Please Make Life Better for Scarlet

This is Scarlet. She is roughly a one and a half year old Labrador Retriever just like me. She leads a happy contented life in the care of one of my favorite persons in the world- The Secretary and The Animal Doctor!

Unlike Poopie and myself though, Scarlet has a little secret. Those who had been to their bloggie know this already but for those of you who don’t allow me to tell you what little I know about this wonderful, beautiful puppy who owns one of the biggest heart I know!

Scarlet first came to the life of my Mommi Lilli- the Secretary about a year ago. By that time, she was not yet officially part of their family but a patient.

Scarlet’s case was a case of neglect. She started out with an injury after her leg got stuck in her cage’s matting. She was not immediately brought to the vet after then. Her ex-mom only brought her for a check-up at The Animal Doctor’s clinic after her legs already started to atrophy. It was a complicated case and it entailed a lot of expenses for her ex-parents. Realizing the gravity of Scarlet’s condition, her parents decided to just bring her home and let nature take its course.

It was at that time that an angel tapped The Secretary and told her to not give up on Scarlet. What started as a temporary agreement between The Secretary and Scarlet became a permanent set-up as the weeks go by. Scarlet’s ex-parents communicated less, paid even less and soon enough gathered enough sense and left her in the care of her new loving family.

At that time, only her hind legs were affected and she was still able to make full use of her fore arms. Despite this little piece of good news, Scarlet was already unable to do things that most of us enjoy doing- do zoomies, gallop like silly horses, wrestle with our peers, etc.

In the past year, Scarlet dealt with so many problems. She had been unable to move her bowel for so many months, her spinal cord had become deformed in the middle and there is a sort of mass just underneath the arc.

The Secretary, who was a lawyer by profession, took the role of an architect cum engineer and designed for her a wheelie. Unfortunately her forelimbs started to atrophy as well, making it more difficult for her to maneuver the equipment.

Scarlet was left with no choice but to move using her belly.

Despite all these, Scarlet never gave up. She lives her life as normally as she can.

She takes baths like most labs and loves every minute of it



She chews on her toys, treats and siblings…

She plays with her siblings in the only way she knew how

She even managed to go and meet with less fortunate stray dogs and share with them a warm, hearty meal for Christmas.

I would say that Scarlet lives her life with passion. She lives it as if she’s no different from any other dog in her family. She is a special dog who came to live with The Secretary because of her special needs. And as I think about it more, I realized that that’s what she really is. In one word, Scarlet is indeed “Special”.

A few weeks back, The Secretary shared with us an exciting news. A wonderful lady from an organization called Labrador Life Line (LLL) had volunteered to bring Scarlet’s plea and ask LLL to give it a kinder look. With the organization’s help, they would be able to get a full quad cart for Scarlet and finally allow her to live a more normal life.

The full quad cart would however cost between US$800 – US$1,300, exclusive of shipping charges since the cart would be built in the U.S. and shipped to the Philippines. As of November 17, 2009, LLL had approved US$500 for Scarlet’s quad. That leaves her with US$800 more to raise in order to afford a complete set of working legs.

Considering the state of the ‘conomy these days, The Secretary and The Animal Doctor have proposed to cover all kind donations with free medical services to less fortunate dogs in the Philippines:
* 50$ neuter of male cat

* 100$- spay of female cat, neuter of male dog
* 200$ spay of female dog.

At the end of our fund raising campaign, we will conduct a one day feeding of dogs and cats in Brgy. Sto Tomas, Pasig City which was badly hit by the recent flood. We are sure that the animals would enjoy a fresh home cooked meal of rice and assorted meat.

We know the importance and value of every single penny and centavo nowadays. We too, are experiencing the adverse effects of the dwindling ‘conomy.

We posted this to take a chance and shamelessly appeal to those who have a few more pennies to spare. Please take time to visit Scarlet here.

To quote our beautiful friend,

Dear God in Dog Heaven,

Please, pretty please make her dreams of a wheelchair come true.

thank you all in advance,



Aki and Poopie

Wordless Wednesdays: George's Dilemma

happy Wednesday everypup!

Howloween Special

When asked which part of my body defines me the most, the hoomans would always give different answers. Some would say my floppy ears, others- my humongous paws, others still- my doe like brown eyes. For me, however, my nose is my greatest asset. Why?

Because it was so black and button like (in a big way) and definitely adds a punch to all of my pleading looks.

Why, I can no longer count the number of times that the hoomans melt everytime I give them these looks.

All thanks to the nose, among others, of course!

Recently though, I noticed that my ultra dark snooter had faded a little (see evidence below).

So, again, and despite my reservations, I decided to consult with the Doctor Girl (mostly out of pity since nobody would really trust her with real health issues. BOL!) and she gave me this…

Perwoll Black Liquid Detergent with Black Fixant…?

Hmmm…. I’m not really too sure about this and I don’t really know what a Liquid Detergent is, but hey, I do see a word that I like! I mean one can’t possibly go wrong with anything that has the word Black on it right?

It does say that it helps retain the color of black clothes. Hence, applying the rule of parallelism, I’m sure it would work wonders on my nose!

And since we’re at it, I think I now know what I want to be for Halloween…



Happy Howloween everyone!!!

It is going to be a long weekend here, so before we go, allow us to share with you our first ever Halloween video!

Enjoy and stay safe always!!

Karancho Beach Resort

Aki here. For those who asked if we were able to go to the beach last Sunday, Yes, we did. And yes, the weather was terrific! Thank you so much for those who helped us in praying for good weather. :)

We went to Karancho Beach Resort, which is among the series of resorts lining Marigondon in Lapu-Lapu City.

For a normal Sunday, it was a little too crowded but then it was such an experience because we met with our old friends and made new friends as well. There were lots of dogs in the place too: their resident Great Dane, Scooby (who was too shy to even show us a glimpse of his fur); a German Shepherd, Miniature Pinscher and of course, our frenemy Belo the Poodle.

However, the best part in this entire beach trip for me is that Poopie, yeppers, The Pooper Scooper herself, finally shed all her inhibitions and for the first time, had the time of her life at the Beach! (We sure did not see that coming!)

We hope you’ll enjoy watching our humble slideshow. We promise to post our favorite videos once the hoomans figure out how to save it into a readable format *rolls eyes*

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Poopie Rx

In his earlier posts, my good buddy Huskee Boy had been having problems with his new ‘do’ after a recent visit to the groomer.

I found that his excessively trimmed fur had already affected his confidence to pose for pictures (If you’ve noticed, there has been a shortage of Huskees and instead, we’ve been seeing more and more of the Black and White one)

For someone who had to contend with having short fur for his entire existence, I felt that more research is in order if I intend to help out in regaining my buddy’s confidence.

I proceeded to ask my brother Guan Long, who, last Christmas, had a terrible skin problem and had to be shaved off of his handsome locks but now looks amazing!

Thankfully, he was able to share with me a few secrets:

For coarse and/or thinning fur all over the body, we can always rely on a daily dose of Coat Shine or Fish Oil.

For less serious conditions, a good shirt always hits the nail when wanting to cover up unwanted body fur appearance (or the lack of it).

In the case of Huskee, however, he made mention of his ears appearing as if it were chopped off aside from being sort of “nekkid”. Having assumed her new role as Doctor Girl, Poopie suggested that Huskee needed to do some volumizing (if there is such a word)…

So she rummaged through my stuffies and decided to innovate a little…

And this is what she ended up with…




What do you think Huskee? Does it hit the nail right on its head or shall we aim the hammer somewhere else?


Aki’s Postscripts:

The hoomans happily shared with us a wonderful news. We were told to pack our favorite squeaky ball, towels and an extra set of harness and psych ourselves for something exciting this Sunday…. Hmmm…. Do we smell ocean breeze? Please pray that Typhoon Lupit won’t rain on our ‘parade’!

Until next post everybuddy!! Cheers.

White, Blue and Avocado

Almost a week ago, the hoomans came home with a little more than their usual contraband- from porcelain bowls, cat(!) toys, miniature furniture and weird looking bags of kibbles. Thankfully not everything was alien to us.

They did manage to bring us a piece of delish Kenny Roger’s Roaster’s muffin for dinner which we had to, unfortunately, earn by doing the usual boring tricks.

Aki was required to balance the entire thing on his nose, but he got too excited and by the time the flashy box snapped, Mr. Roger’s muffin went from his nose to…

Of course, the hoomans had to let him do it again

Although Mr. Roger’s muffin doesn’t look as appealing any more :(


Thankfully, manong did remember to save me a piece before my humongous brother swallowed the entire thing (again!).


After the bribe… erm.. treat, the hoomans revealed to us an important news: Our family is expanding!

This handsome sable diluted violet male fischer is Attorney 1




While this pretty dark factor violet female fischer is Attorney 2




Like us, they also live inside our house in a fancy mini apartment of their own. How cool is that?



And finally, we were brought to a very familiar house which we haven’t seen for almost a month already. Honestly, it looked almost the same, except for a few extra items inside…



(Aki then whispers to Poopie)

Oh! You mean that is not a tree décor?

Welcome home George!

This has been

, reporting.

manang’s note: Yes, 5 days ago, Aki, Poopie and our entire family welcomed George back into our lives. He is a 7-8 month old Indian Ring Neck Parrot (which George would have been now) whom we finally took home after weeks of trying to arrange a meeting with the Aviary. Although it might be weird for some, we still decided to name him George in honor of our little angel George. As expected it has been a trying first week and we’re starting from scratch again, but hey! At least, we’re Starting…. :)

Better Days Keep Coming

Hellow there puppies!

It has been a busy two weeks back here. First, we had typhoon Ketsana and then less than a week after, typhoon Parma entered the country. Although we live many nautical miles away from the scene of devastation, Poopie and I both feel that it is incumbent upon us to help our unfortunate brothers and sisters.

Last Monday, we sent our hooman to Makati in Metro Manila to inspect the place and let us know the extent of damage in the affected areas. Five days after, she came back with no updates/ news that were any different from the ones in the TV screens. We were informed though, that to this date, many are still stranded in their homes with water levels up to their waists (Filipinos are relatively shorter than most Caucasians and Asians, so it might be a few inches lower for most of your hoomans).

Poopie and I remembered that the hooman had a handy life vest hidden somewhere in the cupboards, so we both decided to give it a try before volunteering in the rescue operations. Capt. Jack Sparrow’s rubber boat would have greatly helped, but it was not for rent so we are really left without much options.

After fitting the hooman’s vest, any illusions of being a Baywatch babe/stud vanished into thin air.

Well, Poopie sure was no Pamela Anderson…

And let’s just say that I looked more like a hotdog (and I don't mean our good friend Lorenza and Hailey :) ) than a beach stud…


Aside from the lack of lifesaving paraphernalia, Poopie and I also had to consider flying an hour at 434 knots (308 nautical miles) in order to reach Manila before we can assist in the rescue/relief operations.

Accepting our limitations, we finally struck a deal with manang. Instead of buying for us “pasalubong” (gifts) from her business trip, we decided that a simple double dose of TLC in exchange for some grocery money for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) is more than enough for Poopie and myself.

We know that it is not enough to feed and clothe the 64,975 families who were either left homeless or stranded in their homes, but we do hope that it would somehow help tide them over in the coming days.

In my personal opinion, during times of tragedies, there are no lines of divisiveness, a helping hand and helping paw both relay the same message and that is what I would call Love.


On a brighter note, allow us to share with all of you some good news.

First, our bloggie is a finalist in the Philippine Blog Awards under the Best Recreation/ Hobby Blog Category!! Yayyy!!! Can you believe it?


Thank you Mommy Lilli for letting us know about the contest. We are exhilarated to be part of this prestigious award and we can’t wait to watch the awards night live (via video streaming that is) on October 8. Wish us luck puppies!

And finally, more great news… erm… shall we say great “paws”! For now though, we’ll just keep it under the code: White, Blue and Avocado! :)



Chirping with happiness,

Aki and Poopie

Typhoon Ketsana hits Manila

Today, typhoon Ketsana had already left the country, but not without leaving our countrymen an experience, and perhaps, a painful lesson, we will never forget.

As sourced from www.abs-cbnnews.com, tropical storm Ondoy (typhoon Ketsana) hit a great part of Luzon, leaving 27 provinces and the National Capital Region in the state of calamity.

As of today, death tolls have now reached 73, with more than 300,000 people affected by the onslaught of strong winds, huge rainfalls and flash floods within the metro.

According to PAG-ASA, about 34.1 cm of rain fell on Metro Manila in just six hours, close to the 39.2 cm. average for the entire month of September. The previous record was 33.4 cm. recorded during a 24-hour period in June 1967.

We heard that Pasig, where our Mommy Lilli and the Animal Doctor, together with our buddies, MoyMoy, Scarlet, Jappy and Trudis live, is also affected by the flood. We did try to call Mommy Lilli this morning, but all phone lines were dead. We are just glad, though, that auntie Jenny informed us that Mommy Lilli and co. are doing well. Thank goodness!!

However, in some areas, other people are not so fortunate. Some even had to go to the rooftops of their houses because the water level had already risen so high that they needed to be rescued by pump boats.

We even read that San Miguel Corp. is willing to buy 50 pump boats to help hasten the rescues. If only, I could give them Capt. Jack Sparrow’s boat, it would have helped save more people. Alas, I could only hope and pray for better days... or maybe exchange my kibbles for some pesos for donation.

We are sad to note that a lot of people and animals are still out there, waiting for rescuers to get to them. In some video clips that we saw, we had seen numerous dogs being rescued together with their hoomans. Some, however, were not so fortunate- it breaks our hearts.

Today is a day of major concern. We are one with those who had lost family members and those who had lost their properties and sources of living. We can all continue to hope that the sun continues to shine in the coming days (esp. that manang is supposed to go to Manila tomorrow night).

To the rescuers, volunteers, businessmen and media personalities who had given their time, money and service to help our fellowmen and keep all of us continually informed, our hats go off to all of you! The selflessness of rescuers and continued outpouring of assistance and donations are so overwhelming it inspires us. It gives us hope, that indeed, we can work as one nation.

In my young Labrador life, no day makes me more proud to be a Filipino.

Godspeed everyone and may this new day, though difficult, be a new start for all of us.

Be safe everyone and keep dry!

Drooly kisses,

Aki

Thank you and Batista Update

To those who left sweet messages on our earlier post Thank You So So Much!!!! Your words of encouragement and prayers means a lot to us.

We have already started with Bat-Bat's medication and tomorrow, I will be sending over his meds for Ehrilichia treatment so they can start giving it when needed. For the meantime, we will be working on his liver since his SGPT level was at 300+! :( After a week's treatment, we can decide whether to start with Doxycycline or to continue further with liver treatment.

For now, we are are taking things in stride. My conversation with Doc Geoff (Aki's Mommy Lilli's husband) was enlightening. Although, I must admit that it broke my heart when he said that my dear boy 'might' not recover. Nevertheless, we will not give up without a fight. And for as long as my brothers tell me that he is active, happy and appears to be well, we will do everything that we can to help him recover.

Despite the clouds of doubt on what lies ahead of us, I am still happy and thankful- for every day that the Lord gives my little brown barky brother.

To all our DWB friends, to those who left inspiring words and encouraging messages, again, Thank you so much. It sure makes us feel a whole lot better. I know our little boy would be very happy to know that a lot of doggies and hoomans are praying for him.

We love you all so much!!

Manang

Power of the Paw Needed

It has been a rough two weeks.

The hoomans are still somehow in denial over the loss of George, who went missing on August 30, while they were in Hongkong. Somehow, we still hope that one day George will turn up. Every time a bird chirps, they would always look up, hoping that it would be our fat, avocado-colored brother. But it never had been. And we don’t know if it will ever be.

Poopie and I wanted to make this post the moment the hoomans came back last September 4. But we never could. Doing so would make things final. We still hoped that he would turn up. Although the reality is, George didn’t stand much of a chance since his wings were clipped. He was a hopping parrot, not a flying one. And with Gring Gring and a gazillion other cats in the neighborhood, I shudder to think at the 2 hours that my other hoomans failed to realize that he was already missing.

Every night I would dream bad dreams. Really really bad dreams about George. Maybe that is why when manang first learned that George was gone, she asked Poopie to comfort her. Who wouldn’t need comforting? Knowing that your brother, even if for two months, had gone missing and you don’t even know if he is alive, well or already at the Rainbow Bridge.

Last Sunday manang saw a black butterfly continually swooping down on a certain spot near my day time kennel and she was almost already convinced that it was George, it was still difficult to accept that he was gone. But each time a bird chirps and we can hear the fluttering of wings, a spark of hope flickers within us.

I never knew until then that there were so many birds around us. Beautiful birds. Lively birds. Living birds.

But that was not the end of it. We had delayed this post intentionally because we didn’t really know how to start, or where to start. Learning what happened and how it happened was not easy. But we choose not to think about it. But now we had to, because apart from George, another brother needs your help. And it breaks our heart into tinier pieces everyday.

My brother Batista is sick.

Batista was with Poopie when manang bought her Pet Taxi as they prepared to travel from Bacolod to here. He was this little tan mini pinscher boy with a big bark but an even bigger heart.

Last Thursday manang’s brother brought him to the vet for a check-up because Bat-Bat was not behaving like his normal self. His blood test results were very low. :(( He failed in all categories except for his WBC.

The vet said he had blood parasites or ehrlichia. Poopie and I searched it over the internet and it didn’t sound too good. Mommy Lilli said that if both RBC and platelets were low, he might already be in stage 3 if he does not respond to his medicines.

By some divine intervention manang will be going to Manila today for work. She would then be able to buy his medicines there since they were out of stock where Batista is.

Please everypup, please please pray for our dear brother Batista. He needs your help. Poopie still needs him. She will be going home again on December and she wants to see him and Kim Tzi there.

My sister loves him so much, and even if I had not spend any time with him, I also love him. He makes my sister happy and knowing that alone makes me happy as well.

Please Dear Lord, make my brother Batista well again.

In all fours and paws,

Aki and Poopie

Silence of the Lab

The coming weeks might be a little too quiet again. The hoomans have announced to Poopie and myself that they are leaving us (again) for almost 2 weeks. We were told that they will be going to a place called Hong Kong.

Hmmm.. Do you suppose there are lots of Red XL Kongs there? Message to self: make a three-pager list of stuffies/ treats/ things for the hoomans to buy for Poopie and myself. :)

To all our puppy friends, we love you all so much and we will miss you a lot!!


Poopie update: it’s that time of year again! The diapers are on for the almost 2 weeks now. We hope her heat cycle would end within the supposed 28 days otherwise the hoomans and I will go absolutely bonkers warding Choy Choy off. Mind you, it’s no fun being a big adolescent boy during these times.

When they get back and assuming Poopie’s cycle is over, the hoomans have decided to make a schedule with the V-E-T about something called ‘spaying’. Of course, they needed to be counseled with regards to the matter. I’ve heard that the operation is a little delicate since it involves “invasive surgery”. We do hope that whatever they decide on would be for the best of all of us, most especially Poopie.

The Gring Files

It was a Sunday afternoon, I woke up rather late after wasting away the night watching reruns from my laptop. I stretched myself like I normally would. Manang said I might still grow taller if I continue to do so. I don’t believe her really, nevertheless I developed the habit. My body felt good after stretching.

“Poopie?” I yawned, noticing that my sister was not in sight.

I paced our apartment, making sure that I covered every room, cabinet and crevice. Poopie was gone.

Hushed stirring sounds slowly emerged as I headed down to the kitchen.

Peering closely, I saw Poopie intently focused on the TV rack.

As I drew closer, I spotted a blurry orange figure at the corner of my eye.

Feigning injury, it managed to draw my sister dangerously closer.

I am perturbed. Why would my sister even think of going near that wretched thing. My inner gutt tells me NEVER to trust anything with glowing eyes.

Before I could have even moved a muscle, they both broke out into a full-blown fur brawl.

Is this the so-called skhiwrrel Khyra kept talking about?

I surmised, a few more seconds and Poopie would be a goner. So I hurriedly roused the hoomans for them to aptly deal with this new perpetrator.

“Manang, Manang, please hurry!! Poopie needs our help! Another alien has come to attack us!”

Startled and still cranky, the hooman dragged her feet to see what the commotion was all about.

“There it is manang… “ words fumbled out of my mouth. “There is Poopie’s attacker!”

The hooman followed the direction I was pointing at. Her eyes started to chink as she let out a good hearty laugh.

“It’s just Gring Gring!” she said as she drew some kibbles from our kibble bin and led the creature out. “he just came in for some food.” ... and then she dared give it a face scratch!!

With that, the hooman disappeared back into the snoozing room.

Truth is, I was disappointed- both at Poopie and the hoomans. So foolish of them to be so credulous. I may still not know what a “Gring Gring” is but I sure don’t trust it.

Only the frail minded would think it purportedly entered our house for the food.

Even mulling over the day’s events for the entire day would not set my mind at peace. I decided then, it was time to consult with my Aki cam.

The succeeding events left me dumbfounded.

Where was it going?

More aptly, what is it planning to do?



That fiend!


How crude. That was so not classy. Not classy at all.

Please tell me this bloggie is not going to the Gring Gring.

A very disturbed,

Aki