Phin Ready

Hopalong Dixie is updated on her shots, nails trimmed, medications refilled. She's ready to roll on the open road!

Tripawd Party in Mesa

We finally met some fellow tripawds this weekend! We met up with Tripawds.com's Renee, Jim and Wyatt Ray (who were making their way through Arizona to Texas) and Eleanor, Tevis and Chuy from Mesa. Coloradans Ted and Mary happened to be in Tucson for work and drove up just to meet us. So nice! We all played at the Quail Run Dog Park, a large dog park with nice shade (bonus!) in Mesa.

Dixie did really well with the other dogs and bonded with Chuy right away. Chuy is missing the same leg as Dixie.


Wyatt is definitely a crazy Shepard puppy but he was very sweet and so handsome! Wyatt is missing one of his back legs.


We all shared our tripawds' stories: car accident, cancer, abuse. It was wonderful to talk to others who can relate to our experiences. Adam and I told Dixie's story on camera for Renee. Hope I wasn't too negative — "I thought Dixie was going to die!" — and gave some good advice — "Don't blame yourself and go to Tripawds.com for support!"

Dixie and I ran into a tripawd in our neighborhood on Friday. I told him about Tripawds.com and our meet up. His dog gets carsick so they couldn't make it out to the party in Mesa. I hope he joins the site because we'd love to have a North Phoenix tripawd party!

Buy her vote!!

Dixie has entered the Humane Society of United States Spay Day 2010 Online Pet Photo Contest! She really wants to win. So click below to go to her voting page. $1 = 1 vote. All the vote proceeds for Dixie go to her chosen charity, Animal Defense League of Arizona. They will use the money to spay and neuter animals.

Dixie's goal is to raise $600 (600 votes). Vote today!

My person: Emily, Phoenix, AZ, United States
Nickname: The Dix
Favorite thing to do: camping
Most endearing bad habit: jumping up on the bed to say good morning

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Dixie has gone through so much in her life - from being homeless to fighting cancer - but she continues to love life and make those around her smile.

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My Charity: Animal Defense League of Arizona (Phoenix, Arizona, United States)

Silly Dixie

Dixie can jump high!

Look who I found on the bed this morning? Jumped up there all by herself. Dixie is definitely milking this recovery for all it's worth!

Guess she can do stairs now, according to my mom. Must get video of that!

Zip-lock dog food bag.

Smartest thing ever. Why doesn't every brand do this? I met one of the women who's family is involved in producing this dog food, Pure Vita, at Pet Food Depot awhile back. She gave me a bunch of samples and Dixie seemed to love it. I bought a big bag today at Pet Food Depot with a $2 off coupon. I'm completely blown away by the zip-lock bag.

PS Dixie scarfed down her bowl.

Dixie showing off her mobility skills.

Adam's better at this video thing.

I think Dixie is feeling pretty good today. We took a walk down to the end of the block (4 houses down!) and back. She wanted to go further, but I didn't have a leash with me. Those bunnies – I just know she'll go after one if she sees one. Last thing I want to see is a major face plant!


Dixie's back!

Dixie's been laying on her left side where her leg used to be. I think that's a good sign. It is the most bruised today though. It's weird. The top part of the incision doesn't have bruising; all the bruising is on the bottom. I guess gravity is the cause. It's redish-purple. I think it will be gone by next week. I'm only giving her a Tramadol and Rimadyl in the AM and PM now. No point in giving her more drugs than she needs. She's also still taking her Cepha antibiotic and will finish that whole bottle in a couple weeks.

Dixie's incision.

I ordered some medicines from 1-800-PetMeds yesterday. No shipping, no tax and $5 coupon code! Sweet. I ordered a big bottle of Super Joint Enhancer Chewable Tablets and Super VitaChews (both on sale!). As soon as they show up, Dixie will start taking those too. They are chewable—no more shoving my finger down her throat! Except for her fish oil pills, but wrap it up with a little lunch meat or bread, and it goes down like… like lunch meat or bread. Ha.

We are hoping to get back into our house today. Although it's not off to a very good start—the A/C guy forgot to set his alarm and was 2 hours late this morning… *sigh*

What a surprise!

I can't stop with the !!! We are ecstatic about how well Dixie is doing today. When we got to the hospital, they let us visit with her. I couldn't believe my eyes. She was standing in her kennel! When we opened the door, she tried to escape. She's like, "Let's bounce!" She was still vocalizing a lot, but probably just because she was happy to see us. The doctor show us how she can walk and go potty. It's really amazing.

The vet is pretty convinced that all her vocalizing and crying was due to dysphoria from the morphin-type of drugs she had been getting intravenously. Dysphoria is an extreme mood change such due to trauma that can bring on sadness, anxiety, depression, irritability or restlessness. The vet believes she doesn't react well with such intense drugs and she was totally confused and freaked out. They don't believe her crying necessarily had to do with pain. She was basically have a really bad trip.

Then we took her from the ER to our vet, with a little McDonald's on the way. She liked that. I did too. They removed the bandage and say it's all healing nicely. There is minimal bruising. They gave her a shot of Rimadyl before we left and ordered us back on Friday to check her drain, or remove it. (On a side note, the doctor at the hospital and our regular vet went to veterinary school together in Fort Collins, CO. That was pretty cool.)

Right now she's passed out in an old Land Rover shirt of Adam's. She can get in and out of the car, walk, pee, lay down. It's amazing. Outside she saw a lizard and tried to take off to chase it, but she was on the leash. In time, I'm sure she'll be after bunnies and lizards like before.

Today has brought on a huge sigh of relief. Dixie is such a strong-willed dog. She's going to kick butt as a tripawd! I'm so happy to share this experience with everyone. We love you all, and Dixie loves you too. Come by this weekend and visit with us!

PS: Our stupid A/C still isn't working! It's 88 in here right now. We have all the fans going at full speed. Adam broke down and called the repair guy. We hope it isn't too pricey. We've spent a lot of $$$ in the past 24 hours!