Adventures with Cole*

*Normally it would be adventures with Cole and Kensi, but right now, Cole has been making the most stories.

We don't consider their scratches they inflict upon each other worth reporting,
they are definitely not vet-worthy.

We have always considered our dogs expensive.  First, their shots and microchipping at 11 weeks.

Cole on the way home from the vet

Kensi on her way to the vet

Then Kensi got stung by a bee for the first time and got all swollen and had to go to the vet.

Poor chubby-cheeks girl!

Then Cole had a really red eye, and I took him to the vet, and after a test to see if he had a scratch on his eye, they decided it was just allergies and put him on eye drops.  Kensi also got spayed.

We tried Kensi in a tank top after her procedure,
but she pulled it off overnight.

Kensi got stung by another bee, but we were able to just give her Benadryl and let her be dopey dog for the day.

Kensi being dopey with her daddy.

When we moved into our Orcutt house, Kensi got a foxtail in her nose, and we made a nighttime visit to the PetER to have it removed.

The foxtail from Kensi's nose, it was so big,
they let us keep it.

When we were on vacation, Cole got an ear infection, so when we got back, I took him to get neutered so they would put him under and clean out his ears and nose too.  He had two ruptured ear drums from the infections (yes, I am a terrible doggy mommy)!

Coley on his daddy's lap, he felt more terrible from his
ears than from his procedure!

Cole stepped on something that made his food hurt at the beach (hurt, not injured), but we decided there was nothing we could do as he was already on an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic from his ears.

We knew his foot hurt because he ran and jumped in
the beach chair and licked it.

As it was time for yearly shots, I had Cole's ear he kept scratching looked at, no mites, but more environmental allergies.

Now we think Kensi is allergic to peanut butter (she gets little acne bumps around her mouth when she has it).

We almost thought we had to take Cole to the vet two days after Christmas too.  At Mimi & Pappy's, the doggies sleep in the car, and because it was cold, we decided not to get them out until it was warmer.  So around 9am when I went to get them out, two dogs jumped out of my car and there was poop everywhere all over the dog bed and the back of the car.  We figured out it was Cole and made him drink a bunch of water and wet down his breakfast.
Tim and Daniel cleaned out the back of the car with vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, but Tim was still worried that Cole was sick and we would have to take him to the vet.  He guessed the diarrhea was from the day before when the doggies went and played at the park with the kids and Mimi & Pappy and the uncles, and they forgot water, so the doggies were all drinking out of a puddle.  Cole was fine for the rest of the day and acted normal, so THANKFULLY, no vet trip!

Then on New Year's Eve when we were playing Connect Four and waiting for Kevin & Shayna to come over, Tim realized that Cole had been playing with his "woobie" (nobby rubber toy with a squeaker) and the foam from the inside was gone.

Cole with his first "woobie"

Cole's "woobie" is his favorite toy ever, meaning he likes to paw it and whine at it and pick it up and carry it around while showing off how proud he is of it.  This was his second one.  He destroyed the first one, and this second one had been left at Daniel & Maria's on accident and he had just gotten it back before Christmas.  We were letting him play with it even though two of the knobs were gone and he kind of left foam bits everywhere he played with it.
We looked everywhere for the foam, hoping he had pulled it out and left it.  Tim thought because there were bits laying around that he would have chewed it to bits and then eaten it, but I started researching methods to make dogs throw up (only after sticking a Q-tip in the back of his throat didn't work...do dogs not have gag reflexes?).
Every website and vet seemed to say 1tsp 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10lbs body weight.  One vet recommended to mix it with vanilla ice cream, get the dog a little active, and then in 15-20 minutes, the dog would empty their stomach.
So we tried it.  Dose one for Cole (ok, I was a little chicken and even though he is close to 60lbs, I only gave him 5tsp).  Tim played towel ninja war with them outside, and we waited for him to throw up.  Fifteen minutes went by, and Kevin and Shayna got here, and we explained what we were doing.  Thankfully, Shayna was affirming in that she had heard of a vet say to do this with a dog who had eaten chocolates (Tim said I was just poisoning Cole).
Twenty minutes had gone by, so I mixed up dose two, and set it outside for him to eat.  Just as he was finishing the bowl, he ran back out onto the grass and started to throw up.  Poor little boy, he took it like a champ though.  After throwing up 3 times, Tim and I went and picked up BIG CHUNKS of foam, ranging from 1inch diameter to almost 2 inches in diameter.

Gross, but necessary.

Tim did admit that there was no WAY he could have passed those out the other end.  We looked at every piece of foam as money we saved (thinking of his brother Daniel's lab Samson who swallowed a beanie stuffed animal and how much his surgery must have cost).

Cole & Kensi sleeping on their bed New Year's Eve

Thankfully, little Coley is okay and we haven't had to make any more trips to the vet recently.  But somehow I know they won't make it a whole year without something.