Pupdate on Penny. Sorry we are a couple days late!

Hi, every buddy! It's me, Penny! My mom promised you a pupdate a few days ago, but she has been spending most of her time taking care of me. It seems that I have an enlarged heart which causes me to pant constantly. I also have a thyroid problem so I will be on medicine for the rest of my life. My kidneys are doing something weird...my BUN is off the charts, but my Creatinine is at high normal. My liver enzymes are elevated and so is my Potassium. Oh, yeah, and with my right eye, I can still see a little bit of light, but not much else. My left eye is a little better, but not much. It is getting harder and harder for me to get up and down the steps even with my mom's help. I will GO out the front door, now, but I won't do my bidness on a leash. Sorry, that's just the way it is! Sometimes, when I sit down on the kitchen floor (which is wood), I can't get back up without my mom's help. I think I already told you that I have skin cancer. Right now, all I have is one lump on my back and it doesn't bother me at all. Mom leaves my hairs a little longer so no one gets grossed out.

A week ago today, my mom took me to see a new v-e-t. It seemed to take us a looooong time to get there. Lately, it seems like our regular v-e-t is trying to pay off his new building by charging us way too much. Aunt Wendy told us about a v-e-t who is just getting started in our area, so off we went. He was very nice and even though he stole my blood, he seemed to really care about me. We were planning to have my toothers cleaned, but he said it would be an extremely high risk to put me out. He gave me 3 different medicines and we went back home. I am still interested in my foodables and once I get down the steps, I can move pretty darn fast. I'm not having any accidents in the house. Mom talked to the dogtor about accupuncture for my leggies, but he said that with all my other problems, he is not sure he would recommend it right now. We will be going back to see him again in 40 days from last Saturday. He will re-evaluate my situation then. In the mean time, I am just doing what I normally do...eat, sleep, pee and poop. Oh yeah, I beg for foodables whenever Mom eats something!

And now, Princess Patches wants to tell you how she was humiliated yesterday. Hi, it's me, Patches. We already told you that our vet charges an arm and a leg, so Aunt Wendy told us about a place that gives affordable pet vaccinations. I was due for mine at the end of June, but my mom didn't have an extra three or four hundred dollars laying around! Yesterday, my mom loaded me in the Aire-mobile and we drove about 15 miles to a pet store. Nope, NOT a vet's office...it was a pet store where they sell stuffs for pets! The dogtor and vet techs only do the vaccines from 4 to 5 p.m. We got there at 3:30 so we were only about 4th or 5th in line. Thank doGness, my mom is ALWAYS early. There were about 50 peeps there and about 30 doggies and kitties. We met a cute little Italian Greyhound named Dash. Boy, could he jump! He jumped almost as high as his mom's head! I was pretty sure he had springs in his leggies!

The peeps started giving the vaccines right at 4 p.m., so we were out of there by 5:05 p.m. Woohoo! I gots all my shots and even a heartworm test! Mom bought a 6-pack of my anti-heartworm pills and our whole bill came to about a third or fourth of what it usually is. Woohoo!

Well, everydoggie, that's about it for today. Sorry it isn't happier news, but somehow, we will get through it! We hope everydoggie has a great August!

Aire-hugs,
Penny & Patches