How to get more life from these “squeaky toys”

In my last post, I showed you pictures of Miss Greta’s squeaky toys and the one that survived and the ones that didn’t. Well, my mom was over for a visit and I was showing her Greta’s toys and that I was going to throw them out. She had a great idea! She said that as long as the “squeaky thing” still worked and all of the fiber fill was still in tact, she suggesting just taking it and placing it all in a sock and knot it at the top.Well, I went to my husband’s dresser and pulled out one of his socks. I stuffed the sock with the fiber fill and the squeaky thing and knotted the top. SHE LOVED IT! It was like a brand new toy for her that still squeaked. And she doesn’t chew threw it. Of course I can’t say that any other dog won’t be able to rip it apart, but Greta didn’t. So if you have any of your dogs toys that they have ripped apart, just take it and put it in a sock to give it more of a life span.  Of course I just used a plain white sock but I’m sure we could use colored socks or socks that have those funky designs too.Of course, my husband now has one lone sock in his drawer, but at least we can’t say that they got lost in the laundry! 🙂  

Greta’s Toys

Greta loves squeeky toys. Now that she is a week post-op from her spaying, she is full of life again. So I went out and bought her 3 new squeeky toys. She has had many, but she squeeks them until she rips them open and the “squeeky thing” come out. Here is her first one. It is a duck that actually sounds like a duck when it is squeezed. This one lasted about 2 hours. So no more quacking for this toy. And if you notice you will see Miss Greta’s paws. I was taking these pictures on the table, so she just had to be up there looking too.
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Here is the second toy:

This one lasted about 24 hours. As you can see, she pulled the stuffing out and the little squeeky thing.

And here is the third one:

Now this one is still hanging in there. It isn’t as cute, cuddly or original, but it is made out of a heavy canvas type material that seems to last. She has a similar one that has lasted for months. It doesn’t squeek anymore, but she can’t chew through it.

I use to sew her squeeky toys so she could get more life out of them and so we could get our monies worth out of them. But that was a great waste of time. And these are just a few of her inside toys. She has specific outside toys as well. They are bones and balls that are made from that heavy rubber. We also have a frisbee for her, which she loves, but we haven’t found one yet that she can chew through.

So Miss Greta is doing fine after her spaying and everything seems to be back to normal.

So until nex time……………

Greta Gets Spayed

On January 14, 2008 we had Greta spayed. We dropped her off at the vets that morning about 7:30. She clearly has no loyalties, since she went more than willingly with the assistant at the vets office. And can I say that she never looked back either. She just thinks it is “all about her”! And of course it is. 🙂 The vets office called us about 1pm to tell us she went through surgery fine and that we could pick her up about 4:30 that evening.

Before we decided to have her spayed, we did some reseach on the pros and cons involved. We also discussed it with our vet who was definately in favor of spaying. The vet said that if we did not spay Greta and she continued her heats without breeding her, the vet would garentee Greta would develop cancer by 7-8years old. So my husband and I made the decision to have her spayed after her 2nd heat. And when I say that “I” and my husband made the decision to have her spayed, I was reluctant. I am a naturalist at heart, but not to an extreme,and feel that there is a normal function for all living things. For example: Women don’t get hysterectomies just because they will never have children. And yet we do it in the animal world. So, science won out and I caved and Miss Greta got spayed. My husband is the more logical one and usually follows things by the book and also respects the experts. Not to mention that I think if me and Greta were drowning, he would save Greta first. So I know that he also loves Miss Greta and is looking out for her best interest.

She came home shaved, groggy and full of stitches. They also send pain medication (Metacam) that we were to give her every morning for the first three days.

So the next morning, (first day post-op) she ate and drank very little and we gave her the pain medication. She whinned continuously. She also was ok on urinating but no bowel movement.

On the 2nd day post-op, we gave her the pain medication again. She ate and drank very little and still whinned continuously. And again no bowel movement, but urination ok. She seemed to be an intirely different dog. She was affraid of everything and preferred to be in her crate. Which was unusual since she only was in her crate at night of if we weren’t home. She never went in by herself. We even notice her getting on one of the beds under on of the comforters. Clearly not like Greta at all.

So on day 3 post-op, we chose not to give her the pain medication and she ate a bit more and drank a bit more. She did finally have a ‘small’ bowel movement.

It is now 5 days post-op and Greta is much better. Although she still whinnes and will still go into her crate on her own free will at any given time. Her appetite is back to normal as is her drive to play. Oh and when she whinnes, she is LOUD!

She goes back to the vet on 1/28/2008 to have her stitches removed. We are greatful that Greta has not attempted to chew on her stitches. In fact she hardly even acknowledges the area.

Here are some pictures of Greta, 2nd day post-op:

So there is poor Miss Greta, looking a little under the weather on her 2nd day post-op. But we are happy to say that she is doing just fine now. Although she has evolved into a very verbal whinner now. But we still love her to death of course.

She still jumps all over people when they come to visit. Perhaps a wee bit better, but still very excitable. But she is really still a puppy at 15 months old. And yes she still thinks she is the center of the universe and we do nothing to steer her from that idea! 🙂

Greta’s diet is still the same. But now we have added eggs to her diet. So now we giver her Eagle Pack, mixed with ground turkey, chicken or beef, cottage cheese and (2) scrambled eggs. She loves it!

She looks healthy and her coat is magnificient. We were very surprised at her weight. When we took her to be spayed, she weighed in at only 64lbs. We thought that she was well in the upper 70’s. She is solid with no fat. I guess she is just smaller than we thought.

Well until the next update…..love your dog since they are probably the only living thing that will love us unconditionally!!!