The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good...
Pepper is blending wonderfully into our family. She has not had any accidents and has not chewed on anything she's not supposed to chew on. She's picked up a few toys that were not hers, but easily gave them up and then chewed on a dog toy when redirected. She loves Zoe and likes to give us all kisses. She's not 100% sure of J when he gets his wild on, but did have fun running through the house with B and J last night. Pepper is sleeping in her crate at night for now. She whines when we first put her in, but each time the whining time is less (kind of like making a baby "cry it out."). Eventually, I think she'll go in with no problem. All in all, life with Pepper is very GOOD.

The Bad...
Zoe's been acting kind of strange for a week or two. More skittish than usual, unsettled, staying outside more. Hard to explain, but she's just not been herself. Well, I learned my lesson from Pauli that "acting weird" could mean something BAD so I decided to take Zoe to the vet. They ran some tests on Friday and found she had a low red blood cell count. While we were at the vet's office, J kept asking if Pauli was there. He thought that might be where heaven was. We went back today for x-rays.

The Ugly...
The x-rays showed a growth about the size of an orange in her abdomen. Let me tell you, that x-ray was one UGLY sight. They can't tell what is attached to--the spleen? the kidney? the abdomen wall? They are hoping the spleen because that makes it operable with a good chance that it is benign. That's what I am hoping. She will probably have surgery sometime soon. Will keep you posted.

If you have any extra prayer time, please pray for my sweet Zoe. She's 10 years old and they have been 10 wonderful years that I've loved her, but I'm not quite ready to let her go.