Napping...

Napping
Originally uploaded by wormieness.

...is the only thing to do on a hot day.

Meds

This is all the stuff Lola is currently on - mostly for her urinary incontinence. (The link will take you to a good, succinct summary of the problem and the types of meds used to treat it.)

Left to Right we have...

Phenylpropanolamine (aka, Proin) (Dose: 3/day) It's an "alpha-adrenergic agonist" which means that it helps the bladder sphincter by telling it 'hold it more'.

DES (Diethylstilbestrol) (Dose: started with 1 every two days for a week and now is 1 per week) It's a type of estrogen; it's not clear why this works (See the link above about urinary incontinence for more details).

Imipramine (Dose: 2/day) It's an anticholinergic, which means it helps the bladder fibers relax and store urine. (It does this by increasing serotonin levels in the brain.)

Lipiderm (1 or 2 per day) This is a vitamin & fatty acids(fish oil) supplement to help with her skin & coat. Lola's coat always seemed a little dry (even with good dog food) & her skin is sensitive. (I tried adding the liquid version to her food, but she would have none of that.)

Hydroxizine (Dose: 2 tablets, 3 times/day as needed) This is for Lola's allergies (which seemed to have hit her hard this year).

Antibiotic (Dose: 2/day for 10 days) She's been on two types of antibiotics in the last 2.5 weeks. The first one was prescribed because her paws were a little raw from the allergies. The second was prescribed for a cut on one of her paws. I have yet to figure when or how she sliced her paw (though I'm starting to suspect a nail I discovered sticking through a piece of threadbare rug. Stupid apartment!)

Easy Cheese Just like me, Lola will eat just about anything smothered in cheese. :) And it really is the easiest way (for me) to give her her meds - no fuss, no muss.

This combination of meds seems to be working for her urinary incontinence. [If they hadn't, my vet said, the next thing to try would have been collagen injections on her bladder sphincter - how very LA. :) ]

She's very good about taking her pills (as far as she knows, she's getting cheese for doing nothing more than looking cute). However, she's a complete brat when I've tried to put neosporin or Bactine on her cuts/wounds.

She now has some itchiness on her jaw - I thought it may be allergies, but it appararently not (the hydroxizine helped with the itching, but it didn't seem to go away like her other allergy symptoms). It's probably a bug bite (She continues to chase flying bugs like she's the mightiest of fly hunters.) She's going back to the vet next week about that.

Lola, honey, you are not a kitty.

This is the conversation we had (in my head):
Me: Lola, honey, that's a cat toy.
Lola: So? The ball smells good. Like a kitty. And the tail is fluffy. Like a bird. And the rubber tip is fun to chew, too. I'm keeping it, okay?
Me: Okay.

Note: she was playing with it, then looked up at me when I took out the camera and gave me her "Mom, no more pictures!" look.

Lola, are you blogging again?

What do you think she was up to? :)

Update: Lola Likes...

Some additions to the Lola Likes list (in no particular order):

Bananas -small pieces given by hand (the mushier, the better)
Yoplait's Strawberry yogurt (she likes other flavors, too, but this one seems to be a favorite)
Barbara's Bakery raspberry fig bars (she luuuuved these)
Barbara's Bakery Puffins Cereal (peanut butter)
fruit-a-freeze fruit bars Coconut