This is the first year I've remembered Orson's birthday on the actual
day, and in honor I thought I'd drop in to say hello.

April 1 is the day we chose for Orson's birthday because the SPCA said
when we adopted him he was 6 months old, the vet said he was 10 months
old, and we split the difference and made him 8 months old. Worked
backwards from there, got April, and of course he had to have April
Fool's Day as his birthday.

Our old man (a black lab, for those who don't know us) now has a white
mouth, and white hairs pop up in new areas seemingly each week: in
between toes, on his belly, and one or two on his back and in his
eyebrows. After a colon polyp a few years ago, the holistic vet in my
practice (of 8 vets) recommended that he switch to fish-based food,
and now he eats only Wellness fish & sweet potato food--a combo of dry
& canned. These weeks I'm more thankful than ever to be feeding a
small label food not subject to the food recall.

Some of you know that a while back Orson was attacked by the next door
neighbor's dog. He remains slightly wary of unknown dogs because of
that, but the neighbors moved away. In the middle of the night. After
they paid us what they owed.

And last year he had a mast cell tumor. I had a panic attack. I'm
thankful to work mostly from home, because he needed some serious
nursing back to health when his large, star-shaped surgery wound
opened up and his muscle was exposed to the air for about 7 weeks
until the wound finally closed. Orson now has a fabulous wardrobe of t-
shirts from Sports Authority--men's medium.

He gets blinder all the time. Now runs into the refrigerator, which is
both sad and funny. It's not like that's something we move around. I
ordered him some red Doggles but haven't had the stones to condition
him to them yet. I spend even more time with him since we made our
kitchen eating area into a sitting area. The kitchen is now the main
gathering area in the house, and I spend my days working in here, with
him alternating between wandering through and lying at my feet. That's
when he's not asking to go spend time on the deck in the sunshine,
like a cat. Where he barks and pronks at the squirrels who dare to
trespass in the yard.

Cate

On 1 Apr 2007 16:54:10 -0700, "Cate" wrote:

This is the first year I've remembered Orson's birthday on the actual
day, and in honor I thought I'd drop in to say hello. snip

Cate--- He sounds like a wonderful dogs and you sound like a wonderful
people! Do you have any photos of Orson posted anywhere? I'd love to
see him!

Darla
Nova Scotia, Canada
--
"I'm still here, you *******s!"
---Papillon

http://www.yougotta.com/DARLA/
--

Cate wrote:
This is the first year I've remembered Orson's birthday on the actual
day, and in honor I thought I'd drop in to say hello.

Happy Birthday, Orson! Keep those pesky squirrels on the run!

FurPaw

--
My family values don't involve depleted uranium.

To reply, unleash the dog.

In article .com,
"Cate" wrote:

That's
when he's not asking to go spend time on the deck in the sunshine,
like a cat. Where he barks and pronks at the squirrels who dare to
trespass in the yard.

Happy Birthday Orson - what a great way to spend your time !

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:54:10 GMT, "Cate" wrote:

I spend my days working in here, with
him alternating between wandering through and lying at my feet. That's
when he's not asking to go spend time on the deck in the sunshine,
like a cat. Where he barks and pronks at the squirrels who dare to
trespass in the yard.

Happy birthday, Orson! What a lucky boy you are to have found Cate and get
the proper lovin' you deserve.


--
Lynne

"Cate" wrote in
oups.com:

That's when he's not asking to go spend time on the deck in the
sunshine, like a cat. Where he barks and pronks at the squirrels
who dare to trespass in the yard.

Happy Birthday, Orson!

I'm glad to hear that he's doing well (eyes excepted), and that
he's pronking eeevil skwrrlz. It's a tough job, but someone has to
do it.

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are
responsible for your rose.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

On Apr 1, 8:21 pm, Darla Vladschyk wrote:

Cate--- He sounds like a wonderful dogs and you sound like a wonderful
people! Do you have any photos of Orson posted anywhere? I'd love to
see him!

I'm so transparent: flattery like that will get you everywhere. You
can see Orson all over my Flickr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/savolskertson/tags/orson/
You can even see the one of his gigunda open wound from his mast cell
tumor removal, because who would ever believe how big it was if I
didn't have a closeup for all to see?

And he really is and has been a wonderful dog.

Cate

On Apr 2, 10:59 am, Janet Boss
wrote:

Happy Birthday Orson - what a great way to spend your time !

I think so too.

Thanks to all for indulging me, and to you especially, Janet, for your
excellent vet recommendation several years back. Dr. Ward even gave
Orson a new nickname last time we were there, though she didn't mean
to. After declaring his new lumps likely lipomas instead of new
malignancies, she pronounced him "top shelf."

So Top Shelf is a new nickname he occasionally sports.

Cate

In article .com,
"Cate" wrote:


Thanks to all for indulging me, and to you especially, Janet, for your
excellent vet recommendation several years back. Dr. Ward even gave
Orson a new nickname last time we were there, though she didn't mean
to. After declaring his new lumps likely lipomas instead of new
malignancies, she pronounced him "top shelf."

So Top Shelf is a new nickname he occasionally sports.

So happy that you're happy there! Franklin is a hairier version of lots
of likely lipomas. We keep her entertained and the hospital in business
;-D

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"Cate" wrote in message:

So Top Shelf is a new nickname he occasionally sports.

He sure looks Top Shelf to me. I don't think you've shown him off before;
he's gorgeous!

Since he's got some impressive scars now, I think you should get him the
silver doggles with the skull and cross bones, to keep up with the theme.
And smaller too, shouldn't they fit kinda snug?

And happy birthday, Orson! Hope you got lots of yummy goodies. He's aging
nowhere near as fast as Pan is; since her muzzle can't turn gray, the hairs
around her eyes are.

Suja