100% supervision

Hi, it's Muffin,
my cookies & chips plan did not work out. Our dog sitter somehow knew which food we get and also how much.
Tina is back since almost a week now and stays at home all day since she catched a cold and is totally sick. It's nice to have her around so much, but it also means 100% supervision. No chance to steel any food from the kitchen counter...

dog sitter

wow, Tina is gone for 3 days and Poldi and I have a so called "dog sitter". It's one of Tina's friends and Poldi knows her since he was a little puppy, he said.
Anyway, I will try to convince her that little doggies get cookies for breakfast and like chips while watching TV with their humans. I hope my plan will work out.
We still have snow, it's about 20 cm high and I loved it as long as it was like powder. After we had some rain the snow is now rock hard like ice and sometimes I have trouble to make my way through it. The icy crust doesn't always carry me and then I break through. For Poldi it's worse since he is heavier than I am.
I am wearing two sweaters now when we go out since it got really cold and windy.
Ok, I'll go back to our dog sitter now to work on my plan....cookies and chips....

let it snow....

so, winter is here now....

.

Winter storm warning in effect.

Hallo hier ist Poldi,

Tina sagt heute Nacht soll es anfangen zu schneien und erst morgen abend wieder aufhoeren.
Dazu wird es wohl sehr windig und deswegen nennen es die Kanadier snow storm.

Ich weiss was Schnee ist, aber Tina sagt hier kann der Schnee manchmal so hoch liegen dass ich nicht mehr rausgucken kann....ich bin soooo gespannt!

Yeah, and I, Muffin, don't like it too much. As a Canadian, I am used to it. I am a poodle and snow gets trapped in my fur and I would look like a snow ball...se let's see how much snow we really gonna get tonight.

We will post pictures.....

Good news!

Muffins blood work resulted better values than in September!
Still, they indicate kidney failure but it seems to be stable.

Mainly BUN (blood urea nitrogen) and creatine are elevated. BUN is at 15 mmol/L (should be between 2-9) at was at 29 in September.
Creatine is stable around 180 (should be between 27-124).

His blood globulin concentrations are too low and decreased since September. From what I understand, it means that his immune systems isn't the best and I wonder the immune system fails to come up after the antibiotic treatment he got in September.

His urine was less concentrated than last time but that might be a result from all the water he drunk the day before since he found the can with instant hot chocolate powder on the kitchen counter....(* I should write an extra post about which kind of food  Muffin would "steal" without supervision)

And, eventually Muffin gained weight and is not underweight anymore. This last point means a lot since ongoing kidney failure is often associated with weight loss. So it's a good sign that  Muffin is able to gain weight.

Now, we are all looking forward to the snow that is not yet forecasted...YIPIEEEEEEEEEEEH!

another blood test...

Hi, it's Muffin.

Today, Tina told me that tomorrow we are going to do another blood test .
Puh......I am scared!
I know they will again shave my leg and then again this needle......I don't want that!

But Tina said it is absolutely neccessary.
She said that it's very likely that my health has improved and the values aren't worse than last time. But it is important to check whether my diet is right or not.

So, I hope the blood test will tell Tina that she should feed me much much much more food :-)

keep fingers cross for me...

DOGS ON THE BEACH

did you know that dogs see the world in black and white....?

pee head....

on our way to Parsborro/Partridge Island, Muffin sat in the car on the lap of our brazilian friend. She loves dogs and we were talking about Muffin and she said that he would behave a bit like he'd be blue blooded.
He always seem to assume that everybody has to like him and that he he seemed to use her as a comfortable sort of car seat.

Muffins Diet

Since Muffin's got these kidney problems he gets a home made diet that the vet suggested.
This diet contains less protein and less phosphorus than most dog food and is easily prepared.

Recipe:

500gr. ground beef (not lean)
4 eggs
6-8 cups of boiled rice (not salted!)
200 - 300 gr. bread

I usually cook the rice and the ground beef separately, then mix them together, add eggs and bread and cook everything for another 5-10 minutes.
I also ground the egg shells and mix them with the food since they contain calcium, which is an important electrolyte/ mineral, especially when it comes to kidney failure
(kidney failure might cause elevated blood phosphorus concentrations, which the body tries to balance by also increasing the blood's calcium concentrations from calcium that is stored in the bones - osteoporosis is then likely to occur)
I also ad flex seeds and flex oil to make sure he gets enough omega fatty acids.

Muffin weighs around 5kg and gets portions of around 200-300 gr per day, divided into 2-3 meals (breakfast and supper, and most days also lunch)

I store daily portions in the freezer.

Also Poldi, who normally gets "normal" dog food (high quality, though) likes Muffins diet.

Photos

Here some pictures from our Trip to Parrsboro/ Partridge Island two weeks ago

it was cold and grey day - but that doesn't matter if you are at the sea - clouds sometimes make the interplay between the sun and the water even more beautiful...

and the sea might change it's colours within minutes....

after we left Partridge Island we shortly visited Parrsboro beach:

the dogs were already tired but also enjoyed it very much

Remembrance Day

is an important holiday in Canada. We've been for a long walk along the dikes. And found a special place.

(you can increase the photo size by a double click)

sunday evening

....psst.....are you still awake?

we just came back from another trip to the sea of Fundy Bay as u can see from the lighthouse in the back.

Some new stories to tell but it's late, Poldi already sleeps and Tina said no blogging anymore today....

so see you soon....

Muffin www.martinaloebl.com

ooooops

Hi, here is Muffin,
last night or better early this morning, something truly embarrassing happened to me....Tina said it might come from my kidney problems or from being too many hours inside...however, as I woke up it was already too late....my doggy bed was wet...
Tina worries a bit about my kidneys and said that we will have to redo a blood test this month anyway to see if my healthy life style helps to improve my kidney functioning.
....so let's hope for the best...Tina said that she is confident that everything will be fine....


www.martinaloebl.com

HALLOWEEN.....

....was a few days ago.
However, today Muffin seemed to see/smell/hear something very scary on our evening walk.
Normally, he is THE BIG GUY, king of the road, boss of the sidewalk. Not today though....after he heard or smelled this "something" he suddenly headed home, pulling at the leash, something that he normally wouldn't do at all.
Indoors, he still looked around as he was expecting a monster and got totally shocked as he saw a black animal coming out of the bedroom, which was only me -Poldi....I am still laughing...
www.martinaloebl.com

HI, here is Muffin. Does anybody want to know my opinion? Poldi has no idea about Canadian wildlife! He is german and thinks chasing squirrels means adventure. I lived in Canada all my life and on top of that, I was a stray for at least several weeks and know about skunks, porcupine, coyotes and others. So, IF I get scared - then there is a reason! What reason I had today will stay my secret, though.

Herbst in Kanada:

Deer Hunting Season

Hi,
I just received the following email from a trustworthy person:

"Just in case you are out in the country, the main deer hunting season opens on 26 October, and runs until 21 November (I think).
So, if you are walking in the woods or countryside, you are supposed to wear bright orange.

In general, it is a good time to stay out of dense woods, in case of stray bullets or careless hunters."


reminds me of a photo that I had taken recently 

Studio-Tour

Hi, last saturday Tina and a friend made a "Studio-Tour". Local artists opened their studios to the public. One of them was a famous photographer who is doing mainly black-and white photography. Tina seems to be inspired....

beyond the camera....

Hi there, it's Poldi.....for me it's sometimes boring when Muffin acts for hours as photo model and Tina takes pictures of him. Nobody wants to play with me then....anyway, we had a real nice day at the beach last weekend - see our post below-.

For this weekend, they forecasted rain...so no nice trips I guess...but let's see....

The BEACH!!!!

Today was Thanksgiving and we did another great Trip: We've been somewhere what Tina called "BEACH". Basically, it's tons of sand in front of lots of water. Poldi and I ran a lot, I chased first Poldi and then some Birds...Tina called them Seagulls and said that was not good. Ok. Learned that.

Then...I started to chase these waves.....

and then....I ran full speed into the water....ok, it was deeper than I thought but I have no idea why Tina freaked out....I CAN swim....she said something like: cold, too deep, tidal currents and so one....so, I ended up being at the leash again, while Poldi and our friend were playing....

Hiking at Partridge Island

we have another friend visting. Fall is great, beautiful sun and we've been hiking at Partridge Island, Nova Scotia near Parrsboro.
before I write too much - here the pictures

Dieses Schild erklaert, dass die taegliche Wassermenge, die hier durch die Bay of Fundy fliesst in etwa der Menge Wasser enspricht, die taeglich von allen Fluessen der Welt zusammen ins Meer fliesst!!!!
Das entspricht etwa der EnergieMenge von 200 mittelgrossen Atomanlagen....

obedience

eigentlich hoert Muffin ja schon ganz gut und Poldi ist sowieso prima- aber als ich gestern im Tierladen gehoert habe dass dort nebenan Obedience Kurse stattfinden habe ich direkt mitgemacht. Zuerst nur mit Pudel Muffin. Poldi musste im Auto warten. Es war erstaunlich wie gut Muffin mitgemacht hat. Naechstes Mal mache ich mit beiden Hunden mit - den im Alltag habe ich ja auch immer 2 an der Leine :-)

Wahooooooo

 Hi here is Poldi, Muffins best friend.

You won't believe what I have to tell: Muffin's got a SWEATER! He seems to like it but I find he looks awkward wearing that....we sometimes met the problem that he wouldn't want to go for a walk if it was raining. But I wanted and Tina had to carry him then. So, she decided to solve the problem with a doggy sweater for him....

yeah, Poldi is right -I've got a sweater-BUT: I like it!

It keeps me warm! They groomed me in late August because of all theses mats an knots and now it's fall and still my fur is so short....Anyway, I think Poldi has no idea about fashion ;-)