Day 1: Mikeyba

We received Mikey-ba last night, when we also finally met the wonderful Zennia, who brought him to us from his temporary foster Jazmine.  Mikey-ba is a 10 year old cream- colored shiba inu.  We're crazy about shiba inus and an older one, with a relaxed personality, is perfect for us.  One concern was how our 6 year old tuxedo cat Panzer would respond to a dog-- and vice versa!

Health:  Mikey-ba moves a bit stiffly and goes very slowly on his walks. His stiff movements could be due to arthritis, poor muscle tone, too- long claws, or some combination of the three. At the soon- to- be- scheduled vet visit, they'll trim his claws and check him for sore areas.  Let's hope it's just the claws!  That's the easiest fix. Mikey-ba is also slightly underweight, may have cataracts in one or both eyes, and one eye is slightly goopy.  He is currently blowing his coat, and he pees like a girl-- that is, he squats, he doesn't lift his leg.  Maybe he doesn't lift his leg because of arthritis or poor muscle tone.  (Can't blame his long claws for that.) The very tip of his tail is bald.  I hope some good food and plenty of exercise and fresh air can help his fur regrow back there.

Robert Moses: Despite two walks last night (one immediately before bedtime) Mikey-ba did both robert and moses in his dog bed and towel while in his crate overnight.  They are drying off now, after I picked up all the the moses, absorbed as much robert as possible, treated them with 1:1 mix of water and white vinegar, and finished with a copious application of Anti-Icky-Poo brand urine eliminator. Today he did a moses on his first walk, and 2 roberts on the other 2 of his 3 walks so far. He was promptly rewarded with a bit of cheddar and many "yahoo!"s and "good robert moses!!"s.

Food:  Mikey-ba ate heartily last night when he arrived and finished about half of his food (1/2 dry flat kibble sent by Jazmine and 1/2 Natural Balance LI Venison+Sweet Potato Wet).  He barely touched his breakfast this morning (1/2 dry round kibble sent by Jazmine and 1/2 LI Venison+Sweet Potato Wet).  Maybe he dislikes the round kibble.  He was uninterested in the expensive frozen beef marrow bone I bought him today.  Maybe we'll try it again later. When we worked on "sit" at ~1 pm (when he was probably quite hungry due to no breakfast) he was motivated by bits of cheddar, mozzarella, apple, and wet V+SP food.  He was most definitely NOT motivated by either round or flat kibble.

Behavior/ Personality:  Mikey-ba is very relaxed and mellow. He prefers to be petted from below, not from above, but will tolerate from above.  In the apt he paces almost constantly (or, as we say, "does his rounds" or "patrols") except when tired from a walk. Pacing might mean he's anxious.  When he's tired, he curls up on the dining room rug or in his crate.  He basically ignores the cat Panzer.  Last night Panzer sort of moved his face toward him quickly and Mikey-ba suddenly snarled and showed his teeth.  Panzer immediately backed off.  That was unexpected and a bit scary, but if Mikey-ba has cataracts, I guess it's understandable. (Panzer hissed at Mikey-ba twice today, when Mikey-ba passed Panzer on his rounds, and Mikey-ba was entirely unfazed.)  Then today while on a walk, a small dog got up in his face, just checking him out, and Mikey-ba barked once, fiercely.  The little dog jumped, like, a foot in the air.  Wow.  This was also unexpected, because Mikey-ba ignored every other dog and person we passed on the street, including when a dog was interested in and even sniffing at Mikey-ba.  Again, his snapping might be due to his possible cataracts, since animals getting close to his face may appear, to him, like animals suddenly appearing out of nowhere.  Mikey-ba does NOT like to be picked up.  I only tried it once, but he got quite snarly. So he can't jump up on the couch or bed by himself, so I guess he won't be going up there until he can!  (That works for Panzer.)

Mikeyba on the ground because he did NOT want to be picked up.

Sleeping: Last night after a quick second walk that yielded neither robert nor moses, we led him into his crate shortly before midnight. Overnight, he didn't whine or bark at all, but he was restless at times, including turning around and around and around for long stretches of time.  (I'm guessing this is the intra-crate equivalent of pacing.)  To help him settle down, I laid on the floor in front of his crate until he fell asleep.  Then I got back into bed.  At one point, when he woke and was restless again, I returned to the floor.  (I hope we can wean him off this.  The floor is hard.)  In the am he woke around 7ish with the humans.  I had my coffee in front of him when he was still in his crate, fixed his food, let him out, led him straight to his food (which he barely glanced at) and then immediately took him out for his first walk, when he did his his first outside moses.  As previously mentioned, he did both robert and moses while in his crate overnight.  Tonight we will not feed him so close to bedtime.  No food or water after 8 or 8:30.

Mixed V+SP with kibble for his dinner but he barely touched it.  Took it away at 8:30 on the dot.

Mikey had a big robert accident around 9 pm and we took him out immediately, where he did... nothing!  Of course not! He was empty.  Poor guy.  It's probably because I had a water bowl available to him in the afternoon.  His final walk before bedtime, robert only.  He settled into his crate with a Greenie and was fine all night!  I didn't have to sleep on the floor!