furniture. We went to the vet to have him evaluated, because I'm a nervous nellie when it comes to re-injuring him and I don't want to take it too fast.

And, ta-daaa! He's got the Good Dogkeeping Seal of good health! No more meds needed, and no more restraining needed, although it wouldn't hurt if I still gave him an assist on slippery stairs. It's OK to take him on walks, as long as I keep an eye on him to make sure he isn't showing signs of strain. My little guy can even go outside by himself again! Hallelujah! And yes, there's an element of selfishness in that little "hallelujah," because it means no more bundling up with coats and boots over pajamas for me, no more shivering while I wait for him to be finished. But it's also just pure happiness on his behalf. He is so going to love being just let out the door again, going exploring, taking his time, and asking to be let back in. He's ready. He is SO ready for this.

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wordless wednesday (almost)

So I'm cheating on the "wordless" part a little bit here, to tell you that even though these aren't the cutest pictures ever taken of Simba, they're glad ones, because they show him walking after his injury. The right-hand one, in particular, shows him using his right hind foot, which is his least recovered one. If he walks on flat ground with good traction, you almost wouldn't know that he isn't 100%. It just takes some unevenness or slickness, though, to send his back end swiveling and sometimes going out from under him.

He's an incredibly good sport about it all, though. Just picks himself up and keeps doing what he was doing. No visible signs of discomfort. We should all be so stoic!

Hey, dog lovers! This Sunday night, we can expect to see lots of canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

Follow the links in the sidebar to lots more wordless wednesdays. This is #27!

There's also a link in the sidebar if you'd like to read the series of posts about Simba's spinal cord injury.

cloudy monday #9

December 19th was an amazing day for clouds. And look at the color of that sky, will ya?

I didn't have my camera with me, so I raced home, was barely civil to my friendly housecleaner (sorry, Kathy!), grabbed Simba and the camera and raced back to a favorite shooting spot. The view that had inspired this mania had, sadly, not survived. I cannot do it justice with words, but it was a really unusual cloud formation, with a sheer vertical cliff up one side that was HUGE. I could only imagine it was a front pushing through that came against a big bank of clouds and pushed them straight up into the air.

Nonetheless, there were other very large clouds floating around, and this picture is proof positive of that! In subsequent "cloudy monday" postings I will be delighted to share more of them with you.

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Christmas cheese spread pine cone

Now that the dust has more or less settled on Simba's injury, here's a recipe for an appetizer that I made for a Christmas party in early December. It's essentially a cheese spread shaped in a pine cone shape and decorated with toasted almonds, a cinnamon stick "twig", and dill for the pine fronds. Or, in our case, carrot greens for the fronds, since the store was out of fresh dill and the Huz diligently scoured the produce section for a substitute. The carrot greens were perfect!

I had some fun watching the expressions on people's faces when they saw the finished product. I think it took a moment to decide what it was supposed to be, so maybe I should have laid the almonds on a steeper angle. The most common guess among those who didn't get it right the first time was hedgehog. Ha! It was a hedgehog with a cranial injury resulting from insertion of a cinnamon stick in its head, causing green brain fronds to spill out, I guess. Oh, well. There were others who were awestruck at the presentation. So there.

This is one of those appetizers that you think you couldn't possibly make because of the time it takes to make it look pine-cone Christmasy, and it's true that it does take some time. But it's also true that you can make this a day or two ahead of time, or even do half one day and finish it the next. And if you're the sort to watch TV and keep your hands busy at the same time, then voila! It'll be done before you know it.

So, above is a closeup of how the almonds were stuck into the cheese spread. The finished product and full recipe can be seen here. Bear in mind that you really can make any favorite cheese spread, and decorate it this way, so if my version with shredded mozarella, red pepper, and feta (a Southern friend once exclaimed about feta, "That cheese is NASty!"), then substitute your favorite and decorate away!

P.S. No big news on Simba. Yesterday I could see he was dying to execute a big luxurious stretch from nose to tail, and was unable to, poor guy. Just stopped halfway through and gave up. But today he did a happy little prance with his rawhide chewie in his mouth, looking just like he used to. It was precious.

update, day 14

This is an update on the health of our courageous little dog who has suffered a spinal cord injury. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.

Hi, everyone! I didn't realize I had gone so long without giving an update for Simba. Thanks for all your comments and kind thoughts. I hope you weren't worried. It's mostly because there's not a lot to report. His progress has slowed to a crawl, which isn't entirely a bad thing. What it means, as far as I can tell, is that we've gotten the spinal cord swelling under control, and we're seeing what his steady-state, sort of worst-case scenario will be if for some reason the nerve cells in his spinal cord are unable to regrow. And folks, the story's not too bad. He's clearly not back 100%, but he's in the 70 - 80% range, I would say. He's not completely stable on his feet, but he gets around very well and even trots a little sometimes. He's eating and eliminating well, and if the world outside weren't one big sheet of half-melted and refrozen snow, he'd be exploring the outside world happily. In just one more week, when we take the restriction off going up & down the stairs, we'll see how well he does with that. I'm betting he'll do just fine, given that he's managed to get a least halfway up or down them illicitly already!

He continues to eat snow obsessively and lick his paws excessively, both things that he did before but not obsessively or excessively. That's a question for the vet the next time I talk to him.

I'm looking so forward to not feeling as if I have to pick him up gingerly, and being able to hold him in what I used to think of as his meercat position. The picture to the left is sort of that, but in the true meercat position, he's completely leaning back against my left arm; my right arm could be totally free but was usually scratching his tummy while he occasionally leaned forward for a little doggie kiss on my cheek. Sometimes we would stand cheek to cheek for a while. So sweet. But for now, I have to try to hold him carefully in a more neutral position, both ends supported, so my view is of his back.

This will probably be my last post about Simba's health for quite a while, unless something significant changes. Maybe a little celebratory "he's approved for stairs!" post next week. In the meantime, I just want to end on a note of gratitude. I'm so grateful that his spinal cord swelling came under control so we didn't have to make the hard decision between a terrible surgery or the even more terrible alternative which I can't even speak of. I'm so grateful that he's got enough function in his legs to be able to enjoy his life. That his innards are functioning normally and his appetite is good. That his spirit is just the same, even though his body is diminished. I'm grateful for the prayers of friends and the God who answered "Yes." I'm grateful for you bloggers who have cared about us and fall somewhere in between strangers (what do you look like, anyway?) and friends. "No man is an island" goes for me, that's for sure. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to have gone through this all alone. Thank you.

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update, day 10

This is an update on the health of our courageous little dog who has suffered a spinal cord injury. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.

Simba did OK last night in our absence, in one sense. He was happily waiting for me at the top of the basement stairs. (When my eyes get level with the top step I can see his feet through the crack in the door as he waits motionlessly. I imagine him almost holding his breath, waiting to explode in excitement once the door opens. It's one of my favorite sights ever.) He was healthy and hadn't managed to climb onto anything he shouldn't have, and in his excitement he stood wobbily up on his hind feet to put his front feet on my knees ... probably not a maneuver the vet would sanction!

However, a side effect of steroids is extreme thirst. He's been drinking tons of water, and eating snow somewhat compulsively. When we got home at about one this morning, his bowl was completely dry, and he had wet both the carpet and the wooden floor. This from a little dog who normally has iron control over his bladder, so I suspect he was in extremis to do that. Poor guy. We were gone for too long, nearly 7 hours. Won't make that mistake again.

Also since the accident, he seems to have a wacky internal thermostat. He can be panting as if he were feeling hot in the house; then I'll take him outside into our 20-degree weather (which he normally would quite enjoy) and even before I put him on the ground he'll start to shiver. Or tremble. I can't really tell which. After we come back inside, he'll shiver for quite a while. This morning I sat with him on my lap, trying to warm him up, for probably 20 minutes before he finally drifted off to sleep. He usually gets overheated if he sits on my lap for very long, but today he didn't want to get off. I put him in his bed, which has a nice pillow and must surely be a warm spot for him. An hour later he was panting again. Poor guy!

Today he gets no steroids. We had reduced him to one dose a day, and now it's one every other day. He seems a bit lethargic. I tried to do some research on the web on withdrawal symptoms from steroids, but I didn't find any good information about canine effects. Anybody know anything about that?

I may put in a call to the vet in the morning to see if he can explain some of this. I'm a little worried we might be tapering him off the steroids too quickly.

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update, day 9

First of all, many, many thanks to you all for your encouragement and suggestions. It is so wonderful to know that my little guy is being prayed for and cared about, all across the country.

From now on, my posts about Simba's recovery will be a bit more sparse, because progress is expected to be very sloooowwww. In about 8 months, we'll know what his final condition is going to be.

The good news today is that I'm seeing more tail action! This morning when I asked him if he wanted to go out, he got excited and wagged his tail quite a bit as he waited for me to get bundled up to take him out. He looks almost like his old self when he does that ... if his wagging doesn't destabilize him so he has to sit down suddenly.

Yesterday, we were sitting together upstairs, me working away at my desk, him sitting at the head of the stairs. He often sleeps there; his bed is just steps away so usually he's in it sleeping, or on the floor at the head of the stairs sleeping. He's 11 years old, you know, so sleeping occupies a very high percentage of his time even under normal circumstances.

So, the Huz was sitting at the end of the dining room table that's visible from the head of the stairs (open floor plan house), and for some reason Simba decided to go downstairs. I had thought that the fact the stairs are polished wood would deter him. I could understand why he felt he could manage the stairs to the basement, which are carpeted, but wooden stairs? Going down?

I called out, "Simba! No! Stay!" which was the wrong thing to do. He turned his head to look at me and tried to stop, but ended up sliding butt-first down the stairs as I watched helplessly. The Huz jumped up and grabbed him as he neared the bottom and carried him up the stairs to me. Oh. My. Gosh. I was so upset, concerned, worried. Hovering, asking, examining, crying.

Simba, on the other hand, was fine. And now there are pillows on the first step at the top of the stairs. Which didn't prevent him from contemplating going down them again later in the evening, but he's a good dog and went and laid down when I warned him "no."

Tonight, we're going to leave him at home alone for the first time since the incident. He will be quarantined on the first floor, with boxes at the bottom of the stairs up, and door closed to the basement stairs. Door to spare bedroom closed, check. Sofa cushions upended diagonally so he can't jump up there, check. Doggie bed on the nice carpet under the dining room table, check. Food & water, check. Rawhide chewie available, check. Go out to do his business just before leaving, check.

Despite best efforts, worry, check.

update, day 7

This is an update on the health of our courageous little dog who suffered a spinal cord injury. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.

Perhaps the most challenging thing about having Simba on the injured list, beyond the wistfulness of watching him as he is now and remembering him as he was, is that he doesn't know what he's not supposed to do.

This morning, I had to warn him to stop as he made as if to jump off the bed again. I took him outside to do his "business" and had to hurry to catch him before he attempted jumping up on the deck, which is higher than his head. The one time he beat me to it, a few days ago, he got his top half onto the deck and hung there, looking at me like, "Why aren't my legs working?" while I hurried to him and worried about what that posture was doing to his spinal cord.

Before I went down to the basement to put some wood on the fire in our wood/oil combination furnace (fabulous invention, that), I tried to Simba-proof the ground floor. I blocked the way to the upstairs stairs with cardboard boxes, turned all the couch cushions up diagonally so he wouldn't try to jump up there, and shut the door to the basement nearly all the way, just leaving it open a crack so he would be able to hear that I wasn't going out into the garage and leaving him. A few minutes later, I heard him coming down the stairs. Aargh! I ran to try to stop him, and he was frightened and started back up the stairs. Double aargh! "It's OK, Simba, it's OK, stay, buddy."

How many times in his life have I wished that he understood English, so I could just say, "If you run out in the street you could be killed, and it's not necessary to guard me from the Huz when he hugs me, and in winter only go about half as far as you want to because you still need to get yourself back before you freeze, and of COURSE if you eat snow while you're out there you're going to end up shivering like a maniac, and not all buzzy insects are bees so you can just ignore them, and please just give a bark when you get to the back door so I'll notice you're there," not to mention all the mundane things I could tell him, like, "I'll be back in fifteen minutes, just have a nap and you'll never even notice I'm gone."

How much more do I wish I could tell him that he's going to continue to improve, but he needs to avoid motions that put a lot of torque on his back for a couple of more weeks. Just a couple more weeks, buddy. I won't be carrying you like a baby forever. And if you take it easy now, you just may be able to chase squirrels again someday.

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update, day 6

This is an update on the health of our courageous little dog who suffered a spinal cord injury. If you'd like to follow the story sequentially, start here. To see beautiful photos of him before the incident, go here.


Hello, everyone, I apologize for not giving you news of Simba sooner. We returned from our family visit the day after Christmas, and then yesterday morning I made a followup appointment with the vet for the afternoon, so I wanted to wait till I heard what he had to say before giving you an update. Here it is.

Yesterday marked five days after the accident. Every day, we've seen some small improvement in his ability to get around. At first his left leg was strongest; his right seemed totally dead, then he was putting weight on it but was dragging it, and then he began planting his right foot a little bit with each step. At first he only dragged his hind end, then he stood up, then he took a few steps, and now he can walk a fair distance before sitting down (although there's a fair bit of listing to one side, and if he doesn't keep moving, his hind end will eventually pull itself over onto the ground). When he stands still, for instance to sniff the wind, he braces himself with his left leg and after a while doesn't seem to notice that his hips are leaning, until they drag him into a sitting position. At first his sweet puffy tail was totally being dragged, then he was able to lift it out of the way a little bit when he needed to, and then we saw it go above half mast. Today I left him with the Huz for the first time since the accident to do some much-needed grocery shopping. When I returned, I saw a few honest-to-goodness tail wags, and for the first time saw it curve over his back a little bit. It did my heart such good!

He totally wants to do stairs and jump down from things, and he mustn't. Two nights ago in the middle of the night he jumped off our bed, which is pretty tall, and CLUNKed down onto the wood floor. Scared me spitless, but he picked himself up and was ready to go outside. Sometimes he gets up on his hind legs as if he wants to jump up onto the couch but hasn't the strength. Often he makes to jump off the couch; I have to watch him closely if he's sitting up there with me and I absolutely do not put him up there by himself any more. Yesterday when we returned from the vet, he got ahead of me and started up the carpeted stairs from the basement to the ground floor. He was halfway up the stairs before I could stop him. He's game, this little dog!

The vet believes he's going to have some permanent impairment but can't say how much. The fact that he's still impaired 5 days later indicates that some of the nerve cells have died so the messages aren't getting from his brain to his legs. Nerve cells can regrow, but there's no guarantee that they will. Their growth rate is usually about 1 millimeter per day, or about an inch per month. Based on where he shows sensitivity to touch on his spine, he has six to eight inches of damaged nerves, so in truth we won't know his final state for six months to a year.

But you know what? If he never gets any better than the way he is now, he's still my sweet little dog. He still loves me with all his heart, as I do him, and he is still happiest when I'm with him. He still enjoys getting his little dog bone treats, and trots them crookedly down the hallway to eat them on the one rug he's allowed to leave crumbs on. He's excited to see me, excited to see his dog dish filled, pleased to go outside, and content to sleep his days away when I'm busy. He's eating and drinking now, and he doesn't need surgery, and he doesn't have to be put to sleep, and I know I don't have to tell you how very relieved and grateful I am for every bit of him that's come back from the brink, but most especially for that last bit of good news.

So, we'll continue to care for him as best we can, tapering him off the steroids and pain meds and watching to see if that causes any problems. We'll barricade him from the stairs for another couple of weeks, and then cautiously let him start to try them. We'll love him and encourage him with excited exclamations and pick him up to carry him to the parts of the yard he can manage, standing out in the cold all bundled up because we want him to have a much time as he wants outside the house. In a few days, I'm going to try taking him on short walks; the vet says dogs are naturals at giving themselves physical therapy and walking is a good thing as long as we pay attention when he says he's done. And we'll continue to pray, and if you are so inclined, we would be grateful for you to do the same as he comes to mind. Please drop us a line if you do so. Your prayers and caring are so precious to us these days.

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update, day 3

The short version is: the news is good. Here's the long version.

Yesterday, I skipped his 5pm pain meds in hopes he would perk up and want to eat something. He did perk up, but food was still of no interest. I was cooking dinner and talking on the phone with a friend who cares about Simba when the Huz called out to me to look at him. There he was, standing up on all four legs, just briefly before he plopped back down. I've noticed before that I left him in one position and came back and found him in another, but I had assumed that he had dragged himself. This was the first time I've let myself hope he might recover from this incident.

Because he hadn't been taking much in the way of liquids, I didn't try to take him out in the cold, wet darkness last night to see if he wanted to potty. I was a little concerned about that, but he's always had a bladder of iron, going incredibly long hours without peeing, and really, he'd had maybe 3 ounces of liquid all day, and all of that under protest.

I got up at 4:30 this morning to give him his anti-inflammatory meds, and noticed that his tummy was very hard and he seemed uncomfortable. When I asked him if he wanted to go outside, he immediately started hauling himself up on his front legs and moving toward the edge of the bed. I had to lunge for him to keep him from falling off the edge. So, up, get on a robe & slippers, and out we went. I carried him over to the edge of the yard because this little guy is very good about not making messes in the yard itself. I put him down & steadied him, thinking he would try to go right there in the grass. Imagine my shock and delight and amazement and tears when he began walking toward the forest! It was a grotesque gait, lots of leaning and adjusting, but didn't he just use both legs to get himself into the leafy forest bottom and proceed to pee for a long, long time! He couldn't keep his leg lifted, but he stood there like a rock till he was done, then turned toward me as tears streamed down my face and walked over to where I stood and sat down at my feet, tired. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. I carried him back into the house and decided the Huz needed to hear about this, so carried Simba into the spare bedroom. Poor Huz, he had heard my sobbing and was about to have a heart attack thinking something terrible had happened. So, we both rejoiced and I went upstairs with Simba and had dreams about him moving around almost normally.

This morning he still won't eat, but twice he got up and walked from one spot to another. I spoke to an on-call vet and she said small distances with lots of rest between is OK. She suggested we buy him some canned cat food, a variety of flavors. Turns out cat food has more protein and fat in it than dog food, so he can get more nutrition in small amounts. It also can cause diarrhea, but since he's only 12 pounds normally and probably losing some of that, we need to take the chance. She also told me how to tell if he's getting dehydrated, and I did the tests immediately and he's doing OK with that.

So, it might be weeks or even months before we know to what extent he's going to recover from this, but the outlook appears to be quite positive for at least a partial recovery!

As you can tell by my request for prayers, I do believe in God. Last night as I was thanking him for Simba's gradual healing, I was reminded of how very often He has answered prayers for Simba. Back in the days when I was his dogsitter rather than his owner, and he was new to our property, he would occasionally get so far into the forest that I had no clue where he was. I would worry about him and call him and get no response whatsoever. Looking out the upstairs windows to try to see further up the hill and not seeing him, I would pray that he not be lost or hurt and that God would send him home because I didn't want to have to tell Pete that I'd lost his little dog. And, I'm not exaggerating, with a minute I would see him come bulleting down that hill toward me, happy as can be. And I would say to him, "You don't know it, little guy, but you've been touched by the hand of God." This happened twice, that I can remember.

I think God's touching him again, right where he needs it. (To those of you who are skeptical that God cares about animals, read the book of Jonah closely.)

P.S. We've decided it's safe to travel with him, so I'll be away tonight and tomorrow. I'll post another update as soon as I can. Thank you again for your concern and prayers! It is so wonderful to have friends, both near and far, to share life's important events with.

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