Astrid Adventures to the Vet

Yesterday, pup Astrid had her annual exam at the vet. She is 9 years old, and so she also had some blood drawn and her urine collected for a senior panel. We'll know those results on Thursday. I'm admittedly always nervous until I know that all is well with the bloodwork, but such is life as a pet parent.

Astrid has also been having some occasional stiffness and pain in her hind legs, especially her right leg, in which she was born with an abnormal hip joint. Radiographs were done on that. Inspection of those images led the vet to believe that Astrid may occasionally be suffering from the bones in that hip rubbing against each other, therefore causing pain. So, this pup now has some pain meds to take as needed. She really doesn't mind, as she gets to take that pill in peanut butter, which she loves. In addition to the bloodwork results, we're also waiting on a specialist's observations of the x-rays, just to make sure that what very likely is just some bone remodeling isn't actually something more serious.

And can you believe that Astrid's vet says that, though she lost a tad bit of weight, this pup could stand to lose a bit more? How rude. Pup Astrid topped out last year at 82 lbs, and now she's just under 79 lbs. This slightly chunky girl also has some lipomas, which are benign fatty tumors. She's had these for a couple of years and they've barely grown at all, so the vet isn't worried about them. Even so, with Astrid's history of cancer on her foot a few years ago, her vet keeps a very close eye on all of her lumps and bumps.

Most importantly, just as we do every year, after Astrid's vet visit she got to enjoy what Dairy Queen calls a "pup cup".

This girl loves her some ice cream. Can you tell?

Happy Wednesday, friends!

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

This Friday is the birthday of my mom (the furbabies' grandma), and so I've been working on scribbling up an image for her card. As I work on the new one, I figured why not share a past year's birthday card? This one stars half of my parents' clowder of a dozen.

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Tip of the Day

Today's pet parenting tip is a simple one about creating a masterpiece of a memory using your furbaby's adorable toesies. If your furbaby is willing to participate and does not get stressed, you can get non-toxic, pet-friendly paint in order to create some paw art. After finding somewhere in your home where you don't mind making a tad bit of a mess, put some of the pet-safe paint on your furbaby's feet and either have them walk on some paper, or press their paw on the paper yourself. You can then leave the paw prints as-is, or even get creative and turn some of them into flowers or other cute designs. Either way, this is one way to create a simple yet long-lasting memory of your furbaby.

As morbid as it sounds, in the future, you will likely be glad you created these such lasting memories while your furbaby was still with you. We all know that some similar items, such as clay paws, are often created during a time of grief. This is why the aforementioned paw art is one way to create such a memory in happier, healthier times. Again, as morbid as it may sound, you might later thank yourself for thinking ahead about what memories you might want to have after your furbaby is gone. Of course, do take into consideration your furbaby's comfort. If your furbaby is too stressed to participate in paw art, for example, brainstorm and think of other ways to create lasting memories with them. The options are endless.