39 week measurements (9 months old!!)

39 weeks, 114 lbs, 34" tall

Another wacky Howl-o-ween costume contest

Thank woofness Mom is lazy and still hasn't gotten around to makin me a costume. Sunday, she took me to the Canine Carnival in Ocean Beach and I got to witness more humilation for my doggie friends.

There were quite a few creative costumes. There was a parade and I gots to woof and bark for my favorite costumes. There were lots that were very funny.

Hannibal Lector

police officer

fancy costumes

a pumpkin farmer

Dia de los Muertos

banana...peeled

Dorothy & the cowardly lion

no comment

pirates (arrr!)

condiments (catsup & mustard)

lady of the night (dracula...not the other kind)

thing 1 & thing 2 & the cat in the hat

my favorite! Swine Floozy!

Little Red Riding Hood & 'Grandma'

Cowboy & his trusty steed

Burrito & Taco

Tripod!! (another favorite...only 3 legs!)

ladybug

hippiedog

princess yorkie

Danny Zuko & the pink ladies

cowdogs

Minnie Mouse

Take that you evil Lymphoma!

Murphy's Mom here...just thought I'd take over the blog from Murphy for a moment to share some good news. Its been 3 years since Sophie KitTON was diagnosed with feline lymphoma and so far the cancer seems to be running scared!

Sophie was just 14 years young when she was 1st diagnosed. It was a pretty scary time...she had been doing a funny open-mouthed breathing for the past several years and had been to the vet numerous times to try and find out what was going on. It just wasnt normal, and I knew something was wrong. Xrays and blood tests all showed a normal healthy cat though, so the her regular vet recommended a cardiac ultrasound to see if she was in the early stages of cardiac disease.

Fortunately, during her exam at the specialist, they palpated a mass in her abdomen that her regular vet had missed somehow. After doing an additional abdominal ultrasound, the vet suggested exploratory surgery...there was an egg size mass in her belly. How the 1st vet missed that, I'll never know.

Exploratory surgery was done and the mass was removed for biopsy. A few days later...the results. 1st good news, the mass was nothing but inflamed tissue. Quite possibly from a foreign body of some sort that Sophie's body had walled off. Phew! Then, the bad news. Low grade alimentary lymphoma. Fortunately, it was a treatable kind of cancer...the doctor was encouraging, but realistic. Some cats respond well to chemo, others dont. The longest cat she had treated survived 4 years. 4 years, I thought! That would put her at 18 years old...quite a nice long life for a kitty.

So, treatment began. Chemo in pill form, along with a whole host of holistic remedies recommended by a great doctor in North Carolina. I had used Dr. Loops previously with both Bristol & Tyler when they were diagnosed with osteosarcoma, so I was hoping he would be able to help Sophie as well. Fortunately, Sophie is about the best patient I could ask for. She is really good at letting me pill her, and loves taking her liquid remedies...slurping them directly from the syringe. She even comes running when she hears her pills being prepared because she knows a pile of wet food is to follow.

Now, all of a sudden, its been 3 years since diagnosis. Wow! Sophie KitTON is doing great. She vomits occassionally, and has been switched to a new chemotherapy after the 1st one stopped working last November, but overall she is a happy, energetic, frisky feline. She routinely kicks Murphy's butt and puts him in his place, but I know she secretly loves having another dane in the house.

I am hoping for countless more years with my beautiful feline friend, and if you ask Murphy he'll tell you her secret. She's really a vampire kitty and has special powers which make her immortal. They also make her strong and able to fight off the evils of the lymphoma. If you look close, you can see her lil fangs....

I'm ok with that. As long as she is with me forever.

~Murphy's Mom

Werkin Out

Does my butt look big to you?

Apparently, Mom thinks I need some exercise cuz last night she took me to a class I've never been to before. A friend of hers has a company called Leash Your Fitness that does classes for persons and their doggies. Mom called it a "boot camp" class. Seriously, it had nuthin to do with camping, and I din't see any boots.

There were lots of other doggies there, with their humans of course, so that made it fun right away.

We gots to run around, weaving in and out of trees. Jump over tiny little obstacles (I din't really have to jump but I pretended). There was lots of werkin out where I had to lay down, and Mom did the same. It was super fun, and I think I did super good! It was hard to lay down and be still though when Mom was on her mat, so I tried to follow along with the werkout.

Nobuddy took many pictures, cuz it was pretty dark outside, but here's one of me werkin out with Mom. I think I'm dewin it pretty good!

38 week measurements

38 weeks, 114 lbs, 33.5" tall

t'was the week before...Howl-o-ween?

Mom says a spooky event is comin up soon. Sumthin called Howl-o-ween. Everyone gets dressed up and hands out candy. Us doggies can't have candy (at least not the chocolate kind!) but some dogMoms and dogDads like to dress their furkids up. Lucky for me, I'm bigger than most store bought costumes so I didn't have to participate in the humiliation and embarrassment that these doggies had to go thru. Don't think that Mom didn't try though...according to her she had a great costume planned. Fortunately, she's lazy and didn't get around to making it!

Tonight was the first of many doggie costume contests. This one was held at one of our local super pet stores. Mom just took me to watch, it was pretty funny to see all the doggies dressed up.

Here I am with the King & Queen of Impossibly Teeny Pomeranians. I think the King looks a little pissed off at the Queen. Whadda you think?

Next, Titan and Ari came dressed up as camels...their Mom was their sheik. She looked quite sheik.

do camels have udders? just thought I'd check

Do Lions eat camels?

Do dinosaurs eat camoflauged Great Danes?

Ruh Roh! Scooby even showed up! Where's Shaggy?

there was also a little cow-dude and his trusty steed (a great dane mix)

Dorothy (lookin a little possessed!) and the Cowardly Lion...

there's no place like home, there's no place like home

and of course, the teenage miniature ninja turtle pinscher

all in all, it was a howlin good time! Ari & Titan even took 1st place for their costume! Double Woof!!

I got an award!!

holy moly! I won an award!

My doggie blogger friend Tucker passed it on to me today. I think that is super nice of him! He's a really good lookin Dane who really knows how to blog. His blog is where Mom got the idea to take pictures of me on a weekly basis in the same spot to track my growth. You'll have to check out his blog for yourself!

Now I gotta think of 5 other doggies who are also great at bloggin! That's gonna be tough, cuz there are some really good bloggers out there. Even super young pups (younger than me!) are gettin in the groove of bloggin.

after much debileration (or is that deliberation?), the doggies I am passing on this award to are:

KoneMan, my bestest bud

Niamh & Ambrose at Setter Tails

the super huge Newfies, Nanook & Pooka

my favorite Boerboel, Africa

and lastly, but for surely not leastly, a brand new pupster to blogging, Remi

don't forget to paw it forward!

37 week measurements

37 weeks, 113 lbs, 33.5" tall

Back at it!

Finally....off restrictions! Mom took me to dog park last night for the 1st time since my surgery. I had a great time, but what I really wanted to do was run and I could find no other doggies who wanted to chase me.

Tonight, we went to Fiesta Island. Its a nice place located in Mission Bay in San Diego. Unfortunately, there weren't many doggies there tonight so again there was no one to chase me, but there IS lots of room to run and water to go swimmin in!

Mom had the camera tonight, so I was posin and tryin to look handsome for her. Towards the end of our visit I even ran down to the water and swam! Mom din't get a picture of that though cuz she was too far away and it was kinda dark by then. Maybe next time!

Silly Sunday

Insane. That's what Mom keeps callin me. I just can't seem to sit still.

After 2 weeks of no park...no beach...no real running...I am going stir crazy. Mom says its cuz of the neuter and tummy tackin. Doc said I had to keep quiet for 2 weeks. Really though, I can't stand it no more! (and I think I'm drivin Mom nuts as well!)

Maybe tomorrow's the big day when we can finally go back to the park? I sure hope so...otherwise I might need to CHEW somethin!!