Animals

Throwback Thursday: Bring More Water than you Need!

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I originally posted this on Facebook August 3 2013, pretty much the day it happened.  I’ve proofread it since then, and added some pictures.  Anything in italic is added content.

Ever heard the phrase “An adventure is something horrible that happens to someone else?” Well, my story isn’t exact that as Hershey and I both got back ok, but let me start with the moral of this story: Always bring more water on a hike than you think you need.
This morning Hershey had a very bad time at the dog park, two fights in about ten minutes. I figured it was because she hadn’t gotten much exercise this week, and it being cooler weather (It turned out it really wasn’t that much cooler) I decided to take her for a nice long hike. I wanted to go someplace I’d never been so after looking on line I found an interesting trail called San Joaquin Gorge up near Auberry. After dropping Graham off with dog park friends Karen and Robin, Hershey and I drove up to the foothills. The Google Maps turn by turn directions worked flawlessly, delivering us to a parking lot near the trail head. We made our way down the path with a quart of water to share and a soda for myself. My recollections being that the feds are pretty good about facilities along their trails. The problem was, my recollections have mostly been shaped by the National Parks or Forest Service, this was a Department of the Interior area and not very well provisioned. How not very well?  There were only outhouses and water at the trail head, nowhere else along the 7+ mile trail.

So I had a quart of water for two of us and a soda for myself and also no cell reception! It was a great hike at first, the gorge is beautiful and and foot bridge across it is really elegant.

Hike 3Hike 4Hike 6Hike 7Hike 9

There was a fire higher up in the mountains so the whole place smelled like a cookout. Hershey was having a great time sniffing rocks and the astonishing amounts of animal poop on the trail.
I started feeling poorly on the other side of the gorge from where we had started. The uphills were more and more trying. I’d stop to rest for a while and move on. It flattened out eventually and we sat for a bit and took a rest, going through the water pretty quickly, but not totally. It was then I drank the soda and ate some cashews, and it was also then I started feeling dizzy when I stood up. We walked (uphill of course) for about 30 minutes more and after taking a wrong turn got back on the trail and headed down the way we’d came. It was mostly downhill, should be easy.
Eh, not really. This was the time it was evident that Hershey wasn’t having a great time. She would go ahead of me as far as her 26 ft. extend-i-leash would allow, always stopped in the shade (mostly oak trees). At times she had her tail tucked between her legs and was running ahead to either get the sun off her back or her feet off the hot ground. Sometimes she would seek out the deepest shade she could find and we’d take a break. At this point I was more worried about her than myself. I gave her most of the rest of the water.
Quickly after that I started feeling pretty poorly myself. We got back to the bridge but I’d taken a wrong turn somehow and came out on a trail more to the east of it than the one I started out on. I swear I was following the same trail I went up on! Once across the bridge (stopping in the middle to enjoy some shade and to briefly entertain the notion of jumping 100 feet to the beautiful water below) was when things got ugly for me.

Hike 5
So, so tempting

It was a lot of up hill. It was a lot of trail with a pretty brisk tumble down the hill and into the gorge on one side. It was me feeling increasingly fatigued, resting, and feeling horribly dizzy after getting up from resting. Fun Fact: being dizzy a foot away from a steep tumble makes you more dizzy! There were a couple of times after the many rests I had that if the dizziness had been much worse I might have blacked out.
I wasn’t immediately worried about Hershey anymore, she was a trooper, I was worried about myself. There had only been one other car in the lot when we got there and I’d encountered a guy on a bike headed back that way shortly after we started. I had no cell reception the entire time I was there, and If I couldn’t get myself back up to the parking lot…
I took many rests and several times sprawled on the trail while Hershey made a beeline for the deepest shade again. I was good and ready to plead for help if anyone came along, no one did. The rest of the county being wiser than me apparently. Eventually we made it back to the parking lot, to the water, where I drank a half quart immediately, only to have my kidneys almost literally scream at me. Hershey was happy to drink from the muddy puddle at the base of the spigot and I was too tired to stop her. Let’s hope we don’t pay for that later… (There were no ill effects!)
Walking across the parking lot to the car was almost as hard as making it up those hills. I got us both in and ran the A/C for a while, still sitting in the lot. The outside temperature on the dash read 100. It could have been reading it off the pavement, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been the actual temp. We soaked in the blessed cool of greenhouse gas powered A/C for a while and I drove back to town.
When I went to get Graham and told my story, my friends plied me with ice water, cold packs and a Slurpee, all of which I took gratefully . So I made it back to town, neither Hershey or I much the worst for wear. She is now sacked out on the couch and I would like to restate the moral of this story: Take more water than you think you need!!

Throwback Thursday: Bring More Water than you Need!

Caturday: Staring into the Abyss

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Shortly before leaving for Blog Paws I realized something.  Morph was having a hard time getting around, didn’t quite seem to know where he was at times (he’d almost gone out the back door by accident), and wasn’t interacting as much.  The wide eyes in full bright light up in the picture might give you an idea of what happened.  Morph had gone blind, at least mostly.

It seemed like a sudden onset as I only noticed him bumbling around the house a few days before, but his sight may well have been deteriorating for some time.  He’s had episodes of piteous, soul shattering yowling at night for months.  I’ve not been sure what to make of this, other than being damned annoyed by it. Now a plausible explanation seems that he was disoriented in the dark and didn’t know where he was. Knowing this has only made the yowling a tad less annoying.  During the day he had enough light to get around. Now even full daylight isn’t enough.

There had been concern about his blood pressure before, eventually finding normal results, but now the vet’s working theory is there have been spikes in blood pressure that have done damage to the insanely fine and delicate blood vessels in his eyes.  She put him on a blood pressure medication in hopes that will take some pressure off the delicate vessels and give them a chance to heal, maybe giving him some of his sight back.   It’s a human medication in a tiny pill and he needs to take it at cat doses, so I have to force a quarter of a tiny pill down the throat of a handicapped cat every morning.

He may not see well, but he can still look resentful.

Recovery is no sure thing though, but over the last couple of weeks he’s been on the medication his eyes seem to have gotten much more responsive to bright light.  He’s not seeing perfectly, he’s mistaken Hershey on the couch for me on a couple of occasions and neither of us are having fun getting the tiny pills down his throat each day, but he’s doing OK.  Cats are built for operating in the dark, and now that it’s not as dark for him as it had been he seems more like his old self.

Caturday: Staring into the Abyss

Pet Loss Prevention Month

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Large brown dog, small tan dog, and small black dog staring intently into the camera.

Appropriately the month with The Worst Holiday for Pets (at least in the U.S.) is also Pet Loss Prevention Month.  Yes, many animals do go missing during the fireworks of July 4th but (‘duh’ alert) pets can go missing any time during the year for many reasons (duh.)

There are a number of things people can do to help their pets get back home safely if they do get lost.  I’m sure any reader of pet blogs knows the basics but just as a formality (and to have some bullet points) I’ll reiterate them. Continue reading “Pet Loss Prevention Month” →

Pet Loss Prevention Month

Independence Day Traditions

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In the U.S. Independence Day, more commonly referred to as The Fourth of July, is a pretty big deal.  It’s the official date that our country (though not our present form of government) started and it’s also in the middle of summer and a great time for a party!

In years past I’ve gone to cookouts, and fireworks shows, and enjoyed them as much as an introvert can enjoy large crowds and loud noises.  Then I got a dog.  With their far more sensitive hearing, dogs enjoy fireworks shows about as much as humans enjoy being repeatedly struck on the back of the head with a meat mallet.  Since Hershey came into my life in 2010 I haven’t been to see fireworks once.  I still go to family cookouts, eat, visit, and hightail it back home before dark when the fireworks start.

Where I live, in one of the most drought stricken parts of California, it is inexplicably possible to buy fireworks from stands that pop up on vacant lots the week before the Fourth.  This allows families all around the neighborhood to have their own fireworks displays so they can enjoy Independence Day and mess with the mental health of local animals.  This is tradition for many people and so, since getting dogs, I have had to come up with traditions of our own.

Tradition One:  I’m always there for them.  When it gets dark and the fireworks and firecrackers start up, I’m at home to be their rock.  We are the cornerstones of our dogs’ lives and during what could be the worst night of the year for them, I feel that mine need me to guide them.

Tradition Two:  Stay calm.  When the noise starts I don’t react.  I don’t show annoyance or get upset.  Dogs have had 20,000 years to get to know us, and by this time they can read us like two-legged, hairless books.  If they see that I’m not bothered by all the noise outside, they know they don’t have to be either.

Tradition Three:  Hibernation.  When things really get going outside, we take our evening to the bedroom.  I close the door, we settle in, and I do something calm and ordinary like reading a book.  They lay on the bed, and doze.

Tradition Four:  Music. I play something light, and about middle volume to help muffle the outside noise.

All this seems to work!  Hershey has been calm during fireworks every year I’ve had her.  Graham was a little concerned the first year, but following these traditions his ears might perk up a little when things start but after that he’s as calm as Hershey.

Last year was Marsha’s first time, and it was effecting her.  She was one solid tremble, but she came up with a tradition of her own.  She snuggled under the covers and after that she was fine!


This year, I’m hoping our traditions continue to work and everyone gets through the night with no, or minimal problems.

What do you do to help your dogs through this difficult day?  What days in other countries are the worst for dogs?  I’d love to know!

(Oh, anyone wondering about my cats should know that they barely register that the outside exists and have never shown any distress over fireworks!  Maybe this has even helped with the dogs!)

Independence Day Traditions