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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

My 7th Birthday with Family



It's my 7th birthday today and I kinda told Mom that I wish to see my family again. We're suppose to be a family of 6 (parents and 4 of us siblings, 3 girls and a boy). But doggie-dad, a given-away sister to doggie-dad's family and a late sister has only me, doggie-mom and a brother left now.

Mom is trying and needs to save lotsa moolah now so we can't do a studio-shoot like all my previous odd-birthday years.

My doggie-mom and bro couldn't take the outdoors environment and weather much as they've been indoors almost all their lives. And that's why you'll see them panting so much in the pix later on. Mom also suspects doggie-mom has got UTI or some bladder/kidney issues judging by the way and no. of times she pee-ed.

My doggie-mom is already 9+ years but ppl always mistake me as her mommy and her son as her father years ago because of our size difference. She's really tiny at probably 3+kg (could be lighter because she's kinda plump now) compared to me at 5kg and my bro at about 6+kg because he's abit on the chubby side too.

this is my mom, 9yo Girl Girl
















we were always lookin @ the same direction
















she's spotting a luo-han head look now

i was busy as usual with my grass















my bro, Tagen! with his signature black-tipped tongue




















if ur wondering why my coat's darker, it's because my coat is stripped
and I was never shaved my whole life

















and i became a double headed schnauzer

yes you're never heavy, you're my brother



































and Cotton is forever happy outside no matter the occassion












Thursday, March 8, 2012

My UTI episode and Holistic Cure

I had a UTI (Urinary Track Infection) episode around Jan 2012 & Mom brought me to the vet for an ultrasound scan of my bladder and a sterile urine culture which involves poking me with a needle to extract my pee to keep it as sterile as possible and send for tests to determine the bacteria.

It all started when I started to wet Mom's bed at night when we were all sleeping. No blood in my pee whatsoever, just me peeing on her bed at night while I'm deep in my sleep.

Antibiotics were prescribed (of course), and as much as Mom hates giving such medications to us, she did. But she also over-dosed me with 100% pure un-sweetened cranberry juice everyday for a couple of weeks... 10 teaspoons a day for me, everyday.

This was the result of my 1st ultrasound scan on 13 Feb 2012:

my infected bladder. below's a clearer pix of the infected area






































sterile urine culture test results























As above in the circled area, the blur lining shows that its infected with bacteria and that's what's causing my frequent peeing on bed. It's suppose to be a sharp clear line (without the blur segment).

My sterile urine culture's results were out and the vet called Mom about 5 days later to inform her. The results showed that the bacteria was resistant to almost all of the antibiotics (ABs) available and the only two that it was non-resistant to were harmful to our health ie kidneys. So obviously Mom wouldn't give me those!

Mom told the vet about the over-dosing of cranberry juice and the vet said go ahead and try since the prescribed AB isn't gonna work at all.

So after a couple of weeks of being over-dosed-with-cranberry-juice-10-teaspoons-a-day, Mom brought me back for round 2 of my ultrasound scan. The vet was super-impressed with the scan and this was the result:

again, a clearer one below for your understanding























As you can see in the above pix, the blur segment is about 95% gone as you can spot the clear sharp line and that's what a healthy (dog) bladder's supposed to look like. The circled area is just about what's left of the bacteria and the vet said it should clear up pretty soon with the massive amount of cranberry juice I'm taking!

I LOVE cranberry juice in case you're wondering. Mom simply adds it unto my food and diluted with lotsa water to go with it. Another important thing is to drink LOTS and LOTS of water to clear your bladder & detoxify whether you're having UTI or not! We'll come to that water topic later on.

So anyways, we were really happy with the results via the holistic way. So in case you've UTI in future, do consider this method since it worked on me. However, I did not have blood in my pee at all and if you do, there could be other underlying reasons involved... so always consult your vet before trying anything unless you're super-sure of what you're doing.. like Mom. And it's always better to opt for a sterile urine culture test first to determine if the bacteria's resistant to any ABs so that you need not be like me, ingesting something that wouldn't work at all.

The vet was also very nice to scan my kidneys and didn't charge for that.

last pix of my bladder

kidney

left kidney

































































So that was the end of my UTI ordeal and all's fine now. Female dogs are more prone to UTI infection compared to males because of our short urinary tract unlike males. This definitely cost Mom a bomb... but I'm sure Mom think it's all worth it!

Oh just in case you're wondering which cranberry juice became my best-friend, this is the one (its better to get the other organic one cold-pressed one below):

it costs only $14.50 (946ml) after discount.
so much cheaper than visiting a vet. I finished
the entire bottle on my own LOL























































After that, she also imported a few cranberry supplements for me, including a raw Vit. B Complex supp to ups my immunity to prevent another UTI episode as advised by the vet.

a one-time order only.

half a pill given on alternate days

Vit. B Raw-Complex for immunity.
1 capsule shared between four of us every alternate days


ordered the Vit C Raw too & given 1/4 capsule each on alternate days too



































Saturday, March 3, 2012

''LIKE'' My Contest Pix!

Hello everyone! Mommy entered me in a contest hoping to be in the Top 5 to win a photoshoot by famous celebrity photographer Russel Wong!

So if you think I'm pretty (well, cuz I'm obviously the MAIN subject here!) and cute, and intelligent, and pretty, and so super cute, and super pretty (hee hee), please please vote for me? Pwetty please pleaseee... I so know I'm so irreplaceable to Mommy =p

CLICK HERE and ''LIKE'' the pix please!

Please use your Facebook account and click ''LIKE'' on the pix to cast your vote for me! Every vote counts! So if you've a boyfriend/girlfriend Facebook account, your furry friend's Facebook account, your family's Facebook account....... please please ask them to vote for me too!

My 7th Barkday is coming on March 28th. I hope to win this photoshoot for my lucky 7th Barkday pressie! So thank you all in advance for your votes! =DD