Tag Archives: mika

It’s Going to Cost Me What?!

You never expect to have to drop a whole load of money on a perfectly happy, healthy and mikabedactive young dog until that moment when it actually happens because they do something totally unexpected or a horrendous accident occurs.  This was the case last Thursday for us when our darling milk chocolate darling Mika decided that part of a Wubba’s tail, fleece tug and half of one of my bras (the side with the eye hooks) were perfectly edible and polished them off in the wee hours of the morning and I would have found out too late if I hadn’t stepped on a soggy bra (because I was lazy and left it on the floor the night previously) and realized something did NOT look right on it.

My husband and I figured we could get her to vomit it back up with peroxide – especially since she’s notorious for eating stuffing from stuffy toys (and the reason she is banned from them too!) – and so we weren’t worried too at that time.  My husband and I both worked for one or the other (or both of us!) to get out of work, however, and get her into the vet’s office if we couldn’t get her to vomit.  I tried the peroxide when I got home from work since I hadn’t been gone too long since she ingested the items but she failed to throw the items up.

I called the clinic to warn them that I was on my way up (I actually said, because of Mika’s history for needing x-rays for pulling these stunts that “Mika needed another dose of radiation because it had been far too long and she needed a recharge for her super powers.”) and what I suspected.  X-rays were ordered the second we got into the room after her vitals were checked – which showed a slightly elevated temperature of 102 degrees.  Sure as the fact that the sun rises and sets every day, the metal from the bra showed up on x-rays.  I cringed knowing exactly what it meant and how bad the estimate would be.

My vet’s office is, thankfully, absolutely amazing. My estimate was about half what Imikavet expected at a tune of $830 dollars with all the necessary things for surgery plus the bill of $125 she had already racked up with x-rays, etc.   It didn’t stop me from cringing at the bill but it was a little easier pill to swallow since I knew she could be gotten in that day without paying emergency room costs or allowing for 24-hours to pass into a more complicated extraction area like her intestines.

Thankfully, we have a CareCredit card (which is, in my opinion, an essential thing to have if you have dogs because you NEVER know when one of them is going to have a stupid moment like Mika did…!) which allowed for 18 months of no interest payments on our painful bill.  If we hadn’t, we’ve got an emergency fund specifically for the dogs but I avoid tapping into that unless I have no other choice but the cushion was there for that off chance.

mikavet1Mika went into surgery at round 12pm.  The surgery took around a half an hour from start to finish and was, in relative terms, a simple exploratory surgery because she hadn’t passed any of the items into nastier territory.  My vet, Dr. Eugene over at Hoover Road Animal Hospital, was pleased with the work and when she was in recovery, I was allowed back to sit with her while she came out of anesthesia and see what all she ate.  It was, to be honest, utterly disgusting but I was glad she didn’t eat more or worse.

Ultimately, Mika’s antics taught me a very valuable lesson on being prepared.  The painful and expensive opportunity to know what to watch for when it comes to dogs who don’t think twice and get into things they shouldn’t even when you least expect it.  The financial responsibility overall on a dog may be minimal but an emergency surgery definitely is not and it always pays to save for a rainy day – even if it’s only a few dollars here and there.  You never know when it will be necessary!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Mika!

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I wasn’t exactly looking for another dog when Mika came into our lives but my husband was.  He was sick and tired of me hoarding all of the dogs and he wanted a puppy of his own to train and work without my interference.  I had suggested a few litters but nothing that spoke to him until our good friend Howard asked if we would be interested in one of his puppies – which I had secretly been watching because I loved the father of the litter.  We jumped at the chance.

The rest is history.  He got his sport dog (even if she’s not gotten a whole heck of a lot of titles just yet – she’s just a baby after all…or I’d like to think so still!) and we got one helluva wonderful dog that the nieces and nephews absolutely adore, is a good representative of the breed and has drive with an off switch.  She truly is an amazing girl and has made us so proud with even the small amount of accomplishments she’s had so far (with many plans on the horizon!).

We’re proud of our baby girl and everything that she can and will accomplish over the many, many years we will have with our little minx.  Happy birthday, baby girl!  Here is to many, many more years together (but can you please stop lifting your leg like a boy?! Haha!).

North Meets South ADBA Show

On the weekend of June 1st and 2nd was the Great Lakes Pit Bull Club’s annual show.  This year, the club was joined by the Southeastern APBT Club from North Carolina.  With four shows and two weight pulls, it was a long and grueling weekend since we worked the club being members of the Great Lakes club but it was absolutely amazing.

In recent years, many clubs have seen a massive decline in entries due to a variety of reasons with the largest one being economic and financial setbacks.  The ‘North Meets South’ event, however, didn’t seem to have much of that concern with well over 100 entries in conformation alone for each show.  Weight pull was no different with record numbers coming to pull.  We had some Class A pullers from all across the US who rocked it out on a less-than-favorable track and had two dogs finish their Ace titles as well!  (Congratulations are in order to Clay of Team No Fear with Boogieman and Dave with Bende.)

Our own personal crew did pretty well despite the fact that my husband and I were both running around like chickens with our heads cut off.  Ryker took three 3rd place ribbons and a 2nd which gave him the elusive 99 points – one point shy of finishing his ADBA Champion title.  Mika was shut out all weekend and Lyric made her debut as an ADBA pull dog and landed a 2nd place (and first 5 points of 100) toward her Ace title.

All in all, the show was a huge success.  Both hosting clubs did exceptionally well and the exhibitors all seemed to have a good time (I know we sure did!) and many said they can’t wait for our next one.  Here’s to many more phenomenal shows and  a fantastic rest of the show season.

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Snowpocalypse 2012

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly the worst snow storm in the planet and barely created a fuss for most of Michigan but you’d think that the way the news channels were panicking that it was going to be some sort of major to do – you know, like it was the end of the world or something.  Other than a few short hours where five sissy bulls absolutely refused to set foot outside because they might get flurries up their derriere it amounted to nothing more than eight inches of cold, non-snowman making snow pile up that gave the dogs an opportunity to romp like madmen (and women!) around their Nana and Papa’s yard (since that’s where we were for the first part of this week).

Imagine that, romping around 2.5 acres like little snow piranhas while beating one another up with frozen Kong Wubbas and Jolly Balls.  It was all rather amusing but I seriously froze my fingers off (because I couldn’t find my gloves and said “oh, well!” like an idiot!) watching them be little nimrods and merrily photographed the whole thing.  This, of course, amounted to waaaaaaay to many photographs to sort through and process but it was worth it.

Now that they’re all edited and ready to go, I’ll post them here for your enjoyment.  Did you survive the Snowpocalypse of 2012 or are you an abominable snow zombie like I felt after a few hours in the sub zero temperatures? (You can view the whole album here.)

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Luna gets a good roll in the snow.

 

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Lyric likes to sass me when she doesn’t get the toy NOW.

 

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Ryker and Lyric nag at their Poppa to THROW THE BALL!

 

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Mika mid-shake with her Wubba.

 

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The chase is on!