K9 Kamp: Play With Your Balls

When I first saw this challenge, I admit, I was a bit stumped. How on Earth was I going to get a blind dog to play with balls. She can't see them to chase them, and with how bad her allergies are lately she hasn't really wanted to do much (her allergy pills side effect is drowsiness). But since we had a long weekend, I figured we had time to figure out something.

And figure out something we did......kinda.

So, I thought, what balls make noise? Squeeky balls would do us no good because they could get her attention but she wouldn't be able to see them once they started rollin'. Then, it hit us. Cat balls. She has always been very gentle with her toys and never too rough with them so we figured cat balls were a good idea. Plus, she isn't a very big dog and cat balls fit perfectly in her little mouth. The biggest plus is she could hear them roll and follow the little bell inside to fetch them. Off we went to buy a pack of cat balls. 

We settled on a nice Martha Stewart Pets package because they looked well-made (I didn't want to ignore the fact that we need a sturdy cat ball since a dog's mouth is much stronger than a cat's no matter how gentle), they were nice and brightly colored and were pretty loud without being overly obnoxious. 

We got home and decided to start with the one that had a giant feather on it.It was a hit, she loved it. She was running all over the living room with it and I was chasing her around and crawling all over the floor with her playing with it. Then she noticed the giant feather. And the chasing was done as she plopped down to yank out the feather and then fall asleep after her work was done. 

We tried the purple ball next two days later, but with even more disastrous results. Like I said, allergies have been super awful lately so she was pretty much in a lazy mood, but I tried anyways to get her moving with the ball. She sniffed it, kicked it with her foot, then went to lay down. This is how the rest of the time with purple ball went:

Not a great week with the challenge for us, but we tried. Hopefully next week can get us moving a bit more! Then on June 9th we will be participating in our local SPCA's Doggy Dash! 

Wordless Wednesday: Walk the Runway

3 Day Weekend

We are so ready for the weekend here at Kita's Casa. She has a busy day with her papa today including an appointment for her vaccines. This weekend we plan on hanging out at home, getting some supplies ready for K9 Kamp week 2 (gonna play with our balls this weekend!!!), and finishing up some sewing projects!

Have a good weekend everyone!

K9 Kamp: Walkin' on Sunshine

We started to have lots of great ideas about where we could go to do our Walkin' on Sunshine challenge. A day at the park. A trip to San Francisco and play on the beach. A long stroll in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Sadly, it was very hot this week and the pollen count is through the roof. Not only does my husband have allergies, but little Kita does as well. And, since it would be too easy if they both had mild allergies, they both have BAD allergies. Snotty noses and going outside even for our twice daily walks incite a fit of sneezes, itches, and whines from not being able to reach where she itches (Kita more so then the hubs :-)).

So we decided to keep it simple.

Like I said, we normally walk her twice a day around our neighborhood. Since she has lost her eyesight, even these daily walks seem new to her. She had to relearn her footing, learn where things were by smell only and find her friends when they come out to play on the big lawn by their house. So we wanted something where she could roam freely without fear of bumping her head or running into something dangerous. So we decided on a nice park afternoon.

The park we took her to was empty since school is still in for a few more days. Even better than the park being empty is the soccer field being empty. We just unhooked her leash and let her wander.

And wander she did.

She was all over that field, getting as far as she could before we would call out her name and she would make a mad dash across the field to get back to us.It was also nice because there were trees along the field so she had some shade too. She even got to wiggle on her back in the grass in between roaming about the grass. We let her roam and wander as we followed her for about an hour then decided it was time to pack up and go home. We walked around the grass also following her footsteps, giving her enough freedom to feel like we weren't there but close enough to rush to her if something happened.

Week 1 K9 Kamp complete! Can't wait to see what next week's challenge is!

Wordless Wednesday: Funky Kita Face

Randomness

This weekend will be a busy one.

We are having lunch with Kita's grandpa Saturday and then her papa has to work that night. Sunday morning her mama will work for a bit. We are also going to try to get our K9 Kamp challenge done over the weekend as well, so I will spend the day trying to figure out what we will do for that. Very excited for this challenge!

Also, we are sad to report an amazing blogger has passed today. Wilf, an amazing, courageous, and inspirational dog has made his journey to the Rainbow Bridge today. He was a beacon of hope in spite of cancer and other ailments. Even though we didn;t know them personally, and they probably had no idea we exist, he was an amazing dog whom I loved reading about everyday. Our thoughts are with his family today.

Have a good weekend everyone!

K9 Kamp: Why We are Doing It

So, the awesome Kolchak Puggle is hosting K9 Doggy fitness camp to help us get our pups and ourselves into shape. I am really excited for this to happen. While Kita has had no problem shedding the weight since we started her diabetes diet, I haven't really lost any weight. I have a few spare pounds I want to loose, but mainly lack the motivation. And part of that motivation is doggy mom guilt. I say things like, "Oh, I'd love to go to the gym, but I only get to see Kita a few (conscious) hours a day, I can't spend half of that time away form her." Or things like "I would love going more places, if she could come too."

Yes, the fact is I love my baby girl and want to make sure I stay healthy so I can always be there for her. And this K9 Kamp challenge is paw-some because now I have no excuses. She will be right there along side of me doing the workout. My husband is even joining us so it will be a family affair. I just can't wait to see what fun Kolchak has in store for us!

Also, I can't wait to see what challenges we have so we can find some fun new ways to play with her since I have been roadblocked on that since Kita went blind. We will do our best to tweek challenges to make them blind dog friendly!!

Wordless Wednesday: Turtle Kita

The Ten Doggy Commandments

opthamologist

So on Friday we took Kita to the opthamologist to get a better handle and understanding of how her eyes are doing. She was pretty good with the exam even though it was at a new doctor's office we have never been to. She let them pick her up and touch her and handle her face a lot so that was good. Despite not being able to see, she is still very fearless.

The main things we wanted to check with this appointment was are any other eye diseases forming and to explore the option of cataracts surgery. He said she is a potential patient for surgery, there are several more tests we would have to do first to make sure she is a candidate. However, surgery costs almost $4,000 and that is quite a bit out of our price range. But, we told the doctor, our main concern is glaucoma or anything developing that will cause her real pain. She can live a normal life blind, but we never want her to hurt. He did an eye pressure test and we are happy to report that we are on the low end of the eye pressure! She is a 7 in each eye and high eye pressure starts at 20 so we are very lucky there!

After getting a clean bill of health we left with no need for a follow up appointment for now and a decrease in the frequency of eye drops that we are giving her. Let's hope Kita's good luck continues with her next glucose curve in the beginning of June!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there, especially Kita's grandmas who have done such an amazing job being moms.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Wordless Wednesday: Pink Tutu

Bark for Life

This past weekend we went to West Sacramento's first annual Bark for Life event. It is a sister event of Relay for Life but benefits dog cancer research. This is something we believe in not only because there are probably just as many unanswered questions about dog cancer as human cancer but because we had our own little cancer scare with Kita about a year and a half ago. We want to help the families that weren't as lucky as us and have to deal with the ugly face of cancer daily.

The event was a lot of fun. Sadly, there were unusually high winds, and it took place at a farm so dirt was flying everywhere and allergies were a mess. We left right after the walk because our eyes were burning from all the dirt. But we got there about an hour early and spent time walking around the vendor area, buying some yummy little snacks to try at home and getting some samples of various foods. (We have yet to try them out, but we also keep them on hand and donate them to local rescues.) It was a fun event and we would have loved to stay but the wind was killing us. But it is definitely something we are already waiting to do next year.

Bark for Life

This weekend we are headed out to Bark for Life West Sacramento. It is the doggy sister of Relay for Life, benefiting the American Cancer Society. The event will be head at a nearby pumpkin patch that we actually took Kita to last October. It is huge and from what I have been reading we will be participating in a big walk all around the patch and then there will be activities, games, and some little booths. We love going to events like this but it will be the first time we have gone since Kita has started going blind so we will see how it goes.

Then after we come home and get cleaned up we will be having some company over before we go and watch The Avengers. Kita looooooves company so she will have a great weekend.

See you guys Monday!

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Wordless Wednesday: Happy as a Clam