Sookie had to have an eye surgery. I am not quite clear on the details but flesh around one of her eyes was putting pressure on the eyeball and eye lid. She came through it with flying colors but when we brought her home, she was slightly doped up.
We are in our study, playing computer games. Gordon had fired up Might and Magic VIII and I am trying to find some reasonable way to fit 44 foundries into a gorge in Satisfactory. Suddenly there is a blood curdling howl.
We run from the study, Kid 1 and her boyfriend run from upstairs, we converge on the living room expecting Something Terrible, and here is Sookie lying on the floor and looking at us sadly with her bulldog eyes.
In case you’ve never heard Sookie’s stirring rendition of Woe is Me, I am Bulldog, here it is.
It was like this but worse.
The best we can figure out is that Sookie, disoriented from her meds, decided that she was abandoned. We moved her to the study with us. She proceeded to periodically howl through the evening and I’ve just heard her howl outside, because she went down to the office and presumably got lost.
Unfortunately, Sookie has severe arthritis in her right knee and hip. We can replace the hip, but our vet recommended against it, because we can’t do anything about the knee. So the alternative is arthritis pain meds. This is a dog that used to eat rocks. The arthritis pill is a yummy chewable. Guess who had to stuff her hand into a gross dog mouth up to the wrist to make her swallow it?
On that note, I found a wonderful hack for foaming soap. So I am a soap fiend. I like a variety of nice smelling soaps and the ones from Bath and Bodyworks are my favorite. They come in a variety of fragrances and they foam up just right. They are also normally $6-7, which is a lot for a small plastic bottle and I don’t want to buy endless plastic bottles, because the planet is filled with plastic as is. By the way, I just checked the price, and today all soaps are $4 apparently. Anyway, BB doesn’t sell refills.
I have found a solution to this. If you mix 2 Tablespoons of Bath and Bodyworks shower gel and fill the rest of the bottle with water, you get the foaming soap.
Here is a tutorial for you.
It works like a charm. You can actually get away with 1 Tablespoon even. I use soap dyes – Kid 1 makes hand soap occasionally and I raided her stash and I recommend dumping a couple of bottles worth of water into a large glass measuring cup or bowl, adding your 2-4 Tablespoons of gel, 1 drop of soap dye, and stirring before filling the bottles. The shower gels are about $14, but there is always a buy 2 get 1 free or some other kind of sale, and the last time they had one, I took full advantage of it.
It is amazing how much soap $5 worth of body gel made. Hehehe. Because I want to smell like Moon Light Path instead of inside of Sookie’s mouth.
Moon Light Path. 🙂 Because I am a pretty princess.
You know, that doesn’t look like pretty princess moonlight path. This looks more like there should be a soldier walking to his home village after serving his 25 years or some third son who is considered to be an idiot looking for his lost sheep and then nechist should pop out. Looks like somewhere Roman would go.
Damn it. Now I will think about this all day.
I hope Sookie is back to herself soon ❤️
Thanks for the soap hack! It will come in so handy with two young kids, it’s unreal how much soap they go through ????
Roman trilogy confirmed! Awesome!
Hey Jeff,
Although it would be very exciting, this is not a confirmation for a Roman trilogy ????
I’m with Jeff.
What if we all beg pretty please in the comments?
JK. Kind of.
+1000
Also, Moderator R, love the new icon!
+1 ????
Just a hint on doggy meds – put a little peanut butter on it. Mine gobble it down.
Liz, it was wrapped in a piece of smoked turkey. She spat it out. She is wily.
My border collie was like that. He had hip dysplasia arthritis and the rare diabetes insipidus which involved a nasal spray twice a day. I preferred giving Charlie his nose drops to trying to trick him into tablets when needed because he’d eat the surrounding meat AND lick off anything tasty still stuck to the pill. Or you’d try and diguise something deep in a bowl of mushy dog food dinner and have one empty bowl with a nicely deposited pill at the side. Sheepdogs are annoyingly smart sometimes.
I always say mine’s too smart for her own good, border collies just be like that. My trick that works (so far) is get crunchy peanut butter and cut up the pills to same size as the crunchy bits, but also give her *placebo* peanut butter with no pills at different times so that way she doesn’t always know if I’m giving her the pills or not. Though I’m sure she’ll figure that out eventually as well *le sigh*
Our mare was just as bad. I’d insert a pill into an apple, and she’d chew on it for 5 minutes. I’d be sure that pill was history. Then – pitui! She’d spit that pill ten feet. Only way was to grind it up and put it in applesauce.
LOL. My previous dog was like that. My current dog just eats her pills from my hand without anything. I’m not sure if she’s just being good or they are tasty (contain crustacean shells?? among other things for her joints).
Our Sophie (cat) was impossible to dose. The last time we tried (and we had tried EVERYTHING before that, including treat “packages” where you put the powder or pill inside a crispy cat treat. We gave her that and found a neat pile of slightly damp white powder on the food mat), we shoved the pill down her throat, clamped her mouth shut, and rubbed her throat for an entire 60 seconds (probably just a few more as it took a moment to get the timer going). She swallowed several times. And when I let go her mouth, she turned her head and spat out the pill.
After that, we took her to the vet every two weeks to have them administer her medication via shot. Daily pill, biweekly — and VERY expensive — shot.
(And not expensive because of the shot, but because she decided to lie down and die on a holiday weekend, so the open emergency vet clinic was all the way across the city. They saved her life, and my husband wouldn’t take her anywhere else. The expense was the 30€-each-way cab ride).
Try it in a spoonful of ice cream. Peanut butter is sticky and will cause them to lick at it, which allows them to get at the pill and the spit it out, but ice cream is smooth and cold; they’ll usually swallow it right down without chewing.
Make sure the whole pill is covered with ice cream, though.
Cream cheese works with my labradoodle.
Oh no! I was going to recommend the smoked turkey as that’s what I used when my dogs were on a daily dose of rimadyl (no idea how it’s spelled). Oh well, good luck with finding something that works!
My sister’s dog refuses to eat his supper until a treat is tossed at him. That is how she tricks him into taking his meds. A small bit of meat tossed, gulped out of the air and swallowed whole. Then he goes to his food bowl. She taught him that because he begs when she is preparing any meal.
Is it a pill that can be crushed? (ie not extended release or coated for digestion past the stomach) If so, maybe crush and mix it in applesauce or pudding or PB?
I’m not a dog owner so just spitballing from other medication delivery debacles.
I suggest getting the meds in oral suspension form that you squirt with a syringe into the dog’s cheek. I know. My 16 year old arthritic golden doodle does not eat “yummy” chewables.
my cat has been on steroids for 3 years. Giving pills to cats sucks. I ended up getting dosing syringes and plunking the pill in the syringe and sucking up water. I let it melt and then squirt it back of his throat and hold his head up until it is swallowed and he won’t hide and hork it up where I can’t get to him.
I am feeling very unsettled at how easy it is to give my cat medicine now XD
Was a bit difficult in the beginning, but now it’s 2 different teeny tiny tablets wrapped in a piece cut off from those soft treat sticks, the piece is cut in half, tablet bit goes in, then it is moulded around it, & then mixed in the wet food first thing in the morning when she is especially ravenous.
She used to spit out the thyroid one as the top coating melted off when wet and we used to have to use this creamy “lickable” treat. Haven’t needed it in a while!
I’ve got an Irish Setter and she is the same. I got round this by wrapping the pill in meat and then have several small bits of meat ready. I give her 1 piece of meat without a pill then the meat with pill then 2 or 3 small pieces of meat in quick succession.
She is too busy trying to get the next bit of meat to spit out the pill
Easy for canine tongue to unwrap pill.
Harder to get on off it.
Especially if they are used to get a small spoonful of crunchy on in their food.
Longtime pet owners, they know what they’re doing.
Hope your fur baby is well 🙂
We had a (pure-bred, papered, registered, ADOPTED!) cocker spaniel whose teeth wore away (around 13-14 years old). Before that, we had no problem getting her to take her daily dosage on a treat covered with peanut butter. But once her teeth were gone, she licked the peanut butter off the treat, spit the pill out, and gummed the treat to death!
We throw the pill in a piece of squishy bread, and then immediately throw the next piece of squishy bread so that she has to swallow if she wants the second piece. Otherwise miss dainty paws pitty is also a pill spitter.
Ah yes…singing the sad, sad songs of her people….
I love Roman. Eeyore pajamas. You want me to marry you?
My favotire memory was showing up to help Conlan at school. I hope it gave the local druid kids nightmares even though he was just showed up to have lunch with Conlan and reminisced about how the two are such great friends and family.
I think I missed that scene somewhere! What book was it in, or was it a website snippet?
Hey M,
This scene is in Chapter 8, page 117 of Blood Heir.
Hope this helps 🙂
Never mind putting that monster into the picture of the path. I want to see Roman in his Eeyore pajamas added to it.
Excuse me, Roman in his Eeyore pajamas feeding crackers to a couple of uldra
Thanks! I’m going to try this. I hate buying millions of plastic bottles, too.
Moon Light Path be damned: all hail the pretty princess (and one of our very favorite authors, the other being the husband of said pretty princess, of course!) ????
Ooooh Moonlight Path is my second favorite, only to Night Blooming Jasmine which is retired!
Oh, great ghu, thank you so much for that image..*not*
Please write that story!!
Try giving the dog pills in Pill Pockets made by Greenies. My dogs even took chemo drugs in them, when steak, cheese, peanut butter and other yummies were spit out. Hope your fur baby feels better soon!
Have them, she spits them out.
I am seeing this chart on the wall somewhere in your house of of Pill method, Worked, and Didn’t work. There are tons of x’s in didn’t work and worked is glaring empty.
Bonus points if there’s a map that keeps track of the longest distance she’s spit them.
????????????Had to read that Exchange Out loud to husbsnd, because I laugh so loud…
So after weeks of antibiotics and pain meds my Dalmatian eats the pill pockets around the pill and spits the pill out. Or she refuses the pill pocket entirely. Once no pills were involved she ate the whole bag of them with out a problem.
My dog sings this song when he hears dramatic violins or a particularly sad country song.
The song of their people, indeed. ????
Awe, poor Sookie.
My friend’s 30 year old horse has arthritis too (which I am sure most elderly creatures end up with in some form) and she had already been on a glucosamine supplement (which had helped a bit), but found switching her to one with collagen was key, the collagen really made a big difference in her comfort and movement levels – like, being stiff all day to galloping around like a lunatic when she got let out. Maybe collagen would help Sookie?
Poor Sookie, I hope she (and you!) are all better soon.
Lots of love for poor Sookie. ???? She has to share her pain with you guys. Hope she feels better soon.
The foaming handsoap I’ve been doing for a while. If you are on a budget, 3/4 of the bottle with warm water 1/4 dishwashing liquid. It goes a long way!
Sub-soap-hacks. 1) If you use liquid castile soap (i.e., Dr. Bronner’s) as your base, it has no toxic chemicals. 2) You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil(s) to create a good smell. 3) If you want a moisturizing soap, you can add some almond oil (or other moisturizing oil) to the bottle, though you will have to shake the bottle before using. 4) I buy larger foaming soap bottles from Amazon to use in the shower because I use up a lot of foaming soap and I don’t like constantly filling little bottles when they run out.
If I remember correctly, James Herriot has a story about a dog coming out of anesthesia that howled for many hours.
You can also use Castile soap for cheap foaming soap. Use 1/4 Castile soap to 3/4 water and then add a few drops of your favourite essential oil, or any combination of essential oils. Personalized scented soap cheap, easy and Castile soap is all vegetable, no animal ingredients.
+1. I do this with the lavender castile soap. No essential oils needed ????
Sometimes, people will scream and thrash coming out of anesthesia. They will also tell you very convincing but utterly false stories.
I miss Roman
Kate is a pretty princess and I can definitely see her walking down that path, lolololol!
I had a dog like Sookie. You could mash a tiny, tiny pill in a WHOLE hot dog, and that donkey’s butt would eat the hot dog and SPIT OUT THE PILL! Ughhhhhh. He was a brilliant dog, but sometimes too smart for his own good and my sanity.
My current dog takes pills like a champ, especially if there is a treat included. Unfortunately, she is dumb as a box of rocks, but sweet as candy, lol.
Poor Sookie! I have a beagle/basset mix (DNA showed she is a first generation mix, so apparently I have a designer mutt) and she LOVES to talk to me…all the time. When I used to go to work (pre-COVID) I had doggie cams and around 2 or 3 in the afternoon she would wander the house singing the mournful song of her people for no apparent reason. Now she talks to me to tell me she’s hungry (and then ignores her food), she wants a walk (and then needs to be put in her wagon, yes I drag my old dog around my neighborhood in a wagon while my younger dog walks), she’s bored, she’s hungry again, she wants out, she wants out but not by herself (younger dog often gets sacrificed to the outdoors in this situation), she…I don’t know what she wants, etc.
I’m a university professor, the introductory slides for all my classes show my girls and warn that there will be interruptions. All of my recordings either have tap-tap-tap as she walks around me or actual whining, crying, barking, and howling.
Poor Gidget is now in renal failure and the KD diets aren’t cutting it so she’s been switched to home cooked meals. The amount of ‘hurry up mom I want my food’ while I’m preparing it is INSANE. But at least she’s eating it (then looking at me like, ‘that’s it?’). Pets: you love them to death and also want to throttle them at the same time.
What about butter? Works for us.
Yes. Please. Think of Roman all day.
Maybe he can show up in the next Iron & Magic…
I have to do the throat ramming with the Sea Bass’s Nexgard. He just won’t take it any other way.
Next month Keyser Söze, the cryptorchid kitten gets his neuter. I am not looking forward to that
Great name for the kitten
You should add a preservative to the foaming soap to prevent mold and mildew growing in your soap. I use Optiphen in mine.
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/foaming-liquid-soap-kit/
Yes, please do add a preservative to prevent mold, mildew and bacteria from growing the diluted body wash! The body wash already contains preservatives but when you dilute it with water there won’t be enough preservative to effectively stop microbes from growing. In fact having only the diluted amount of preservative could instead create a breeding ground for preservative resistant strains of microbes to grow.
Wandered down the comments to say the same about preservatives since getting cleaner is the point.
I go through a batch of diluted unscented castile soap in 1- 1.5 weeks and use boiled water but I’m guessing distilled would be better. Castile tends to leave some sludge so I clean out the pump & bottle with a bit of rubbing alcohol from time to time.
Thanks for the preservative tip. That might come in handy with some of the less waste mix-your-own concentrated cleaners, too, for those who aren’t going through commercial quantities (or at least check for a “use by after mixing” date).
Whole Foods 365, Target Everspring, and Method (I’ve seen refills at Target) all have foaming soap refills for those wanting a less expensive pre-made alternative.
So does this mean Roman could get his own book? ????
Poor Sookie. I don’t blame you, Ilona, for wanting to get rid of Sookie’s smell off your hand, wrist, and lower arm.
I laughed at the Moon Light Path part of the blog. Anyone of them (Roman, Kate and Curran, Conlan, Julie, etc) could go down that path. To do what, that is up to you. 😀
Thank you for the tips.
I wish I could use scented products. I am allergic to about 90% of the scents, colognes, and perfumes out there.
Luckily, most of the “food scents,” like mint, coffee and cinnamon, are okay, but finding a soap or shampoo I can use is often tricky. Unscented or no fragrance added shampoos and soaps often include ingredients that are scented – tea tree oil, chamomile, etc. Can I use them? No.
I am amused when I wander around smelling like coffee or mint, since I don’t care to consume either one.
Yes, I know I’m weird. At my age (72), I’d better be used to it.
I have the same trouble with a lot scents. Even food scents will trigger a migraine sometimes. Doesn’t matter if it’s a natural scent or man made. Luckily it’s getting easier to find unscented products.
I have to use unscented everything, too. I found shampoo concentrate at Sally Beauty Salon that is supposed to smell like green apples and doesn’t leave that in my hair. Dilute it about 1 shampoo to about 4 water. I have found Oil of Olay soaps and lotions that have a small scent that doesn’t hang around. I have found that anything with PEG in it will make me sick and swollen and cause bumps. It’s difficult to find things that won’t make you sick, but laundry detergents and fabric softeners are now unscented, too, so high praise for that. I cannot stand people who wear strong scents so a whole room reeks of it. You’re not weird to me. You’re normal to me!
I have the same problem – allergies to even a lot of unscented products. I finally found some relief with unscented products by Carina Organics. I had to persuade my husband to switch too as his products set me off even when used in a different bathroom. Air purifiers everywhere in the house too.
Anything scented makes my face break out, and sometimes the rest of me. Dove has unscented bars that I can use. Seventh Generation laundry detergent is also safe for me. In the Before Times, cosmetic reps would try to tell me their products were safe because the essential oils were all natural. Well, so is poison ivy.
Our lab has arthritis too (also terrible allergies). He’s 9, but still tries to act like he’s 2, until he can’t. ????
I hesitate to offer advice because I’m sure you’ll get a lot of it, but ours has done really well with the Martha Stewart CBD doggy things (not sure if I’m supposed to call them a treat or a vitamin). I went with the mobility ones for large dogs. Unfortunately, I can’t get them shipped to my state now, but maybe you can in Texas?
Whatever you do, best of luck to Sookie and I hope she has a speedy and easy recovery. ????
Oh with dog meds the vet gave us a pill crusher. We use that and fold it into a bit of peanut butter. We let the seven year old give her on a spoon. If she thinks he is eating it she will eat it. ????????
I use to work at Bath & Body works… college days. There is always a big sale in June and January. Usually they bring back discontinued fragrances and sell them in gigantic bottles. The main line usually isn’t on sale.
I am sure someone already mentioned it.
For Sookie, have you tried crushing the pill? I always crush the pills for my dog and then do cream cheese mixture.
Someone probably mentioned this one too.
Love your posts, love your books! Thank you for everything.
Poor dog! That Song of the Sad Bulldog was pitiful. Broke my heart, it did.
“Nobody Knows the trouble I bit, nobody knows my sorrroooowwww!”
My dogs are all the same with pills. Nothing works to hide them. They don’t even buy the “chewable” stuff. Act like they’re being poisoned. Spit out everything. We do anything we can to either get liquid (which I can force down in a syringe) or put in a pill shooter. Works well and avoids having to put my hand in with the teeth….
Poor Sookie. And Ilona’s arm!!
Anyone know how to get a tiny bit of liquid Benadryl down a dogs throat? He won’t go near a syringe or cup.
Try Mixing with vanilla beyers ice cream or Stoneyfield plain Yougurt. My manure eater would take his heart meds that way. Only that way. Sigh. Everything else went down in a hot dog.
You can get beef flavored Vetadryl chews which is Benedryl for dogs (maybe other animals, but I don’t know on that). It might cost more per dose, but it’s worth a try, if you need to and can.
I miss Roman. He was entertaining. I imagine him as Tom Hiddleston decked in Loki costume.
ooohhh!!!! Yes, thanks!
Wouldn’t saiman get confused then? That being said, I love the image ????
I love the soap hack! I buy a lot of the BBW foaming soap. I will save a lot more money and plastic this way, as I have WAY more BBW body wash than I could use in a year (or 3).
It’s normal for animals to cry, whimper, or make other scary noises when recovering from sedation. Also a great hack for getting a dog to take their pills is to put a dollop of gravy on the pill in the palm of your hand. I’ve had a 100% success rate with this for my extremely difficult German Shepard who has to take pills twice a day.
Love how your mind works!
Being clever and thrifty is wonderful. Thank you for the tip!
Also: Oh, Sookie… ????
Moringa Pet Balance is great for arthiritis. My 15 year old has been helped. He is also on Metacam…. its a liquid and you mix with wet food. No pills required. Good luck. Old animals are hard (says the girl with a 15year old dog with heartworms and 25 year old horse who just foundered…. I will be a wreck if I lose them both at the same time.)
I just had a hilarious time with the dog. She felt that the bulldog was in the house and also insisted that she need to get into the window of the living room to check the yard. A 50-pound dog in my lap because of a video of a howling bulldog. She is a guard dog when it comes to me and the house.
???? love this!!
My cat has allergy and she has to take 2 pills a day. I have to stuff them down her throat too, and yet she has a way of hacking them up and leaving them like small presents for me around the house.
And when she hears i open the pill box, she runs out and hides in my daughter’s closet.
Poor pet. What I make her go through.
Poor pupper. We have a dog with arthritis who hates pills with a passion, he gets a shot once a month for his arthritis (Adequan) and it’s working wonders. He can run again (occasionally) and is generally happier than he’s been in years.
Yes, Adequan is the best!!! I gave it to my old dog with hip dysplasia. As a bonus it doesn’t effect the dog’s liver, kidneys and stomach like the pills can, but you either have to be ok with giving them an injection or keep bringing them into the vet’s office for the injections.
For the pills have you tried braunschweiger? That’s my final solution, and if that doesn’t work, I feel nothing will.
If you can get those meds in a hard pill form you could use a mortar and pestle to grind the pills into powder and mix them into a wet dog food or a can of sardines in water. It’s the only way I can get my dog to take his heartworm pill every month.
I hope your Sookie feels better. ????
I’m all for you thinking about Roman all day, as it could just potentially lead to more Roman stories. ♡♡♡
I love that volhv. He stole my heart with eeyore pj’s.
Poor Sookie! Excited to hear you’re thinking of Roman on adventures!
We have an old mastiff with severe arthritis from bilateral cruciate ligament repairs, and he has gotten amazingly good at avoiding pills. Peanut butter, tuna, balls of wet/canned food of various types, homemade chicken & rice mixtures, cheese/bread pockets, fancy pill pockets – none of them work anymore.
We were visiting a friend who recommended making meatballs with some canned dog food they had on hand (Life’s Abundance Pork & Venison Canned Dog Food), and we were astonished to find he likes this food so much he takes the meatballs without trying to get the pills out. It’s now our go-to method for getting him to take pills, and has continued working for months. You could try it and see if Sookie likes it as much as our dog does.
(But don’t feed it as a primary food source; it’s grain-free which is associated with heart issues in dogs if given as the primary food source, and I’m not certain that it’s a properly balanced diet.)
Wrap the arthritis pill in her favorite treat. Peanut butter worked for one of our dogs, a slice of cheese for another one, and a piece of hot dog for the third. Good luck!
My Doberman, who used to love cheese, hotdogs, and peanut butter, had to go on 6 weeks of antibiotics. After first learning to suck the peanut butter or cheese off of the pill, and then having the pill tossed down his throat, Ilona-style, and then rewarded with cheese or hotdogs, he now backs suspiciously away from completely innocent offerings of cheese or hotdogs. Months later! All dogs are different, I think can be the only take-away from the funny stories on this thread.
I had a yellow lab that ate everything. From live cicadas to dead fish (long story) to baseballs (that was fun day when it came out the other end), he ate anything that he could. Because he was developing arthritis, our vet suggested fish oil supplements. I tried every trick in the book and that dog would not eat those supplements. He spit it out each time. We eventually gave up because it wasn’t worth forcing it for just a supplement. Thankfully, we had better success with his heart worm medicine and later his prescription arthritis medicine. Best of luck with Sookie 🙂
My lab ate a fork once. ????
Poor puppy!!! Hope she is better soon. Nice soap hack!
Thank you so much for the foaming soap hack and the soap dye idea! I have 10 dispensers I have to refill and can’t find bulk foaming soap. I will send positive vibes and healing thoughts for Sookie ????
Awesome hack! Can’t wait to try it. Please sign up with Bath and Body mailing list, I get coupons in the mail all the time. It can be expensive but with the coupons it makes it easier. My favorite hack is vinegar and blue dawn for cleaning in a spray bottle. The husband complained about the smell, till I started using REAL chemical spray cleaner. ….., no more complaints.
A TPLO would probably be a good thing for Sookie. At the vets office where I work we do quite a few of them on dogs with severe arthritis. It usually helps a ton with their comfort and mobility!
We pay extra at our local vet clinics compound pharmacy and have the cat and dog medicines put into liquid form. Use a syringe and squirt into mouth. They ship so you don’t have to be local to use them! We started doing this for the cat cuz none of us wanted to loose too much blood! Haha!
Thanks for the soap hack. Since covid we have been going through hand soap like crazy. I love this idea so much.
Do they still make pill pushers? My grandparents used them to give calves pills when I was a kid. Pill goes in the hollow at the end of the stick, and a plunger pushes it out when you have it far back enough they have to swallow. Stick your hand in a calf’s mouth and it might be a while before you can get it out lol.
Great soap hack. I haven’t bought any B&BW soap since before ’20. I have too many anyway and won’t run out for a couple more years at least, even with as much as I wash my hands.
I’ve been trying to reduce my plastic waste, so far I’ve bought ChewTabs pellet toothpaste, not bad, and the foam doesn’t bother me like conventional toothpaste. I tried Bite but the menthol in them was too much. They use hydroxyapatite instead of flouride, does the same thing but safe to swallow. Bite makes a tablet mouthwash too, but again the flavor was too strong. Puracy for shampoo and conditioner, large refill bags available, stinks but it does make my hair feel nice. I’ve tried using the bar soap/vinegar method but I got tired of smelling like salad. I’m looking to get one of those soda things for making carbonated water I can add lemon to, I feel guilty about those little 16 oz plastic bottles, and my favorite flavor is sold out more often than not anyway. I wish more brands would offer refills. It’s pretty standard in other countries. I remember seeing a post years ago for a store in Europe that had machines to refill dish and laundry soap bottles. Even some of my favorite indie brands like Ecoslay are making plans for refills instead of endless plastic.
Oh, good. You’ve just come up with an excuse to do another short about Roman. He was always my third favorite, after Derek and Julie – Luther follows a real close fourth.
I do hope you’re planning to hook Roman or Luther – I wouldn’t object to both – up with someone nicely suited to them in the course of the war against Moloch.
I always loved Andrea, too – but with her own book, she doesn’t need to be among my favorite secondary characters in the Kate Daniels books.
Can’t count the number of awesome characters in the KD’ books. Luther, Robert, Barabas, George, Andrea, Roman, I could go on and on and on…
You can also make your own soap with castile soap, water, and essence oils. 1:1 ratio of water and soap (put the water in the soap bottle first, then the castile), add drops of oil until it smells nice. Shake it gently and you have soap!
You could also put in some colour along with the oil.
Hold up, 44 foundries into a single valley?! What exactly are you trying to make? XD
Sometimes senior dogs get senile and have these issues mentally where they get restless or whine/howl for no apparent reason. Just love on your sweet pup as best you can. ????
Had a cat when I was younger like that. Family tried every trick and treat everyone suggested to get him to take pills, never worked. When my Dad got stationed in Italy and we had to move, the cat was going to have to have pills to make the trip. Vet handed my mom a pill plunder and she never gave it back. Well, she likely bought it, but you get the picture. He was a vastly skilled contortionist but she was a very determined mother. Determined mothers win every time.
That should say, The cat was a contortionist. I mean, the Vet might have been too but I have no way of knowing that. lol
Singing the songs of his people. The first time my cat howled, I jumped out of bed, stubbed my toe on the bed frame and ran to her expecting blood and pain. She looked at me and stuck out her tongue (her signal that says feed me, although in this instance I think it also meant something else). Apparently an empty food bowl is the worst kind of trauma and I needed to fix it NOW. I told her to come to bed because I know you are not starving and I am not going to reward you for waking me up. I went back to bed and after a few more grumbles, she followed.
But they are a delight and make you smile.
sry about loud and in pain puppy and great hack on the soap but the bigger prize is …… is this some amazing hint about a new project and a turn for you to think about this amazing new pj wearing dark handsome intriguing character….I am curious if someone in your life is a fan of character pj’s?
I have three dogs, all of which I train/compete in a variety of dog sports (agility, obedience, rally, tracking, scentwork, weight pull, etc). ALL of them suffer from FOMO. They ride fine in the car, they’re quiet when I’m driving or when I’m stopped but they are all in the car together – but when I take out any single dog from the car…the sadness. My schnauzer howls, mournfully, nonstop. My first dog was a beagle mix, so she learned from him. I call it “singing the sad song of her adopted people”. I find it melodic, and it doesn’t bother me. My youngest dog is an Icelandic, and they tend to be vocal as a breed – she screams. High C above C shrieks. It’s bad. She’s fairly quiet when working, or in the house, but I have not yet been able to work through the car screaming.
Always fun getting a pill down an animal that doesn’t want it. Old fart malamute will eat anything so her Proin and doggy arthritis meds aren’t an issue. Years ago getting pergolide in the arthritic Cushing’s too smart Arabian gelding was a study in frustration as he ate around every thing until I crushed it and mixed it with applesauce in an old paste wormer tube. Wish you luck with Sookie
???? Poor, confused Sookie. My parents had a GSD that would eat ANYTHING, except his arthritis chew. Peanut butter on a Wheat Thin worked. He couldn’t get rid of the pill without getting rid of peanut too much nummy peanut butter.
Silly people. Sookie wasn’t lost you were. She was just tired of looking for you. She felt crappy and wanted someone to hang with her the way pets hang with us when we feel crappy.
Moon light path to home.
Werewolves are no obstacle.
I have my crow staff.
-Roman’s Haiku
I love this.
“Damn it. Now I will think about this all day.”
Yes, pleeeeeaaaase !!!
Roman ????
I adore Roman, and would love even the tiniest story. Three lines, even. LOL.
We have a dog who will eat almost anything he can fit into his mouth, but getting him to take a pill is a nightmare! No matter what yummy food we tried, he would manage to eat the food portion, but still spit out his pill. His little teeth are very sharp, so even though he would not bite us, pushing a pill down by hand could be a painful endeavor. We finally tried a “pet pill gun” and it worked great. Since your fur baby is a little larger than my 10# Pomeranian, I found one that may work for your situation. See attached photo. Good luck!
Oh, Sookie. I had a dog like that too, especially once she was old and forgetful.
Not sure if this will help, but my 13 year old standard schnauzer has arthritis and knee issues as well, and was doing so poorly this spring despite his meds that I was pretty sure we were nearing the end. I added a twice daily CBD and omega-3 “treat” for dogs at the correct dose for his body weight (from the same place I get my own CBD), and within a week he was back to his normal annoying terrier-type self, dancing around and barking at the world. Still sleeps more than I’d like to see (because still an old dog), but way more fluid movement, it’s almost eliminated the daily falls from the back end giving out, and he has a lot more interest in life. Big quality of life improvement. I’m honestly really surprised at the results, and the only drawbacks are price plus the really fishy smell of the salmon based treats.
Unfortunately it didn’t do a damn thing to make him less neurotic and anxiety-prone. Can’t win them all!
Moon Light Path looks like a place Roman would build a vacation home to get away from his squabbling witch & priest parents. Surrounding land would be smell and texture of Sookie’s throat & digestive tract to keep out riff raff — since his primary home has its own warnoffs. Inside Roman’s retreat: spa bath would be well stocked with relaxing scented foaming soap LOL.
Is it weird that I’m excited that my favorite author uses my favorite B&BW scent? ????
We raised bulldogs for many years and found that everyone took their meds with a goop of cream cheese. We would have six of them lined up regardless of whether they were on pills for their yummy.
Howling like that is fairly common after anesthesia. Sad, but kind of funny. Anyway.. they make a pill gun, you shove it down the throat, instead of your hand. Maybe you want to try that? On another note, thanks for the tip on the hand soap, we will be giving this a try 🙂
Any gel type of hand soap can be made into foaming hand soap by diluting it with water. We use either the clear unscented stuff or one of the Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day hand soaps which come in assorted scents. Right now it is honeysuckle. Diluting it makes the scent light enough that my husband will also use it.
I tried playing Sookie’s “song” and my dog instantly started barking and hunting for the intruder. Hope Sookie’s doing better.
HAHAHA, I’ve never done the shower gel hack but I definitely bought several bottles of NOT-foaming BBW hand soap at the last sale and now I just put a tablespoon or two of it in one of the empty foaming BBW bottles I have and fill with water – I get bottles and bottles of foam out of one $4 non-foam. I’ll have to remember I can use the shower gel!
On the pills – I feel your pain. My mom could always get her dogs to take any pill by wrapping it in braunschweiger or liverwurst, but our old girl had kidney disease so that wasn’t an option for us due to the high protein and sodium content. I eventually got a big syringe, mashed up the pill and mixed up with something (applesauce or sweet potato puree in our case) and started squirting it down her throat. Spoiler alert – we ended up covered in spit up applesauce and sweet potato A LOT. LOL. At least there’s nicely-scented hand soap to wash away our doggy spit woes!
Love this post, it started my day with a smile (and thoughts of Roman, which is always a good thing). Hope Sookie feels better soon and takes her medicine like a good wee dog (we have an absolutely huge cat who also gives us problems on the pill front – if he’s on meds we now end up taking him into the vets for the nurse to give him his daily dose! Such a drag). Mmm, Roman…
What is it about dogs and pills? Have you tried peanut butter? My dachsies loved it. Or velveeta. That was even easier. Velveeta rules! They would spit out the pill if wrapped in real cheese.
Had to laugh tho. Poor Sookie. I came home from school one day to hear both my brats howling like they were being killed. Nope. Just sitting in the kitchen feeling sorry for themselves. I still miss them.
I hope we see Roman in snippet…that moonlight path looks good with the werewolf/creature or is that the new and improved badass that is Darren Argent?
Great howling and bemoaning by Sookie — you can put that on a timed loop as part of a Halloween effect!
Unfortunately moonlight path is discontinued. I stocked up. Let us know if you find something similar.
Hi,
Please consider finding an EMMETT technique or Bowen Technique for dogs practitioner for assistance with Sookie arthritis near you – I’ve seen an amazing difference in pets that have been treated.
Solasta was just released today, it uses the new DandD ruleset, played the early access a few months ago. It was ok, and worth the time spent. Looking forward to playing the finished product
I hope Sookie feels better soon.
That is a great soap hack. I’ve been saving and re-using foaming soap bottles for a few years. When I find a liquid soap I like I use 1/2 in of that with 1/2 in of unscented liquid soap in the foaming soap bottle. Then I add warm water to the bottle, mix gently and it’s foam soap! I usually buy the unscented by the 1/2 gal-cheaper that way. I do dilute the Bath & Body Works soap but I only like Honolulu Sun which they don’t always have in stock. Their dispensers do last but Dial brand foam soap dispensers seem to last too.
My dog likes his pill smooshed into a little glob of spreadable cream cheese, he can’t really lick it all off easily so he just swallows it and I don’t get a slobbery hand.
Oh please please please think about where Roman might go on that path and then write a story about it????????????. He is my favorite character from all of your books, maybe any book ever now that I think about it!! No pressure
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post. Ah the joys of medicine s and pets.
Titan ate multiple heartworm prevention pills as a pup. The non chewable kind. Bravecto— which is a nice beefy flavored chew every 3 months for tick and flea prevention — is noneatable substance. But yougurt is a treat. Breyers vanilla ice cream is a treat. Canned cat food is suspect but dry cat food is candy…. Peanut butter is suspect. Cheese is suspect. Hamburger is suspect…
Poor Sookie. Anesthesia is tricky as everyone reacts differently to. Titan was upset by her Song of her people. Yes I have now learned which of my favorite movies have real canine sound tracks. And one of the Dog tested Subaru ads which I find hilarious. I might be in danger. ????
Thanks for tips about foaming soaps. I will pass on to my siblings who are not allergic to scented soaps. I agree with others that you need to add something to keep down fungal and bacterial agents. Using distilled water isn’t enough.
???? Have you tried pet pill paste? (Not pocket) Now in BACON flavor. also like salmon small pill pockets. We alternate, even just smush up rotisserie chicken meat around a pill.
We had a beloved Black and Tan coonhound. I still get tears when I hear howls, so thanks for sharing.
Nechist. Translation: Evil spirits or scum, or the fourth studio album by the Russian experimental sludge metal band Il. Am intrigued, would love some more detail 🙂
Oooh I found this from searching Google with Ilona Andrews:
https://ilona-andrews.com/2020/a-bit-more-of-roman/
>An anchutka. A catch-all name for the small evil critters, a subset of what pagan Slavs called nechist – the unclean force. To be fair, anchutkas weren’t malevolent in the way some of the nechist were. There was a world of difference between them and something like Badzula, who actively sought out vulnerable people, moved into their houses, and filled them with so much despair they became vagrants.
Also apparently mentioned in Gunmetal Magic but it’s been a while since I’ve read that one.
Is it wrong for me to be dreaming of Roman giving rides to Julie’s and Derek’s kids?
And Hugh and Illara’s!
thanks for the soap hack – I love the scents from B&BW, just find it hard right now to justify the cost.
I played the sad song of the bulldogs and that set my dog off in sympathy. Barking instead of howling as poodles of the small variety don’t really howl.
Some dogs howl intermittently when coming off anesthesia. Random factoid, doesn’t help when you are in the same house.
If only it were a crossroads, it could be a place where a human called out a challenge to a Fae. Then did well enough to be rewarded, or perhaps tried to cheat and was destroyed.
Or perhaps the third son of a nobleman, thought a fool, and sent out on a hopeless quest to get rid of him.
Aww, poor Sookie! That howl is adorable and heartbreaking. I bet it’s ear-breaking too lol. Hope she’s feeling back to normal quickly.
Thanks for mentioning Satisfactory. My hubby is over 100 hours into playing Evil Genius 2 but I’ve been in a bit of a game slump. I thought about going back to Aven Colony but I’ve beat that in every way possible. I think there are two achievements I haven’t gotten but eh. Then thought maybe go back to Anno but eh. Satisfactory looks interesting!
I have to give our dog two pills twice a day. The only way I can get then into him is peanut butter. Stick the pills in the peanut butter to the roof of his mouth. We have a stubborn Frenchie & this is the only thing that would work. By the time he finishes licking & swallowing, the pills are down his throat.
Poor Sookie! “Mom and Dad, where are you! WHERE ARE YOU!!!”
I fully admit I didn’t read through all the comments so this may be redundant. When my senior dog started needing daily pills, he wouldn’t chew them, wouldn’t take them wrapped up in anything, wouldn’t get tricked by peanut butter, you get the idea.
What I finally learned to do was cut a cube of cheese in half, put the pill in between, and pinch the two halves back together until they were one piece again. Then I’d shove it down his throat. The cheese made is slide down a lot easier and he fought it a lot less. Worked like a charm for the rest of his life.
I mean, you’ve still got your hand down a dog’s throat. But overall it’s a little less further down and a whole lot less hassle.
See. You mention Roman and we all sit up and say “yes, please”. We’ll even let you feed us the doggie meds.
The standard poodle and one of the greyhounds had to have a pill a day for arthritis, i used make a cheese ball (grated cheese and put the tablet in the middle and roll it up into a small ball) the dogs loved cheese and ate their meds every morning no problems.
Having had over 30 cats because I took in a lot of ferals to keep them alive when people were killing them, I learned that you lift the upper lip to get the mouth open, then toss in the pill and hang on to the head as you lift the lower jaw and rub the throat. Yeah, that mostly works, unless you have a cat who tucks the pill into her cheek and spits it out ten minutes after you have given it to her and rubbed her throat all that time. Mostly, you have to sort of aim and toss the pill to the back of the throat.
For dogs, I also recommend getting a pill pusher and shoving that almost down the throat to make the pill go down. Talk to your vet about them, get one that works, and learn to use it. I’m on Sookie’s side with anesthesia, which is why I go through any surgery that’s minor to me — meaning not a deep dive into my guts somewhere — without anesthesia. I fell asleep twice having root canals, which stunned the dentist. I just put my mind on somewhere I like to be, and hold still and it all works out for me because anesthesia depresses me into being suicidal for days. Shocked the surgeon who put in the infusion port and all the staff in the operating suite. Stunned the eye surgeon who removed my cataracts, and ticked off the anesthesiologists who are required by law to be there and had nothing to do. Some of us just have to sing the sad songs of our people when that depressing drug hits us. To me, I figure that I need the surgery, I choose doctors I trust to do them, and they always numb where they cut, so it doesn’t hurt. Asleep or awake, if you don’t trust your doctor, the surgery will not go well for you, so choose a doctor wisely. It works for people, but not for dogs, but she’ll be fine when the drug gets totally out of her system. It can take days, depending on how long she was asleep for it. It’s hard to know the animal is sad, but it will pass.
Well, your bulldog’s singing woke my dog up! He is now standing by the office door. Guess I’ll go let him out!
More unsolicited suggestions on getting meds into dogs: we use prosciutto (just enough to wrap around the pill) because it sticks to the meds. What really helped the most was giving a plain bit of meat, then the pill meat, then quickly plain meat again. Works even better if giving another dog treats at the same time – FOMO kicks in, and everything typically gets swallowed without analysis.
Poor Sookie! I hope she is feeling better. I’m guessing you have tried Pill Pockets already to give her pills? Some dogs are too smart for their own good and can sniff out the pills in anything, including pill pockets. Luckily ours was of only very average intelligence and gobbled down his pill pockets along with any pills we gave him!
Have you tried Natural Factors Cherry Rich – Super Strength Cherry Concentrate 36:1 with Sookie? I personally feel better taking it, take 2 each in the morning and again before bed. Was diagnosed with Degenerative Joint Disease(now termed OA) when 24, now 58, and can tell if forgot to take evening dose, when getting up in the morning. Hope it’s considered to help her feel better.
Please be cautious about diluting liquid soaps, shampoos, etc. Whatever the original formulation uses as anti-antibacterial protection also is diluted. There are many types of bacteria that can feed on diluted soap. Your diluted solution ends up stinky and nasty: not what you want to be washing your hands, hair, body, dishes, dog (even a drooly bulldog 🙂 ) with.
Mary, I do not use antibacterial soap. 🙂 I have a septic system. As long as soap coats your hands with lather, it is still effective. No, it will not grow nasty stinky bacteria in one week. I do not make it in advance. I refill a bottle, which lasts approximately a week or so. But if you are worried, someone in the comments above recommended a couple of preservatives.
A very late addition to your admission to home make over programs.
If you have BBC Home there is a program called DIY:SOS, the Big Build. It will make you feel good and will also probably make you cry. The basic set up is a family who have had some kind of major medical issue and as a result their house no longer works, but they can’t really afford to move. So a BBC build crew is called in by a friend, neighbor, therapist or other family member. The crew shows up, puts out a call for help and a LOT of people in the building trade–or just plain people–show up to rebuild the house in 9 days. I discovered this show last week when my TV carrier started carrying BBC Home.
This show reminds us all that there are still plenty of good people in the world.
I know you want to see this Darth Vader house that just came up for sale in Houston Texas.
https://www.tmz.com/2021/05/27/darth-vader-house-for-sale-hits-market-houston/
We are attached to our dogs as they are to us. Check with your vet, I gave my golden retriever Adequan shots at home to help with her arthritis. https://www.adequancanine.com/
It helped her quite a bit, but results may vary. I had to overcome the giving my pet a shot, but it was worth it. Between the shots, acupuncture and water therapy it all really helped her.
Good luck with the 44 foundries. I started over with update 4 and will eventually get there.
What helps my dog the most is physiotherapy with laser.
Every part with arthritis (back, hips, elbows, paws) is warmed with laser for a pair of minutes, plus bent and stretched gently, to let the joint fluid lubricate it again. Also the according muscles are massaged.
A seance takes 30 minutes weekly, plus travel time. After the treatment he gallops around the room, barking loudly, with a smile on his face.
The difference is significant – as we had to stop the treatment during corona lock down, he became a very sad old dog. His usual morning round became increasingly difficult, he held his head down and dragged his paws. We needed to give him painkillers to reduce his suffering.
We started laser again – he moves with much more joy, even invites me to run with him for a minute now and again. No more painkillers in pill form needed.
We do Cavaletti exercises daily to lubricate the joints, and I massage his back, shoulders and hips every time he asks me to.
For EU/UK/CH: He also gets a shot of “Librela” from Zoetis monthly now, and it seems to help too.
But physiotherapy with laser benefits him the most.
????
Poor Sookie, I played her ‘woe is me’ on YouTube and started a howling session here in my home. Apparently it was from her heart as my two Dockers felt it too.
Do you want a suggestion? Skip this if they offend you. Get some liverwurst or braunschwegar from the deli. Wrap the pill in a generours portion, then stand at the kitchen counter eating liverwurst on a cracker. Make orgastmic “Mmmm mmmm” noises. Sookie will come to investigate. “Oh, no. This is not for doggies! But soooo good! ” Then turn and drop the covered pill by mistake. 99/100 it will not hit the ground and Sookie will swallow it whole and be none the wiser. Should work for a week to 10 days until she figures it out. Dogs and cats love stinky food. Lol. Then just eat it yourself until she begs for some. Good luck. That was the most sorrowful howl ever. Like ” I was drugged and taken advantage of!!!!’
Yes, LIVERWURST. I live in Germany and this is a typical treat for dogs. I’ve tried the pill pockets, velveeta, and many other things. LIVERWURST works every time.
It is fun to play your Sookie song of woe because my pit mix Wilson immediately joins for a duet.
Thanks for the soap hack. I really like the foaming soap, but hate the container waste. I should be good now. ????
And this, Ilona, is why we love you.
It is kind of the BDH to offer tips to get a dog to eat pills but there are some dogs that will see through anything you try. My German Shepherd Thorn was one, this was a dog who on being offered a new kind of treat – even meat treats – would take the treat gingerly, drop it then smell it, turn the treat over and smell some more, repeat several times, then tentatively lick the treat, pause and consider what the licking told her, lick again, pause again, repeat, and eventually eat it, because you never know when those blinking owners are going to poison you! Maybe with PILLS! She removed pills from: her dinner even when crushed, almond butter, smooth pate, cream cheese, cheddar, mozarella, stilton, St Agnes, Gruyere, feta, sliced ham, sliced beeef, sliced chicken, sliced tongue, corned beef, fresh liver, fresh kidney, fresh beef, gravy, and more I don’t recall. She was actually ok with having the pills put straight down the back of her throat, not happy exactly, but ok, so that is what we did.
Hugs to you, Sookie!! The headache and tummy ache from anesthesia wearing off is not fun. Hugs to House Andrews too!! Hope everyone has a better day tomorrow!
Love the moon-lit path!! Maybe the Scots or English moors, or the Hungarian plains where the Sky Warriors appear to those who know how to look for them. (Can you tell my favorite childhood books are “The Secret Garden” and “The Good Master”?!)
So is our surprise novella about Roman then. You got it started and it was HILARIOUS, but it never got finished. Now I want to howl like Sookie! Arrooooo!
I just played the video and giggled to which my husband said what the f*ck is that? A sad sad bulldog. My grandpa had bulldogs until he got too old to have them underfoot. He would have one at a time and they were all named Butch. I can remember 2 of them.
Perfect for our 10 year old English Mastiff. The vet recommended it! And it’s really works.
???? I love this! I tend to do the same w dr bronner soaps, (a couple of tablespoons worth in water in a reused dispenser) but now I’m intrigued by that same (roughly) dilution of the even prettier scents of B&B!
Also, dearest sookie woes!
Poor Sookie! I was fortunate that my dog (long passed) loved Velveeta so pills were no problem.
Yes, please… think of Roman… think of him in his own novella! No, the BDH can never get enough.????
I enthusiastically applaud your continuing to think about Roman! Roman Roman Roman. He needs somebody to love him who is not evil. Well, not entirely evil.
You might try Bacon Cheddar Easy Cheese. Our vet recommended it for our clever, picky dogs. No idea why it worked so much better than meats and regular cheeses but it solved the wet-pill-left-on-the-floor problem.
I hope Sookie feels better.
After listening to the song of her people, I wonder what sort of noises a shapeshifter would make if they came to their senses after a dose of anesthesia. Would Derek howl Atlanta down or confess to Julie in very flowery words? And what would Curran do?
Bwahahaha! Your picture joke ????
Your description of stuffing your hand into a drooling dog mouth to deliver a pill made me laugh so hard because I have done that also. Thanks for the memories. I’ve also stuck my hand into my dog’s mouth trying to remove some delicacy he’s picked up on our walk. Gross. Thank goodness I carry hand sanitizer!
What we always do for pills is hide it in a spoonful of peanut butter. Usually our dog eats it before even realizing it’s there.
She really really likes peanut butter.
Hopefully The woefull Sookie gets better soon.
I make my own soap bars and laundry detergent and don’t use anything else now and watch the Royalty Soaps Youtube channel with delight. Love Katy Carson, she’s such a lovable character, so full of spunk and fun and her soap making skills and tutorials are what got me into making my own.
Have a great day!
My vet gave me 2 ‘pill poppers’ that work great for cats— seems like they would work for dogs as well…. Have a cat that now has GERD after being treated for pneumonia with antibiotics and steroids. The pill popper has little rubber ‘fingers’ on the end to hold the pill, and a plunger on the other end. Just open the mouth and pop the pill into the back of the throat. DONE. Wish I had invented it.
My dog does not like the peanut butter, pill pockets, shoved in meat or bread tricks either. Spits it right out. I tried shoving it down his throat but I don’t have the mental fortitude. But cream cheese or ricotta cheese, he swallows it whole. I’m thankful because I seriously hated the battle of wills between me and my Boomer. Hope Sookie feels better soon.
Oh, poor bulldog! So sad and disoriented!
My husband does the soap thing. Except he takes Costco sized jugs of softsoap (We don’t have scented because hello migraine triggers) and dilutes them down so they’ll work in the foam dispenser. Drives me bananas that he does it with the dishsoap too.
Roman. Roman. Roman. Me want more Roman!
My daughter works as a volunteer at our vet’s office. She said that dogs coming out of anesthesia “always scream” in horror as they wake up. Part of her job is to sit with them and comfort them.
And I feel the same about the foamy hand soap. I have been using this hack for years but with H-E-B’s dish soap…LOVE their seasonal scents and it’s a ~$1.90/bottle. Perfect for house full of teens, their friends and 2 dirty dogs.
Poor Sookie! Arthritis is no fun.
We found using regular liquid hand soap and water in a container Made for foaming soap works just fine. 1 part to 4.
It made me think of Derek and paths he might have travelled.
I too love BBW soaps. My favorite is Beach Cabana. Also, their white tea and sage hand soap smells like the Bulgari Green shower gel that Ranger uses (in the Stephanie Plum books).
We wrap pills and laughing cow cheese because it sticks to the pill. It seems to work really well for our dogs. I’ve been making my own foaming soap for a long time, isn’t it just the best?
Mom’s beagle has arthritic hips and she bought a “Back on Track” coat. It seems to help make movement easier. And she shoves the his pills in a piece of hot dog. Good luck!
Have you tried having pill time before bed time? For everyone? My adult kid (25) goes to pantry, opens pantry and takes her pill. Then reaches in pantry, grabs Great Dane’s pill bottle, shakes out chewable pill for joints into cap and Great Dane takes her pill. Of course, Great Dane eats a cup when kid eats breakfast, another cup when kid eats lunch, and another when kid eats dinner. If kid eats a cookie, Great Dane gets a dog cookie too. Somewhere in there Great Dane gets another cup as a after dinner snack I think, I’m not exactly sure when. Anyways, it’s not a bad schedule if you are able to do it and probably helps with vitamin or pill taking.
But Roman is a pretty Princess. He has a terem and everything!
When all else fails go to a PhD in animal behaviour with a really good blog.
https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/making-the-medicine-go-down-giving-a-dog-a-pill
I also have a dog who spits out chewables and pills hidden in things. I am pretty proficient at pilling a dog, but the multi treat method works too – I do a sharp cheddar cheese or pieces of hotdog.
She’s a great resource. Thanks for reminding me about her.
I hope Sookie is feeling better. I’ve enjoyed reading the different creative ways of getting meds into pets! I have been doing training with my daughter’s horse on getting his bridle on… he makes himself tall like a giraffe so we can’t get the bit in. It’s a workout doing the training, but I’m learning a lot about patience, preserving, staying very calm…someone well meaning told me to try peppermint bit wipes, yup, we did, he (horse) practically laughed at us. No matter the size, animals are smart to our tricks…
My elderly cat has his anti-inflammatory medication as a liquid. It is beef flavoured and we give it to him out of a syringe a drop or two at a time as he goes to town licking it all up. He thinks it is the best treat of his day. Then again he is the only cat in our vet’s practice to have “food motivated” on his chart.
I just had to comment and let you know how much I love the Innkeeper Series. I obviously can’t comment on the Joss post, so I’m putting it here. Over this past year, my coping mechanism was to escape into Dina’s beautiful, enchanting, hilarious, and heartbreaking world. I’ve reread the series so many times, and I still feel my heart break for Dina and the little baby inn seed. I know us readers are both a blessing and a pain in the ass, but this reader just wants to thank you for sharing your worlds with us.
I use it to cope with chronic arthritic pain. Its great distraction therapy. I combine it with other things to manage. Innkeeper is always engrossing,clean enough that listening to it wont offend or shock any one who might be in range of the player. Many thanks to Clan Andrews for this gift to the world.
In looking at the original Moon Light Path photo just now, I was struck by how much those two tracks resemble the outlines of ears. Like, if you panned lower, there should be eyes and a snout below them.
My daughter used tumeric golden paste formula (tumeric, coconut oil, fresh ground pepper and Ceylon cinnamon) for her bulldog/pit mix. It kept her going for about three years. Roxie wouldn’t take the paste eventually so she used a syringe with it a little gloppy. The excess was kept in the freezer.
I have a question regarding Ruby Fever.
Are we going to get to know the grandfather of the Baylor sisters on their father´s side?
Please, don´t tell me the name. I just want to know if it is going to be revealed in the book.
I love to do this with their soaps too! I get those rust proof soap dispenser lids that you can just screw onto a mason jar, and find a pretty mason jar at a thrift shop and voila! It lasts forever!
Re: Giving dog chewable, delicious? medicine. I discovered with my collie if I took it out of the bottle 30 min or longer before she had to take, to let it air out, she was MUCH more willing to take it.
Can’t wait to try this soap hack. I love BB soaps but hate tossing/recycling so many plastic bottles. For dog meds, we use liver sausage/braunschweiger all the way. I’ve never had a dog who could resist it. One will spit the pill out of just about anything except liver sausage. I can’t stand the smell, but my husband and the dogs love it!