Boris is gone and it's f***ing hard

It has taken me 85 days to write about this but Boris passed away on September the 11th due to sepsis.

It was do to complication of being septic when trying to bring him back home to America.
This is hard to write, and I miss him everyday.  For me to continue to write the details of how and why, I must write in chunks at a time.
I will have more details to come of the how and why. But Natasha and I are back in America. She is doing well.

Fun-gus

I was wrong.  Even in this weather condtions, Mr. "I don't get sick" got the fungus too. It has come to this:

I hate dressing the dogs, especially in Dixie Slut attire.

Never has a problem now. Thanks Parvo.

Because this son-of-a-bitch lived through the Parvo ( Canine parvovirus ) he contracted when he was 3 months old, he has not any problems.  For this, I am thankful: that he lived and he has not any problems sense.

Lesson:  Get your dog the shots they need.  Not just for them, but the rest of the dog community!

The veterinary doctor came up with the probable cause of how Boris contracted the viral disease was because day after he received his vacation for parvo, he contracted it from another dog at a dog park in Kentucky.  The most likely way is because some other dog's feces, a dog that did not have a vaccinations.

Most dogs do not survive this very aggressive, easily infectious disease.


So if you like puppies and don't want to take the risk of yours or someone's dying, please please please get them vacationed.

Dealing with Natasha’s rash, without drugs.

Natasha receives a rash on her stomach every so often so I have found a way to treat it with out drugs because we are in a new country that is not as dog friendly, on an island that has one pet store and two Vets. I had to find ways to remedy this soon so it does not turn into staph infection again.

First I give her a 5 to 10 bath with anti-bacterial and Anti-fungal shampoo, then with Head & Shoulders. While she is drying, I wash out her crate with anti-bacterial cleaner, and wash her bedding in the washer.

Next I will use regular hand sanitizer.  Her Vet said that is a good idea because it will move the capillaries from the area and kill the germs in that area. After that the new products I used that seemed to work is Seabreez face cleanser and Silvegiene spray.  That helps out a lot. That does the trick.

Because of this rash, I have learned that A) Just because a Veteran is expensive, does not mean that they are the best. B) Get a second opinion, if the first doc ideas are not working, please see another Veteran.

I have another posting about the lesion I learned about Veterans,  what I learned and how much that cost us.

Shipping our dogs from America to Jakarta to Batam, Indonesa. The good and the horrible.

I am posting not to scare, but to warn.  We did not know how dogs are treated in different parts of Indonesia and the result is that one dog was a week away from her death bed.  She had:

•   Pneumonia 
•   Lips had open sores from being fed on the floor, no bowl    
•   Ringworm
•   Ear infection
•   Sores,hotspots
•   Fly bits
•   Jumpy, afraid of a lot of things
•   She smelled so bad, no baths. 
•   Couldn’t eat for two days because of feeling so dizzy from ear infection.  She would spin her own head trying to chase the dizziness.
•   Nails so long from not being trimmed or walked.
•   Concrete sores from laying on wet concrete a long time. 

 

It took a full 38 day to receive Boris.  It took 55 day to receive Natasha.  

Where it went wrong is when Boris and Natasha were shipped from Jakarta to Pekanbaru.  First is that we did not, and were not told until the dogs were in Jakarta , that the import of dogs is not accepted to Batam Island.  We found out the hard way.  We had asked the handler in Jakarta of any advice that he could give us to transport them out to Batam, he looked at us wide eyed and told us that dogs are not allowed to be imported in to Batam if they came from a ‘rabies’ country.  He said he can drive them to Pekanbaru, and there we would have to work it out .

After their quarantine stent of 14 days in Jakarta, they were shipped to Pekanbaru, and this is where they were mistreated. We were told from some one that was interrupting and acting as a middle-woman that they were all right and they were being boarded with a “veterinarian”. This interrupter is person works for my partner’s company, so we had no reason not to trust her, and she handled all the travel arrangements for the ex-pats.   We were told that they could be shipped by boat to Batam.  Well, while kept there, this is where we were given so many excuses of why the delays that would take them a full 24 days to ship out Natasha. They shipped out Boris in seven days.  We cannot report them to the authorities because this of having dogs imported to Batam is frowned upon.

Another problem for them was the fact that we moved out her before their major holiday. Laylat al-Qadr, where most of the country takes two weeks off, and most go back home to visit family.  So when we were looking to have the dogs moved from Jakarta to Pekanbaru, it was hard to contact the handler at the time because of this holiday and because most Indonesians don’t always have the best transportation system, they have +/- a day or so when they tell you something is going to be done.  

The other factor is that Indonesia do not see pet the same as Americans* and other cultures do.

When they had their quarantine period of 14 days in Jakarta, they were treated pretty good. In the quarantine facility, they had clean, separate quarters that were tiled, with a grate in the middle and a back doggie door to go outside. They were fed well, and had clean water.  Even during they major holiday, someone was on staff and we were able to visit.  So there are no problems there. I wish that we shipped them directly from there, but we were talked out of it because of cost.

The lesson we have learned is when it unknown territory, go with the professionals.  It is better safe, than sorry.  They know, and if they don’t, they know someone who does. Or live there for a while, and learn.

What we did right:

• ·         Did research on the internet and with vet about paperwork and shots
• ·         Hired Pet Relocation.com to help with paperwork, Vet and USDA appointments and the flying arrangements.
• ·         Making sure they were in a facility that we could visit them

What went wrong:

• ·         Not knowing first-hand the people or their customs well enough. Some things you cannot learn off the internet.
• ·         Trusting that everyone had the dog’s best interest at heart.  Not all countries care for dogs like we do.
• ·         Not know the laws of the land. But once again, it is not on the internet.

Please don’t make the same accidental mistakes that we did.

Inexpensive, recycled dog toy. Easy to make at home

My partner found out how to make a cheap, entertaining toy for the dogs.  He is at a construction project and the site has to drink bottled water. He brings them home then I rinse them out, put the top back on.
Things you will need:

• ·         Old sock (I I like tube socks so they can both play together)
• ·         Empty 16oz. bottle
• ·         Extra--Little non-toxic item that if they eat, will not hurt them. (i.e. popcorn seeds, vitamin e, fish oil pills) 
• 
  

You may want to remove the label.  I left it on so it is easy to see in the photos.

 Then I like to add popcorn seeds, or some vitamin e, or fish oil pills into the bottle to make the "rattle noise" that get their attention. Put the top back on with lots of air inside. Get the lid on nice and tight.

Slip the bottle into the sock:

Then slip it all to the bottom:

Tie a knot at the end:

Ready to play!!

It looks something like this:

Once they have worn out the sock so much that the bottle is showing, or they are chewing on bottle, we re-cycle the bottle and throw the sock away.   Then we make a new one.  It is one way not to have a stinky toy around the house. 

Boris and Natasha are trying out their new toy, as so am I.  They are trying the Nylabone that has a minty chew center. They didn't taking to it right away, but later the next day not a problem.  When I buy a new toy, I pick up a old one on the floor, put it away for a week or more so it is fun again  later down the road. Toy rotation.

 As you can see, it got a butt up sign of approval. 

I am trying my hand at blogging. I am stumbling around the setting and set up like a five year old in a cockpit asking "wada that do" while pushing every colorful button.