Too much Gomez for one day...

I don't have long to write today, but I wanted to talk about what happened today. I cleaned out the guinea pig cage, and dumped all their poo and hay over the fence. I went into the house to eat breakfast, then went out to get the dogs. Gomez had broken through a gate between our property and the neighbor's property. Both dogs were down there, and Gomez had something quite large in his mouth. I called him, and he ran away from me, and I saw his toss his head ans swallow what he had in his mouth. I finally caught him, and was trying to make him puke (with the salt trick). Long story short, it didn't work and I didn't have any peroxide. I took him to the vet, and they made him vomit for me. We were expecting maybe roadkill, a snake, or even a squirrel. What came out had everyone shocked. Floating among the 1/2 gallon or so of birdseed (again) and the guinea pig hay (he ate the whole pile) was a 2'' wide by 12'' long piece of rawhide. They couldn't believe he had eaten it- I couldn't believe he threw it up! I am glad he did, because it would have had to be surgically removed, but it was SO BIG! I guess I am going to have to do something- this willingness to eat everything is becoming dangerous-and expensive!

My Blog Virginity

As intimated by my title, this is my first time blogging for real. I have messed around with it before, but never took it "all the way". I won't promise to write regularly, nor can I suggest that the content will be interesting, enlightening, or otherwise intelligent in any way. However, I think most of the time it will probably be relatively entertaining to me, and that is exactly what I am after.

Now that the various disclaimers are out of the way, I will share something about me. I am a 26-year-old Massage Therapist. I am married to a terrific guy named Clayton. There are so many positive adjectives I could use to describe him that I would get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome trying to do him justice. Suffice it so say that he is sweet, honest, funny, and very, very, good to me. He is also a coffee snob, but as long as you don't grind the beans more than 15 seconds before you brew them, he is easy enough to get along with. Not only do I live with Clayton, we have 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 3 guinea pigs. One dog, Mila, is a Border Collie and was with me when we met. She is 6 years old and has had 8 surgeries and had to get staples (without surgery) one other time, when she impaled herself on a fence post. The other two, Agness and Gomez, are Great Dane/Lab mix puppies that we got together. They are not as prone to self-destruction as Mila, but Gomez did eat about 12 pounds of birdseed about 2 weeks ago. He crapped birdseed for about 3 days- it was just like the Play Dough spaghetti factory! On a sadder note, Gomez has a ventricular arrhythmia that will probably kill him some day. He has had 4 ECGs, and EKG (cardiac ultrasound) and wore a Halter Monitor for 24 hours. We had to have the data from the monitor sent to Georgetown to get it interpreted by a canine cardiologist. After all that, all we know is its bad and it will kill him. $2800, and that's all they had for us. They offered to implant a pacemaker, to help stop the bad beats from happening, but we declined. We love the dog, but REALLY? He is a dog. There isn't going to be any cardiac implants. One day he will fall down dead, fast, and painlessly. We should all be so lucky.

In January, we will be moving into our own home for the first time. We will be renting, but we will be alone. Since meeting, we have always lived with other people, namely Clayton's parents. They are great people, but we live in a large studio. The new house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and is on 1/2 an acre. There will be room for a guest room, and office, and room for the dogs to play. Right now, they aren't allowed to play inside the house because there is so little floor space. They still come in the house, but they have to lay down and be calm because they are so big.

Well, I should sign off. I just spent the last 30 minutes with Gomez, and I should get back to monitoring him. He ate a pack of gum that he found in Grandmas house, and I had to induce vomiting because the gum had Xylitol in it, which causes acute liver failure in dogs. So, now that he has thrown up about 6 times, I am pretty sure there is no more Trident inside that dog. Funny thing, though, every piece was still in its wrapper. True to form, Gomez didn't even stop to chew!