By far one of the costliest of all bee stings, since I didn’t know what had happened….

We’d been inside all day and time was approaching when my granddaughter would be coming over for a visit (while her mommy went to work).. The boys and I let the dogs out. I peeked outside to see if everyone was ok. Everyone seemed to be interested in doing their own business.

I headed to the restroom to brush my teeth and put my hair up – I’ll pass on baby hands uncontrollably grabbing fistfuls of hair … when I heard Ella-Roo come crying into the house.

She found me in the bathroom and started climbing up my leg, her que for me to pick her up – she’s a little thing, though not a small iggy, she loves me to hold her. She was crying and holding her leg up.

She was crying so much I couldn’t get her to stop… all the dogs were trying to kiss her and love on her and she was nippy… at one point she tucked her snout in between the couch cushions and while her muscles quivered, she cried into the couch. Pitiful.. broke my heart.

After 10 minutes of not being able to calm her, I put some ice on it (she didn’t like) and gave her 1/2 tablet of tramadol. It still took another 10-15 minutes before she quieted.

By this time her foot was swollen. I feared a break, it wasn’t until a little later I thought it may be a bee sting… but with their skinny legs I felt better safe than sorry.

I took her up to the vet, where she had to stay a couple hours, because they were so swamped and had to squeeze us in… and it was just likely a bee sting, no breaks thank goodness. A steriod, a dose of benadryl, a couple of xrays, and a bottle of take home dog pain medication (I like to keep it on hand for them) and $200 lighter… my girl is finally acting more normal, but still favoring her foot.

I’ve been patiently waiting… seriously, very patient… I haven’t even told the boys we’re getting a new puppy.. waiting for 4 weeks.

The wait is over!

She’s such a cutie! But this picture is 4 weeks old and I’m sure she already looks different. I will surely post more pictures in the next evening or two.

For now.. I’m containing my excitement, took a pain pill and am off to bed. I’m so tired of hurting. bleh…

Originally uploaded by madaise.

Bean… my girl.. we had a nice day a couple weeks ago and I had fun taking pictures of the dogs.

Originally uploaded by madaise.

I was loading some pictures to a local-to-me pet group (937pets.com, if you happen to be in the area).. and I was going through my flickr account looking for a few cute pics of the furry kids.

I came across this one of Enzo (italian greyhound @ 6 mos old)… he’s in his red long-john pjs, helping me with laundry. Of course.. he’s the one that pees on it.. and then I wash it..

He’s been the hardest pup to housetrain.. but he is getting better. I knew going into our “relationship” that IG’s were typically hard to house train. Really, I don’t think he’s as bad as I thought he’d be. He learned the potty box (indoor) pretty quick, but he still piddles on clothes on the floor (I need to work on training US to not leave things lying on the floor) and he’ll sneak and pee on the blankets – rotten.. so we have to keep bedroom doors shut… We’re learning real well.. lol.

But aside from that.. he’s just the cutest pooch. He’s my little love.

Originally uploaded by madaise.

Sunday morning, Em came rushing in to my room and started shaking my foot.. wake up! come quick! I was soooo tired, having slept so poorly the night before.. Why? I asked…

There’s babies!

Just the night before we had something get into a bag of trash that was on our back porch.. so my first thought is babies.. raccoon babies? on our porch? what in the world!? I woke up enough to ask what *kind* of babies…

Rat babies! Otis (momma) and Geraldo had babies!

5 plump little rattlets.. er.. pups.. er kittens.. or well, babies.

Quickly had to separate the momma and babies from the daddy.. and now Em will need to get another sizeable cage to be able to home females in one and males in another.. In about 3 weeks, we’ll have to separate the sexes with the babies.. so early!

Rats, btw, make the sweetest of little critter pets. My kids ask for a hamster, I say “get a rat”.. how about a guinea pig.. “get a rat”… a chinchilla? .. “get a rat”… (though I did not win that argument when it came to Olivia Hedgehog.