Dog days

These aren’t quite the dog days (or, the hottest ones) of summer. Typically, those will be next month or later this month. Still, it’s been HOT around here lately, far more so than is normal. Today it hit 36 at our house (96.8F) when the “official” temperature was 24 (75.2F). If anyone really believes it was only 24 in Auckland today, perhaps they’d like to buy the Auckland Harbour Bridge from me…

These have been dog days for a more literal reason, of course, as we’ve been blending new furbaby Sunny into our menagerie. A few days after she came to live with us, we realised she had fleas. We bought flea treatment for all three kids, and I gave Sunny a bath to wash away some of the fleas before we treated her. Within a couple days, the fleas were gone.

However, Jake had never had fleas before and developed dermatitis from a reaction to them. A common enough ailment, but it was driving him batty; he pulled out his fur in the worst areas, which are inflamed and infected.

Today we took Jake to the vet and they gave him a shot of cortisone to ease the itching, plus some antibiotics to kill the infection and more cortisone pills. I also have some medicated shampoo to use on his nether regions (where fleas like to hang out) for the next few days. This will help heal his skin and reduce the itchiness, too.

Sunny, meanwhile, is fine and adjusting well. In fact, she’s adjusting far better than we ever expected. We’ve worked out that she’s actually 15 months younger than Jake, so she’ll turn 2 and a half this week (and Jake will be 3 years, nine months). This age difference is often quite evident, with Sunny still acting like a puppy much of the time. We think she’s maturing more slowly than Jake did.

In other ways, they’re very much alike: They both burp after their meals and sound the same when they do it. They both moan when they’re stretching in their sleep, making the same sounds as they do so. They also make the same adorable squeaks sometimes when they yawn. Their barks are at slightly different pitches, though.

The two dogs play with each other somewhat, though Jake’s been a bit subdued due to his affliction. Still, the other day I gave Jake a bath and he ran around like a crazy dog, as he always does, and Sunny joined him. It was really cute watching them take turns chasing each other around the house, running at break-neck speed.

They’ve also both coped well with being left alone for an hour or two, so they should be okay for longer stretches. When we took Jake to the vet today, Sunny was alone in the house for the first time, and she was fine.

Bella is also adjusting, and hangs out with the family again. Sunny sometimes gets a little too boisterous with Bella, though, probably because her former best friend was a cat. Sunny’s slowly learning not to harass Bella so much. We also made a bed for Bella on a dresser in the bedroom so she can feel safe at night while still sleeping in the same room as her whole family.

The only thing I haven’t done yet is take new photos of the kids. The reason for that’s in the first paragraph: It’s been too damn hot. And, right now, tending to Jake is more important. I’ll post new photos soon, but I didn’t want to wait for them to post an update about our progress blending Sunny into the family.