The Cost of things: August 2014

Tags

budgeting, creston valley meats, dog treats, elanco, pet finances, poop bags, vet

Incredibly busy lately. I have about two posts in me for September, and this is one, already way later than usual.

This is my fourth year of tracking pet finances at the House of Two Bows. This is an ongoing effort to get a practical sense of what it costs to keep two 20 ~ 30 pound adult dogs in an area of the US with relatively high costs of living. Previous posts in this series can be found under the category of finances.

The Cost of (Pet) Things for August 2014:

• Food: $211 [previous month, $30]
• Treats: $49 [previous, $31]
• Grooming: $16 [previous, $5]
• Vet & Medical: -$35 [previous, $411]
• Accessories and misc: $50 [previous, $0]
• TOTAL: $291 [running average for 2014: ~$200/month]

Crazy high food total included a 15 lb. bag of Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream, one more 4 lb box of Honest Kitchen Embark, and an unanticipated, large order from Creston Valley Meats. I decided to buy another two large boxes of ground turkey, as well as an order of lamb bones. It may be a while before my schedule frees up so I can make their delivery times, so I decided to restock while I could. I did not anticipate over 20 pounds of lamb bones in my order, which I’ve been trying to disperse generously amongst my dog friends. Apparently, I need to know more raw feeders, because an extra freezer is really not in my budget. Yet it was hard to pass up lamb bones at 55 cents a pound!

I loaded up on buy 3 get 1 treats at the local Pet Food Express, and dehydrated a whole bunch more chicken hearts, in order to appease the Bows when I left them with a housesitter back in August. I went overboard, so plenty of treats remain.

In grooming, I finally got my act together to order a bulk box of poop bags from Amazon. 700 poop bags for $16, with Prime shipping? Can’t really argue with that deal.

Bowdu’s major veterinary appointment was postponed for this month, September. It already happened, and I’ll have more to say about that later. What I did receive last month was my $35 Elanco rebate, slightly more than what is normally offered as a “loyalty rewards” customer. I honestly was not expecting to receive the check so efficiently. I was even notified by e-mail when the check was on its way — overall resulting in my most positive experience yet with the company that manufactures Comfortis/Trifexis.

Finally, I tacked on a somewhat arbitrary $50 fee to Miscellaneous, which includes a rare expense category for the House of Two Bows: boarding and pet care by an outside helper. The only reason I could go to Denmark was because I roped a dog-savvy friend into watching the house and the Bows, all in exchange for a free place to stay and unlimited access to all food and drink in the house. I did lug back some Danish beer as payment, so that and some miscellaneous extras are included in the $50.

Under normal circumstances, in-home pet sitting would cost way, way more — like $50 for each night, let alone seven. All the more reason that friendships with dog-friends must be carefully cultivated, with the expectation that we’re always paying it forward, and that the winning personalities of your canine charges will help balance out the karmic scales.

Sighting: Chow & Dog Chow in Denmark

Tags

chow chows, science diet

Everywhere I go, I feel like I have an “I (Heart) Dogs” sign floating above my head.

I dropped offline for a while, as I was busy flying back and forth across the world — specifically, to Denmark, where I spent a little time in Copenhagen before heading over to Aarhus for a four-day conference. Super glad to be back home.

Whenever I travel now, I keep an eye on the local canine landscape. Frankly, I was a little disappointed by how few Nordic dogs I spotted! Sure, I saw a few, but relative to the [also few] number of dogs in passing, not nearly enough for my satisfaction. Perhaps a function of where I was staying.

Meanwhile, it’s little things like this about pet culture that catch my attention, especially when traveling outside of North America:

This was in the window of a veterinary clinic, though I don’t suppose it’s a prescription diet. Nevertheless, it’s a different perspective to have the neutered pet presented as exceptional, problematic, in need of a special diet. In Europe, where intact dogs are the norm, the neutered dog becomes the medicalized condition.

DIY delicacies

Tags

dehydrators, dog treats, frugal living

This is what about $5 worth of dehydrated chicken hearts produces:

At $2.69/pound, the meat wasn’t on sale. They came from the grocery store that tends to have less fat on their chicken hearts, so I barely had to trim anything. Slicing each heart in half before throwing it into the dehydrator also stretches out the portions.

This’ll last a month or two, in combination with other treats. I keep one container at a time in the fridge (they’re smaller than they appear). The rest go in the freezer until needed.

The Cost of things: July 2014

Tags

budgeting, comfortis, elanco, glucosamine, joint supplements, pet finances, vet

This is my fourth year of tracking pet finances at the House of Two Bows. This is an ongoing effort to get a practical sense of what it costs to keep two 20 ~ 30 pound adult dogs in an area of the US with relatively high costs of living. Previous posts in this series can be found under the category of finances.

The Cost of (Pet) Things for July 2014:

• Food: $30 [previous month, $21]
• Treats: $31 [previous, $6]
• Grooming: $5 [previous, $0]
• Vet & Medical: $411 [previous, $0]
• Accessories and misc: $0 [previous, $0]
• TOTAL: $477 [running average for 2014: ~$187/month]

Most of this month’s food total goes towards Bowdu’s liquid glucosamine, which is not a cheap supplement. It really seems to be effective though, so I’m incorporating it into the regular budget. Otherwise, the food costs this month only include some whole pike mackerel and chicken drumsticks. The freezer is starting to look a bit bare though, and I’ll need to do a kibble run for August.

Treats included commercial treats on a buy-3-get-1-free deal, and a couple packs of raw pig’s ears, seven pieces total, which were chopped and dehydrated. Still have a gallon bag stashed in the freezer, which will get us through next month.

Grooming supplies were a 3-pack of store brand baby wipes from Target. I use these for Bowdu’s feet after walks, especially in the summer. He has been licking his feet black, which has been a seasonal thing the last few years. As long as he’s not breaking skin, I’m satisfied that his summer allergies are being kept under control.

Obviously, the big blow this month was veterinary costs. You can see my previous post about Bowdu’s vet visit for the breakdown on that. Twelve doses of Comfortis are also included in this figure. This time, they sent me a special “loyalty” promotional code for a $35 rebate on a pack of twelve. I’m never very optimistic that the rebate will go smoothly, so I’m not accounting for the discount until I actually receive it.

Anticipating another high total next month. And it’s going to be a busy one… Meanwhile, after three weeks, I can say that Bowdu is doing better, probably due to a combination of the supplements and time. He’s not at 100% though, and now he’s blowing his coat again so he’s back to looking rough and scraggly.

We’ve been enjoying some gorgeous sunsets all last month, most of which I fail to capture in photo. Some things are better experienced off screen, anyway.

Threshold: Bowdu’s July checkup

Tags

aging dogs, canine hypothyroidism, finances, glucosamine, ichon, senior dogs, vet

I dreaded the accounting on this one, but delaying it doesn’t make the expense go away. Bowdu’s last vet checkup was a heavy one, financial and psychological.

For Bowdu’s annual exam, I had an additional concern. Bowdu’s back legs — his back right leg, in particular — had been shaky for quite some time now. Last year, the vet said it indicative of muscle weakness, a symptom that often accompanies hypothyroidism. Bowdu’s energy levels remain consistent, so we maintained observational hover pattern.

Unfortunately, in the last couple months, his hind leg seems to have been giving him more trouble. The shaking, which was fairly sporadic in the past, is fairly constant now. One day a couple months ago, he started walking with a limp and keeping that back right foot raised. This wasn’t set off by any memorable trauma, and our routine has been fairly steady and low-impact, all around. He wasn’t expressing any audible pain, so I kept watch and waited it out. He returned to normal stride after a few days.

A few weeks ago, the same thing happened again. This time, however, he wasn’t so quick to bounce back. He is clearly not jumping as high as he used to. Getting up on the bed is a two-step process now, using his dog bed (placed on a cushion at the foot of the bed) to trampoline himself up to the human bed. He even allows me to lift him into the car — something that he usually makes an undignified stink about. On our off leash walks, he boycotts certain regular routes that we’ve hiked for years, and won’t follow closely. This is unusual, even for his Shibaness.

(Apologies for the vertical videography)

The second video, in particular, is Bowdu at his creakiest and slowest. [**Significant ETA: I just realized the second video is from the same day of his vet exam, which means his slow motion is actually a residual effect of the Acepromazine. The pace helps to show his funny gait though.] He is not a young dog anymore, but at nine years old, this is not what I would expect either. So we went off to the vet for as full a workup as we could manage without sedation (other than his acepromazine) …

• Office Call: senior semi-annual exam, $56 $50.40
• Total Body Function, $179 $161.10
• Urinalysis add-on, $61 $54.90
• Comfortis, 12 doses (20.1 ~ 40 pounds), $201.06
• Referral credit, ($56.00)
• TOTAL: $411.46*

* Prices reflect my 10% student discount, where applicable

The bloodwork came back just fine, and his thyroids continue to be well managed at his current dosage of 0.2mg of Soloxine, twice a day. The physical exam, however, was a shrieking, fur-flying, anal gland-releasing mess.

So much for his winning streak as a “good” patient. Bowdu was not having it this time. Suffice to say, I’m now looking forward to another estimated $500 examination, which will include sedation and X-rays, to get Bowdu’s back end issues properly diagnosed.

Based on Bowdu’s history and what I know of other Shibas with similar health profiles, I strongly suspect it’s an ACL injury. I don’t want to say much more without an official diagnosis. In the meantime, he’s been getting loaded up on liquid glucosamine supplements (which I’d stopped for a while, and more on that some other day) and he continues to get daily fish oil capsules. His weight is good, so there’s no change to his diet. We continue our regular walks, including our off leash hikes along less strenuous trails, which I think gives him the freedom to move at his own pace and comfort.

I have to trust that he knows his own body as intimately as nature allows. He won’t tax or purposely hurt himself. It’s only been a couple weeks since his visit and about 10 days since I started loading him with glucosamine, but he’s been noticeably improved. His situation is far from dire, but it will need to be addressed.

And this, too, is when I feel the pressure of maintaining an aging dog on a student’s budget. Even if his situation is “just” remedied with steady glucosamine supplements, I think I’m looking at about an additional $200 a year on nutraceutical expenses — which I’m ready and able to do. What I do now will have an impact on Bowdu long beyond my current budget situation.

The vet also mentioned an injectible solution called Ichon which is more expensive, but reportedly, more effective. Absorption is one of the biggest variables across tablet, liquid, and now injectible forms of glucosamine, so I’m going to have to do some research to figure out a solution that works best for us.

Getting ahead of ourselves though, especially since there hasn’t been an official diagnosis. Apparently, the supplements — and time, of course — are making a difference, so this is what’s in our future. Clearly, we’ve passed a life stage threshold of some sort. While Bowdu may not be as active as he was even a mere year ago, there’s a lot of life in him yet. Learning how to make the most of it is an ongoing, mutual process.

The Cost of things: June 2014

Tags

budgeting, pet finances, raw turkey

This is my fourth year of tracking pet finances at the House of Two Bows. This is an ongoing effort to get a practical sense of what it costs to keep two 20 ~ 30 pound adult dogs in an area of the US with relatively high costs of living. Previous posts in this series can be found under the category of finances.

The Cost of (Pet) Things for June 2014:

• Food: $21 [previous month, $194]
• Treats: $6 [previous, $41]
• Grooming: $0 [previous, $0]
• Vet & Medical: $0 [previous, $0]
• Accessories and misc: $0 [previous, $0]
• TOTAL: $27 [running average for 2014: ~$139/month]

Last month’s food total was horrendously high, so I made a conscientious effort to pace things out this month. I didn’t meet my single-digit spending goal, but I’m satisfied with the numbers anyway. That amount included a couple pounds of sardines, turkey tails and necks, chicken livers, and a whole roasting chicken. When roasters are on sale, they’re extremely economical, hacked up and apportioned as dog food for the week. I even saved a breast for myself, which lasted several meals given the way I portion my own meat intake.

Treats also consisted of raw fare, chicken hearts chopped up and thrown into the dehydrator.

I’m not expecting such a low total next month, as Bowdu is due for another vet appointment — his periodic thyroid check.

REVIEW: The Honest Kitchen Force w/ GIVEAWAY (inc. Perfect Form)

Tags

dehydrated dog food, digestive aids, giveaways, honest kitchen, supplements

Product: The Honest Kitchen Force
Quantity: 2 lb. trial package
Price: $21.99 via THK online*
Ingredients (all dehydrated): Chicken, organic flaxseed, potatoes, celery, sweet potatoes, apples, organic alfalfa, organic kelp, honey, pumpkin, green beans, cabbage, bananas, papayas, basil, garlic, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate
Guaranteed analysis:

• Protein, 24.0%
• Crude Fat, Min 0.85%
• Fiber, 6.5%
• Moisture, 8.5%

Country of origin: Manufactured in the United States; ingredients sourced from various locales, no ingredients from China
Company information: The Honest Kitchen; 145, 14th Street; San Diego, CA 92101
Web Presence: TheHonestKitchen.com, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and elsewhere

* Complimentary box received in exchange for our honest review. Please check out the bottom for details on a how to win a FREE trial box of THK!

In a long term relationship, one sometimes falls so deeply into familiar routines, questions start answering themselves. It’s hard to step outside that halcyon lull when everything just feels fine. And why should you want to? Steadiness, reliability, and that constant source of assurance can be exactly what makes any long term relationship so desirable.

But then one day, your old familiar partner walks through the door with a wild new hairstyle or decked out in a sharp new wardrobe, and you think…

… Woah. Hot!!!

For it’s a mistake to equate stability with stasis, or a lack of change. The desire to package and present yourself anew can itself be endearing. So long as we’re not talking drastic measures like, say, face tattoos without prior notice, and all the intrinsically lovable traits remain intact, some element of surprise does wonders to keep a relationship fresh.

And that is how I feel about The Honest Kitchen’s new packaging, designed by Natalya Zahn, unveiled a few months ago and introduced via a lovely care package delivered straight to the doorstep at the House of Two Bows.

Inside was a wooden crate containing all kinds of literature reintroducing the brand and the product, including a lavishly photographed recipe book full of healthy dog- and human-friendly meals. Of immediate concern to the Bows was the box of Perfect Form, a digestive supplement that we sometimes use, and a trial size box of Force, the grain-free chicken recipe that is already a part of the Bows’ regular meals.

I’m cataloging the contents for full disclosure that yes, we did get free stuff from THK in exchange for our honest review. No other compensation was received. But the Bows’ and THK already go way back to July 2011, when we first started feeding it regularly. I had no idea back then that we would use THK products on a near-daily basis. Indeed, as sometimes happens in long-term relationships, we’ve come to take their products for granted. So the surprise package was a welcome invitation to recall why we fell in love in the first place.

Some of the many ways we prepare THK: topped with raw chicken gizzards and hearts, mixed with shredded carrot and topped with raw chicken’s foot, topped with raw chicken liver and mixed with herbal skin and coat supplements, rounding out a meal of smallish raw chicken drumsticks, blended with raw ground turkey, topped with raw egg, with raw sardines and scrambled raw egg, with a hunk of raw chicken thigh

The new, two-pound trial size box is available in four dog-specific recipes (Force, Embark, Love, and Keen) and one cat-specific recipe (Prowl). Each box makes about eight pounds of food, which lasts about three to four weeks when fed for one of the two meals at the House of Two Bows. Thus, it’s a fitting amount for a proper food trial, both in terms of volume and time. The previous one and three-ounce packages only give a shallow impression, basically letting you know if your pet will bite… or not. To get a better idea of potential benefits, you gotta have enough to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out the affair a bit.

So let me now take this opportunity to explain the top three reasons why I have stuck with The Honest Kitchen over the years:

• They’re just my physical type. Of all the different types of dog food — kibble, canned, raw, rolled, etc. — I find this dehydrated form to be the most versatile and portable. Every recipe is fully balanced on its own, but I like to add extras to bump up protein content or just to spice things up (also very easy to hide medication, as necessary). Meanwhile, rehydration adds necessary moisture, and that can be adjusted too.


When switching formulas or countering mild digestive upsets, I add Perfect Form to the mix. Pictured is THK Preference (meatless base mix) with ground turkey, topped with Perfect Form before mixing.

• They have a strong personality… insofar as one can speak of a company possessing a personality. I’m not referring to a cartoon mascot or hired spokesperson. I mean that the company visibly embraces specific food production values which overlap with lifestyle philosophies, all of which they forefront with abundant detail. Now, I don’t claim to be in complete alignment, but I feel like we’re on the same page on a lot of flashpoint issues inclusive of dogs and cats and also extending to matters of broader social import. There are too many examples to list here, but the thing is you don’t have to dig too deep to find out where the company stands on quality control, sustainable sourcing of ingredients (the tag “nothing from China” is even printed on the box), and even social issues like the balance between animal rescues and ethical breeding, etc.
  

  Honest Kitchen is clear about where all their ingredients are from, even if internationally sourced. All recipes are domestically manufactured in the US. Source: THK blog, http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/thk-blog/pet-food-with-no-ingredients-from-china/

• Third, they know how to communicate. They’ve been pretty social media-savvy from the start, especially on Facebook. Not only do you know about it when they’re adjusting recipes, they even solicit feedback in the course of making product changes. There’s a lot more they do to maintain integrity with their customer base. Again, too many examples to list here, but suffice to say, their presence and outreach efforts befit their status as a 21st century pet food company, both in the office and on the product shelves.

Finally, The Honest Kitchen is generously sponsoring a GIVEAWAY for one box of any of their 2-pound trial boxes:

• FORCE, free range chicken (grain-free)
• EMBARK, cage-free turkey (grain-free)
• LOVE, Midwestern beef (grain-free)
• KEEN, turkey with organic oats
• PROWL, free-range chicken for CATS

That’s right! Cat owners are invited to participate, as well. The only rules are that 1) you are committed to a long-term relationship with your pet(s) — so please tell us who you’re entering for, 2) you reside in the continental United States, and 3) comment on this post simply stating which recipe you would like to try out.

Deadline is Wednesday, June 18th at 11:59PM Pacific Standard Time, at which point one winner will be randomly chosen to receive their preferred two-pound box; three runner-ups will be chosen to receive sample packets of THK Perfect Form, a digestive supplement suitable for both dogs and cats. Because I will be personally mailing out the packets of Perfect Form, “runner up” winners can be from anywhere in the world — so international participants are welcome to comment, though you’ll be ineligible for the main prize.

Have at it, and good luck!

The Cost of things: May 2014

Tags

acana, budgeting, creston valley meats, dehydrators, dog treats, honest kitchen, kibble, pet finances, pig ears, raw turkey, zignature

Don’t look now… it’s that time of month again.

This is my fourth year of tracking pet finances at the House of Two Bows. This is an ongoing effort to get a practical sense of what it costs to keep two 20 ~ 30 pound adult dogs in an area of the US with relatively high costs of living. Previous posts in this series can be found under the category of finances.

The Cost of (Pet) Things for May 2014:

• Food: $194 [previous month, $15]
• Treats: $41 [previous, $12]
• Grooming: $0 [previous, $0]
• Vet & Medical: $0 [previous, $0]
• Accessories and misc: $0 [previous, $0]
• TOTAL: $235 [running average for 2014: ~$161/month]

Another high total bumping up the monthly average, unfortunately. This month I splurged on a couple sales and bulk orders.

Placed another food order with Creston Valley Meats, a practice which I only seem to manage about once a year. This round included a 12-pound box of ground turkey meat and bone, which I mix with Honest Kitchen Preference at about a 2:1 ratio (heavy on the meat), and about 7 pounds of chicken’s feet at $1.50 a pound, sold as “all natural, home grown, most fed on organic feed.” This is slightly cheaper than the local Asian groceries, and apparently better quality (from what little I can tell by visual inspection). Given the way I stagger meals, this supply should last through the rest of the year.

Also on the pricey side, I threw down for more Honest Kitchen products since the local Pet Food Express chain was running a promotion: buy one, get one half off. I snagged a 10 lb. box of The Honest Kitchen Force for an additional $20 off because the packaging was damaged (though the contents were unaffected), so I matched that with a 7 lb. box of Preference at discount. That amount of Preference has lasted about a year before, perhaps a bit less.

10 lb. box of THK Force (old packaging) vs. 2 lb. trial size box (new packaging)

Not sure if the sale was because the store wanted to clear the shelves to make way for THK in its new packaging (shown on the 2 lb trial size box that Bowpi is licking). Review preview: You will hear more about The Honest Kitchen Force and their new packaging in the next post…

For kibble, the Bows got a 15 pound bag of Acana Pacifica, probably the most expensive kibble in their rotation (and thus only appearing about once a year), because I managed to comp a small bag of Acana Grasslands with a special order.

Finally, there was one last 4 lb. bag of Zignature Wild Trout recipe at half off. We’ve tried a couple Zignature formulas before. Since then, the retail price on the small bag at my local pet store was adjusted to $12.98 a bag, which makes it comparable to Taste of the Wild. I’m not convinced that it’s a better kibble, though at less than $7 a bag, it’s totally worth another chance.

So that was a lot of food that should allow us to aim for a single-digit food total next month…

For treats, restocked on The Honest Kitchen Beams at buy 3, get 1 free (went for the small size this time). Also eight raw pig’s ears, hacked up and thrown into the dehydrator. Lots of crunchy bits to get us through the month…

The Cost of things: April 2014

Tags

budgeting, dehydrators, dog treats, mary's pet food, pet finances, pig ears, pitman family farms, raw turkey

This is my fourth year of tracking pet finances at the House of Two Bows. This is an ongoing effort to get a practical sense of what it costs to keep two 20 ~ 30 pound adult dogs in an area of the US with relatively high costs of living. Previous posts in this series can be found under the category of finances.

The Cost of (Pet) Things for April 2014:

• Food: $15 [previous month, $83]
• Treats: $12 [previous, $31]
• Grooming: $0 [previous, $13]
• Vet & Medical: $0 [previous, $80]
• Accessories and misc: $0 [previous, $15]
• TOTAL: $27 [running average for 2014: ~$142.50/month]

Well check that out. We rocked this month! This is the whole point of stocking up in previous months though, yeah?

Poultry organs are always cheap. The most expensive food item was this one pound chub of Mary’s Pet Food, purchased on a whim when I saw it at my local grocery store. There’s not a lot of online information about this particular product, which does claim to be a “complete” meal suitable for both dogs and cats (hmm…). I was even confused as to whether it was actually cooked, semi-cooked, or raw, as the label doesn’t even say; the meat was not pink, yet it was bloody and drippy after thawing. The website printed on the package doesn’t actually say anything about pet food, but it does tell about Pitman Family Farms, the parent company. Apparently they specialize in “less stressful” slaughtering techniques for poultry, using a process called Controlled Atmosphere Stunning. Interesting.

That sounds like a lot of technology to support for $7.99 + tax, which made me think it was a fair price. I bought it, but I’m not sold on the product. The overall feeding experience itself wasn’t anything special and actually pretty messy for what it was. There’s a reason that other raw food manufacturers freeze their portions in nuggets or patties; chubs are leaky and inconvenient to handle if you don’t use the entire thing at once. And since it was sold frozen, thawing it out rendered the convenience of a grab-and-go meal rather moot, for my purposes.

The dogs, of course, loved it, and digested it just fine. But honestly, I think I could prep them a better, fresher meal just as easily.

Anyway, the real fun this month was in treats. Aside from the usual chicken hearts, I introduced a new ingredient to the home dehydrator: pig ears!

A pack of three very large ears at $3.39 a pound cost less than $4 at Ranch 99. The best part about doing it yourself is that I can easily trim each piece into less gluttonous, treat-sized strips before popping them into the dehydrator. I did leave them in for nearly 16 hours, which may have been overkill. They looked great on the other side though! Given that one whole ear can cost $3 at the pet store these days, this was definitely worth the time and effort. We’ll be doing this again for sure.

Health update on the cusp of spring

Tags

flea dermatitis, hair loss, honest kitchen, kennel cough, skin and coat supplements, skin rash, tracheal collapse, vet

A health update is called for, as we’ve had a titch of trouble recently.

Last Wednesday, I brought Bowpi in to the vet. She’d been cough-wheezing for a while. It’d reportedly started in November, when I was still in Taiwan. I certainly noticed it when I came back — a sporadic, whuffing sound that came on when she was balled up, either getting into or just emerging from sleep. RJ figured it was due to the unusually dry winter we’ve been having in California, and as it seemed to come and go, we just kept monitoring her.

The cough suddenly got louder and more frequent over one rainy weekend, so I had her in ASAP. Basically, she was whuffing and chuffing in several, continuous, uncontrolled rounds, and doing a lot of this in addition:

… yet, she wasn’t coughing frequently enough that I could count on her to demonstrate her symptoms to the vet. So I took video. Even on the day that I brought her in, the rain had cleared up, and she hadn’t coughed for over 12 hours. And Bowdu, as you can see, has been his usual, doofy self, so it didn’t seem to be a highly contagious condition.

Based on the video, manual palpation, my description of the symptoms, and Bowpi’s overall age and stature, the vet’s diagnosis was partial tracheal collapse, aggravated by a secondary infection of kennel cough. She spared me the X-rays for a more precise diagnosis, since she was pretty sure that was what was going on, and her condition wasn’t severe. She was able to recreate the coughing sound in the examination room by pressing on Bowpi’s trachea, and noted that the condition was not in the esophagus, so there was some process of elimination going into the diagnosis too.

So we were sent off with a round of Doxycycline for the cough, and a harness for Bowpi is already on the way. I definitely feel some guilt, wondering if this all could have been prevented if I had just been walking Bowpi on a harness to begin with. Like pretty much every Basenji I’ve ever walked, she’s always been a puller, jerking with great determination (for such a small dog!) towards the object of her scrutiny. This is much less of a problem when she’s off leash, as the vast majority of our daytime walks tend to be.

Obviously, I can’t always walk her off leash, so I’m doing what I can to minimize the harm that’s already been done. Like the doc predicted, her cough cleared right up after a week of medication, and her chuffing has subsided to very occasional, and minor disruptions. Neither her energy levels nor appetite has been affected, and otherwise she remains in great shape, so we carry on, and will follow up by phone in a couple months.

I am transparent about pet finances on this blog, and since veterinary fees can be one of the most inscrutable costs, I present the itemized bill:

• Office call, $56 $50.40 (minus 10% student discount
• Doxycycline (strength: 25 mg/mL), 28 mL, $30
• TOTAL: $80.40

Meanwhile, Bowdu was off his flea medication schedule for over two weeks, as I’d forgotten about it in February’s flurry. This is atypical of me, and poor Bowdu is the one that had to suffer for it.

Due to what I think were some flea or bug bites, Bowdu got really itchy in a couple spots on his chest, resulting in the loss of large swathes of fur. I didn’t actually see any bugs, though I saw the bite areas, and I didn’t find anything on Bowpi, whose short fur is usually quick to reveal any such problems. However, knowing that Bowdu does react pretty intensely to bug bites, and given the intensity of the fur loss (most of it came right out within about a two day window), my first response was to get both dogs back on Comfortis, ASAP.

This does coincide with a seasonal fur blow, which is already pretty intense in its own right. Since a few years ago (with the diagnosis of canine hypothyroidism), I’ve noted that Bowdu does tend to lose his fur in big, bald patches when he’s shedding. Pictures from February 2011 for comparison:

Pretty much always the same areas around the neck, chest, and belly, but never his back.

This is clearly the worst Bowdu has had it in years, with raw red skin and hyperpigmentation and everything.

I gave him a bath with some medicated shampoo to try and ease the itch and speed along the shedding process. I think it was actually a little too intense and offset his skin oils, because he’s felt greasier since the bath. I’ll give him another week or so, and try again again with a gentle shampoo.

Meanwhile, he’s been getting generic diphenhydramine (Benadryl) about twice a day, with breakfast and before bedtime. He’s got his skin and coat supplements: the usual fish oil and vitamin E, and additional Honest Kitchen Sparkle (which is being discontinued due to “regulatory challenges combined with low sales” — time to formulate our own herbal blend!). His itching seems to be under control, he just looks and feels rough, and is a bit cranky about being touched in certain ways.

At least he’s not too self-conscious about showing off his precious, slightly bald tummy.