Heart worm test

Before we tell you about the heart worm test, we have some sad news to share.  Our older cat Oscar (Breeze's buddy) was euthanized a few days ago.   Oscar's health had been failing for a while.  He began stumbling every so slightly back around the beginning of November and also had some intestinal issues.  We got the intestinal issues cleared but his stumbling became more frequent and worsened to the point where Oscar was falling and not able to walk more than a few steps at a time.  

We don't really know what caused this, our veterinarian suggested it may be a brain tumor, but we do know that it was something with his central nervous system since all four limbs were affected.  

Oscar

Oscar was a rescue and the shelter (same one where Callie was adopted), at the time of his adoption estimated his age at eight or nine years old.  Oscar lived with us for four and a half wonderful years.

We aren't without a dude though, we still have Gerrard a.k.a. The Wonder Kitty and I think that in a future post we'll tell you more about him and why he is the wonder kitty.

Okay, back to the happy tone that we want for this blog.

Where we live, we test for heart worm in April.  Breeze was at the vet's a few days ago for her test since when she was adopted back in July (where has the time gone?!) she could have been exposed, so rather than wait, we decided to test early.  She has been on heart worm prevention since adoption.

Hooray - negative!

While at the vet's, Breeze was weighed and at age nine months, she is now tipping the scales at a long legged and muscular 48 pounds.  Now, to some of you, that may not sound like much, but in a home of Australian Cattle Dogs, she's big. 

Breeze, Forest and Oscar

Breeze's posting on the Blind Deaf Shelter Dog website (which lists blind and/or deaf shelter dogs across North America, most of which are are within days of being euthanized...just in case you're interested and maybe can save the life of a special needs dog...come on, I had to put that in there!) indicated that she was an Australian Cattle Dog mix.  I think the emphasis should be on mix.  I haven't yet measured her height but she is probably one and a half to two inches taller than Callie who is the biggest of the pack.

We talked a bit about what mix she could be since and the vet agrees that there is likely some lab in her (Breeze has the "lab butt wiggle"), possibly some Cattle Dog, possibly shepherd, possibly some Dalmatian and whatever other breed we'd like to add.  We've also had people say she looks like a small great dane.

Since Breeze still has more growing to do, she'll easily be big enough to become a canine blood donor at the University's teaching hospital/small animal clinic.  The requirements are a minimum of 50 pounds and at least a year old.  It's something we will be inquiring about.

Our unseasonably warm weather continues.  It's still raining with record setting high temperatures forecast of 11C/52F for today but tomorrow is to be a high of only -2C/28F with sun.  We'll probably check out some trails and see if they're frozen mud or just mud.  Either way, the pack will be happy to be outside without rain!