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Are you kidding? Cami is now a calendar girl! Cami was selected by America’s Top Dog Model to be in the upcoming 2012 ATDM Calendar as Miss June. The theme of that year is “Going Green with Style,” and Cami was an organic gardener. We do grow alot of our own fruits, vegetables and herbs at home, and Cami is a big help. So she posed for her picture with a gardening motif.
Shown is Cami’s June picture or you can log onto www.americastopdogmodel.com to see all of the 2012 models (click on 2010 finalists).

Okay, Cami survived her tragic eye trauma just fine, but we all thought that her career as a supermodel was over. Well, we were wrong! Cami went to a casting call for America’s Top Dog Model on Saturday and finished as a finalist for Tampa. Cami won a gift basket with wine, toys, a book, a calendar, and a doggie spa certificate worth $125. Good job Cam.
Now we have to submit a professional photo with the theme “Go Green” for the national competition. Wish us luck…

Cami and Maxine wish all of their furry, feathered and fiendish friends a fun and safe Halloween.
Remember- Black Cats- Stay inside, there are scary people loose!

PS- Cami has been officially declared healed. See ya later Dr. Wolf (Woof)!

Our last recheck with Dr. Wolf went very well. He’s very happy with Cami’s progress and she doesn’t have to wear her “party hat” any more. YEA!!!! Dr. Wolf discontinued all of her antibiotic drops, but now added a steroid drop to help decrease scarring (which may help her retain more vision). Cami also now has to work on keeping that eye moist, since all the damage has decreased her ability to produce normal levels of tears. All in all- we are very happy. Thank you for all of your concern.
From now on, I hope that we can write about “funner” stuff.

Today was Cami’s recheck appointment with the ophthalmologist. (She wore her brown gingham puppia today). He says the eye is healing well and if it keeps going this way, in a few weeks it should be healed. Of course, her sight is not going to be normal, but she may be able to see light and shadows, thankfully her eye may outwardly look normal. Considering her attitude, I don’t think anyone will know that she’s compromised in that eye.
Sadly for her, she still has to wear the e-collar (we’ve started calling it her “party hat” so she doesn’t get too depressed) until it’s completely healed.
I’ll post a last photo when we are all done, but hopefully this will be the last post on this subject. Thank heavens!!!!

Cami eye update- The sutures have been removed and the shape of her eye is much more normal, the color of it though is a bit scary- it’s red, very red. The doctors assure me that this is a good thing, it means that it is healing. So hopefully, a corneal graft is no longer necessary. However, her future sight is in question. Keep your fingers crossed!

It’s Monday, and we made it through the weekend. Cami’s eye is still nicely sutured closed, and we’re still doing medications many times a day. Her recheck exam with Dr. Wolf is Thursday- keep your fingers crossed!!!
PS- Fashion dictates the use of something other than that Elizabethan collar (the cone of shame), so we are trying Doggles. Aren’t they cute?!

Well, 2 rechecks later, and her eye still looks awful, but apparently is healing. The problem is that Dr. Wolf (the ophthalmologist) says that the healing is going very slow now, and her cornea is shaped like a protruding ice cream cone, and it is going to stay that way if it heals.
Of course I freaked! A MORE protruding eye than her Pekingese-self already has! That’s an accident just begging to happen again- isn’t there something that we can do?
Dr. Wolf said that to help flatten the cornea as it heals, he would recommend suturing her eyelids shut (temporarily) so that the pressure keeps it flatter, and healing speeds up (hopefully).
So that’s what we did- Cami had that surgery on Wednesday afternoon. You really can’t believe that drama from Cami- the IV catheter placement was akin to a leg amputation in her mind- she was REALLY MISBEHAVING for such a small thing. Surgery went well though, and very fast. She looked terrible, but wasn’t painful and for that I was happy. Unfortunately, the next day, the sutures had loosened and her eye was exposed some- NOT GOOD. So guess what? Yep, back to surgery to have the sutures re-done—so again with the DRAMA! This time, Dr. Ernest did the procedure (Cami really likes her best anyway).
Today, all is well. Sutures are holding, Cami is eating, but she is grouchy. Not that I can blame her, I would be, too. Actually, I kind of am. I wish this were over, but only with a healed eye!

I don’t know how many of you know about my little dog, Cami, getting in a tussle with Dr. Ernest’s dog, Bizbe, and Cami injuring her right eye. Since we were at the clinic when it happened, Cami of course received immediate treatment from Dr. Ernest and all seemed to be healing well by the end of the week. That’s when it took an ugly turn–
Over the weekend, Cami’s eye became much worse, but looked very different than it did at the injury. Upon rushing her to the veterinary ophthalmologist (Dr. Dan Wolf - he’s the best really- trust me I have had to utilize his advice and service alot!!!) apparently she had developed an infection UNDER the healed tissue in her eye. Her cornea was MELTING from the inside and she could lose her eye! To do our best to avoid such a tragic end, Dr. Wolf started her on 5 eye medications and I had to put them in her eye 5 minutes apart every hour AROUND the CLOCK!!! She also had to wear one of those hard plastic elizabethean collar (soft one wasn’t allowed)- UGH, a fashion nightmare!!!!
Needless to say- she and I are both exhausted- we’ve had no sleep for days. The good news is that on her first follow-up, she seems to be healing although a corneal graft surgery is still likely. On the bad side he added more medicines. Her next follow-up is Friday, so I’ll keep you posted…,

Hi, it’s Debbie and I’m taking this ride over!

Glenn (my husband), Cami (our pekingese) and I traveled to Savannah, GA this past weekend for my niece’s high school graduation.
This was Cami’s first road-trip and I have to say we were both a little nervous about it. We were staying at the Hilton DeSoto in the historic district (on Liberty Street for those of you familiar with Savannah), which is a very nice hotel that recently went pet-friendly. That area is truly spectacular if you are at all a history buff.
Anyway, the little dog had a great time- how much fun is it to walk in a beautiful oak shaded park every morning and go sightseeing and shopping in the afternoon??? Savannah is VERY dog-friendly!!
Many shops as well as cafes allow dog patrons, as long as they are properly dressed and mannered.

Navy is the new black this season, so for this trip Cami donned her navy/white “skipper” puppia to match my navy outfits for our time on the town. She was so cute- she got lots of attention from people, as well as meeting many other canine visitors- Sophia & Beau (King Charles Spaniels), George (Poodle Mix), Megan (German Shorthaired Pointer), Maggie (Min. Schnauzer) and 2 Australian Shepherds.
We even shared pork chops from the Pirate’s House, a famous Savannah restaurant (Cami thought they were the yummiest ever- I have to agree!).

Anyway, the trip went well. I am sure it is the first of many for Cami, I’ll keep you guys posted.
Debbie