MeghanIsMe

I'm going to miss my weird little Chihuahua housemate, but it's swiftly becoming time to find a new person or people to take care of him. It'll be extra rough for him and I both after Danae moves. I wrote up a description of him and his care and feeding instructions. With some editing from Danae, here they are! It's a lot, but I care about him and want to tell people as much as I can. Wanna know about caring for an epileptic Chihuahua?

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Hi there! I'm Rufus the Chihuahua's foster daddy!

My partner and I have been taking care of Rufus (also known as goofus, floofus, roof-roof, etc.) for quite a while now. I've always been a big-dog person, but I've come to care for and love Rufus so much! However, my partner and I are moving out of the country, so Evanston Animal Shelter needs to find new foster parents for him until he's ready for a forever home. So let me tell you about him!

Rufus is extremely loving and cuddly with people he knows. He is quite content to spend most of his time snuggling with me on my chair in front of the computer, or squirming up against me to nestle against me while I'm on the couch. He's often sitting with my partner when I get home from work and he gets so excited to hear me that he'll start squeaking and screaming (I don't have a better word for it!) and pulling against his leash to get to me as fast as he possibly can!

That said, we do have to keep him on a leash all the time (or in diapers). He's not neutered and will take nearly any opportunity to find something to lift a leg against and mark. He hasn't been neutered yet because he has epilepsy that is not sufficiently controlled for him to have surgery. His seizures are pretty scary the first time you see one, and they last a long time; as much as 45 minutes to an hour typically, and sometimes as long as two hours. They do not seem to cause him any harm, but we worry that he is scared and confused while seizing. I tend to put him somewhere safe like a corner of the couch with one of us and tell him he's a good boy and make sure he knows I'm around. He can't control his movement and can fall off of things while seizing, so if he's not on the floor it's important to be near him. Since his seizures are what are called partial seizures, he sometimes is able to move around while seizing, but he does so in a kind of drunken stumble. When he is seizing but mobile, he can be given food and medication, if done with care.

He's a very strong-willed dog. I'm told that's true of most Chihuahuas, but I've never had one before so it's new to me. He wants what he wants and is not afraid to let you know. The way he does that is to growl. I'm not used to dogs that growl so much. If you want to move him from his spot on the couch he growls. When you pick him up and set him down he growls. It's not a growl of aggression; just kind of a "Hey! That's not what I want!" I've gotten used to it, but I wasn't at first and was worried he was actually angry. His actual angry barks and snarls are distinct!

He takes medicine for the seizures, but so far it has not eliminated them. It seems to have reduced their intensity at least. He has seizures approximately once a week, and they are sometimes brought on by excitement. I've seen them start when his dinner alarm goes off, or when he's really excited by someone coming in to the apartment. On the other hand, they sometimes seem to start for no reason at all.

Rufus likes to play! His idea of play is to try to grab your hand with his forepaws while making excited growls and play-biting at your hand. I've tried to get him interested in biting at toys more than hands, but I haven't been very succesful I'm afraid. He has one toy, a lamb with a squeaker in it, that he loves, and will spend a lot of time biting and squeaking. I've tried introducing other toys, but he's not very interested in those either. He's stubborn. Good thing he's so cute. Rufus also likes to sing. Certain squeaky toys, when squeaked, will prompt him to make a high pitched noise that is somehow simultaneously adorable and annoying. We’ve found that if you make a sound that is a similar pitch with your own voice, this will also get him singing.

Rufus knows how to sit. Sometimes, though, he just doesn’t want to. He also knows the command “crate”, though he expects to get a treat after going in his crate at least *some* of the time. We’ve also been training him with the command, “Wait” before going through a door. The idea is to delay his inevitable lunge at another person who turns out to be on the other side of the door. Even when he really needs to pee, he is a very good boy and will wait a minute or so until you say, “All done”, which is how he knows he is allowed to go through the door. Admittedly, he does not wait properly when there is someone on the other side of the door. But he hesitates long enough to give you a chance to rein him in.

He is not very social with strangers or other animals outside of the people he already knows. Our cat is over twice his weight, but Rufus still tries to chase and bully the cat. I would recommend a home that doesn't have cats, for your own sanity. It kind of drives me crazy how often he tries to chase and pester our kitty. He also does not get along well with other dogs. He gets very snarly and aggressive and I just keep him away from them for everyone's safety and sanity. He can be pretty defensive when people he doesn't know come into his living space, but if you give the new person a few treats to give to Rufus, he warms up to them pretty quickly. It usually takes about five treats before he decides that someone is safe. He has a pretty good memory for people he has met. Once he realizes that a person entering ‘his’ territory is someone he knows, he gets very excited, and is often quite eager to cuddle with his long-lost friend.

Here are detailed instructions on his medicine, food, and potty habbits:

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MEDICINE

He is on two medications. Leviticeteram, and potassium bromide. They are both liquids and we give them to him with a dosing syringe. The numbers on the syringes seem to keep wearing off over time, but CVS or Walgreens will provide them free. He takes medicine three times a day. I give him his medicine, then a treat. He's not a big fan of the medicine, but he will put up with it. However, he gets upset with my partner when she tries to medicate him. One of the syringes we use got stuck while she was giving him a dose, then suddenly shot a lot of liquid into his mouth. Because of that, Rufus gets defensive and snarly when she tries to give him medicine. I'm not sure if he'll be that way with other people or not, but he is pretty responsive to treats when he's grumpy. I'll be happy to show you how I dose him.

Morning:
1.25 ml of levetiracetam
0.19 ml of potassium bromide

Mid-day:
1.25 ml of levetiracetam

Evening
1.25 ml of levetiracetam
0.19 ml of potassium bromide

I get up early to get to work, so his morning dose has been around 5:00 AM. My partner was giving him his mid-day dose around 2:00, but because of his more recent issue with her, I've been doing it when I get home around 4:00 PM. Then we give him his evening dose before bed around 8:30 or 9:00 PM.

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FOOD

Rufus eats 1/3 of a cup per day.

Morning
I feed him 1/6 of a cup when I leave for work at 5:00 AM.

Evening
I feed him 1/6 of a cup when his dinner alarm goes off at 6:00 PM. He gets so excited when his alarm goes off! It's adorable! You can also sing his dinner alarm to him. He recognizes it, even off-key.

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Potty breaks:

I take him outside in the morning at 5:00 AM, and before I go to bed around 8:30 PM. He typically goes out once during the day too. He can wait quite a while between going outside, but as I noted, he's really quick to pee on things if you give him a chance to. I think that's in no small part because he is intact; I hope he'll be much better about house-training once he's snipped.

Rufus, our foster Chihuahua, started a second seizure medicine a week ago. He had another seizure yesterday morning, but it was much more mild than the ones he's had before. Previously, his limbs would lock and spasm and he couldn't do anything but shake. This time, he was able to slowly move around, wobbling as though he was drunk, and was even able to eat a little if I fed him individual pieces by hand. It was a huge relief to see!

I don't know how long it lasted because I had to get to work, but he was doing well enough that I wasn't worried about putting him in the crate like I always do before work.

I've been walking our neighbors-down-the-hall's dogs while they're away for the last couple days. I had to work today, so instead of quarter to five I was up at four o' clock. I walked, fed, and petted the neighbor dogs, and then walked, fed, medicated, and petted my foster dog. Then I got stuff together for work and was still out the door just a little past five to get the first train to the Loop. I think these must be the dog days of Winter.

Turns out the library opens an hour late this week, at 8 instead of 7. I should really pay more attention. But it's ok; I got on the clock early and pulled more books to weed out of the stacks.

I'm planning to take my electronics kit with to Canada in a few days, but it would be nice to have gear to use with it. I wonder if customs would be weirded out by me having a big ol' analog oscilloscope.

The shelter let me know yesterday that they got an appointment for Rufus with a neurologist today. Danae and I drove out last night to drop him off at the shelter so they can take him in tomorrow. I really wish I could be with him. If I could have, I would scheduled a day off since I have to work Saturday anyway. It just makes me sad to think about him feeling very scared with no one familiar around. He was shaking in the kennel when I left him; it's hard to leave a dog in that state when he trusts you and cares for you.

I still don't really want to own a Chihuahua long-term, but I'm feeling more of a connection with him as time goes. He's been getting a bit more snuggly, and I've been giving him more attention too.

He continues to bark at and chase our cat. And bark at noises in the hall. And bark at and chase people in the elevator and lobby, people outside the building, and cars going by on the street. It really makes me crazy sometimes. He still pees in the condo when he can, too. I've had to keep him on leash and under supervision the whole time I'm around, and yesterday he got away from my sight for a few minutes and promptly peed on a bag of recycling in the kitchen. "Why do you do that!?" I yelled in a moment of frustration from above the puddle as he looked at me. I think he knows we don't want him to, but he does it anyway. He's a stubborn, headstrong little thing.

When he's not fiercely asserting his sovereignty though, he can be truly sweet. I really missed his presence in bed last night, burrowed under the blankets and curled up against my leg. I miss him today, too, even though I'd be away from at work right now anyway. I hope good information is gained by the doggie brain doctor.

I overslept by about an hour this morning. I remember both my phone and my alarm clock activating, so I must have turned them both off. Without Miriam's graciously dealing with the dog, I wouldn't have made it to work on time. I ate a piece of leftover pizza, put on the clothes I left out last night, and dashed to the car. I even made it to work in time to open the library, if only by a few minutes. I'm annoyed that I had to drive, but maybe I'll bring some more books home with me.

Rufus is doing well and has been seizure-free for a while now! I wish I could get him to stop peeing on things. It's probably marking behavior, so I hope getting neutered will help. In the meantime, we're keeping him on a leash.

I read through all of the monks of New Skete's "How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend." A lot of training described there is difficult to apply to Rufus both because it's winter and I can't take him outside and because he's just so small that I'm worried that any kind of traditional training collar will hurt him. I'll have to do more reading. There are other attitudes and actions in there that I can and will use with him, and I feel like I got a lot of value reading it. I'm going to order some of their recommended reading list too.

In the meantime, I'll do some reading here too. https://www.chihuahuapuppytraining.com/

I bought a second one of those old Radio Shack electronics project kits from a thrift store lately. I spent some of last night organizing the wires and parts from both of them. The first one I got was missing its crystal earpiece and now I have one from the second kit. That's extra nifty because they can be useful in troubleshooting other electronics too. The second kit is newer than the first one and includes two ICs. One is a dual op-amp. I hope a number of the projects use it because I really want to understand op-amps better.

Some evenings in my near future will be spent building some of these circuits on my workbench next to all my test gear until I have a deep understanding of them.

I was dressed, packed, and ready to get on the road early today; 5:15! Then I couldn't unlock my bike lock. I spent ten minutes fighting with it, by which point I would have missed the early train so I took the car.

My Kryptonite U-lock is as old as my bike, which makes it almost 19 now. When it acts up, some oil usually makes it happy for a while, so I'll work on that this afternoon. I should have done it when it started misbehaving a while back; deferred maintenance never works out well in the end.

I walked to the post office yesterday to mail three books and a couple of checks only to realize they were closed for veteran's day. I'm often really glad that the post office is just on the next block. At least Amazon gives me another day to ship things when there's a federal holiday.

Rufus was driving me crazy last night. He kept crying and whining and nothing I tried seemed to be what he wanted. I think some of it might be boredom, but I'm keeping him on leash because I still don't trust him not to pee in the house. I try to keep him entertained by giving him his squeaky toy that he likes or playing with him at the edge of the couch. He likes it when I kind of keep him going from side to side of a couch cushion by giving him pets on each side and making play-growls at him while he bounces around and growls back. He's still a bit bitey, but I think that's getting better. But all the whines and cries are frustrating and distressing. I'm going to do more reading about toy breeds and Chihuahuas in particular.

He hasn't had a seizure since last week Thursday, so that's good news!

Another nightmare last night left me slightly disoriented and confused this morning. Miriam kindly gave me a few snuggles before getting back to sleep and I talked myself through my morning routine to make sure I didn't forget things. I ate a bunch of chocolate as I went, so I'll have a smaller breakfast once I get to work.

Rufus took his medicine very well and without even needing peanut butter! He got several treats after that.

With the mental confusion plus my still-sore leg (which kept me home from the dog shelter last night) I decided to drive to work rather than try to get there by bike. If there wasn't a 'company engagement' event I'm supposed to be at today as well as a couple other folks being out, I might have called in sick. I still felt a little mental fog on the way in, but am doing ok now. I'll use the opportunity to take one more book truck home with me.

I have an intake appointment with a new psychiatrist in a couple of weeks. The one I was seeing before moved out of the area some time ago and slots for new patients seem to be at a premium.

I'm dealing with some major depression lately and it's time to talk about changing my medication. No motivation. Nothing seems fun or worthwhile except playing and snuggling with my tiny-dog and being with my partner. This past weekend was Open House Chicago again, and for the second year in a row I just didn't feel like visiting any of the buildings. I don't want to play games that I usually enjoy. I don't want to try to be social. Those things just sound both uninteresting, and like too much work to deal with. My life right now is work, dog care, and lying on the couch and just that feels barely manageable. Moving several days' worth of dirty dishes into the kitchen and brushing my teeth yesterday both feel like real accomplishments.

Why does this happen to people? I had depression and anxiety problems before grad school, but now it's a whole new level. I feel like something physiological happened to my brain; like something is really different. How do I feel like I used to? Is it possible? I've missed doing and learning and experiencing so much over the past years. I've been wondering lately if the way to reduce depression and stress about that is to just lower my expectations for myself. To just accept the way I am now. Maybe that would be the first step to changing it. But that seems inherently contradictory and irrational. I don't accept the way I am. I don't want to be this way.

Today is for relaxing, cleaning the condo, petting the cat, and snuggling my tiny-dog. Yesterday was so crazy. I felt like I didn't even know what I was doing at work half the time.

Pictures of Rufus are forthcoming. For the moment though, I had to get one of Seregil who has decided that Rufus' crate is the perfect place to lie down and relax. He's been in there quite frequently the last couple of days.

Rufus was already doing so much to make me feel like a good person, and to not worry so much about Piper.

I'm trying to avoid tears while still working the circ desk.