Wiley Dog Update

Dearest readers,

My good friend Wiley Dog has gone home to Rainbow bridge. He actually went home January 24th of last year. I apologize for waiting over a year to inform you, but it's harder to do when reality hasn't really sunken in yet.

Last year, Mom called me on January 25th early in the morning. It had been quite cold here in Central Texas, so I know it was a rough time for her and Wiley. I asked her how she was doing and she said "I'm having a bad day." I said, "What's wrong?" She went on to say "Wiley's gone. I looked in on him last night and when I got up this morning, he was gone. He died peacefully in his sleep."

My heart sank. His health was deteriorating over time and he'd lost a lot of weight. Mom hadn't had gainful employment and was doing the best she could to survive. Whatever she ate, Wiley ate. And forget going to the vet...too costly. So, she and her buddy would get up each day, mil around the house and watch life go by. He still liked to go outside to take care of his business and kick around in the bushes.

Although he was losing weight, Mom could not see what I could see, since I'd come by and check on them every month or so and could notice the sizable difference in his weight loss. He was his usual finicky self, but you could not make that ole' stubborn dog and Mom realize he was going to starve himself to death if he didn't eat what was put before him. So, when Mom would put dog food out, he'd do his usual "turning up" his nose. He'd probably gotten down to an estimated 7 pounds when I last saw him. I think I took a picture or two, but I can't remember at this point. I do remember he looked awfully bad because his spine was starting to curve and you could see his bones poking out his back. You could count every rib. Mom would just say, "He's fine." I'd just shake my head.

Just like it's taken me almost 5 yrs to pull out pictures of my Sweet Pea who went home to Rainbow Bridge September 2003, I don't know when I'll come around to posting video and other memorable moments of Wiley Dog. I guess if I tell myself the truth, I don't do too well with death.

My suggestion would be to simply "follow this blog" and when you hear from me, it will be something sweet and funny from the Wilester!. Until then, keep the Evans family in your prayers and for anyone who has lost a dear four-legged friend, know that he/she will have a great pal waiting to receive them at Rainbow Bridge.

Much love,

Maryee

Wiley Dog: I'm alive!

Greetings my furry friends and two-legged creatures. Wiley Dog here with a very brief update. Yes, as of Sunday September 23, 2007 the Wilster is still alive and kicking. My aunt Maryee has been busy teaching 7th grade Math at this school where mostly darker colored creatures go and it's been really keeping her busy. My mom is struggling to keep food in both of our mouths, but we're both survivors. Please keep us in your prayers.

Much barking love...

Wiley Dog: Happy Thanksgiving

Wiley Dog: Food and Medicine to the rescue!!!

Good Saturday morning all my furry friends and two-legged creatures. Wileydog here with some good news!! My Aunt Maryee was able to sell one of the fundraiser items on Ebay for me!! Yippee! A special "Thank you" goes out to the wonderful family in Canada who helped out by buying something from the Ebay Store so I can get me some chow and meds. bark! woof! bark!! XXOO

Thanks Tracy, Buddy and the gang!!!

I don't keep up with what my mom has for me to eat, until I start seeing human food (which I delight in) instead of the doggie food I'm supposed to eat but not any more til I get better(whew!). Well, I'm not too good at counting days, but I'll guess that for about 25 days or so my mom was nice enough to prepare home cooked meals for me. Can you say "Rock on?" I get lean ground beef, steamed rice with eggs (all with no salt of course) and egg shells crushed in them. The crushed egg shells was a bit weird, but I just looked at it like I was eating cricket legs. Crunchy! I also got some good ole' cottage cheese. Mom fooled me cause I thought it was VANILLA ICE CREAM! NOT!! The Vet prescribed this dinner concockshion(sp?) but I'm not complainin'. How do you say it? No kibbles or bits!!!! Ha!

I also found out I have to have that slurpee juice called Lasik for the rest of my natural born life! Ugh!! Well at least it's sweet and goes down smooth.


Until next time...

Much barking love,

Wiley Dog

Wiley Dog's Health Update and Fundraiser Info

Greetings my two-legged creatures and furry friends. Wiley Dog here with an update on my health. I promise to update you with more of that statistical and factual stuff after the holidays, but for now, here's the skinny:

I found out that I do not have canine cough and all that other jazz my earlier research on my own came up with, but it's worse. I have something called Conjestive Heart Failure. I didn't think it was any big deal until that Doctor W. lady showed my aunts the picture of my heart squooze up tightly against my rib cage. It's nothin' to play around with. I mean serious weiners, Man!! Here's more on CHF, as the vet people call it. I also found out from the X-Ray that I broke my back. When that happened, I don't know, but for whatever reason, I'm da' man and my back has healed and sealed itself. I wish I had the picture to show you, but you could tell real well that a bone or two was out of place, right where I hear Doxies have trouble when they mess up their backs.

I also swallowed some foreign object that was pretty much unidentifiable. Dr. W. said that I need to eat rice and it's will help it flow on through the washer. I'm like, "kewl". I like rice. uhh humm! But without salt I overheard them say.

No salt??? Who ever came up with that way of solutions to heart problems needs to be shot with a B.B gun. Oh well, they said if I have salty foods, I might as well be adding a nail to my coffin in Rainbow Bridge.

Now, I have to take my chocolate bars every 3-4 weeks, take this Lasix stuff, and some other kind of medicine I can't remember what they called it for the rest of my natural born life. What a bummer man! But, I understand, that helps me not cough so much and keep my Mom up at night and I might just make it to 30 by next July.

So, that leads me to my fund raiser my Aunt Maryee finally got up and running. She's got like 4 phases to it, so for sure, I know of two of them. The first is some stuff she's selling for me to get my medicine and food taken care of and to get me through this cold blustery winter here in Central Texas.

You can find it all at Maryee's Store, which is her store on Ebay. The stuff she has for me is “fundraiser” priced, so don’t go comparing to see what similar items are selling for. It’s a FUNDRAISER OK??? The listing explain what I need which is help paying for all my medical bills, my medicine and my H/D , AP and T/D dog food. I'm not that kind of beggin' dog. I believe if you ask somebody for help, you ought to give em' something in return.

Here’s the link to the store: http://stores.ebay.com/MsMaryee

So far all that she’s listed for my fundraiser are “doggie” stuff by my request. If any of the other stuff interests you, put in a good word for me after you buy it and it might count towards my fund (crossing my paw toes). Anywho…

So, who will be my first FUNDRAISER participant?

The second phase of the fundraiser is pictures she’s selling of MOI!! Yes, you will have your very own picture of ME, the Wile’ster! It will also come with a holiday background. Neat huh? How do you like those apples?

So, If you want to purchase any of those pictures, you can pay via PayPal or email My Aunt Maryee so she can get a mailing address out to you. Email her at callmeruth at sbcglobal.net. I learned to separate the email address and not put the @ so the internet spiders don’t send my aunt’s email address to cyber smutville. I believe there are at least 4 different poses to choose from. I’ll add samples of the photos and each photo is a minimum donation of $5. I think that’s fair. But give as generously as your heart leads you. I promise to add something special for big doners. You can also just send your donations to my vet, Dr. W. She'll know what to do.

Listen, who knows, they may be worth much more one day. You never know…

Well, I need to go vacuum up, I mean check on Mom in the kitchen. She cooked a big turkey, dressing, and broccoli corn cornbread for tomorrow. Hey, no one said I couldn't help keep the kitchen tidy as a Christmas present to my mama!

Signing off with much barking love,

Wiley Dog

Ps
Thank you for everyone who’s been checking in on me and praying for me. I really really appreciate your thinking of me.

Merry Christmas!!

Update from my last visit to the Doctor

Greetings two-legged creatures and furry friends,

Wiley dog here with an update from my visit to the doctor last Monday. My aunt Maryee videotaped my doing my coughing hacking thing and left the video for Dr. W. to check out. I think I'd do well in movies if you ask me. They could cast me as an elderly dog who develops this rare coughing disease that sounds like a human cough, hack, gag who then miraculously recovers with a special medication made in an underground blackmarket lab. Hey, that sounds like a role I'd fit right into. Though I digress....

Well, after viewing the videotape, Dr. W. gave my aunt some green chopped up pills. They are called Temaril PSpans. I had to take em' for about a week and my last one was last night. They mashed the pills into my K/D and that's how they snuck em' to me. They think I didn't know, but that will be yours and my lil' secret, ok?

The doctor wanted to know if there was any change in the coughing, but unfortunately, I'd say it is about the same, if not worse. So, until my mom can round up the money for an X-Ray or Aunt Maryee starts my fundraiser to pay for this stuff, I will be just suffering day in and day out with this heart wrenching medical condition soon to wither away into nothingness never to blog to you all my dear furry friends and two-legged creatures again... You see I'm laying in on thick right?

So what I did this morning, with the help of Aunt Maryee, is I decided to do some research on my own. This is what I came up with. When I go to the doctor and they do my testing, I'll already be one up on them and kinda have an idea of what's wrong with me. Because I'm not so cranky today, I'll be nice and share with you the research I came up with. Make sure you share my blog with others who may have small dogs because from what I came up with, this may be quite common in older small dogs, you know the heart problems, coughing and all. I will rule out kennel cough, but I have a sneaky suspicion by my own observation and suffering that I may have Canine Cough Syndrome. The only problem with that is, the links I find say the Canine Cough Syndrome is Kennel Cough! For the love of St. Crox!!! This dog coughin' business is sooooooooo confusing!!

Other links I found that may shed some light on my situation are here:

Vet Info- Dog Cough

Dog Cough-Canines

Prevention -Dog cough info

Check em out and let me know what you think.

Well, I'm out. Mornings are usually hard because I wake up coughing. I'm gonna take a nap.

Much barking love,

Wiley dog

Wiley Dog's Going to the Doctor again

Greetings all my two-legged creatures and furry friends. I just wanted to give you guys an update on my health. Well, you know that cough hacking thing came back and it's been giving everyone in the house grief, including me. I see out the corner of my eye my Mom and Aunts looking at me all weird when I make this heeking hacking haucking sound and heeve and hoove the whole time. I have no control over it, especially when I end it with this really nasty sounding haaaicckk sound! Ugh! My mom said I sound like an old man coughing up flim. But nothing comes out. It just sounds disgusting. Oh, well.

So, today at 4pm Aunt Maryee's taking me by Dr. W.'s so she can listen to my chest to see if I have any fluid in my lungs. I tell you getting old is no fun ride.

This is where the problem comes in. I don't feel old. If it wasn't for that nasty cough and those dern heartworms, I'd be foot loose and fancy free. I still love everything I enjoyed before these health issues came up. I like to run, jump, play, hunt, dumpster dive, bark, and chase cats. But this "be quiet" and "do nothing" stuff they are trying to make me submit to is getting really old!

Well, enough of my complaining that will get me no where. I guess I just have to go with the flow and do what they say and hopefully, all this stuff will slow down and things will get back to normal.

Please pray for me!!!

Much barking love,

Wiley dog

Wiley Dog's Hunger Strike Is Over

OK, Here's the deal. I was trying to fake that I was alergic to dog food and for a minute there, it worked. Mom gave me pancakes on Sunday with sweet sweet syrup and Aunt Jen gave me a piece of white chicken meat from HEB as well. I thought to myself, "Hey, this refusing to eat dog food get up just might get me squared away with a la carte." That long big eyed begging look thing I do while they are eating two-legged creature food seems to wear em' down, too. I was too happy...

Then Aunt Maryee figured out that I was trying to pull the wool or shall I say, "towel" over everyone's head.

She grabbed that bag of T/D and left out with it. I was like, "Yes! No more horse biscuits!" I later found out that she called that Hill's Pet place and they told her that that had Small Bites in the T/D and not the dog biscuit size for little pooches like me. Sooooo, she's planning on getting those ordered for me some time next week.

She tried to feed me some of the Advanced Protection, but I did my famous "turn my back on you trick." Doxies with attitudes like me are nortorious for those kinds of tricks. Well it didn't phase her much cause when she came back home, she had a whole bucket full of that K/D.

I guess the gig was up, because she poured half a can in my bowl and heated it up in the big white hot box on the cabinet. It smelled like some kind of chicken meatloaf concoction, so she tricked me. Well, I was pretty hungry so I decided to stop with the shenanagans and go ahead and eat. One good indicator that I needed to stop was the fact that for the past several days I'd been going outside to do the #2 and nothing was coming out. Quite an embarrassing sight. Aunt Maryee was just shaking her head at me each time. Go figure.

Anywho, Aunt Maryee caught a shot of me eating the K/D for your viewing pleasure.

Keep praying for me, cause I really need it! I have started back with a slight cough again, but nothing like it was in the past. I can be a lil' hard headed, so pray that I take it easy. Remember, This Old Dog Still Can Hunt.

Signing off with much barking love,

Wiley Dog

Wiley Dog's On strike from eating

Ever since they gave me that slurpy juice, I just haven't had an appetite for what they've been putting in my bowl. Those big T/D biscuits are clearly unattractive. I appreciate my Aunt Maryee's concern for my teeth and all, but I'm too old to be trying to chew on those rock bars. More than likely I'll eat the Advance Protection. Who knows. I may eat today, but I know they are gonna tell the Vet lady I'm not eating.

Put me a steak or anything two-legged creatures eat, and I'll show you what eating is all about. I did like the K/D the first time they gave it to me, but refused to eat that yesterday, too. Maybe if they put it out this morning, I might give it another try. For now, I'll just day dream about getting steak, potatoes and eggs. Jim's Crispy Chicken would do just fine, too.

Oh well. Thought I'd do some wishful thinking. Maybe when they get my fundraiser up and running I can have a better choice of food.

By the way, did I tell you I'M HUNGRY????? I'll keep ya posted.

Wiley Dog signing off....

barking with all my love!

Wiley Dog's Update- 2nd day at the Vet for Heartworm shot

Hey folks,

Good evening! I need to give you my update now cause I'm getting really sleepy. This morning my Mom and Aunt Jen took me back to the nice Vet lady's place for that second shot in my back hip. The problem was, after taking that slurpy juice yesterday, I forgot I was in for another shot with the horse needle. Well, good news mates! When I trotted through the Vet's door, Dr. W. was hanging out with her staff ladies when she saw me strutting in. I was looking good! Mom and Aunt Jen were pretty cool, cause they knew I had been handling all this sick and medicine business like a champ. Dr. W. immediately declared that I did not need to have another shot quite yet. I was like "Yippie Ya Hooo, Bark, Whoof" or whatever.

They did have to tell the Dr. about my few puking spells, and that confirmed to the Dr. lady that I didn't need to have another shot for a minute, you know with me being a "special needs" dog at my age and all. Anywho, I got some more slurpy juice. They said it was for pain, but I thought it was quite tasty if you ask me. I thought they were trying to be funny putting that straw in my mouth, treating me like a baby and all. Now ya'll know I'm too old for all that. They were nice enough to cut my nails. They seem to grow faster in my old age. I wonder if humans experience the same trouble?

I also was able to get some dog food for my teeth today. They are really in bad shape, but I don't complain. I'll show you pictures later. The family knows I'm having trouble when I either don't eat, or swallow the regular kibbles whole. I think they called it "whiffing it down". Hey, who ever said you had to waste time chewing anyway? The dog food is called Prescription Diet T/D and it's by a company called Hill's Pet Nutrition. My aunt Maryee used to work for that company before she moved back home to Texas, so that's why I know it's good food. As a matter of fact, until I got a lil' sick with these heartworms and all, I was eating Advanced Protection for Seniors. That's one reason why I have soooo much energy and look so youthful. Wouldn't you agree? Don't let my Aunt Maryee know, but it will take me a while to warm up to those big ole' T/D biscuits. They are like big beige rocks. I don't know. We'll have to see. For now, I'll stick to Advanced Protection and the K/D pate. I enjoyed eating that the other day.

---

I am a lil' underweight which is what the Doctor explained to my aunt Maryee the other day because of the heart trouble situation. I weigh right at ten pounds. Dr. V. said after I get my appetite back and get healed, I probably will go back to eating all I can get my paws on. You know doxies are into dumpster diving, right? Yeah, I got caught a few times ripping into trash bags that were carelessly left on the kitchen floor the night before garbage pick-up day. He-he.

OK, that slurpy has me a lil' whoosy. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, I have to go back and get another one of those Heartguard chocolate bars around the 9^th of September. I heard the Vet lady say it would kill more of the baby worms that may have hatched since I ate the last bars. I'm kind of hoping the shot took care of all of them. My instructions are for me to be still and quiet. I have to not get excited so my heart will heal safely. So far so good. They said I have to take it easy for a whole month. I don't know about that cause I am a spry ole' man you know. I'll do my best.

I'll be back later to educate you on all the stuff I've learned since this heartworm business came up. I love to learn, and regardless of what any two-legged creature might say, You can teach an old dog new tricks!

Much barking love,

Wiley Dog

Picture of me and Aunt Maryee taken back in April. I'm too sexy!

Wiley Dog: They said I need to brush my teeth! UGh!!!!