Couch Companions and a Decision Revision

Back when we first got Margot, I contracted a stomach virus and had to take a couple days off work.  I can’t remember if she was 6 or 7 weeks-old at the time, but she was tiny.  I was worried that it might be difficult looking after such a tiny puppy while also being sick, but those two sick days turned out to be an excellent bonding experience for me and Margot.  All I could really do was lay on the couch, so I put her up on the couch with me, and she would either just romp around me or lay beside me while I held her rope or chew toy for her.  She really was great company and kept me highly entertained.



Sam and Margot keeping me company



Well, last night I found myself feeling sick and laying on the couch, once again.  At least this time horrible stomach cramps weren’t involved, but I’m definitely catching whatever crud Justin brought home from the beach (mostly a sore throat, coughing, and just feeling run down in general).  Justin had to run to the store at one point and Ashley wasn’t home, so that left me taking care of my now 12 week-old Margot all by myself for about an hour.  Again, because I was feeling so run down, I was afraid she might be a little bit much for me to handle, but I was wrong.  Margot just laid on the couch with me the whole time Justin was gone and was perfectly content watching TV with me and gnawing on her Nylabone.  I swear, it’s like she can tell when I’m not feeling well.   She didn’t even give Sam, who was also lying on the couch with me, a hard time.

"Don't feel like playing?  No problem.  I'm fine right here."

Speaking of Sam, I have an update about the “joint custody” decision.  For various reasons, we haven’t been able to take Sam over to Justin’s parents’ house yet this week, which has given me a little more time to think about it.  While Margot does still bug the crap out of Sam whenever she’s having her “crazy puppy time,” I think I’m doing a better job of distracting Margot and re-focusing her attention away from Sam.  We’ve been playing ball a lot more, for example, and after Margot gets worn out and settles down, there really aren’t any problems between her and Sam.  That being said, I realize that it’s going to be a little more difficult preventing Margot from harassing Sam during the weekends because she will be out of her crate for most of the day.  Therefore, the new plan is to allow Sam to stay with Justin’s parents from Friday to Sunday instead of Monday through Friday.  I’m happier with this decision, as it just seems to make more sense, and we will get to spend more time with Sam this way, too. 

So, all in all, things are going pretty well with the girls.  I feel like I fall more madly in love with Margot every single day, and I definitely appreciate Sam much more now than I ever did before.   

12-Week Progress Report

Margot is 12 weeks-old today!  Before I get into her progress report, though, I kind of wanted to apologize for yesterday’s super depressing blog post.  I’m happy to report, however, that I’m feeling a little better today.    My overall situation hasn’t changed, unfortunately, but it’s rare that I will stay as upset as I was yesterday for more than just a day or two.  If I allow myself a whole day to just wallow in self-pity and bawl my eyes out, eventually I’ll reach the point where I simply can’t stand feeling so down anymore, and I’ll find a way to pull myself out of it. 

Yesterday evening, Margot helped greatly in that endeavor.  Justin was spending the evening with some friends and Ashley was visiting her family in Ohio, so I asked Zach and Kristy if I could bring Margot over to their place because I really didn’t want to spend the evening at home alone.  I’m so glad that I went over there, too, because I spent the entire evening talking about wedding plans with Kristy and playing ball with Margot for the first time.  In fact, I felt like last night was the first time that Margot had ever REALLY played with me, like interactively.   She plays all the time, of course, but usually I just sit on the floor cross-legged and let her flop into my lap as she chews on one of her toys.   I’ve tried playing ball with her once or twice before, but she couldn’t seem to figure out that she’s supposed to retrieve the ball after I roll it across the room and then bring it back to me. 

Last night at Zach and Kristy’s, though, Margot finally grasped the concept of how to play ball!  She especially loved it when I would grip the ball while it was still in her mouth and kind of “whip” her back and forth until the ball wiggled free from her grasp.  Sometimes, after retrieving the ball, she’d start making that back-and-forth motion on her own before I even had the chance to do it to her!  (I had Kristy take a video of this because it’s hard to explain, and I also wanted Justin to see it when he got home.)

My other favorite part about playing ball with Margot was when she’d sort of hide on the opposite side of the coffee table and peek at me under the table with her butt still up in the air.   I would then assume the same position to peek back at her, and she would quickly “hide” behind one of the table legs.  We would play this little game of Hide-and-Seek for a few minutes until she’d finally dart past me in hopes that I would try to grab the ball from her as she ran by.  She would run past me several times like this before finally stopping and allowing me to grip the ball so that I could whip her back and forth again. 

As I’m writing this, I realize that I’m describing our little game in such detail that one might think that I actually believed Margot and I invented the entire concept of “playing ball” last night.  Haha!  I’m sorry.  I’m just excited about it because, like I said, it was the first time Margot had ever played an actual interactive game with me, and it was so much fun!  It was great exercise for her, too. 

Okay, so I guess that learning how to play ball should be a part of Margot’s 12-week progress report.  Unfortunately, because we spent all last week at the beach, I don’t have much else to add in terms of specific milestones or achievements.  I will say that Margot is now able to crawl up onto the couch all by herself (and it’s the cutest thing to watch), she seems to be in the early teething phase, and she’s able to “hold it” for longer periods of time when she’s in her crate.  The biggest thing I’ve noticed about Margot this week, however, is something that I also mentioned in yesterday’s blog, which is how well-behaved Margot is for her age.  When she plays, most of the time she just lays on her doggy bed in the living room and chews on her stuffed animals or her bones.  Every now and then she’ll get up and wander around the house looking for something new to get into (mostly shoes or some type of paper), but as soon as we tell her “no” and take that item away from her, she just goes right back to playing with her toys.  If she decides she wants to join me and/or Justin on the couch, all we have to do is hold the Nylabone for her, and she is perfectly content just lying there beside us, chewing on her bone while we watch TV.  Quite often, we will catch her watching TV with us while she’s gnawing on her bone, which always cracks me up.

Unfortunately, we’re still working on the housebreaking, as Margot still doesn’t clearly indicate when she needs to use the bathroom.  I know I shouldn’t consider this “progress,” but I’m actually kind of thankful that at least she’s started having her accidents in the kitchen instead of on the carpet because they’re much easier to clean up!  I would also like to think that the reason why she’s having her accidents in the kitchen now is because she is at least attempting to go outside on her own.  We’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing, though, and hopefully she’ll eventually start whining or something when she sees that the kitchen door is shut instead of just having an accident.

Feeling Pretty Low

We made it back home to WV from our vacation in Emerald Isle, NC this past Friday evening.  I wish I could tell you that I had a fantastic time, but unfortunately I had to go to the beach with a VERY heavy heart this year.  Don’t get me wrong, the beach was beautiful, the house was amazing, my friends were awesome (all 15 of them), and my little brother even proposed to his girlfriend, Kristy!   Like I said, though, it was just very unfortunate that my heart wasn’t 100% into the vacation this year due to the sudden loss of my Jocie the day before we left and, of course, the tragic loss of my Lou just a month prior to that.  Still, I tried to put on a happy face and not think about the sadness for the majority of our vacation, but it all sunk in pretty hard during the drive home.

All of us in Emerald Isle, NC, 2012

I also wish I could tell you that my mood improved greatly once I was reunited with Margot and Sam, but again, unfortunately I cannot.  Although I was VERY happy to see Sam and Margot again, my heart still remains heavy, as I have had to make a very difficult decision this past weekend.   Margot has basically become obsessed with Sam and will NOT leave her alone.  It’s very sad because she is only being a normal puppy and wanting Sam to play with her, but it truly is making Sam’s life a living Hell.  Margot is constantly nipping at her, climbing all over her, and running circles around her, which is driving Sam crazy.  I did some reading about this type of situation online, and everything advises against yelling at Margot because it might really confuse her, as she is merely behaving like a normal, playful puppy.  The articles I’ve read said that the best thing to do is separate the older dog from the puppy while the puppy is being playful, but that has proven to be a problem for us because Sam doesn’t like spending time alone.  We’ve tried allowing Sam to go upstairs by herself in order to get away from Margot for a while, but if Justin and I BOTH are not upstairs with her, she doesn’t want to stay up there.  She’ll come back down to the baby gate and cry until we let her back down, despite knowing that the puppy is going to continue picking on her. 



Reunited and it feels so gooood!



Fortunately, Justin’s mother apparently fell in LOVE with our Sam while she babysat the girls for us last week.  She loves how affectionate Sam is, and she even let Sam sleep in the bed with her at night, which is Sam’s idea of HEAVEN.  Not only that, but Sam also loved spending her days lounging on Justin’s parents’ screened-in wrap-around porch and enjoyed their large, fenced-in back yard.  Therefore, I am considering a sort of “joint custody” arrangement between us and Justin’s parents because not only do I feel like it might make Sam much happier, but Justin’s mother has mentioned several times how much she misses Sam ever since we picked her up last Friday. 

Even as I type this, though, the thought of not having Sam at home with me 24/7 makes my heart ache, which is why I’m only considering doing this on a trial basis for now.  The thing is, I really don’t know how much time Sam has left, and I’d much rather her spend her golden years enjoying a big back yard, chillin’ out on a screened-in porch, and soaking up the tons of affection that I know Justin’s mother will give her than spend her final days constantly trying to avoid the annoyance of an incessantly nipping, rambunctious puppy.  Believe me, I would not be giving this “joint custody” idea one ounce of consideration if I didn’t feel like it would make Sam a million times happier, and everyone who has seen Margot pestering Sam over the last couple of days has agreed with me 100% that it is probably a good idea.  So, starting tonight, we’re going to try leaving Sam with Justin’s parents during the week, and then we’ll bring her home on the weekends.  If Sam seems even the least bit upset about being away from home, I will just have to figure out something else.  However, if Sam truly seems happier staying with Justin’s parents, no matter how I’ll miss her or how much my heart will ache, at least I will know she’s happy.  (Ugh.  I’m tearing up just thinking about this.)

I really do wish I could have written a happier post about how much fun we had at the beach and how great things are now that we’re back home, but as you’ve probably gathered by now, this has basically been the worse summer of my life.  For the record, I’m normally a very optimistic person, and finding silver linings has always come very naturally to me, but it’s becoming harder and harder to bounce back from life’s “little” set-backs, especially when so many horrible things have happened in such a short amount of time, and they’ve all been extremely tragic with very complicated circumstances.  Just so you fully understand where I’m coming from, let’s re-cap, shall we?

Three years ago, I had to deal with my husband’s tragic (and highly dramatic) suicide on TOP of also dealing with his alcoholism and mental illness, and I even later discovered he had been lying to me for years about just about everything, including our financial situation.  My photography business basically came to a screeching halt after that as I focused on putting my life back together, mainly for the sake of my three girls (Jocie, Sam, and Lexie), which decreased my now single income even more significantly.  Last summer, I was laid off from my job due to cut-backs and struggled for two whole months to find new employment and practically drained my savings account in the process.  This summer, I spent two months draining my savings account even further (almost down to nothing) while running my beloved Lexie back and forth to Columbus, Ohio in an unsuccessful attempt to save her eyes, only to find out after putting her through three traumatic eye surgeries that she had Stage IV mammary cancer, which the so-called “specialists” at MedVet had somehow missed during previous testing.  During all of this, on the 4^th of July, I learned that one of my best friends from high school, Beth, was found dead by her 16 year-old son after she laid down for a nap the previous afternoon and never woke up (they believe she had a seizure).  Then, a few days later, the day after Lexie’s stitches were finally removed from her pointlessly empty, infected eye sockets, Lexie was in so much pain from her mammary cancer that she collapsed and had to be put down.  Justin and I tried to bring some happiness back into our lives by bringing home Margot, which worked for a few weeks, but then, just one month after losing Lexie (a couple weeks ago), I had to put down my oldest, Jocie, the day before our summer vacation after learning that she had advanced kidney failure and was no longer eating.  And now, here I am, thousands of dollars in debt and about to send my sweet Sam off to live with another family because I foolishly thought an 11 year-old dog and a less than 4 month-old puppy would have no problems living together. 

If I REALLY wanted to pile on the doom and gloom, I guess I could also mention that over the past two years I’ve managed to fall madly in love with a wonderful man who also just happens to have Type I diabetes and was told when he was 8 years-old that he probably won’t live past the age of 40.  That, of course, probably isn’t true, and it was horrible of Justin’s doctors to tell him such a thing back then, but the fact remains that he WILL eventually develop serious complications due to his diabetes.  Hopefully, that won’t happen for many, many years, but every single day I live with the fear that I will someday lose him and ultimately die alone.   So, how’s that for an extremely gloomy ending to an incredibly depressing rant?

Okay, okay…I will now try to prove that I’m normally an optimistic person by ending this Debbie Downer blog post on some positive notes.  For one, as I mentioned earlier, Zach and Kristy are now officially engaged, and I am beyond excited for their wedding next year!  (The date hasn’t been set in stone yet, but they’re thinking about the end of September, 2013.)  I am also extremely honored that Kristy has asked me to be one of her bridesmaids.  I’ve photographed literally HUNDREDS of weddings over the past eight years, but I’ve never actually been in a wedding before!  I’m so happy for both of them, as they make each other very happy.

Left - Margot at 7 wks with Mandee; Right - Margot at 11 wks with Ashley

Another positive thing is that our friend and roommate, Ashley, returned home from her three-month-long trip to teach in Africa this summer and finally met Margot for the first time on Sunday night.  I’m pretty sure that she and Margot fell instantly in love, and Ashley seems excited about having a new puppy in the house.   Ashley is also a lot of fun to have around, so I’m looking forward to many laughter-filled nights hanging out with her at home. 

Finally, I wouldn’t dream of ending this blog post without saying at least a few positive things about Miss Margot.  For one, I couldn’t believe how much she grew during the one short week that we were gone!  She’s so long and lanky now, and her paws are absolutely HUGE.  I don’t know how she’s ever supposed to grow into those paws if they just keep getting bigger as the rest of her grows!  I was a little worried that she may have become a little less disciplined while we were away, but thankfully Margot is still a very good puppy.  Don’t get me wrong, she has her moments, but overall she really is surprisingly well-behaved for being only 11 weeks-old.  I also think that she may be officially entering the teething stage, as chewing on the Nylabone is her #1 favorite thing in the world right now.   She continues to show bite inhibition when she plays, though, and she is still happy to redirect her play-biting to a toy when one is given to her, so I’m very happy about all of that. 



Teething time!



I will also say that, despite all of the above-mentioned doom and gloom that is currently hanging over my head, it is impossible not to smile, laugh, or feel at least a small amount of happiness when I’m playing with Margot.  She is so much fun and such a joy to have around.  I wish with all my heart that she and Sam were getting along better, and I hate, hate, HATE that Sam may occasionally have to stay somewhere else for the sake of giving her a “happily ever after,” but I am still so thankful that Justin and I decided to bring Margot into our lives because, otherwise, I feel like we would just be holding our breath and counting down the days until we have to say good-bye to Samul, too.   Margot gives me a reason to look forward to what lies ahead instead of just dreading what might happen next.  She also continuously surprises me with her ability to lift my spirits, no matter how overwhelmed by sadness I am or how hopeless I may feel, even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time. 

On Vacation

Well, for better or for worse, Justin and I are officially on vacation. I honestly wasn't sure how I'd feel this week after the complete emotional meltdown I experienced Friday night after saying good-bye to Jocie, but now that we're here in Emerald Isle, NC, I actually do feel happy to be at the beach.

My mood was enhanced greatly during the 9-hour drive yesterday when Justin purchased tickets for us to see one of my favorite bands, Silversun Pickups, play in Cleveland this October! I saw them live a few years ago in Lexington, and I've been dying to see them again ever since. The fact that Justin gets to see them with me in a couple months just makes me look forward to this concert a million times more! (I love having something to look forward to.)

Another reason why my spirits improved during our drive yesterday was because Justin's Dad sent him a couple of photos of Sam and Margot. Sam was laying on the sofa on their wrap-around porch grinning from ear to ear, and Margot was sitting on the other sofa giving Justin's mom a kiss. They both looked very happy. After we arrived at the hotel and Justin called his Mom, she told him that Sam absolutely loves sitting on their enclosed porch, and Margot had discovered Samantha's old dog bones and was hoarding them in her crate (Samantha is Justin's 16 year-old Boxer mix). Knowing that both of my girls are enjoying themselves and being cared for so well definitely contributed to my ability to relax last night.

I'm sad to say that I haven't even seen the ocean yet because Justin and I basically crashed after we arrived at the hotel last night. The rest of our friends are arriving today, though, and we get to check into our GORGEOUS oceanfront beach house. I miss Sam and Margot, but I am definitely ready to have a little fun this week.

Good-Bye, Sweet Jocie

Jocie had advanced kidney failure, an enlarged spleen, and apparently her spine was pretty messed up. Dr. Ellis said she probably wouldn't have lived another week, so today we had to say good-bye.

Justin and Zach met me at Animal Care Clinic at lunch to say good-bye to her, and I think it was much more difficult than any of us had anticipated. She looked....normal. She waddled into the room with that goofy grin on her face, just eager to go home. As soon as we saw her, Justin and I just started bawling. How could I possibly have her put down when she looked so happy?!?

As it turned out, Dr. Ellis was out of the office until 3:00, so Justin and Zach merely said good-bye to the Jocie they had always known, which was actually much, much harder to do than saying good-bye to Lexie, who was obviously suffering. However, when I went back to the vet after work to be with her when she was euthanized, she was drugged, which actually helped a lot.

I'll spare you all the sad details, but I wanted to mention that Jocie passed while sticking out her tongue, which seemed highly appropriate and made me quite happy.

I'm not doing well at the moment, but I'm sure eventually I'll improve. Right now, though, I'm avoiding packing because I do not even want to go on this vacation. Not only is it the worst possible time for me to be away from my girls, but I was also slapped with an expected bill at the mechanic's today for $430 because my car wouldn't pass state inspection without new tires, plus a few other things I had been neglecting.

So, yeah. Not an awesome day. I'm feeling pretty broken right now, to be perfectly honest.

Preparing for Jocie's Diagnosis and Vacation Tomorrow (Fantastic Timing)

Waiting for the vet to open this morning.

I just dropped Jocie and Margot off at the vet, and then dropped off my car at the garage for a state inspection and oil change before we leave for Emerald Isle tomorrow morning.  I wish I could say I was more excited for our vacation, but this Jocie situation is completely stressing me out. 

Sometimes I look at her and think, “This is it…” and other times I look at her and think, “She doesn’t seem that bad…”  Yesterday afternoon, after coming home for lunch and finding that Jocie hadn’t eaten any of the food I had left her and it looked as though she may have even vomited at some point, I gave Zach and Kristy the heads up that “Jocie doesn’t look good.”  Justin even asked me if I was “prepared for what the vet might tell me tomorrow.”  I still felt less than hopeful after I got home from work and couldn’t get Jocie to eat a peanut butter sandwich.  However, when Justin got home about an hour later, he managed to get her to eat the sandwich by breaking it up into little pieces, and her mood even seemed a little better.  This morning when I asked Jocie if she wanted to go for a ride, she actually got excited and practically ran and jumped into the back seat of the car! 

So, I don’t really know what to think about Jocie’s current condition.  All I know is that she’s not eating, she’s vomiting occasionally, she’s using the bathroom in the house occasionally, she’s more lethargic than usual, there’s a growth/sty on her left eyelid, green mucous has started forming in her eye, and her eye appeared to be swollen yesterday.  The good news is that she is still drinking plenty of water, she moves around just fine, and she still gets excited at the prospect of taking a walk or going for a ride.  Needless to say, I’m extremely anxious for Dr. Ellis to call me after she’s examined Jocie.  (I forgot to mention that the reason I dropped Margot off at the vet this morning, too, is because she needs to be weighed and given a de-worming treatment.) 

We will be taking the girls over to Justin’s parents tonight and dropping them off for the week since we plan to leave for the beach super early tomorrow morning.  I am going to miss them so much, especially little Miss Margot.  I know it’s silly, but I just don’t want her to be scared and wonder where her Mommy and Daddy went.  I also hate to think about how much she’ll have grown by the time we get back.  Again, I know these things seem a little silly considering we’re only going to be gone for a week, but as you have read in Margot’s weekly progress reports on this blog, a LOT seems to happen with her from week to week.  I just don’t want to miss anything.      :(

Anyway, I’ll post an update as soon as Dr. Ellis calls, which I’m hoping will be before noon.  Is it weird that I’m hoping Jocie has diabetes???  (I mean, as opposed to other, more life-threatening illnesses, of course.)

A Fun Evening with the "Aunties"

I have forgotten to mention in previous posts that, at Margot’s last check-up, Dr. Ellis informed us that she should not be playing with other dogs or going for walks until she is fully vaccinated, because the Parvo virus can live in the ground for up to a year.  Therefore, it’s just prudent not to expose young puppies to too many unfamiliar environments or other dogs until they’ve received all of their shots.  The sad thing is that Margot won’t be fully vaccinated until she’s 16 weeks-old, which is still six weeks away!  So, we haven’t been taking her for walks around the neighborhood like we had been, which I have suspected is part of the reason why she’s been so crazy this week.

Last night, I decided to take Margot over to my friend, Susie’s, house to play because I know for sure that Susie’s house and yard are Parvo-free (Margot has already been over to her house once before and never got sick).  I don’t know what it is about Susie’s back yard, but Margot just LOVES to romp and play back there!  She especially loves to jump in and out of the thick, grassy plants that line Susie’s gravel walkway.   I also knew that Margot and Susie’s cat, Pete, seemed to get along pretty well during our last visit, so I was hoping that Margot would actually have a little playmate for the evening.   In addition, I thought Sam and Jocie might appreciate having a few puppy-free hours at the house.

Margot and Susie played in the back yard for a while, then Mandee and Kristy came over, and we all ordered pizza.  As we ate our pizza outside on the deck, Margot continued to play and explore on her own for a while.  I loved watching her have so much fun.  She especially seemed interested in sitting in Mandee’s lap, which I thought was adorable.  She could probably smell Mandee’s St. Bernard, Atticus, on her dress, although Mandee does adore Margot and showers her with attention, so I’m not surprised at all that Margot likes her so much.

After a couple of hours outside, we decided to go inside to watch a movie.  I crossed my fingers that Margot and Pete would get along as well as they did last time, and to my pleasant surprise, they actually ended up playing the whole time we watched the movie.  Well…by “playing” I mean that they would take turns stalking and chasing each other from room to room, but that’s pretty much how one would expect a cat and a dog to play together.  At first, I was a little worried that Margot might have just been bothering Pete, but on a couple of occasions Margot took a break from Pete in order to join us girls on the couch, and within minutes Pete would come creeping around the side of the couch to see where Margot had gone.  So, it seemed like Pete was enjoying their little game of “Stalk and Chase,” but then again, I’ve never been an expert on cats. 

Her first battle scar.

Margot had only one little mishap while we were at Susie’s.  Mandee took Margot outside after she noticed that Margot had started sniffing around inside the house.  Once Margot was outside again, she got so excited that she tried to run down the stairs and into the back yard, but she clumsily tumbled down a couple steps and fell head-first into the bricks that line the gravel walkway.  Mandee said that Margot immediately got up, shook it off, and continued playing, but now Margot has a little spot on her nose where the brick actually scraped off a bit of fur.  I hate that her tumble left a mark, but at the same time I actually think it’s kind of cute.  After all, what kid doesn’t have at least one cut or scrape on their little body?  Besides, Margot thankfully wasn’t hurt, and I’m sure the fur will grow back eventually.

As for Jocie, I’m starting to believe that the majority of her problem is just Margot.  She tolerated her for the first couple of weeks, but I wonder if all of a sudden the realization just sunk in that “this puppy isn’t just here for a visit, she’s here to stay?”   The reason why I think a large part of Jocie’s problem has to do with Margot is because she almost refuses to be anywhere near the puppy right now.  She stayed upstairs all day and night yesterday.  She even peed in our bedroom because she refused to come downstairs.  Thankfully, Jocie is still eating and drinking, although she still isn’t eating anywhere near as much as she used to. 

This morning, after I let Margot and Sam out and Sam went back upstairs, I heard Jocie come down to the first landing in the stairway.  I encouraged her to come down, but she just stood there looking at me and Margot through the railing.  She must have really had to use the bathroom, though, because after a while she went down another couple of steps.  Once again, though, she just stood there staring while I coaxed her to come down.  Finally, I decided to pick up Margot off the floor, and as soon as I did, Jocie came all the way downstairs and went outside to use the bathroom.  It was like she was being hesitant about coming downstairs because she was dreading having Margot “attack” her as soon as she got to the bottom. 

So, while Jocie was outside, I shut the back door to the kitchen and took Margot upstairs to hang out in the bathroom with me while I got ready.   After I was ready for work and put Margot back in her crate, I went out into the bar to check on Jocie (our kitchen door leads into the bar, which has a sliding glass door that leads out onto the back deck).  Sure enough, I found Jocie lying behind the bar.  I decided to let her spend the day out there today, so I got her food and water bowls and put them behind the bar with her.  As I sat there petting her for a few minutes, I noticed that her left eye looks a bit swollen today.  So, after talking with Justin, I’ve decided to call the vet today and see if I can just drop Jocie off in the morning to be examined.  Again, I kind of doubt Jocie’s eye problem is related to her strange behavior and decreased appetite lately, but I’m anxious to hear Dr. Ellis’ opinion tomorrow.  I just hope that none of this is serious.