animals, Family, home, Media, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

Who Dunnit?

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Today’s post comes from Jacque.

What a week for dog drama and a Who Dunnit.

Lucky, our 8 year old Beagle/Terrier mix, had been ill for about 9 months with a tumor in her bladder.  We noticed the problem last January in AZ when we walked her during the day.  We pursued treatment for an infection, but then an ultrasound showed a mass in her bladder.  We knew for some time how this would end, but it became clear that my soft-hearted husband was struggling with the decision.  This caused conflict between the two of us.   Lucky’s illness  progressed, she was not feeling well and her behavior was getting irritable.  Several times she got a bit aggressive with our other dog, Bootsy (Corgi mix).  But it was only growling and barking.

Our neighbor, with whom we have had a very good relationship, was caring for her sister’s three large, movie star dogs (the  neighbor had two for a total of 5).  They are the dogs, a black Airedale and a part wolf dog, in the dog food commercial in which a dog leaps, then turns from an Airedale into a wolf.  These dogs have been escaping lately.  They have ordered a fence, but it was a long waiting list, so the dogs kept escaping despite their best efforts.  Meanwhile, coyotes have been hanging out in our yards and have been getting bold, sometimes showing up midday.

Tuesday afternoon something/someone, the coyotes, our sick dog, or the neighbor dog, mauled our other dog, Bootsy.  She was injured very badly, requiring surgery.  Lou had the girls outside with him in the yard, but he did not see anything happen.  Later, back in the house he noticed she was hiding and would not eat.  I looked around, finding her in the kennel.  Then I found patches of blood on our bed, in the kennel, and two guest beds which she visited looking for comfort. Lou had not seen the blood which left me incredulous.   We rushed her to the emergency vet.  Finally, at 1 am she was sent home from surgery with an external drain, many stitches, and a mesh cover over her torso.

Wednesday evening, Lou let Lucky out and stood at the door.  The neighbor’s dogs got out again, rushed into our yard, and Lucky yipped.  The neighbor texted me apologizing for the dogs getting away from her and scaring our dogs.  But one of those dogs had bitten Lucky on the shoulder.  It was superficial, so we did not even find the bite until the morning.

Friday morning Gentle Pet Vet came out and euthanized Lucky.  It was peaceful and actually, a very sweet experience.  We had a good cry, then buried her in the yard with her beloved squirrels which she loved to chase.  Bootsy is recovering very well.    Now we are still wondering, who mauled Bootsy?   Lucky?  The bite marks appear too big.  Coyotes?  A real possibility.  The neighbor dogs?  That is my theory.

Have you had any mystery or drama lately?  What is your theory of my mystery.

60 thoughts on “Who Dunnit?”

    1. Thanks. This week has been better. The worst period was making the decision about Lucky. Now that we are past that, we have been able to relax. Bootsy is sucking up all the attention that she is getting as a wounded only dog. The fence at the neighbors is being installed this week. They have brought us flowers and are still feeling so bad about both dogs. Despite all this, they are the best kinds of neighbors.

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        2. We did not name our Lucky—she came to us as “Lucky Lola.” We just dropped the Lola.

          Weirdly, the dog that probably bit her…is named Lucky. The other two dogs are name “jack” and “Louis.”

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  2. so sorry for luckys having to be put down . that is the hardest day ever
    neighbors need to be made aware of two incidents . their dogs did it. tell them you’ll split the vet bill with them on surgery and euthanasia

    i can’t think of any whodone it’s lately

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    1. They know and have already been over to discuss vet bill. They did not have anything to do with Lucky’s cancerous bladder—while all this drama occurred the same week, the mauling, and needing to say good-bye to Lucky, are two separate issues.

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      1. It was my impression that coyotes tend to grab and run. However sometimes they just get a mouth full of feathers or a few nips before they get a solid enough bite.
        So sorry to hear about Lucky.

        My mysteries lately have been open doors and mysterious plumbing pipes.

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        2. Well, I guess if they can’t drag it away and feel secure enough, they can do that too.
          Chickens or small dogs I’d think they’d grab and run.

          On the township, we are responsible for dealing with dog bites.It’s always easier if the dog owner is responsible and willing to acknowledge the situation and what happen. Mostly they do. Just every now and then someone will say their dog isn’t a problem.
          Different situations require different tactics. But if we get to a third issue, the dog will be taken away. Thankfully, we’ve never gotten to that point.

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        3. My nephew raises goats in Wisconsin, which are mightily tempting to a coyote. So he has huge dogs to protect the goats from coyotes. Apparently these are crosses of mastiff, German Shepherds, and other dogs. So now he has a side business of breeding these protector dogs.

          Liked by 2 people

  3. Our mystery this week was on Wednesday morning, when Husband informed me his hearing aids were missing. We searched for two hours. He usually puts them in a glass bowl on the dresser. He has a case for them but never uses it. We worried that a cat had fished them out of the bowl and batted them around the house. We looked under everything, all over the house, and he was just about to start searching in the garbage when I decided to look in the case he never uses. There they were. He agreed he needs to be more methodical in how he stores them, so we put the case next to his phone charger, and there they will go every time he takes them out. I was late for work and he was well aware how unhappy I was with him.

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      1. Ditto. The thing I hate the most is when you put something away and when you’re putting it away you think about it. And then when you go to find it all you can remember is thinking about putting it someplace but not where you actually put it

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    2. In the middle of a traumatic and somewhat mysterious day, Sandy announced at bedtime that she had lost one of her aids. We went to bed and waited for better insight in the morning. Looked everywhere and was about to search garbage. But she had mentioned the car as possible. Sometimes through the dementia fog she does sorta remember odd things. Searched hallway to garage and garage door to car. (Our car sits right beside that door. ) There ir was on the floor of the garage, perfect camouflage for aid.
      Clyde

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    3. Lou has lost 2 pair, YES 2 PAIR, of hearing aids while getting on/off his motorcycle. He is now wearing the pair inherited from his best friend who died 18 mos ago. They were rarely worn.

      This is getting expensive.

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      1. How can you wear someone else’s hearing aids? Isn’t that a bit like wearing someone else’s glasses?

        I know where my hearing aid is most of the time. It’s in its case on the bathroom counter. I can’t get used to wearing it, so I rarely do.

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  4. Any of the beasts you mention-coyotes, Airedale, or wolfdog could have savaged poor Bootsy. Coyotes are vicious. I was puzzled by the Airedale ‘s coloring. I thought they were always black and tan.

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  5. Condolences on the loss of your beloved Lucky. It’s always tough to lose a cherished pet. I have to lean toward the neighbor’s dogs as the culprits since they have a pattern of escaping and terrorizing Lucky and Bootsy.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  6. My mystery today concerns the whereabouts of some pajamas I ordered from a company in Maine. FedEx indicates that they arrived in Billings, MT, yesterday as 12:52 pm. They were to be delivered yesterday. FedEx has no delivery estimate and no further information regarding the order.

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    2. But isn’t it telling that so many of us are suspicious as to the veracity of this piece of news? Is this yet another way of diverting attention from something else, avoiding another debate, or manipulating public opinion? I wouldn’t put it past him.

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        2. There will be a lot of tests administered over the next couple of weeks. Amy Coney Barrett has met with both 45 and Turtle in the past week, also came into contact with AG Barr. This could get really interesting.

          According to Michael Osterholm, people who develop severe illness usually have a period of about 10 days to a couple of weeks before things turn ugly.

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  12. Wow, Jacque! I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope your Bootsy recovers with no further issues. I think you have done very well by Lucky.

    About three weeks ago, someone pulled my mom out of her chair (a Broda chair which is a largish reclining lawn chair on wheels – google it) and dumped her on the floor. The nurse was working with the only aide that I really don’t like that evening. She called me to tell me that another resident of the had home pulled Mom out of her chair by pulling on her sling, which is used to lift her with a mechanical lift. Of course, due to federal law, the nurse is not allowed to tell me which other resident pulled Mom out. There are two possible candidates. One of the two is a very active and completely insane little tiny lady who frequently comes into Mom’s room and tells her to get up out of the chair and walk. The other is a sad, tall lady who slowly walks up and down the hall, often entering other residents’ rooms. I didn’t think she would do anything but I have found out since that she had been aggressive of late due to changes in her medications. The nurse checked Mom over and told me she didn’t think Mom had been hurt (more than she already was with an unrepaired hip fracture). She also told me that she had searched for the other aide for help getting Mom up off the floor and couldn’t find her. So… where was the aide? Did she know something or was she just not doing her job? Which other resident pulled Mom out? Was that really what happened? I don’t know.

    I am suspicious of your neighbor’s friend’s dogs.

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    1. When my daughter was a young toddler in daycare, she was the target of another child who was in a biting phase. The daycare center wouldn’t tell me who it was but after the fifth bite (when toddler had marks all over her upper arms) I just asked her and she coughed up the name of the culprit immediately. I went into the daycare center and I said “you know who the child is, I know who the child. Keep this child away from my child because the next bite I will call the state authorities. There were no more bites after that.

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  13. I bet it was the other dogs. And I hope the neighbors pay the whole vet bill. No mysteries around here that I can think of.

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  14. Our mystery: Sandy had colitis attacks (polite for diarrhea) 13 out of 18 days. I adjusted food which made no difference. 4 of the days were very bad, which means she got sick two days when she had not eaten for over 24 hours. Part of issue is that she does not remember she was sick, the day before even. And does not want to accept that my memory is better for her health issues. Then there is the hydrochloroquine the lupus dr prescribed on a hope and a prayer. She can no longer take lupus drugs but still has all the pain issues and the hope was it might work for generalized lupus pain, which it has on some occasions. And she warned it could trigger colitis. Then I looked at the four drugs a different dr. prescribed for her bad pneumonia, and there is, of course, only bad pneumonia when you have lupus. Three of those list diarrhea as a side effect, including symbicort and flonese as side effects. So I took her off those too. Last night at 8 she could not breathe. She panicked of course. Cough medicine, which she had not take for quite awhile, got things under control and I puffed her with both. Half hour later she was fine, although scared. Today she does not remember any of this. So she is back to normal back on those drugs, but still off the hydrochloroquine. and today she is fine colitis wise and now remembers how sick she had been for 2 1/2 weeks. I am hoping that Donald’s pet drug is the issue, and it did not seem to have been helping the pain.
    Did I solve the mystery?

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    1. Maybe. You’re doing a wonderful job caring for her. Antibiotics for pneumonia always cause diarrhea. They’re notorious for that. It’s because they kill off all the intestinal flora. Can she eat dairy products? Maybe try some kefir or a probiotic? I would be cautious about stopping the Symbicort. It reduces inflammation in the airway and lungs and will help her recover from pneumonia. This sounds hard, Clyde. You’re doing a wonderful job.

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      1. Thanks. She has been off antibiotics for three weeks. During that time she never had colitis issues. See, nothing adds up right. Her internist told her 3 years ago to never use probiotics. Her colon would not be pleased. He is a good caring sharp doctor. Everything is so complicated with her with all her diseases and drugs. Sorry, I had been avoiding bringing these issues up because without all the background it is hard to see the complications. Just ignore my whining.

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    2. I went off hydroxychloroquine for about six months, not entirely sure if I was getting any benefit from it. After I was off for maybe ten weeks or so, I had a definite increase in pain. After four months it was very noticeable. I don’t have any side effects from it except a slight tendency to get dizzy.

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      1. Thanks. Interesting to hear a personal insight on the drug. But if she stay free of colitis attacks, then, no, we will not go back on the drug.

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  15. I have a bit of a mystery on my Facebook account, where someone very conservative showed up on my feed recently. I checked my activity log and it says I became Facebook friends with this woman on September 24th. I don’t remember accepting a friend request, and I seldom send requests to anyone else, so I don’t have a clue how this happened. There are mutual friends from high school, so I gather it’s someone I went to school with, but it’s hard to identify women if they use their married names on Facebook. And I don’t recognize her from her pictures.

    She currently lives in Texas and she’s a huge fan of 45.

    I will probably unfriend her at some point, but it can be instructive to have a couple “opposing viewpoints” on your feed, so you can keep tabs on the crap that’s going around.

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    1. I’m very cautious about my Facebook friends and only accept friendships with people I already know. It is certainly informative to hear their point of view but when they start personal commentary, it’s not so great.

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  16. Mystery # 2. My son works at home, programing. He has a couple or zoom meetings a day with his team. Yesterday morning he was in the bathroom and heard voices in the main room of his apartment. He thought his landlord had maybe entered without advance notice. He went charging out in his underwear, only clothes he had in the bathroom. It was his computer. Somehow his computer had accepted attending a zoom meeting for another team with whom he has no contact. He managed to sneak by the computer to get clothes without being seen. They were wondering what he was doing in their group. Why did he get the notice, why or how did the computer accept?

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