i'm a calendar boy!

We  did it!! Because of all of my wonderful friends and mom’s friends I’m going to be in the Furever Rescued calendar next year!!  That’s right, little ‘o me in a calendar!!  Now how to pose for my photo…how to pose.  Think I’ll be wearing my super foot for the photo.  Mom promises to keep everyone updated as to when the calendar comes out!!

I have gotten really really fast with my new super foot.  Mom and dad were laughing last night as I was running through the house chasing after Steeler, we have lots of fun together. Last week mom even brought me to work and I wore my leg there.  It was fun, they ate lots of good stuff all day and I got to chew my bones in peace and quiet!

 On Saturday mom and dad took me to the Phoenix Pet Expo were I got to meet a superstar!!  Shorty from Pit Boss was there and he really liked me!

come vote for me!

Mom entered me in a contest and all i need from you is your VOTE.  Please just go to my STORY HERE and hit the big VOTE button!!  You can vote once every 24 hours for me.  - woof!!

update - woof!

Things have been busy, busy lately but I’m still here doing lots of fun puppy things!  A couple of weekends ago mom and dad drove me to Tucson to meet up with Kate and my new prosthetic leg.  I had been awake the whole drive and was pretty tired when we tested out the leg, but I did really well with it.  Dad had treats for me and every time I used the leg and ran over to dad I got one!  They were really tasty!  Kate took video of me using my leg to send over to OrthoPets so they could see how I was using it. 

The first week with the leg and I was doing okay, sometimes it would fall off.  One time it fell off and Steeler stole it from me and mom had to get it back!  She tells me that it’s NOT a chew toy…bummer.

On Saturday Kate came by the house to pick up my leg to send back to OrthoPets for some adjustments.  They want to change the bottom of the foot and do something to help it stay on better.  Can’t wait to get it back!!

recovery

Mom picked me up from the vet Friday after work.  She said my neuter when very well, easy for her to say.  Not being like a normal four legged dog I was in a lot of pain hopping around Friday night.  At bed time I just couldn’t sleep and kept mom up most of the night with my crying.  Saturday though, I was up feeling great!  I spent the day playing outside and took some nice long naps.  Mom said I was a trouble maker that night when I wouldn’t take my pain medicine.  She gave it to me wrapped up in yummy peanut butter, which I quickly licked off and spit the pill out.  Much to mom’s surprise my fur-sister Daphne quickly ate my pill!!  Mom gave me another pill and again I spit it out.  This time mom was much faster and gave it to me a third time.  She kept my mouth shut until I ate the pill and the peanut butter.  Peanut butter taste much better without medicine in it, just saying.

Mom says that all little dogs (and cats, no idea what that is) should be spayed and neutered.  This is what I think -

Mom emailed our OrthoPet’s Rep Kate to see how I did on Friday.  I was asleep during it all so I really don’t remember much.

Kate said -

He did very well!  The x-rays show some of his carpal bones floating around and a sharp point on the ulna, but he's built up a very nice pad on the tip of the limb.  I'll know more next week when the experts take a closer look at the cast on the x-rays.  Stay tuned.

Mom talked to the vet a little bit and sounds like the bone might be an issue and they might have to remove some.  I sure hope not, mom would worry way too much.

stage 1

Today is a big day for me.  Mom took me to the vet this morning saying something about, “snip-snip” Doesn’t sound good does it??  On the ride over she gave me a special chew toy, again thinking this isn’t good.  Anyways, once at the vet they weighed me and I’m up to a whole 9.5 pounds!!  Can you believe just five months ago I was only 2 pounds?!  The vet is so nice and likes to hold me when I’m there.  She said I had a puppy tooth they needed to pull today that hasn’t fallen out.  You would think with all of the chewing I like to do it would have. 

Mom had to leave me, but came back later to meet Kate our rep from OrthoPets.  While I’m asleep Kate is taking x-rays of my nub and then making a casting of it for my new prosthetic leg.  She said we’ll have a test model in hopefully TWO weeks!!  Mom and I are so excited.  Kate is hoping that I adapt quickly to it, says having so many brothers and sisters might make it easier for me to forget it’s on and use it.  Can’t wait for mom to pick me back up today.  I think I just want to go home and snuggle with her the rest of the night.  I am sure I’ll be back up tomorrow like a crazy pup.

we did it!

Yesterday was the best Leap Day ever…okay, it was my first Leap Day ever BUT I made my goal of raising $1800 for my prosthetic leg!!  Mom was doing lots of crying, but happy crying she said.  Yesterday morning mom was starting to stress out over the fact that they wanted to start everything NEXT Friday and how was she going to make all of this happen for me, she was unsure.  Then later she goes to my blog and see’s 100% of my goal was met?!?  I guess it threw her off for a few minutes, and then everyone in her office was crying and cheering!!  She called dad up to give him the great news and I even gave dad one of my “woofs” when he told me!  What a happy day.  My mom wishes she could call up my breeder and say, “yea, he was garbage…he has more friends than you’ll ever have!”   I was so happy last night when I curled into bed next to mom, tummy up and my soon to be four legs stretched out in the air.  I had sweet dreams of running even faster, keeping up with my fur brothers & sisters when outback in the rock and maybe knocking Mazie upside the head when she growls at me for trying to chew on her ears.  No, I’ll be nice I promise!

My first big day comes next Friday.  Mom says something about “snip-snip” not sure what she means by that, but I’m thinking I might not like it.  While I’m a sleep and dreaming Kate who is the rep for OrthoPets will come in and make a cast mold of my nub and then take some x-rays to see my bones inside.  After a couple of weeks I’ll have my first test prosthetic!!  That will help them see what kind of adjustments might need to be made for my permanent leg.  I am so excited to start my new adventure!

Please don’t think that’s the end of my blog or Facebook page!  Mom plans to help me keep updating along the way of our journey.  We could have more expenses to come, so we plan on keeping my store open and we’ll have some other fun things going on.  Any money that we don’t use we hope to donate to other dogs that need prosthetics like me.

sharing time is caring time - woof!

It’s time to make some noise people! Mom said it would be really great if you could help and share my blog with your Facebook friends.  Please just share this and get the word out about my prosthetic leg fundraising effort!!  There are a couple of ways people can help.

1. Donate to my fund directly here on my blog.

2. Purchase custom shirts made just for ME on my store.

What’s coming up next…we have some silent auction items coming soon and some homemade dog treat bake sales next month!

I may only be 7 lbs. but I know that we couldn’t do all of this without you.  Thank you everyone for your support and love.

that's me!

Can you believe this artwork was created just for ME?!? That’s me on there!  I am one handsome Cavalier if I do say so myself.  Kari at Pop Doggie was nice enough to create this artwork to help with my fundraising, and it’s available on my store now!  Mom has tee shirts for men and women or you can just purchase the print.  I need to make sure mom buys one to hang right above my crate…I could look at this for hours!!

Mom said we had some awesome donations over the weekend, thank you to those of you who are helping me.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!!

Speaking of wonderful friends we learned this morning that one of the Cavalier Rescue Foundation volunteers is not doing very well.  Her husband is in the hospital after hurting his back very badly.  Please send well thoughts and prayers to Jane and David.  They are really good people and we want David home soon.

modes of transportation

Only having three full legs does slow me down sometimes.  At home on the carpet and soft surfaces I can move REALLY fast, but on concrete outside I can't keep up.  Mom likes to take me to the dog park, but the long walks I just can't keep up with everyone. 

While at one of the rescue events we met the owner from Barking Baby who makes really nice dog slings. Not only can mom or my family carry me around, but they have room for dog treats, cell phone and car keys.  I just love being carried around and not missing out on all of the fun places they go.  With my new leg though I'll actually be able to keep up and run with the other dogs....so excited!!  Woof!!

Again, thank you to all of my friends for the awesome-woof donations!!  Every dollar helps get me closer to my new leg!!  Don't forget to check back tomorrow for some great new items for sale on my store...you're going to love them!! xxx

want to go shopping??

Mom has been hard at work on my very own STORE!!  Right now she just has one ladies tee shirt up (all designs are done by my mom too!!), but please check back for new items coming soon.  Mom also has some friends who will be donating items that we will be auctioning off on my site too very soon. You can shop by clicking HERE.

Yesterday was my first day fundraising and I have already had so many wonderful donations!!  Thank you thank you to all of my friends out there.  We can't do this without your support and love.



woof - thank you!

Wow, mom just puts my blog out there today and my link to donate to help with my new prosthetic foot and I received my FIRST donation!!  A huge furry thank you to my friend Dick - he's awesome because he helps rescue Cavaliers too!!   I have the best friends ever!

welcome! woof!!

Welcome to my new blog!  Hard to believe a puppy as small as me can have their very own blog and friends that actually follow it!!

For those of you who do not know me, my name is iHop and I live in sunny Arizona.  I was born on a puppy mill in Kansas City, MO mom thinks about early September 2011.  Some time when I was in my mommy’s belly the vet thinks her umbilical cord was wrapped around my paw causing it to fall off.  I was also born with a really short tail, not the true long Cavalier tail like I should have.  The lady who owned me thought I was trash and unsellable so she called a rescue telling them to come get me right away or I would be thrown out the window.  The rescue wasn’t able to even find out anything about, she just tossed me to them and that was that.  The rescue found a nice foster family to love and take care of me while they called Arizona and spoke to Cavalier Rescue Foundation about helping me find my forever family since they knew my breed so well.  I was hardly 2 pounds and had a really bad upper respiratory infection, so I spent a lot of time at the vet.

My new mom saw my first photo in October and was in love with me (how could she not be?!).  knowing that I was so far away and sick she couldn’t stand not having me in Arizona with her so she and dad decided to drive a total of 2,600 miles to come get me!!  They said it was actually a fun trip and they would do it again in a heartbeat.  All I know is that I was very lucky to have TWO rescues who loved me so much.

I spent a lot of time at the vet getting better.  One night though mom came home and I wasn’t doing too well.  They quickly took me to the ER Vet who took great care of me.  After a couple of weeks I was finally better!  I even made my debut at one of the Cavalier Rescue Foundation adoption events!! 

Since October I have celebrated my first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve!!  Wow.  My family is so much fun I have four other Cavaliers to play with, but Steeler (he was adopted too!) is my best friend.  We play all of the time and he even lets me chew on his ears!!  Daphne is my big sister who takes care of me, but also lets me chew on her ears.  They use to be pretty, but I have kind of made a mess of them.

Next month hopefully I will start work with OrthoPets and get my new foot!!  Mom worries about my stump with summer coming up and me burning it on the hot concrete.  Hopefully I will pick up using my new foot quickly.  Because the cost is so much we are going to be doing LOTS of fundraising, so please watch my blog for more updates.  Also if you’re looking for your very own Cavalier to adopt please check out Cavalier Rescue Foundation!!