Lacey’s latest adventure

Lacey’s latest adventure was when she went to the drs office while mom and dad went to the dr and there were many people telling her she was cute..well one lady wanted to play with her but pup was not so welcoming because the lady had gloves on her hand so when the lady picked her up to carry her the poor thing was shaking….After we went down to Hawaii Kai all the poor thing did was go into her “whimpy whimp” routine where she would just whimper,whimper and go to the door.Thought she had to go pee but she didn’t.After we left Hawaii Kai she stopped.I think she felt insecure when the lady with the gloves picked her up.It was a new experience for her.

By the way Lace is doing great.She’s healthy and is ready to celebrate Christmas….

Latest Lacey update

Lacey’s continuing to do well…The latest news is that she got a new carrier..a red one made by Fashion Pet…It’s a bit taller than her pink one(don’t know the brand) and is a lot more roomier so she likes to put her head inside a lot of the time…It keeps her secure doing the car rides unlike the pink one she was able to get in and out quickly and therefore a lot of the time she was out of her carrier other than when we put her inside…
Lacey’s new carrier:http://www.petco.com/product/11433/PETCO-Soft-Sided-Pet-Carrier.aspx
She also has a new “matting spray” called BioGroom Coat Polish Sheen…It works very well…Compared to her previous matting spray made by Gold Medal Pets and it didn’t work as well as BioGroom to say the least..At times we had to use scissors to cut off a mat…The spray was “cold” to pup so she wouldn’t stay still half of the time…

BiGroom Review
While they have the ingredients on their website I was very disappointed that it was not on the bottle…Still regardless…the spray is really like a little mist…Apparently does not feel “cold” to pup when I spray the mat becauase overall she stays very still most of the time til the mat is easily taken out by the spray..Even the biggest mats that you’d think you’d use scissors with BioGroom I have never used a spray or really a brush except to brush some fur away from the matted area…Really all I have done is spray the matted area,moist/saturate it and work with my fingers..Never had to use scissors!

We don’t post as often as before since her health is generally a lot better but will post updates from time to time!

Lacey meets Cody

Today(Thursday May 26)Lacey met Cody(a Beagle mix)who is living downstairs with my brother’s co-worker….She(Lace)has never met Cody til today.We were going outside to visit Aunty Betsy like she greets her everyday and then we saw Cody(Beagle Mix)with his ownere(Jamie)who were about to take a walk.The two dogs hit it off.He has a very nice personality..definatly from the Beagle breed and was very nice towards Lacey.He didn’t mind her sniffing and was not once aggressive.You could tell Lacey didn’t mind Cody at all despite him being bigger than her…He was even bigger than Micah(my mom’s boss’ dog..JRT/King Charles Cavilier looks/acts more like a JRT)yet she didn’t mind Cody.

I think what Lacey minds is not the size of another dog but the personality.If both dog(s) are friendly they should do just fine which is something we’ll keep in mind when we add another dog to the pack several years from now.With Cody being downstairs she has been barking a lot more so now I am doing some clicker training with her and I think she’s getting the hang of it slowly so we’ll keep working on it…You can tell she’s puzzled and her brains are working!

Monitoring Lacey on Blue Buffalo 3 grain dry food & her health

Lacey has recently started to accept Blue Buffalo pretty much on a daily basis after a day of pretty much “force feeding” her the Blue Buffalo after lunch one afternoon.I didn’t shove it down her throat or anything like that but I pretty much made her open her mouth & crunch it.She got at least 1/16 cup down half of one eighth so that was good.Since then she’s been eating it almost on a daily basis.I am monitoring her health on the Blue Buffalo “3 grains” Small Breed very closely.So far she’s doing good..Bowels are perfect every time!Energy is no doubt high energy!Blue Buffalo’s labels do not lie!Even on Halo’s she didn’t have that much energy…Already her fur is becoming softer…Some people say their dog has “bunny fur”..Don’t know if it’s the food or what.What I’m looking for if it doesn’t agree with her in any way or any dry food for that matter is
1-Regurgitation of any brand.That’s the most obvious one to tell me to avoid x brand of dry dog food and all flavors.Such happened with Canidae ALS Grain Free
2-Soft Bowels.That happened with Wellness Dry Food
3-After a month of x dry food should there be any health issues stop x food
4-Others are itching,losing fur etc…

Good
1)Good firm bowels
2)Accepts it
3)Eats it for a month with no medical issues….means it’s working

A Lacey medical update:Getting a culture

Today we went to see Dr Kaya for a check up and since she’s been getting recurrent UTI(which I believe is due to heavy grains–Dr Kaya didn’t say it was linked to the grains but I have given the staff an outline from last November til March 2010) Dr Kaya suggested we get an culture done which we will send to the mainland.He doesn’t mention it right away due to cost:cost is running us over $170.00 minus tax!We gave her last dose of Clavamox on Monday morning so we have got to take her back on Wednesday for the culture. I also mentioned that she is licking her vulva & fyi for other owners is to check the base of the tail(lift the dog’s tail and check the base of the tail where the poop comes out & if it’s dirty your dog has been licking.The dirty looking part is moreorless from irritation)
Tips that Dr Kaya shared with us
-Check your dog’s temp
-Look for pain by pressing your dog’s legs,tummy,unusual whimpers/cries/refusing to eat favorite food
-Check the breathing
-feel the tummy
-Smell the ears
-Check the vulva:Is it red?Swollen?
-Check for licking:Check the base of the tail for color ie black
-Vomit
-Cough
-Throw up
-Odd behavior
—-Call your vet!

04012010:Suspician of UTI:Update

Lacey is doing better energy wise & eating.She’s now putting up a small struggle for her Clavamox but hopefully she won’t get an yeast infection.Clavamox she handles it pretty well overall.She did have soft bowels on it for a few days but thankfully not as bad as when she tried the Wellness dry food.After a few days her bowels were back to normal.On TOTW Bison,Halo’s & Earthborn she is doing very well with the rotation.Energy is good.It’s comparable to her almost eating freeze dried raw honestly. We did have a very tiny scare with two tiny spots on her tummy.It was a little red so I kept an eye on it.days later it’s gone.

TOTW Samples review by Lacey

Nothing can describe Lacey’s reaction to TOTW except the words:AWESOME,AWESOME,AWESOME!!!!!
Lacey LOVES LOVES LOVES IT without a doubt!!!
This morning we had gotten a package from TOTW.We were waiting on it for over a week already..Last year’s response with Chicken Soup was a much quicker response but she didn’t care for it a lot..The response for Halo’s was a lot better than Chicken Soup.That was a different blog though.

When my mom brought in the box Lacey was sniffing at it already. I opened up the box to find 2 trail packages of the Wetland Formula & 2 trial packages of the High Prairie Formula.I opened up the duck formula(Wetland) and here is Lacey just begging for more…more…and more…..She took it in almost less than half a second and gulped it down in a matter of seconds..Figuring she loves duck I decided to try TOTW after hearing so many raving reviews on dogster.We can find it locally…but we are holding off on halo’s for a bit 2 see how she’ll do on totw before we put it in her rotation.once i know how she does on the totw formulas we may or may not add it to her rotation.she’ll always go back on halo’s though..

So now we don’t have to get Nature’s Best and we won’t even bother with Nature’s Variety Duck Formula.
Her diet consists of Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wholesome Chicken,Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wild Salmon,TOTW Wetlands,TOTW High Prairie,and Merricks can food a few times a year.I plan on keeping her on this combination unless ingredients change with the companies and we’ll know that when she starts to refuse the food for days at a time..

Stumped….

I am absolutely stumped with Lacey.You know,she does so well on Halo’s..Her bowels are consistent and firm….there’s dehydrated fruits & veggies that she’ll eat…but when you give her primal(she doesn’t like the vinegar..see previous blogs),stella & chewy beef(doesn’t like the flavor.good bowels…lamb causes soft bowels but loves the flavor)…solid gold may give her soft bowels(currently looking into it by giving halo’s one day,earthborn another,solid gold just a wee bit another..will know more by next weekend),doesn’t really care for the honest kitchen dehydrated raw food…i’d really like to place her on another brand of food even raw but the way she reacts to all of them and the brands available down in hawaii is so limited that we just can’t do it(raw)..again the carobs,amount of fish play factors into the type of food she eats,beet pulp,ingredient list should have good variety(see previous blogs)..so what will we try next?right now,i don’t have a clue..i will look on dogster to see what other brands are a possibility to try…maybe a sample of a different choice of earthborn could be an option?maybe trying barking at the moon from solid gold???for a while i will look into how she does on solid gold just a wee bit if it is giving her soft bowels & look into other brands…

Looking back at Lacey’s first year:Health and all

Name:Lacey Princess Maltipoo Akamine
Current Weight at one year old:7.11 pounds according to vet records,7.6 according to home weight
Birth Date:March 13 2009
Born:Kailua,HI
Breed:Maltese/Toy Poodle
Mom:Poodle
Dad:Maltese
Adopted:july 17 2009
Age of adoption:16 weeks old
Found on:Kijiji.com
Price:$600
Name of Vet:Dr John Kaya
Vet Hospital:VCA Animal Hospital aka VCA University Hospital
Weight at first vet visit:4.5 pounds
Dog Food:Science Diet & IAMS,Beneful Prepared Meals till December 2009
Puppy Pad Training:9 weeks
Health Issues:Yeast infection in ear,worms,UTI,Spaying(February 2010)
First Heat:November 2009
First Treats:Nutro Dog Biscuits,Pupperoni,The Goodlife Recipe treats
First Walk:November 2009
Shortest Walk:<<<than 5 minutes
Longest Walk:62 minutes on her birthday
First Time Out: December 2009
First Thanksgiving:Thanksgiving 2009:Family Dinner
First Christmas:Christmas 2009:A new top,Waggin Train
Brands of dog food we tried:Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit,Chicken Soup for the Pet lover's Soul,Wellness Super5Mix Small Breed/Super5Mix Complete Health Chicken,Halo's Spot's Stew
Current Dry Food Brands:Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit,Halo's Spot's Stew(Wholesome Chicken & Wild Salmon flavors),Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural
Brands of Can Food we tried:Natural Balance,NV Instinct & Prairie can food,Wellness Can Food then lost interest,Halo's Spot's Stew Can Food,Merricks
Current Brands of Can Food:Merricks
First introduced to Raw(Freeze Dried):January 2010
Started accepting Freeze Dried Raw:Feburary 2010
Brands we tried:Stella & Chewy till APril 2010 then we'll be switching to Nature's variety Freeze Dried
First Freeze Dried Raw Treat:Primal Pet Turkey Liver(A birthday present)
Organic Treats she's tried:Trader Joe's,Waggin' Train,No Grainers
First Boarding Facilities we considered:Di Ventus Dog Hotel & Spa
First Boarding Facilities we looked at:The Ohana Doggie Day Care,Pets in the city
First Starts understanding people conversations:7-8 months old
First Command:SIT
Commands she knows:sit,stay,don't move,time out,sit & stay,shake paw/hand,"eat",hi5,shake your tail,down aka sit,lay down,kiss,learning roll over,"wait",inside,outside,table manners at the table
Uses Common Sense while walking:About 8-9 months old
Checks for cars like a human(right,left,right,left,center,then walk)about 10 months-1 year old
Goes outside for afternoon poop:December 2009-learned by example of aunty's dogs
Vaccinations:Distemper,Parvo,Lepto
First Carrier:casual Canine
First Crate:Pet Mate Kennel Cab
Characteristics:A definite mix of Maltese/Toy Poodle.Brains of the poodle.Looks of a maltese.eyes are poodle.Loves to play.Loves to sample food
Types of food she tried:Mexican,Italian,Japanese,Chinese
Favorite Fast Food:KFC chicken skin
Shops we shop at:Naturally Pet,Halo’s Purely for Pets,The Pet Spot,Kalihi Pet Store
Misc:Also tried Hartz Oinkies
Able to climb steps:10-11 months old
First Shampoo;Sergent’s Puppy Shampoo
Current Shampoo:Halo’s Cloud Nine Herbal Shampoo/Earthbath Shampoo
Grooming:Cardinal Pet Gold Metal Pets Unicoat Professional Spray

Lacey learns manners at the dinner table

I’ve been teaching Lacey how to have table manners at the table.I will bring her up to a chair.Bring the chair closer to the table so that she’s able to reach the table.Place a food(that’s ok for her to have.Nothing dangerous to her health)on the table then she’ll eat it.After she will sit down in the chair(just like when you tell her to sit on the floor for a table food)and wait for the next piece to be placed on the table.Routine repeats until she’s finished the small portion of food that was made for her.Then when she’s done she’s supposed to jump down from the chair.(she hasn’t mastered this part yet but most of it she caught on in a matter of only minutes)