Kimo vs. Jojo

Kimo now 0-3 this year.

First was a couple of months ago when I took him to the dog park when he was having his gum disease issues.  One of the dogs jumped him and Kimo went down.  I ran over but the dog was off before I got there.  After that Kimo stayed away from the group and looked like he wanted to go home.

Then was last week (thereabouts).  Amy was coming back and Kimo lies to go down Amy's driveway.  So we went down.  One of the boxers was loose, went up to Jojo and jumped him.  Down went Kimo.  I was going to grab the boxer but he was off in a couple of seconds.  Don't know if Kimo made a face at him or what?  After that Kimo wanted to go home, but I made him stay at the stone wall at the top of the driveway for a little while.

Then today I was out with Kimo after coming back from an early walk to the beginning of the street.  Jojo came and so we went to the end of the street.  June came out to take her green bin.

Kimo went over to her and June had him sniff her hand and tried to acclimate him to her.  But after a little while he tensed up and snapped at her.   Surprisingly, Jojo went wild and jumped on Kimo, like a wolf attacking a bigger animal.

I managed to grab Jojo and pull him off, but then he went back and jumped on Kimo again.  I gave Kimo some slack and tried to stay between them and eventually they calmed down.

But after that, Jojo was limping.  We went back home and Kimo went to the lower landing and Jojo went to the top landing.

After things seemed settled, I came out to feed them and I noticed that Jojo was limping again.  I examined Kimo and it looked like the tip of his ear got nipped.  Then later I noticed two bite marks on the inside of Jojo's

They both seemed to eat OK,  Maybe they were hungry from the fight.  Then Jojo jumped down and hopped his way home.  We'll see how he is when he comes back.

Hopefully he'll heal by himself.  I remember that Koa (Eddie's dog) used to limp once in a while.  But then the next time you saw him he seemed to be walking/running OK.

[3/28/15]  I didn't expect Jojo to show up today.  But he did with little or no trace of a limp.  Things seemed more or less normal, but I'm keeping an eye just in case.

Jojo ran down when Pat was out with Keith on his leash.  Keith was yapping at him and Jojo would seemingly taunt him by going close and backing off.  I was a little worried that Jojo might jump him like he did Jojo, so it's a good sign that he would back off when Keith charged at him.

Tuffy and Comfortis

I've been taking Tuffy out once in a while, now that Nalu has him tied up outside the fenced area.

I notice a few weeks ago that he had fleas, so I combed a bunch out.

The next time, he still had fleas, so I combed more out.

Last week, he still had fleas, so I decided to give him a bath.

Yesterday, I checked and it seemed to be better.  But then the more I combed, the more fleas came out.  He still had a lot of fleas.

So I decided to give him a Comfortis.

Needed to weigh him to see how much I should give.  Bring out the scale and carry him.  He's 28 pounds.  Heavier than Kimo even though they're about the same length and height and Tuffy looks really skinny.  (Well, actually Kimo is really skinny too).

Feeding time.  Tuffy gobbled up the Comfortis like nothing.  Just like he gobbles his regular food.

Check back like an hour later and I noticed a bunch of fleas had emerged and were perched at the top of his fur.  Pick them out and put them in detergent water.  I noticed most of them seemed half-dead as they sank in the water without any struggles.

Well, hopefully this works.  We'll see when I check next time.

Bailey, play dead

http://www.wimp.com/dogplays/

Big Island Dog Rescue

It was always about more than saving dogs.

When Kailua-Kona resident Tasi Autele sat down with his daughter Finnley at the Hawaii Island Humane Society on a recent day and reluctantly told her that some pets never find homes, the girl took the news with a child's faith.

"She went around and talked to all the dogs," said Autele. "She said, ‘My daddy's not going to let anything happen to you.'"

And when Finnley, 4, returned, she looked her father squarely in the eyes and asked, "Right, Dad?"

Autele smiled, squirmed and made a promise he had no idea whether he could keep.

"That's right, sweetie."

Weeks of brainstorming with his wife, Tricia, followed. The couple decided to try to create a program inspired by the Maui Humane Society's Wings of Aloha Transfer Program.

On March 6 three dogs boarded an Alaska Airlines flight from Kona to Portland, Ore., bound for the Columbia Humane Society in Sandy. Among the departing was Luke, a shy, placid 4-year-old Cata­houla who had been dropped off during the night at the Humane Society.

The shipment marked the sixth animal that Autele's newly formed Big Island Dog Rescue has placed with the Oregon facility since it started operating at the beginning of February.

"What's going on in the Pacific Northwest is that there is a huge demand and no supply," said Columbia shelter manager Dean Cox, reached by phone. "We bring 40 dogs up in a van load at a time from L.A. What Tasi is doing is easy to manage."

Eventually, Autele would like to transport dogs from overburdened shelters around the state to mainland facilities with high adoption rates.

It's taken a lot of work, and it's going to take more. Autele has maxed out credit cards, and he estimates he's spent 12 to 15 hours a day getting the venture registered and legal, setting up ways for people to donate, and networking between the Hawaii Island Humane Society and the mainland.

It costs about $450 to ship each dog by cargo, so Autele is seeking volunteers to fly dogs as checked luggage to Portland, and volunteers willing to fly back with empty pet carriers.

"The infrastructure is in place now," he said.

Kimo's gum disease

About the end of last year, I was noticing that Kimo's leg was looking scaley and I noticed that he started dripping pink saliva.  Then he started not eating that well.

So I finally took him to the vet.

I thought it might be a skin problem or maybe a return of the mange, but it turned out that Kimo had gum disease.  It looked pretty bad, so it was diagnosed that he would have to have teeth extracted.

They took a blood test to make sure that he would be OK for the anesthetic and got a call back for Dr. Kamiya saying the blood test was mostly good and they would call back with an estimate.  Never got a call back so I called them after a few days.  They gave me a verbal estimate, but apparently they were having equipment problems so they couldn't do it right away.

So not wanting to wait, I did a search for dog dentistry Hawaii (or something) and came up with Aloha Animal Hospital and called them.

In the meantime he was really having trouble eating and I resorted to giving him raw egg mixed with small bits of fish.

They confirmed the diagnosis of gum disease and the vet (the weekend guy on duty) gave him some antibiotics.  With the antibiotics, he seemed to get a lot better.

I went back a few days later and saw Dr. Chang who's the head of Aloha Animal Hospital.

Yep, gum disease.  But he didn't like some of the readings of the blood test (in particular the albumen).  So the plan was to give him her antibiotic and some A/D canned food which was meant to build him up.

Kimo's condition got better with the antibiotics and the food.

The next blood test (a couple weeks later) was much better but still not quite back in the desired range.  We could take a chance and operate or try to build him up some more.

The second one.  So a couple of weeks later another blood test (which turned out to be improved and in range).

In the meantime, I took him to another vet for confirmation and possible alternative treatment.  And yep, gum disease confirmed.

Decided to stick with Dr. Chang for the operation and took him in the next week.  He pulled out most of this teeth.  Told me some of them more brittle which was a sign of bad nutrition.  He still has a couple of his front teeth and a few of his back teeth.

He prescribed puppy food for the next few months to build him up and recommended Hills Science Diet A/B which is what he feeds his dogs (if it's good enough for him...)

The first day or so, he didn't want to eat.  Don't blame him.  But then started eating more after a couple of days.

Took him back after a couple of weeks.  Gums look much better now.  But still has some rough skin condition on his lower front leg.  Told me to shampoo it off.  I told him I thought it might be his mange coming back.

Dr. Chang was surprised that was still on ivomec.  Told me that he has never had a dog in his practice on ivomec permanently.  So did a skin scraping which came back negative and took him off the ivomec.

I kind of combed off the scales off his leg but didn't bathe him yet.  And am giving him canned food with his kibble.  He seems to have a little more energy but his poop is starting to get soft again, especially after the first poop which is normally OK.  Maybe it's because I'm trying out different canned foods.

So now the crisis is over and am now in monitor mode.

Petey

Petey, Malia's terrier passed away a couple of months ago.

Petey was a dominant dog.  Malia said he used to chase kids in her neighborhood.

And even at home, he used to nip at Shirley (their black cocker spaniel) when she got too close.

I remember trying to walk Petey with Kimo.  They both got into it.  It probably took a minute or two for them to settle down enough for me to walk them, but it seemed like a lot longer.

I had to have them on opposite sides of me as Petey would tend to lunge at the other dogs.  I didn't really walk him all that much, but he seemed to be getting a little better each time.  Emphasis on little.

I started walking him occasionally but then he hurt his leg and I laid off for a while.

Then I remember getting him after not seeing for a long while and was surprised that he seemed happy to see me and ran up to me.  He actually walked pretty well using the choke chain (which acted more or less a collar, not really used for corrections).

Petey is another one I'll miss.