The Cone of Shame

Since June Harry has been battling back to back skin, ear, and paw infections.  He was prescribed soothing shampoos, omega-3 supplements, and steroids but once finished he would begin itching and scratching himself to the point of creating visible bleeding scratches on his face and under his body.  

In September we called our vet asking for an accompanying antibiotic to fight any infections that were going on due to Harry's scratching and as Harry weaned off the antibiotics and steroid (while we were in Europe) his skin and even his eyes began to inflame which resulted in a trip to Penn Dermatology.

Still snuggles, even with a cone on

Penn Dermatology so far has been so good.  They studied Harry in teams of students and gave us so much information it was actually overwhelming.  Then they sent us home with a packet which covered everything we talked about and more plus a crapload of drugs, treatments, ointments, soaks, and shampoo.  They also recommended Harry wear a t-shirt, and we took it a step further by also having him wear socks.

Harry's "frosted corn pops with marshmallows" aka drugs

So what's eating Harry?  It's not scabies (what we originally thought) and is likely allergies to something unknown.  Right now we're trying to figure out exactly what that is.  Harry's on a Purina diet of Hypoallergenic food which also comes with special treats called "Gentle Snackers" which is probably the worst name for a treat ever.  His food is prescribed and is super expensive.  And all the treats, peanut butters, toothpastes, even nylabones at home had to be put away as they could have an ingredient that Harry's allergic to.  Essentially, by putting Harry on this diet we're conducting an experiment.  The food is the constant, and we're supposed to clear Harry's infections and then observe to see if any scratching or licking occurs.  

After 8 weeks of food trialing, we need to reintroduce Harry to his old food, which for us was Blue Buffalo in Chicken flavor.  If he reacts with extreme scratching and paw licking then we know for sure he is allergic to his food.  At that point we can begin a food trial where we put him back on his special prescribed food and test him on a bi-weekly basis with a different kind of food.  We then observe his reactions and note whether or not he's allergic to it.  Just like scientists!  Harry's food test is the following:

1.  Cooked Ground Beef
2.  Cooked Chicken
3.  Cottage Cheese (or any other cheese)
4.  Soy (yea, we literally give Harry tofu!)
5.  Cooked Lamb (ok classy...)
6.  Hard Boiled Eggs (can't wait for the farts)
7.  Wheat (pasta, cereal, wheat germ)
8.  Corn
9.  Cooked Pork

After the testing is all done - which I feel will take 6 months - we'll have a list of what Harry is and isn't allergic to.  Then we can read ingredients and buy a cheaper food that won't irritate him.  However, if Harry is STILL itching after the food tests it may be due to seasonal or environmental allergies.  Harry's cousin Jager has been blessed with both and has to receive a shot every week.  Luckily his Mommy is a nurse.  I'm not sure how well the Foo and I are going to handle shooting up Harry every week.

So miserable.

We're really happy and Harry's really happy that he's feeling better.  It's been a pricey process, but it is seriously no fun at all having a sick puppy.  Cone of shame has been put away and now we just monitor Harry when we're home.  It'll be exciting to document all the food trials along the way - hope you're looking forward to it!

Happy Halloween Harry 2013

For the second year in a row Harry participated in the best holiday of the year.  Halloween is by far our favorite holiday as we're always looking for an excuse to dress up as something other than ourselves.  It's also super fun to imagine Harry dressed up as pretty much anything and I am more than happy to make it myself.  You may remember last year when our little family dressed up as Hall & Oates featuring Keyboard Cat (Harry).  This year we were a family of Potato Heads.

I made our costumes with felt, a sewing machine, and a hot glue gun....but the sewing machine wasn't even necessary.  The whole costume could be no sew if you're a non-sewer.  For Harry's costume, I cut out a potato shape and measured how big it should be by putting a scrap of felt over his body and cutting it where it should end.  Then I shaped this into the pear-like shape the Potato-Heads tend to have.  At first, it looked like a piece of toast, but with some shaping with my scissors it became potato.

In order to keep the potato on I had to add a strap under Harry's belly.  Again I took a scrap of felt and put it around his belly to see how long it needed to be.  I sewed this onto the inside of the potato, but could have easily used a glue gun.  On the opposite side I glued down velcro and I glued a piece of velcro to the strap so that I could easily secure his costume.  

The potato was still sliding down Harry's body and onto the floor so I decided to make a neck loop across Harry's chest.  I did this by gluing a scrap of felt on the inside of the potato and across Harry's chest.  No sew - just hot glue!  

Harry's facial features were made with felt and secured with velcro.  I didn't have time to make as many faces as I made for Harry's Dad's costume, but if ever there's a Toy Story party Harry will surely be prepared.  For Halloween, Dad let Harry borrow his bowler hat.  We couldn't get a shot of him as full on Mr. Potato Head, but you can use your imagination.  Maybe somebody should start selling mini dog bowler hats, because from the looks below, this hat was meant for Harry's scruffy sophistication.

Harry's Green Thumb Part II

By now you've noticed that the weather is making a turn for the worse.  These past few weekends we've enjoyed the best days ever...highs of 70s and sunny days.  If you remember back in May Harry helped me create a roof deck garden.  This October, he helped me rip it all out and replant for a winter garden.

Some pretty fascinating stuff happened while we were up there.  We found all the evil squirrels' hiding places for the tomatoes they steal from me.  Exhibit A (this pot was on top of a high shelf...sneaky squirrels):

And we also noticed some plants growing that we hadn't planted.  Exhibit B:

When squirrels were eating our ripened tomatoes I chucked the bits they leftover into a pot full of dirt hoping they'd compost or something.  Turns out that they turned into tomato plants.  We assumed it was a weed and after inspection saw that it was growing through a tomato that was tossed.  Seriously...we were fascinated.

We picked everything that had grown and we ripped out the plants we knew wouldn't be able to produce fully grown fruit before it got too cold.  Then we fed the dirt, raked it around, and planted our fall/winter garden of radishes, beets, carrots, and garlic.  

We also planted tulips that I brought over from Amsterdam on my Eurotrip.  The squirrels have taken a few hostage.  It's fun to keep up the habits instead of waiting around until May and we've never tried growing root vegetables, so it'll be cool to see how things turn out!

The Rescue Run 2013

One of the first things Harry and I did together upon returning from vacation (besides snuggling) was participate in the first annual Rescue Run benefiting the Monster Milers, a charity organization dedicated to volunteering at animal shelters across Philadelphia.  

Harry was ecstatic about going to the race.  He briefly saw me off at the Philadelphia Marathon in the morning, but this time he was able to see me start, finish, and celebrate post race.  Unfortunately Harry couldn't run the race with me, and I'm ok with that.  When Harry runs with a group, aka one other person besides me, it takes him at least 10 minutes of spastic shouty (I'm the one who's shouty) running to realize that he can't jump all over the person joining our run.  And it's not really any fun for our third party either...getting jumped on that is, running is hard enough on its own.

The Rescue Run was an out and back style 5k where everyone started together and ended whenever.  It was pretty casual but also timed for the serious runners.  The race maxed out at 500 runners - a sell out for year one, yahoo!  Since dogs weren't allowed to run on the course, they spectated, making it a very exciting day for Harry as he thrust himself forward to greet any and all fur-beasts in sight.  

As far as human spectators go, there weren't many.  Since the race was in the Navy Yard, most spectators were cheering racers on at the start/finish line rather than outside of their houses like they do for bigger races in the city.  One sign stood out that read along the lines of "Run faster!  There are puppies waiting for you at the finish!".  If only every race could give me this kind of motivation.  

The 5k was harder than I planned on, likely due to me not running a single mile over the two weeks I was in Europe.  But I think for me I got a respectable time that I will not share with the blogosphere because I prefer not to be judged.  We wrapped up the race by attempting to take a picture in front of the sweet logo wall.  Unfortunately all we really did there was embarrass ourselves in front of the well behaved pooches.  Perhaps next year Harry will be a bit more mellow.

Races benefiting dogs are amazing and this one in particular sponsors an awesome group of volunteers that I actually used to be a part of a couple years ago.  It's where I got my Harry-fix pre-Harry.  Consider joining or adopting from one of the many shelters in Philadelphia they volunteer in:  PAWS Wellness Clinic, PAWS Adoption Center, and Street Tails Animal Rescue!

Harry's Summer Vacation

Sorry for the lack of posting these past three weeks.  I just returned for a 2 week vacation in Europe and Harry returned from a 2 week vacation in cousinworld.  We are still struggling with Harry's health situation and the cone of shame came back earlier this week.  For 3 months we thought Harry was suffering from scabies, but now that he's had three treatments of Revolution and a crapload of antibiotics and steroids he's back to being really irritated, sad, and red.  Hopefully our appointment with Penn Dermatology sheds some light to the situation.  Cross your fingers (and paws) for us!

Back to vacation...Harry had so much fun with his fur-cousin Jager and his human cousin Kiera over the two weeks the boo (the foo now?) and I were in Europe.  Harry knew we were going away and refused to give us kisses goodbye or any kind of affection since he was mad at us, but his attitude completely changed when he arrived at his cousin Jager's house.  

First thing was first, him and his babysitter would need to discuss who was in charge.  Harry quickly established that.

After some compromise the roles were adjusted.

While we were biking through the green-green grass in Hyde Park, Harry buried himself in the yard with Jager effectively tiring out his cousin every single night of the week.

And while we indulged in Belgian chocolates, Harry and Jager indulged in vanilla ice cream to celebrate Jager's birthday...

Harry spent quality time with his cousins, and we spent quality time with each other...

But we didn't get as much time to snuggle and nap as Harry did...even though we were just as tired.

But even though all of us had an amazing time on our vacations...we were still ecstatic to see each other when we came home!

Harry slept for two days after his vacation while we had to go straight back to work.  Must be nice to live a dog's life!  He can't wait to visit with his cousins again soon!

Doggy Dining: Unleashed by Petco

This weekend was our last before the boo and I explore Europe and drop our pooch off with his fur-cousin and human-Aunt.  We vowed to make it extra special and Harry filled, which pleased Harry but in my opinion made him extremely suspicious given the concerned expressions I received this morning.  

The Granary (located off the Ben Franklin Parkway) is finished and leasing, and the retail spaces below have started to open up.  Over the weekend we visited Pizzeria Vetri sans Harry and saw that the new pet store, Unleashed, had opened up as well.  While we waited for a table at Vetri, we perused the store.  There were so many grand opening deals, I returned with Harry the next day to pick up a present for his fur-cousin Jager as a thanks for putting up with me wanting to play with you for 264 hours gesture.

Although we are huge loyal fans of the Fairmount Pet Shoppe, Unleashed offers more room for your pet to walk around without bumping into displays.  There's also a less likely chance that your dog will unintentionally shoplift a bone or jerky stick since they have more room to store those items up high while Fairmount Pet Shoppe uses every bit of their small space.

Harry began his shopping adventure by perusing the aisles of pet supplies.  We started with the ample array of water bowls, food bowls, and filtered water fountains.

Moving onto things that smell better, Harry veered towards the dog food.  Unleashed has all the brands you need including ours, Blue Buffalo.  There was no price difference between the Fairmount Shop and Unleashed on our brand - in case you were hoping for a new deal.  

We also smelled all the doggy shampoos just like I do when I shop for human shampoo (the best part of buying shampoo).  Petco had a huge selection - an entire aisle - dedicated to grooming.  They also offer a $10 do it yourself dog wash.  This is free in my house and called a bathtub, but for those with a shower only situation, this is a great option.

Eventually we made our way to the toy aisle and picked out a present for Jager.  The toy section was heavy on the stuffed animals, which is good for Harry's fur-cousin...a giant German Shepherd with a preference for fluffy toys that he takes care of for years...but not the best for Harry the destroyer.  As you can see behind him, there are definitely some heavy chewer Kong items, and there are less of the rubber chicken/rubber foot/rubber hot dog type toys.

The absolute best part of Unleashed is their candy store style cookie bar.  The treats are all labeled with ingredients and their special features - like bone health, or gluten free - and they're made with all natural ingredients.  They even taste good!  I tried them.  Harry will do anything you say for one of the treats in the cookie bar, and the staff at Unleashed had fun watching him swallow cookies whole.  

On opening weekend, our purchase included a free 1lb bag of a variety of cookie bar treats...we took advantage of this twice in one weekend...a free frisbee, a free tote bag, and our purchase of Jager's toy (a stuffed Chewbacca) included an additional free item that Harry kept.

May the force be with you!

We're definitely going to visit Unleashed for treats on a regular basis.  It makes for a good walk, and if Pizzeria Vetri ever gets outside seating it will make for a perfect doggy date.

Country Summer

Our summer certainly was a lot of fun with Harry, but the past two months we've been back and forth with the vet to treat Harry's constant itching.  We think it may be due to scabies but it's difficult to test because the bugs scatter when it's time to do a skin sample.  With a treatment of Revolution and lots of baths and now steroids and antibiotics, Harry is on his way to healthy.  Since it's no fun being a sick puppy I thought I'd reminisce on Harry's trip to the countryside earlier this summer.

Every year there's a family reunion up north in New Jersey - bordering alongside New York state.  It's definitely no Staten Island; more like a middle of nowhere.  Harry adores the vast acres of cushy grass and clean smells.  Literally for the last 20 miles of travel Harry's head was out the window sniffing.  As it was a family reunion, Harry reunited with his cousin Jager who spent most of his time in the pond.

Harry even met new cousins he didn't even know he had.  He spent lots of time chewing on sticks, ruining bocce ball games, and frolicking with his new cousin friends.  

As you can imagine, Harry was exhausted afterwards.  He doesn't really stop playing - go hard or go home must be his life motto.  It made for a quiet ride home.  Harry's cousin Jager on the other hand, went home stinky and wet from pond water.  In these instances I appreciate not having a water dog, although Jager was extremely entertaining.

Family reunions are yet another event that is made a hundred times better with a dog.  Those awkward moments of nothing to talk about with a family member you haven't seen in three years?  Banished by the charm of your fuzzy slobbering beast.  Now get on petfinder and adopt yourself a distraction dog.

Here's to the end of a hot hot summer, and to a calmer cooler fall!