Sadly my first guess about Miss Holly's lump was the correct one. She has a mammary tumour. Surgery isn't until the end of August. Hoping to get an appointment sooner at another place.

Dagmar

Sending supportive thoughts, Dagmar. May it be a simple situation.

Unfortunately now Holly is also missing since 10:30 last night with no collar on. I am taking today off from work to contact all the animal services and put up flyers etc. in the hopes of finding her unharmed.

Dagmar

We found her. She's home safe and sound. Whew!

Dagmar

Oh, that's wonderful news!! I'm glad I was distracted for a few minutes before I posted my reply earlier. I had a missing dog years ago, a known escape artist that I was boarding and training for sheep work. We kept her in a fully enclosed run, and I don't remember how she went missing, but she did. After searching and calling the entire day, she was found underneath our mobile home with a telephone wire looped around her leg! It wasn't even restraining her, but she chose to lie there all day. I'm glad I only have my own dogs these days!!

You trained dogs for sheep work? Interesting. You must have seen a lot of border collies Alice.

Dagmar

Dagmar, I was very active in the sheepdog trialing world for over 30 years. The big border collie trials were my passion. Then the AKC started giving herding titles in 1989 and everyone with a herding breed wanted lessons. Some owners figured out it was a lot easier to have me train and trial the dog, so I did that too. The joke among "real" sheepdog trialers was that you could train a cat to earn the AKC titles I burned out on it eventually. I didn't like the ethics of many of the professionals, and I hated that the dogs were treated as commodities. In retrospect I'm glad I kept my full-time office job. Nowadays I just have one old border collie who's getting senile, plus three stray mixed breeds who just showed up near our property. I'm involved in a couple of online animal training groups and having lots of fun training our dogs, cats and two rats

Wonderful! Have you ever heard of these guys or seen the videos? https://www.studiodaily.com/2009/04/...e-shepherding/

Dagmar

Alice, so interesting about your life in sheepdog trials! I knew you loved dogs, but that's a further step.

Dagmar, has Holly had her surgery?

Bill, always good to see you!

Our plumber is here, draining and cleaning out our water heater. We need this done about every couple of years.

On the food front, my partner wants nuts in the house. That's better than donuts but I still eat too many of them.

Also, I recently tried a week of a weight loss program whose name begins with N (four letters). I wasn't impressed. They seemed to be doing the same old stuff we have known about for years. I didn't see any "psychology" in the first week, and cancelled before the week was up.

Good to hear from you Jay Ell! Sorry the "N" program didn't work for you.

Holly has her surgery on Aug. 31. Long wait but that's one of the results of the pandemic.Vet has greatly shortened the hours they are open, is closed on the weekends, and has many new patients. I tried to get her into another clinic but that would have taken even longer.

My vet did Trixie's mammary surgery and her others and he did a good job. I'm trusting he does the same with Holly. It'll probably be about another week before we hear whether it's malignant or not. I'm hoping not. Trixie's lump was malignant but it hadn't spread so she survived that cancer successfully. Hoping for the same for Miss Holly.

Dagmar

Dagmar, I think I saw some videos of the lighted sheep several years ago. A very clever idea! Shepherding is kind of a dying way of life in the UK, and it's good to see them find new ways to promote themselves. I hope that Holly's surgery is uncomplicated and has a good outcome. We have the same problem getting into a vet here. We've gone to the same one for over 30 years but now he has too many clients and it kind of feels like we don't really have a vet anymore. Anything that can't wait 10 days has to go to emergency.

JayEll, I have often wondered about N___, every time I hear an ad for it. I think we're pretty much pro's around here. Any one of us could work for them We have nuts around, but just like everything else I eat, I weigh them before I eat them. I usually eat around half an ounce or a little more. Six almonds are about 7 grams, which is only 41 healthy calories.

Bill, have you avoided the super hot weather this year? I'm travelling to Washington State in a week and I'm afraid of jinxing their normally mild weather like I did last year!

I'm still successfully avoiding Covid but I caught something else over a week ago that turned into a throat infection requiring antibiotics. I'm on Day 3 of those. My fever was gone within 24 hours and I'm feeling better each day. It killed my appetite for 5 or 6 days, but it's back now .

Alice the wait at the emergency clinic here, unless the dog has collapsed or is bleeding etc., is about 6 hours. I can't imagine what Holly and I would do for 6 hours there. She is a very vocal dog and I have the feeling we would be asked to wait outside after the first hour.

I hope you are feeling better and get over your throat infection quickly.

Jayell We did have peanut butter in the house for awhile but I can't eat it or any other products with peanuts any more. Extreme intestinal distress results. That messed up my protein bar choice when they changed their formula and added peanuts to 2 of their flavours. I was buying the assorted box from Costco and can no longer eat 65% of what's in the box. Still looking for a sensible alternative to those. Most protein bars are like candy bars for me - they make me want to eat MORE!

Dagmar

Dagmar, we like the brand RXBAR. They are "no B.S." bars. A few flavors do have peanuts, and almost all have some kind of nuts--almonds, cashews, walnuts. You can look at them here. They are not inexpensive, but they are good. I like them because there's no protein powder involved--I'm sensitive to soy protein and maybe other protein "isolates." Some folks report that they can find them in stores at a better price, so see what you have available.

Thanks JayEll. Those bars are available here and I will check them out.

Dagmar

Holly's surgery day is finally here. I am home for the rest of the week so can look after her post op. I was glad to cancel the "away" part of my vacation to be able to do this. Hoping all goes well and that she makes a full recovery.

Her lump will be sent in for biopsy and then anther week or so of waiting to see if it's malignant or not. Trixie's similar lump was malignant but she beat that particular cancer and had 5 very good years post op. Hoping for the same for Holly.

Dagmar