She can't bark either

Vicki isn't feeling well again. Last winter, she had a really bad hacking cough thing and worried me to death. We found out it was because her teeny little throat couldn't handle the pressure of the leash, so we changed to a harness. Almost 9 months has gone by and we've had little problems.

Until tonight. For no reason, she started honking like a goose again. It's the oddest noise and really the only way to explain it is that she sounds like a goose. A dying goose. It's a very sad sound and is accompanied by Vicki's tiny body bending like a bow and her eyes welling with tears.

After trying to convince her to drink a bowl of warm honey water, (she looked at me like I was crazy and walked away) I decided to try what works for me. Cough syrup. But, I couldn't figure out how to give it to her. A spoon certainly wouldn't work. I couldn't pour it straight from the bottle down her throat, that would be gross. So, I did what anyone would do in this situation. I used a turkey baster.

Some of it got down her throat, so I was pleased. Some of it got on her head and some on the floor, but Montel licked her head and Maddy rolled on the floor, so I didn't have to do any clean up. It subsided the coughing for a bit and allowed her to hack up some phlegm. But, it didn't do the trick entirely.

Enter the mail-order step mom. She told me she bought some spray stuff this week and it works like a charm, so we could use it on the dog. I wasn't too sure, but I've never had problems misusing medications, so I thought we should give it a try. Tanya pried open Vicki's mouth and I shot her twice.

Nary a cough since then.