Peticures by Tess

I get asked by a lot of people why I have my nails painted when I am not a girl. I will explain why but just to give you a quick background regarding my health, a couple years ago I was diagnosed with IVDD (Interveterbral Disc Disease). It got to a point where the pain became so extreme and I lost my appetite. My human was scared that I wasn't going to make it. I won't talk about it too much right now but the important thing is I got better. You can read more about it here.

Anyway, we noticed that everytime I get my nails done at the vet, my back hurts after. We didn't think too much about it at first but noticed that it always happens after having my nails trimmed at the vet. When my back hurts, it really really hurts and I sometimes even scream/yelp in pain. We think that I probably resist too much when the vet trims my nails which eventually leads me to having back pain.

My human researched for pet nail trimmers in San Diego and she found out about Peticures by Tess. It's very close to our house and she has a lot of good reviews. The only problem is that she is always fully booked and it took a couple of phone calls before we were able to schedule an appointment with them.

Therapy Dog Volunteer: Vi at La Jolla Village

As some of you may already know, I am a registered therapy dog. I used to volunteer at libraries but my back was hurting a couple of months ago so I had to stop for awhile. I received an email from Therapy Dogs International that Vi at La Jolla Village is looking for therapy dog volunteers. When my back pain went away, my human contacted Glory, the lifestyle manager and we set up a date and time for the tour and meeting. When we got to the facility, Glory showed us around the Care Center. There are different levels of care provided, from those that need basic assistance with their daily routines such as getting ready in the morning and taking in their medication to those that need more help because they have Alzheimer’s and other loss of mental & cognitive functions. Glory showed us the patient’s rooms, dining area and activity area. After the tour, my human submitted all the forms requested and we gave Glory the dates that we can volunteer. We can only go on weekends so we set up a time for 11:00 am.

Waiting area at the Care Center.

Lounging area.

Therapy Dog Volunteer: Mission Hills Library

Did you know that reading to dogs can help children boost their reading skills? There are different libraries that offer this kind of program to help kids with their reading and also help with their social and emotional skills. 

Young kids are scared to make a mistake when reading. They feel embarrassed and feel like they will be laughed at. Having a dog program where kids can read to dogs changes everything. Kids will feel more at ease talking to a furry dog. They find comfort and enjoy reading to the dogs.

Volunteering at the library was my first volunteering job as a therapy dog. My human called Mission Hills library and asked if they were interested in having a therapy dog. The manager said yes so we set up a time and date for our volunteer session. They even made a flyer with my picture on it.



Pet of the Month: Romeo - January

The first featured pet is Romeo or known as @thefrenchromeo on Instagram. He also has IVDD like me and went through a lot of rehab treatments to help him get better. Read his story below written by Romeo's aunt.

In June 2013 Romeo was hiking in the Sierra's near Lake Tahoe, CA when he slipped down a steep trail and fell about 3 ft landing upside on his back on the hard granite rock. The fall didn’t seem to phase him. We seemed a lot more concerned than he did and he just got up and kept going. Two days later we took him to the vet because he was acting very strange and had a very difficult time moving his hind legs. They thought he may have had a head injury but soon figured out that he had actually blown a disc in his back and before long he became fully paralyzed. 

IVDD

You might have seen some dogs in wheelchairs and wonder why they are in that situation. Some of them have paralysis of the legs and can't walk normally anymore because of IVDD. I am an IVDD fighter and I want to bring awareness to this disease. Intervetebral disk disease (IVDD) is a serious condition when a dog has a slip or herniated disk. It is very painful and refers to a neurological problem when the intervetebral disks degenerates. Although it is common to dog breeds such as dachshunds, corgis and beagles, the disease is not limited to those breeds. 

Giraffe and Lamby keeping me company while I am in pain.