Days of Luna

Our dog is dying.

Two and a half weeks ago we found out Luna has advanced lymphoma, and it's come on fast and strong. Due to her age (we're pretty sure she's at least 10,) and various other factors, we're foregoing chemo and radiation, and instead treating her symptoms with prednisone.

Anyways, I've decided to start taking a photo a day to celebrate her last days with us: "____ Days of Luna." No promises, but hopefully they won't all be of her lazing around. Even though yes, that's pretty much her jam. You can follow along on Instagram here #DaysOfLuna.

Dark humor alert: My husband and I used to jokingly play "Dead dog?/Asleep dog?" when we'd come home to Luna, sprawled out in the sun, in a blissful--and yes, very still-- sleep. Good times. The lady can nap like no other.

Shockingly, when your dog has advanced cancer and still loves to lounge about, the game is really not so fun.

But its the first thought I have when I look outside and see a puddle of fur in the grass.

Photos taken during her first week with us in 2010.

Cute explosion

Have you guys seen the series Zoey and Jasper by photographer Grace Chon, of her son and their rescue dog?

Heart melting.

Our dog is pretty patient, but we would have to do a series of lounging photos as that's more her forte:

Anyways, click on the first two photos for more and prepare for cute explosions.

Taking Pretty Pictures...

Did you know I'm on Instagram? I admit I haven't totally gotten the hang of the "social media" aspect of it yet, but it sure is fun to take pretty pictures. Right? If ya wanna, come say hi. Though be warned: 98% of all the photos are of my animals. So yeah... it's good stuff.

So Tempting

We're teaching our dog, Luna, "Leave it." She's getting really good at it, but it's hilarious and kind of heartbreaking to watch her figure it out. She copes by just not looking at whatever treat she's not aloud to touch. The whole thing reminds me a lot of this video:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/5239013]

Bite.

Our dog bit another dog last week.  Our beautiful, calm, sweet dog in an instant ripped a part of another dog's ear off.  Every time I think about it, I want to throw up. It was an awful experience, but you would not believe how kindly the humans involved treated each other.  I was beyond impressed by the other dog owner's caring and empathic demeanor  in the face of such violence.  I hope I would have reacted the same, were the situation reversed.  All in all, the best possible outcome, considering: humans who were able to take care of the situation, and the injured pup healing--with stitches.

But still, I am shaken and upset.

Luna is teaching me about loving the whole of a being. Not just the sparkly, happy bits, but the darker, muddier parts that can be scary and need some work.

Pup

We're fostering a dog! We've been talking about adding a pup to our little family for ages now, but the prospect of finding the right one seemed a bit daunting.   But I had dogs on the brain.  (I have for years.)  We realized fostering might be the way to go.  So a couple weeks ago, when I spotted a calm, 3 year old --who was good with cats!-- needing a New England foster, we jumped!

She is adorable.

Seriously, the photos do not do her justice.  More to come...

New Mailers and a Dose of Cute

Hooray my new postcards are in!  They look great.  Now to mail them out.  I just remembered I need to design a label with my info for the backs...So a new design, more labels, some printing and off they go.  I'll put some in the shop as well.   In un-related news: Look what I found hiding in the bathtub the other night:

Oh, hello.

Welcome back.

There's been a lot going on around here, so there's lots to talk about. Like birthdays! and presents that were made. New dresses, ladies trip to New York, rowing in the rain, lunch with dear girlfriends from forever ago, a lovely dinner, taxes... and having a big dog visitor.

We got to dog sit for our friends for a few days. Samson is a wonderful old-ish German Shepherd. So laid back and sweet. We went on lumbering walks through the neighborhood. We drove around with him and laughed at how exciting the car ride was. We told him to lie down in his bed and... he did! The mister and I looked at each other in shock as it occurred to us that dogs are not cats. How lovely!

He was so calm the kitties decided he was mostly alright.

Our idyllic dog time ended with our ninety pound visitor napping in bed with the mister.  

An occurrence, only hours earlier, we couldn't imagine happening.  But Samson was happy to convince us otherwise.

oh look at that little muffin!

Packing

In preparation for my move this Saturday, I'm now surrounded by an apartment that looks like this:

To my surprise, the kitties are mostly just having lots of fun with the new piles of boxes everywhere.  Hudson has co-opted this one in particular:

 

Watch out.  His new favorite game involves sneaking around ( in/with the box in tow) and swiping at unsuspecting ankles:

           

Its very hard work, but the holes provide a perfect kitty nose-rest.

I'm still off to get Rescue Remedy to help smooth over the upcoming, unprecedented, car ride. Not too mention a whole new home.

The other day they both decided to pack themselves:

 

Thanks guys, very helpful.

Hair as far as the eye can see

On the recommendation of many people, I got a Furminator!  Well, sort of.   In a fit of desperation-- I need a cat brush NOW!-- I walked into Petco.  And walked out of the store 52 dollars lighter.  What?  Yup.  They were behind the counter, which took a while for me to figure out, and by the time I made it to the front of the line and explained what I wanted, when I glanced down at the total it wasn't shocking enough to make me stop everything there.  I know-- it should have been.  But don't worry! I asked about their return policy-- basically you can return anything, even opened, for 30 days.  Even so, by the time I got to the subway I was basically hyperventilating over my $50 brush.  I calmed myself by promising I would return it, but not before trying it out.  

SO I tried it out! And really it just looks like a regular metal brush but with more, and tinier teeth.  Whatever. It works really well.  The cats don't love it, but they don't love being brushed in general.  Yes, brushing them is a pain.  And you still have to vacuum and clean up hair.  (Though it is supposed to cut down on shedding.  We'll see.)   But at least with this brush, you get so much hair in a few swipes, dealing with the frustration of brushing is more gratifying.  More bang for your buck.  

But not enough to warrant 50.   

I was very proud of myself for actually returning the darn thing.  And now SO proud of myself for ordering another from EntirelyPets.com.  And after reading a review on Apartment Therapy's Re-Nest, I got a Pet Hair Magnet for the couches.  (I know it sounds ridiculous, but its supposed to work. Again, we'll see.) Total: Just shy of 30 bucks. That included shipping.  

They'll be here in 4 to 6 days.  yay.