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.
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.