Introducing Hamish MacPuppy

We have a new puppy!! For those of you who don't already know, my parents found two small puppies on their front porch about a week ago. We arrived for our visit two days later and began an exhaustive search for new homes for the puppies. To my surprise, NO ONE wanted them. Who doesn't want a puppy?? They're so cute! After several potential homes fell through, we finally found a home for one of the puppies (the girl). We really hoped to keep them together, but new the chances of that were slim. It was a little disappointing, but girl puppy's new mommy is really great and I felt good about handing her over.

We still didn't have a home for boy puppy and the date of our return trip home was approaching soon. My parents couldn't keep him because they already have two dogs and don't have the time or space for parenting a puppy. We couldn't take him to a shelter because we'd never know if he found a good home. I just couldn't do it and keep a clear conscience. So ultimately we decided to bring him home with us.

Clearly, I've lost my mind.... but he's so cute. And he really is a very good puppy to be so young (vet estimated about 10 weeks). We think the puppies were unwanted Christmas presents, which is just so sad to me. Not four days after they showed up at my parents' house, an incredible snow storm hit. If they hadn't found their way to us, they likely would not have survived the storm. But luckily they did find us and now they each have new homes.

We just got back home from our trip last night (that's another story in and of itself) so I wanted to share the good news of our newest little fur baby with my blog readers. These pictures were taken with my Blackberry in dim lighting, so they're a little grainy. But you get the idea. So without further delay, meet our little boy:

Hamish MacPuppy

And may the peace of the Lord be always with you.

Things You Didn't Know Could Harm Your Pet

This past weekend we spent our Friday night at the Animal Hospital with Molly. While we were out getting some frozen yogurt (yes, even though it's November we still like going to the mix-your-own froyo place), Molly got hold of her bottle of Proin (for her incontinence) and ate almost all of what was left in the bottle. We did the math and discovered that 11 pills were unaccounted for. The normal dose is a half-tablet, twice daily. So long story short, we ended up going to the Animal Hospital, Molly was admitted overnight, treated, and went home early the next morning. She's going to be fine, but it was a VERY tense and scary night for us. Luckily, we already had the phone number on hand for our local after-hours vet and they were able to coordinate with a toxicologist from the Pet Poison Hot Line to determine Molly's treatment protocol.

If you are a pet parent and don't know where your emergency vet is, find out. If you don't have their number, get it and save it as a contact in your cell phone. Listed below are some important numbers to have on hand in case your pet eats something toxic:

Pet Poison Hot Line
800-213-6680

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
888-426-4435

Home Again's Emergency Medical Care Hot Line
888-466-3242

Additionally, here is a list of 101 things that can harm pets, courtesy of the ASPCA's pamphlet from the animal hospital. And if you think your dog would NEVER eat some of this stuff, recall the last time you saw him/her eating poo or rolling in something completely disgusting. I know mine do. Dogs don't always make sense. That's just part of being a dog.