We don’t have him yet, but I fell in love with a kitty from work. I tried to get over it, then gave up on that and tried to convince Den that we needed a new animal. Den took a lot of convincing and he’s made me promise this is our last one, but he’s finally agreed that I can bring home another furbutt! I’m so excited.

He has a sweet, cute little face. And when I took him out of the cage he was in he clung to the front of my shirt, headbutted my chin, and purred. And he’s done that every day since. In fact, he prefers to climb up onto my shoulder and headbutt my ear, but claws make that harder for me to appreciate. He’s a total cuddler, and I love that.

He’s a little bit sick with some kind of virus so we’re waiting until he’s all healthy before bringing him home.

I think we are finally getting somewhere with Zeeke in regards to appropriate behavior around the cat. Den just let him out of his office, and when Zeeke saw the cat on the bed he was predictably a little ramped up about it. But he’ll leave the room and come back in - and he hasn’t put even a paw on the bed. He’s slowly (slowly) learning the rules, the limits. We’ve really been strict with him about the bed, he is simply not allowed on it, period. He has a dog bed on the floor right beside the bed that is all his. He has the old futon in Den’s office. We do let him sleep on the couch sometimes. But he does not get on the bed. The fact that he is respecting that rule, even when the cat is laying in the middle of the bed, tempting him… well that is a big step for him. I’m impressed.

The baby gate hasn’t gone back up in the kitchen, either. The dogs aren’t great with that and have to be constantly reminded, but all it takes is a “Eh, OUT.” I will find them both standing in the doorway, staring into the kitchen, ostensibly to figure out how they can sneak in. Zoe is actually worse than Zeeke, she just doesn’t seem to be as aware of the rule (typical of her, she’s a little bit naive). Zeeke is perfectly clear on the fact that the rule exists, he just decides he doesn’t need to listen to it - as evidenced by the fact that he goes running in there about .2 seconds after Den walks into the bathroom. “Woo hoo, here’s my chance!” Unfortunately, I was sitting right there.

And Zoe is doing a very strange thing just now. She’s on the bed, laying there. And every time he sticks his head over the bed to try to get to the cat she lunges at him and snaps at his face. At first I thought she was just trying to play with him, but just now she started her high-pitched yip-bark as she lunged - her “MINE, don’t touch!” bark that she makes when she’s protecting a bone. She appears to be protecting the cat?? I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

I am spending time on my laptop in bed, Zoe is napping on the bed beside me and Zeeke is in the other room with Den. I didn’t bother closing the bedroom door. So when Zoe and I went in, so did Jo. He’s curled up asleep on the bed right beside me as well. It is just so lovely to have my babies here beside me.

Zeeke is doing very well in the aftermath. I think Den and I have basically agreed that we don’t want to do any surgery yet - Zeeke just doesn’t seem to be at the point that he needs it. He acts the same, he does all the same things he always has, he’s still happy and confident. We just watch him more carefully when it comes to running and jumping, to make sure he doesn’t cause himself pain afterwards. But we still let him play indoors with Zoe, chase a ball across the living room, etc. We just watch for anything that is overly stressful on his hips, like wildly running after Zoe in the backyard. Which is really unfortunate, because not only did both dogs love that game, but it tired them both out too.

Today we had someone from the cable company come out to run a cable line to our bedroom and install a new DVR. This involved the guy being in our house for an extended length of time, and working in the bedroom where the crates are. I quickly realized that was not going to work, since I couldn’t hear the guy’s questions over Zeeke’s barking. The poor cable guy gave a little twitchy jump every time Zeeke barked. So while he waited in the other room I transferred Zeeke from his crate to Den’s office. Zoe followed, of course. So Zeeke barked the entire time, but it was slightly more muffled. And the funniest thing is that the guy only seemed to realize we had one dog - he never saw Zoe, even though she was right there. LOL

Today I cleaned the kitchen and I didn’t bother putting the gate back up when I was done mopping. Zoe was out the rest of the day with me and barely ventured into the kitchen. I tried to get her to come down into the basement with me for a quick trip, but she wanted nothing to do with that scary stairs. She crept into the kitchen and stuck her head through the doorway to peer downwards, then scurried back to safe ground. Whatever is down that dark stairway she doesn’t like and wants no part of. LOL

As soon as Den got home and let Zeeke out Zoe went running into the kitchen and started gobbling up the cat food. She went hours without touching it, but as soon as Zeeke is nearby, giving her confidence… straight for it. Brat.

Though that wasn’t the worst of it. I had let Zeeke out of his crate when I was done mopping, and he went straight for the kitchen. I figured that was fine - there was no cat food on the floor at that point, no kitty litter box to get into, the garbage was even in a corner. I figured it was safe. Not 10 seconds after that thought he comes streaking past me with a croissant in his mouth, which he had snitched off the counter. Oi oi that dog. I hate to sound unfair, but I worry much less about Zoe in the kitchen - she is simply too short to get into the garbage or the counters. With Zeeke’s height it becomes much more of an issue! (Especially since he is well willing to use his height to every sneaky advantage.)

So we haven’t put the gate back up today, we just have to keep verbally reminding the dogs to stay out of the kitchen. It’s tempting - with the cat food, and the cat himself… plus the fact that the kitchen is Off Limits, therefore Very Interesting. But they have done pretty well. Even when the cat was walking around, Zeeke would take a couple of steps in, I’d shoo him out, he’d stand there and watch intently for the next while. I think it’s definitely possible that we could transition from a physical gate to a mental barrier.

Just so I don’t forget… Zoe’s adult height is 18″.

Yesterday was Zeeke’s x-ray.

Well I wasn’t wrong. It’s actually worse than we thought. The vet’s message on Den’s phone said something along the lines of, “Zeeke’s problem is marked hip displasia.” He showed us the film when we went in - his hip joint looks really bad… not smooth and rounded like a proper ball and joint, but very jagged and rough. No wonder he’s in pain. The vet said his leg musculature is really good, which is probably helping him a good deal, so we’re to make sure he keeps working those muscles through controlled movement like walking. But running, darting back and forth, jumping etc is probably not good for the joints - and we know that running and playing with Zoe in the back yard is what causes pain in his hip. Den’s probably going to have to really tone-down their wrestling in the house as well, as a lot of jumping and bouncing around occurs, not to mention slipping on the hardwood floors. I have no idea how we’re going to even attempt to control his movement. He’s a dog who does everything with exploding energy. He loves to jump and run. This is just so sad.

We’re taking some time to process all this information. Right now he’s on Cosequin to help his joints out and slow the progression of the hip displasia, and Rimadyl for the pain. Neither are very cheap meds! I’m looking into buying generic brands online. The vet said the only way to fix it is a complete hip replacement surgery. He’d have to go to a specialist for that - we may check the vet schools to see if they perform HD surgeries.

We feel so aweful. So does Zeeke - he was whining all last night, had diarrhea multiple times (and still this morning), and just obviously wasn’t feeling good. Probably a reacting to the sedatives they gave him for the x-ray. Today he’s feeling better, but still has diarrhea.

It’s just so wrong. He’s so young, so full of energy… and yet his hips are that of an old dog’s. It’s so unfair.