Dysphoria's Blog

We are having a festival at my work at Camp Bow Wow in Swansea, Illinois. Bring your dog! There are plenty of games and prizes. Also Jessica and I are going to have a little photo booth to take pictures of your pup!

Here is a link for more info:
http://www.barkrescue.net/pawfestival.htm

If your dog has a Pimple Ball from Four Paws Inc, please return it immediately!!!! If you prefer to not hear the full heart breaking story, I will summarize to say that the ball has a small but very serious design flaw that can, and unfortunately has, cause terrible harm to your dog.

 I read about this story today at work. Unfortunately this has been going on for years, and they have not redesigned this toy!! Many dogs have been severely injured, some have died from the injury. Please pass this on to fellow dog owners!!

Here is the link to the heart wrenching story:
http://thechaistory.blogspot.com/2008/08/chai-story.htm
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Okay, so I know there can be some troublesome youngsters in any neighborhood. But my honost opinion is that there are too many closed minded people in my neighborhood. I live in Belleville, more specifically in the historic district. I love my cozy street, with the brick street and brick buildings, the trees...such a beautiful nieghborhood. Though to my point, there used to be a bar called No Where Saloon at the end of my block. Apparently it wasn't the best of businesses to be there. and the adjacent corner there is a bar called Brick Street (never been there but haven't had any problems). Well, No Where Saloon has been closed for a year, and a couple is wanting to open a cafe there, and live upstairs. They are waiting on zoning rights, and some are opposing a cafe being there because of the 'crowd' it used to bring. The couple was originally wanting to make it a cyber cafe but the board said that it would bring rowdy teenagers at night, and cyber perves. They are having trouble getting this cafe going, and I'm wanting that cafe to be there. It could be a place I could walk to, just to get out of the house, grab something to eat, sit, relax.

One lady in the article I read in the Belleville News Democrat had complained that the bar that is still there still bring noise issues. Um, I live closer, ALOT closer to the bar than her (two houses down) and I haven't had any noise complaints. Big Daddy's on Main Street is a whole lot noisier.

I don't want noisy rowdy trouble making crowds in my neighborhood either. But I doubt that this cafe would do that. It isn't on Main Street, so that "crowd" is a lot less likely to go there in the first place, and since the couple is living above it, I'm sure they don't want that crowd either. So that's my nutshell of complaining that some people here hate kids, period. I guess I'm still considered a kid, I'm 22, but you don't see me blaring my music and stirring trouble.

I work at Camp Bow Wow ( dog daycare and boarding) and corporate in Colorado emailed us today with news about an outbreak of a very strong strain of kennel cough. Obviously this is more directed towards owners that take their dogs to dog parks, kennels, and any place there is a lot of dogs around eachother.

This strain is not covered by the bordatella vaccine. It is highly contagious and has a longer incubation period (5 to 7 days rather than 3 to 5 days). Many dogs are developing significant upper respiratory infections that require veterinary care (some of which are turning into pneumonia). This strain works very quickly and your dog's health can deteriorate rapidly.

I will just quote the rest of the email:

"One such dog ( lab mix, 6 yrs old) began coughing (very slightly) on Thursday evening and they isolated. took temps, and monitored closely. The dog's attitude was normal and happy... just a minor cough through Friday afternoon. By Friday evening, the dog's attitude quickly deteriorated and he became lethargic to the point of despondency. They rushed him to the ER Vet at 7pm and they did x-rays to see if the dog had kennel cough or pneumonia which came back clear. His initial temp was 101 (normal) at check-in. The did blood work and saw that his white blood cell count was low which lead them to believe that the dog was failing due to leukemia. They also did an ultrasound which came back clear. They then surmised that the dog could have intestinal issues (not bloat) but only gave the dog 30% chance of surviving anesthesia and exploratory surgery to find out.The dog's temp then spiked to 105 degrees and soon the dog bean deteriorating quickly. To ease the dog's pain, the vet decided to eutanize. This pup went from healthy to critical in just 12 hours. Due to the unusual nature of this, they ordered a necropsy. When this was performed, they recieved confirmation on Wednesday that the dog died of canine influenza.

Canine influenza presents similarly to kennel cough and is marked by a SLIGHT cough ( not as low, heavy, or frequent as a kennel cough). It is also marked by a quick spike in temp from normal to dangerous. This disease is transferred by contact or touch rather than being airborne. The timeline can be 12 hours or less. It is critical to immediately treat the pup with aggressive antibiotics and IV fluids."

So PLEASE, if you even have the slightest concern that your dog may have caught this, TAKE THEM TO THE VET!!

So hopefully reposting these worked this time. But anywho, these are some nature shots that I have taken. Hope you guys enjoy!



A bamboo fence thing at Missouri Botanical Gardens.



Tulips at Missouri Botanical Gardens.



Plant at Missouri Botanical Gardens.



At a local farm that John and I drove by.



Just a tree at a local park.