Because of the different various issues the dogs have - you know the combos that work and don’t work, etc - we play musical doors all evening. The dogs like to spend some time together, and sometimes Zeeke behaves and sometimes he doesn’t. But, Jo won’t come in the room if Zeeke is in here. Plus, whether or not Zeeke is around, I can’t leave the bedroom door open if I’m in here because I don’t like letting Zoe wander into unoccupied rooms due to her occassional accident on my area carpet. Zeeke gets put in Den’s office to spend time with him and get him out of my hair, but then Den complains because his office overheats when the door is closed.

It’s a mess, I tell you. I’ve decided we need to get babygates - the kind that swing open - for both the office door and the bedroom door… and one to replace the kitchen gate wouldn’t be bad either. That way we could actually keep the dogs where they’re supposed to be and stop them from destroying things without locking the cat out (Merlin likes to come and go in both rooms to visit with us) and without suffocating Den in the heat. I think it’s a great idea. Unfortunately gates cost money and that, well, that could be a problem.

But it’s a nice thought. And a very good plan.

I bought a couple of new toys for the dogs. One a nylabone. They are the ONLY chewie I will buy for the dogs (other than kongs, which neither of them care to chew on) because Zoe LOVES them and Zeeke ignores them. Anything that Zeeke likes? Gets destroyed in a day. So those nylabones actually stick around for weeks or months, occupying Zoe. I like that.

The other thing I bought her was a hand-puppet. She had a hand-puppet when she was a pup and it was her favorite toy! Plus she would actually play wrestle with “you” when you were using it (and it didn’t hurt when she got rough - well not usually, anyways).

Well unfortunately she is beating the crap out of that thing. Fluff everywhere (from it’s head). Stitches ripped, seams coming apart. I do not think Mr. Hand Puppet will be surviving much longer.

But in the meantime she is having a ball - wiggling around on the bed kicking it with her back legs, growling at it, throwing it around… you name it. She’s so entertaining.

:: ::

I am happy to report all animals are back to their normal (destructive) non-sick selves. Zeeke unfortunately got a touch of whatever Zoe had a couple days later and had a very large “accident” in the bathroom. (It was so BEYOND nasty.) But just the once. After that everyone seems to be chipper and healthy.

Merlin is still aiming to compete in the heavyweight category with the dogs. Jojo still weighs in at a nice 11.2lbs; Merlin clocks in at over 13lbs! The little porker. But he puts all his skills and strength to good use when he “pins” Zoe down and viciously bites her. Of course they both know that she could throw him off whenever she wanted to, but they kind of take turns playinig the helpless victim.

Zeeke however has never really caught on to the whole “moderation” thing and just plays too rough for the cats’ preferences - even ass-whooping Merlin - as my previous post indicated. The cats are unamused. And I’m afraid Zeeke will just never learn to be gentle with the kitties. He’s never mean to them or I wouldn’t let him around them… he’s just too rough. He tries playing with them the same way he plays with Zoe. I guess she’s tougher than I thought. Merlin still refuses to run from Zeeke, but he does give the most evil looks. Zeeke ignores those just as quickly as he ignores the squeaks and smacks.

I could wish for total household harmony. But I guess the best I’m going to get is the three of them peacefully coexisting.

Dear Zeeke:

The cat is not a squeaky toy. When he makes that noise it is not - I repeat NOT - a good thing. Please stop chewing on the cat.

Thanks,
Mom

Well now, we had a really shitty couple of days. Literally.

Saturday evening we gave the dogs each some steak leftover from a dinner we had out. We’ve given them the exact same leftovers before without issue, so we really didn’t expect what happened.

Zoe got sick. Real sick.

It started in the middle of the night, she woke me up frantic. I took her outside and she had a lot of diarrhea. We went back to sleep. An hour and a half later she woke me up to do the same thing again. A little while after that hubby got up and took them both out, but Zoe didn’t go. I fell asleep for once to try to catch up on a little bit of sleep. A couple of hours later Den bursts into the bedroom all upset because Zoe puked all over the living room rug.

And that’s pretty much how it went the rest of the day: diarrhea, and a whole lot of throwing up. I made sure she had access to water because I didn’t want her getting dehydrated, but every time she’d drink some she’d almost immediately throw it all up again. She couldn’t keep anything down at all. I’ve never seen so much puke in my life. It was a horrible mess.

Zoe very obviously felt horrible all day. She looked so upset… her tail was down, her head hung, her eyes were wide and sad. I went out and bought some Kaopectate from the drug store, as well as some pediatric electrolyte. From my boss I picked up a dosing syringe and some chicken flavored baby food. I did manage to give her one dose of the kaopectate, but she sure wasn’t happy with me. She didn’t have any more diarrhea after that thank god (just some more puking).

She napped a long time. I made sure she was undisturbed by the other animals and I just let her sleep on the bed beside me (though I got worried and put a blanket on the bed after a while - really didn’t want her puking on our comforter). When she woke up in the evening she obviously felt much better. Her tail was high, and she was even showing interest in the baby food (which earlier she outright refused). I mixed some of the baby food into the electrolytes and let her drink it up. She didn’t puke it all back out! Yeah!

What a horrible day that was, though. I don’t know why that steak went over so badly with her, or if she got into something else (though I don’t think she did). Zeeke had a little bit of the runs afterwards, but with him that’s pretty normal for eating anything other than his normal kibble. He certainly didn’t have the explosive stomach upset that she did.

Of course last night we locked the cats out of the bedroom so we could get some actual sleep, but middle of the night Merlin starts crying. “Mow-ow-ow-ow!” he’d sing-song right outside our door. And that was after scratching at the door for half an hour. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and let him in. So he was winding around my head purring and kneading with his sharp little claws - made sleeping rather difficult. Then I fall asleep only to hear scratching and meowing from Jo - but it didn’t sound like the bedroom door. I figured he must want into the linen closet (his new favorite spot). It was so annoying! Loud. I got up to check on him and bring him in too, and found out he had been locked in the linen closet all night! Poor guy! That explains why Merlin had been so upset all night too - he was all alone. So we ended up with Zoe, Merlin and Jo all piled on the bed between us, Zeeke asleep on the floor. Didn’t get much sleep after that.

Oh, plus - Merlin has come up with a new hobby: pushing dishes off the kitchen counter. So far he’s broken a drink glass and a plate. No more dishes left on the counter, I guess.

What a crazy weekend.

In the morning Merlin has a little ritual of running in the bedroom and getting in our faces, purring and happy and very obnoxious.

This is a particular problem on days where both hubby and I are not getting up at the same time - one gets up while the other sleeps blissfully. But Merlin doesn’t care. The person up, while doing their morning routine, has to constantly act as goalie every time they enter or leave the bedroom, blocking the cat from running in and waking up the other person.

Merlin does not like this. He is very insistent about performing his morning duties. He sits just outside the door, pawing at it, meowing. I must get in to greet my humans!

This morning I woke up anyways, so I told Den to just let him in. He hurredly runs into the room, jumps on the bed, crawls on top of me and headbutts my face. This lasts for all of twenty seconds or so, before he feels his duties has been completed and wanders off. He is now wrestling Zoe for the championship belt.

:: ::

The two cats have been doing very well lately. Jojo is still coming out of his shell even more, braving the Big Bad Dog to spend more time with me. If I’m not locked in the bedroom I am pretty much guaranteed to have a cat or two laying on or near me. Early early this morning I was on the couch in the living room watching TV and I had both cats curled up against my legs. It was such a cozy feeling.

Merlin is still looking rather fat. I don’t know what to do about that, since I give them food only two times a day. They obviously think it is not enough, because when they get hungry - especially when I sleep in - they trash the kitchen. One morning last week I found the trash bin tipped over and everything pulled out. Most days I find a cupboard door pulled open - the same cupboard where we stash the cat treats - and all those treats pulled down. If they’re especially ticked off at me they’ll rip open the bag of dog treats and knock them onto the floor. It’s become a daily habit now to have to clean up the kitchen in the morning.

I mean I don’t want them to feel starved (and thus peeved with me), especially since Jo is a good weight and I need to make sure he gets to eat enough. Just Merlin is a super-vac, sucking down food. I just hope he doesn’t put on any more weight.

At least Merlin’s fur is looking gorgeous. Jo has super-soft bunny fur, has since we got him. But Merlin’s was very coarse. Now after being on the new food for a couple of months his fur is shiny and nice and soft. Still not as soft as Jo’s, but pretty darn soft of it’s own accord.

Uh-oh, Merlin just climbed back on my chest. Unfortunately he started attacking the strings to my hoodie that I’m wearing and clawed me in the chin. Ouch. He was removed from my chest.

:: ::

Zoe and Zeeke on the other hand… both are being pains in mommy’s behind.

Zoe is still dealing with potty training issues. She’s nearly 2 years old! There’s NO reason she shouldn’t be able to hold her pee. And in certain situations she can just fine. But it’s like she doesn’t apply that rule to the living room. The last week I have found several pee spots on my new area carpet, and one day she topped off a really bad day for me by peeing a huge puddle in the middle of the living room floor while Den was watching her. I get so frustrated when she backslides like this, because it’s never just once. The most frustrating thing is that when she does this she doesn’t signal anyone. I can be sitting right there at my computer and she’ll just go and pee. Granted she usually signals me easy enough, but sometimes she just… doesn’t. It’s especially a problem if she has access to the living room when I’m not out there - like if I’m in the bedroom and the dogs have free access to the rest of the house. In that situation I am pretty much guaranteed to find a puddle when I go in there. So of course the rule is now that Zoe MUST be confined to the room I’m in. She won’t pee in the bedroom when she’s in there with me. Even if I’m asleep and taking a while to wake up, even if hubby is late doing his morning routine taking the dogs out. She whines and bounces and “talks” to me, but she won’t pee in here. So she is capable of holding it. She won’t pee in her crate, either, no matter how long she’s been in it. So why isn’t she getting it with the living room?? What is it about that room that says, “Sure, go ahead - pee!” The floor is hardwood, we thoroughly clean it with special pet cleaner every time there’s an accident. And the carpet we’ve only had for a month or two! Aie. Just frustrating.

And Zeeke, well, he’s his usual self. Yesterday Den had to work, and then he had this dinner out with the boys. He didn’t get home until 10pm. Well Zeeke apparently didn’t like that. He spent the entire day barking - at me, at dogs he heard, at Zoe, at nothing at all. Just barking. He was driving me bananas. I finally removed all garbage and dishes and edible objects from Den’s office and put him in there by himself. I figured maybe he’d calm down. Ha! Unfortunately Zeeke acted like a crazy dog. Much frantic barking, banging on the door, even trying to turn the doorknob. (Thank god he’s never figured that one out.) So then I couldn’t let him out until he calmed down and stopped having his little temper tantrum. It took about half an hour of listening to it before there was silence. Finally. When I opened the door to let him out he was laying on the futon (his bed in there). At least he does finally give in and settle down. I remember a time when he would bark for 3 hours without giving up.

Plus two days ago he got snippy with hubby. Den had bought him a nice big bone from the pet store when we were in there, and Zeeke sure was happy to get it. But when Den walked too close to him five minutes later Zeeke started growling and protecting his bone. Den tried taking it away and got snapped it. (I told him to be careful. Zeeke never used to do that to him, and he doesn’t have as much experience with dealing with that “side” of Zeeke.) That was a very bad thing to do. Bone got taken away, Zeeke got put in his crate, and hubby fumed for a while. So, no more bones for Zeeke, period. Lovely. We really do need to see a behaviorist, but Den didn’t “like” the responses I got from the ones I contacted. I really need his buy-in on this for it to work.

So, here’s to hoping for a bark-free, pee-free kind of day.