More fun with persepctive...and a foot update.

A couple days ago I mentioned that I've been having fun playing with perspective shots of my furbabies. As I said then, Thimble is often my most willing and cooperative furbaby when it comes to this.

Perhaps I'm just a tad bit biased, but this little girl is pretty adorable from any angle. Even from below, she usually oozes all sorts of cuteness. See?

Forgive my doting. I simply can't help myself when I see that face.


Now, for a bit of "bonus" material, I thought I'd give a little update on the benign histiocytoma tumor on Astrid's foot.

All in all, Astrid's tumor is still present. On a good day, she keeps her protective bootie on when we take her outside and then it looks good and seems to be on the mend. On a not so good day, Astrid expertly kicks off or in some other way removes her bootie when outside, and then even just a few seconds of contact with concrete or stepping on a stick causes it to get irritated and often even bleed.

I called Astrid's vet recently to give him this update. He admitted that he would like to continue giving it some time, at least a couple more weeks, as it really can take 14-16 weeks for these tumors to heal on their own, and at present we're only at roughly eight weeks since he initially diagnosed it. He reiterated that, if need be, the tumor can be removed. However, being in a sensitive and heavily used location, cutting it off and thereby creating an incision and open wound would put it at even greater risk of infection and difficulty in healing.

So, for now, we're continuing as we are. Some days it really does appear to be improving and looking healthier. The problem is that, for that to be the case, we still have to hold off on Astrid's usual walk regimen. The poor girl is young and active, and so this is admittedly causing her to be restless. We do what we can to keep her preoccupied and busy in other ways besides walks (car rides, short walks to visit Pawpaw and Gammy, staying and playing with Pawpaw and Gammy, new chew bones and toys, etc.), but all I can say is that both she and we are rooting for this tumor to heal up as soon as possible so that she can get back to her long, energy-expending walks.

Now, for those of you curious, I thought I'd share a photo that I took a few days back of Astrid's tumor. I'm going to keep this picture small at first sight, so that those of you who don't want to see it up close and personal don't have to. If you would like to more closely see what a histiocytoma can look like, just click on the image below. Needless to say, WARNING: MILDLY GRAPHIC EWWW FACTOR.

Not too pretty, huh?

Happy Friday, everybuddy!

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Our Tip of the Day:

For those who live in cold winter climates, keep in mind that ice-melting salt can irritate your pets' paw pads, and it can also cause internal irritation if the pet licks it off of their feet or the floor. Be sure to wipe off the paws of any animal that goes outdoors and comes in contact with salt. Also be sure to either take off your shoes or thoroughly wipe off your shoes before walking through the house when you've been outside on salt. For your own sidewalk and driveway, consider some of the pet-friendly and salt-free products that are available on the market.