Late-Breaking News

I intended on writing a full training update yesterday, but life got in the way.  My cat, Layla, suddenly started going to her litter box every few minutes, only passing small amounts of urine each time.  I know that urinary/bladder/kidney issues are something you really can't screw around with in cats, so I took the first appointment at the vet that was available (which involved waiting in the waiting room with someone who was euthanizing their dog, UGH, so sad) so I could try to figure this out.

Fortunately, according to my vet, my kitty likely just has an infection.  The vet said that the sudden onset implies this.  She was not concerned about kidney disease or anything like that.  She said stones/crystals are possible, but she felt around and didn't feel anything (and Layla didn't seem to be in much pain when she was doing so). Today's urinalysis results showed no crystals or stones, thank goodness.  They gave her sub-cutaneous fluids to flush out her system (some of which she still hasn't absorbed, so she's looking like a football player with big puffy shoulders) and a 10-day antibiotic.  She seemed to go to the box less almost immediately after the first dose, so hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, we caught what ever it is and it'll go away and never come back.

On a happy note, my vet said it'd be alright to start giving my cat some canned food again.  She is only on a dry prescription allergy food, the food that really saved her after her very bad illness in 2005.  Though, ideally, I'd like to switch off of that and find something different, I don't want to mess around with her system too much.  So, I'm going to leave it and supplement with some canned food a few times a week.  Layla got a taste of wet food for the first time in probably about five years today - Wellness CORE Grain-Free Salmon, Whitefish and Herring.  So far, she's kept it down with no problems.  Yay!

------------------------------------------

As for Marge..

Demonstration Monday
Okay, so she wasn't a really demo dog, but she did something pretty big on Monday.  She accompanied me to the Pet Agility class that I teach and did really, really well.  She hung out in a crate for the duration of the class - she didn't LOVE it (evidenced by the peanut-butter stuffed Kong that she left uneaten), but she didn't make a fuss, either.  Her one grumble of the night came when the other teacher stood near the door to the crating room and told her dog to shush.  Marge gave her the stink eye from her crate, but when I went over to make sure she was okay, she settled down.

At the end of class, Marge got to come out for a few minutes.  She met the fearful dog that I've been working with and really liked her.  (Which reminds me - that doggy's been doing pretty well.  She's still kind of "my responsibility" in the class. She can go through the tunnel now and we're just beginning to extend it!  And, with my help, she put three paws on the A-Frame.  This was all using no force.. just positive reinforcement and patience.)  I let Marge run around loose for a few minutes when everyone had left; she worked her A-Frame contact with me a couple of times, and that was it.  But, I thought that this was a big step for her.

Tuesday Agility
Marge has been ON FIRE at agility class.  Last night was not an exception. No videos, because I was by myself, but here's the course map:

I led out to the broad jump with Marge on my right.  Used my inside arm to wrap her around jump three and front crossed simultaneously to get to the dog walk.  Her contacts were FANTASTIC, including the A-Frame.  The offside tunnel entry didn't screw us up, either - just ran like hell diagonally to it - and her teeter was both quick and somewhat independent.  No problems getting to the A-Frame, and then the rest of the course was just a pinwheel with an easy weave entrance and one final jump. 

I wish I could move up to the Excellent class, which runs two courses each night instead of just one.  But, the time is inconvenient for me, and there isn't enough room in the class.  Oh well.

Our next trial is a week from Friday.  It's at a new site that neither of us have been to before. I'm just hoping for cool temps and no noise.

As for my last post, thanks for your thoughts and ideas.  Nothing has happened since then, so I'll just try to stay diligent and hopefully make more progress on the issue.