Molly, 13 yr, shih tzu - lhasa aspo - Molly has passed

nice to be hanging out with you young chicks (lol) i sure do remember my 50th,it lasted a month lol.that was 2 years ago,good Lord where does the time go...but always remember to have a good time and never have any regrets(sober or not :) )...still hang out with the crowd we grew up with(about 30 of us,most of us married our h.s sweethearts,and believe or not most are still married some 25 years !!!)just a little fun news instead of heartache,heartbreak and dispair(spelling looks wrong).just wanna say i will be forever grateful to this special place to get me through the worst days with my baby boy milo.i felt empowered,knowledgable and full of fight for my litl one.it has been 6 weeks now since milo had left me here physically but i have to believe that we will all be together witll ALL our loved ones(furbabies and people)i will keep my eyes on you guys !!! patty(milo)meka xoxox

A month!!! Oh man, Trish, we better start getting rested up. Sounds like it's a party birthday! Patty, you are leading the way for us, (nipping at your heels gal)
Sometimes we need some levity to keep us sane. :) It doesn't mean that we don't miss them any the less, just that it is exhausting to live heart ache 24 hours a day. We need breaks from that sort of grief. :) Meka would give you what for if she thought you were Always sad. (and I'd help her!!!)
xoxox Sharlene and Molly Muffin

sharlene ,you give me happy tears (ok a little sad one as well) and who here doesn't own a one..nevertheless...my michael brings a smile to me every second, as well as,meka.she is now realizing (or not)that her brother milo won't be coming back and is so needy,lonesome,more clingy and hugable and always wants to be held...i hope we can get her use to being solo after 6 years intertwined with her brother...

That takes time. Dogs have their own grief to deal with and their own time to do that in.
hmmm..not really sure how that is going to work, since if we go out to the garage, fiddle around out of sight, they think we've been gone forever! A very interesting problem. Let me know if you figure it out.

:) We all just do what we can, when we can. I use happy, laughter as a defense mechanism probably. :) If I'm making someone smile, then it doesn't feel as worrying.

:)
Sharlene

HI Sharlene

I vote we meet half way to celebrate our big birthdays!!! My guess that would be Hawaii??? Ohhhh sitting by the pool sipping a Margarita, now that sounds like a birthday to remember and I will try and stay up with you till 4am (will work on my stamina)!!

Have a good day, half way through the week tomorrow... well for us Southern Hemisphere ones anyway :D:D

Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi gang,

Molly has had a sort of nervous habit every since we have had her. She sucks her tail. She does this every night before she goes to sleep, or any time she isn't getting the attention she thinks she needs at that moment. She also cleans her paws every night before going to sleep. She's always done these things. The vet said it isn't allergies and the fur hadn't changed color like it would if she was doing in reaction to allergies, as in constantly I think. Vet said it is a nervous habit.

Anyway, the last time she was groomed, much to my dismay, they cut her tail hair from that nice big puff to short hair. Yesterday she sort of rediscovered her tail (she'd left it alone for a few weeks) and wala she went at it like a motor engine. I see tonight she has made a sore on it. When we tell her to knock it off, she runs and hides where we don't see her and resumes licking and chewing on it. So, tonight I noticed some blood. I washed it off with cool water, but I don't have a cone for her and not sure what to do to make sure she stops this and doesn't hurt herself any more.

On top of that we are leaving Tuesday morning for a week and I don't want her doing this while she is being boarded, even though she'll be boarded at the vets.

So, what should I put on it, what can I get to try and make her leave it alone? (I should say that the sour apple stuff does not work for her, she just licks it off) She had a paw injury once that we borrowed a vets cone for but then returned it once that was healed.

Currently she is laying on her rug chilling and leaving it alone. She hasn't messed with it since I washed it off. I thought for sure she was going to bite me, she normally will try to bite anyone who even touches her when she is tail or paw licking. I've made it a point to touch her and pet her when she is doing it so now she isn't as bad as she use to be, but last night she definitely growled at me when I was trying to get her to leave the tail alone.

Thoughts?

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

That is a hard one, Sharlene. On one hand, sometimes the more of a fuss you make of it (as my Zoe) sometimes it makes them do it even more when it is a nervous habit. Can you distract her with something when she starts? Could she have a Kong to lick out when she starts on her tail or paws? I tried everything last year when Zoe was chewing her paws like crazy, the more I tried, the worse she got, even tried her Comfy Cone which helped her awhile but then she started getting really nippy when I would put it on. I have a cupboard full of sprays and soaks, none helped. Finally I just stopped fussing at her and it got better, did not stop but she wasn't manic. Now for some reason, she doesn't chew them at all.:confused:

Addy what did you put inside the kong for her to lick out? I can try treats, but I don't want her to overly associate getting treat with doing an action I don't want her to do. Yes, the more you tell her no, the more she does. I've tried playing with her with toys to distract but she'll ignore the toys for her tail every time.

Yea, I could see molly getting snippy at the cone too. She didn't like it when she was young and had it on for her paw and I doubt she would do much better now she is older. I'd still try it though if I had one.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hmmmm could you cover it, or would she just get more crazy trying to get that off? I am thinking a little loose sock like thing?? Hopefully her fur grows back quicksmart so she forgets about it again. xxxxx

HI Sharlene,

Sometimes we put a dab of peanut butter in the kong. It usually takes them awhile to work at that getting in there to get every last drop.

So when her hair is longer she forgets about the tail? Hopefully her hair will grow back quick.