~ April 29th Update ~
Toby is still suffering from this awful upper respiratory infection and he is going through anther round of antibiotics as well as a newer stronger allergy medication to try to help him recover. My poor little guy looks so miserable. His eyes are all red and blood shot and he wheezes and is tired so quickly when he tries to move around. His spinal injury is much better and we are very happy and thankful about that! Please continue to hold my boy up in your prayers. His newest round of meds cost over $33.00 and to keep him on the allergy meds will cost about $27.00 a month. But Toby is worth every penny and more! He is so loving and sweet! I totally adore him!
Thank you for your prayers and well wishes!
Hugs
Catherine

~ April 12th Update ~
Dear Friends,
Toby has a severe upper respiratory infection and he suddenly collapsed yesterday! Hankie and I were in the bedroom when I heard a horrible gurgling sound and Toby slowly made his way into the bedroom, got near the end of the bed and collapsed, unable to breath and bubbles of clear fluid flowing from his nose. He shook and trembled and I tried to open his air way. I grabbed him and got in the car and rushed him to the Vet. On the way there in the car Tobys eyes rolled back into his head and he again collapsed completely unresponsive to my voice and he had huge amounts of liquid coming from his nose and bubbles gurgling up from his nose. His tongue turned purple and his gums changed color. I was terrified. At the Vets they found he has a very viscous respiratory infection that came on quickly and could have killed him had I not been right there to see his distress and rush him in for treatment! I am so thankful to God that I was home and that I was able to get Toby to treatment in time. It was amazing the swiftness of his decline and his immense distress and lack of ability to even move or respond to my voice. He was completely overwhelmed in a matter of moments. I have NEVER seen my tough little boy so scared. Even last year when he had suffered from the food poisoning he was not so weak as he was yesterday. Having asthma myself I could see the terror in his eyes that I have often felt when I have an attack and can not breath or get sufficient oxygen because of restricted airways. The feeling of suffocation without the ability to help yourself or communicate to anyone your distress, it’s a horrific feeling of helplessness and terror. Toby is on meds now and is doing well! I am watching him like a hawk and praying for Gods mercy and protection for my little guy. As long as his doses of antibiotics and other meds are not to far apart he can breath well on his own and he doesn‘t seem to feel distressed or panicked like he was at many points yesterday.
Please Dear Friends pray for my boy! I believe in the power of pray and I have seen it work! I am asking you all to take a moment now to pray for Toby as you read about him right now. Please pray for his healing and please also thank God with me that the needed care was available to us right when we needed it! My boy is so precious to me! Hank is continually pestering Toby to play and right now Toby is not able to run around and its very hard on both of them. They love each other and love to play. Thank you all for your emails and prayers!
God bless you!
Hugs
Catherine

~ April 4th Update ~
Dear Friends,
Please pray for my little Chihuahua Toby. He has injured his spine and must be restricted from much movement to prevent any permanent damage to his spine. As you can imagine it can be very difficult to keep him still but I have no choice as jumping or even bending his spine much could result in spinal cord damage. He had this type of injury last year and seems to have reinsured himself, he seemed fine one moment and then was screaming in pain the next. At some point this last week he must have twisted or bent just so and caused some injury to his neck again and that caused a lot of swelling suddenly the other morning with just a slight movement. He was in far more pain than last time and the swelling was horrible. The swelling then causes more pressure and pain and jarring movements can increase the swelling and pain and lead to damage to the spinal cord. Right now the swelling is being controlled with medications and the meds also help him by making him feel sleepy so for a least part of the day I don’t have to struggle to keep him still since he will sleep then. Please pray for a his healing and that I will be able to keep him from hurting himself further. Its been a rough few days and I am really tired but we are doing well and are all trying to rest together. Little Hankie is emotional and fussy about everything but Peanut has been wonderful about trying to entertain Hankie and keep him busy since Toby can‘t play with them right now. Hankie really needs his Toby and relies heavily on him for his leadership and comforting presence but right now Toby doesn’t want the boys to touch him much. Toby will allow them to lay quietly beside him if they don’t move a lot. Peanut has really stepped up in his foster brothers alpha role though and he has taken charge with Hankie the last two days. He will initiate play time and even nap time which has been a great help! Its wonderful to see them comfort each other through the rough times!
Many thanks and hugs to Deb who got us to the Vet clinic right away when Toby was hurt. I was a wreck and far to emotional to drive and she came to our rescue! God bless her!! After losing Zila last summer I am just not very good at handling seeing my babies suffer and I desperately needed someone to help me that day with Toby. You are our guardian angel Deb!!
Hugs
Catherine

~ Dec, Jan and Feb Update ~
Our months since baby Samuel died have all seemed to roll into one. Our hearts are broken but God holds the pieces. Without Gods comfort I don’t know who we would be making it through this horrible time. Toby still checks the baby swing to see if his little Sam is there but he is beginning to understand that Sam is gone. We, the boys and I, went to stay with my sister Emily and her hubby, 6 year old son and new baby Kylynn (5 months) to give our family here some time to mourn alone and just be a family without auntie and chi’s for a few weeks. It was a long train ride for us but the boys did well. I could tell they were worried why we were leaving and must have wondered if we were ever going back to their home. They both did very well when we got to Em’s. Toby had a wonderful time playing with Tristen and he followed everyone around when they were holding baby Kylynn. She was very delighted with all Toby’s attentions. She smiled at him and she is loves to sing and talk all the time and she really would get going when she saw Toby around. It was so beautiful. Our train home was much better than the one going over and both boys did very well. I think Toby started to get we were going home about the last few hours of our train ride since he could barely hold still and was very kissy and excited. It was good to be home but I miss Em and the family. I loved getting to hold Kylynn and have that yummy tummy to kiss and the sweet baby breath on my face again. I was in the OR when Kylynn was born and I got to hold her for the first hour of her life while mama was in recovery. Daddy was being rushed home from his duty station so Auntie Cathie got to kiss on and spoil our sweet little girl first. I feel soooo blessed to have had the chance to be a part of my family lives. To get to be there for Tristen and Kylynn births and to get to meet and love our sweet baby Samuel. I miss him very much. Sorry….. Here I go with the rambling again lol. Toby and Zila are both doing very well and are happy to have their heated bed again. Zila’s birthday is this week and we are going to do a nice dinner and he LOVES his birthday carrot cake. I can hardly believe that he will be 15 years old. My how time has flown. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is my little snuggle baby. I love having him to hold and snuggle. Especially right now while I have pneumonia he is very huggy and baby like. He knows just want his mama needs and he is more than happy to be pampered and babied. Well…..that is our updates for now. Thank you all for your prayers for my family. Pray is the most important thing in our lives. God bless you dear friends. Thank you for sharing your love, prayer and support for my family and the boys over these years. I cherish your kindness and your love.
Hugs
Catherine, Zila and Toby

Nov Update….
Toby is doing great! He is done with his summer allergies meds now that the weather has changed and is enjoying snuggling in his heated bed on the cold snowy days. Toby loves that we have a new baby in the house. Every time Sam cries Toby gets all worried and wants to see what is happening to his new baby. He will even get mad at me if he thinks enough is not being done to comfort Sam. It is toooooo cute. Toby loves his little beanie babies but his human babies are his favorite. When little Hunter (my 18 month old nephew) comes over to visit each week Toby runs to greet him at the door and Hunter loves to see his dog. When the neighbor dog was barking at Toby through the fence Hunt and Toby went to the fence…Hunter was yelling at the other dog…“you shut up dog“…Toby was barking too. It was hilarious! Lol They are such little hams together. They share everything….Toby brings offerings of beanie babies and bones to Hunt…he use to stick them in the diaper bag when Hunt was little…and Hunt shares all his food and will play fetch…..Toby throws the ball and Hunter brings it back. Yes…I really meant that Toby will throw the ball and Hunter fetches…its an odd thing but it seems to work out really well for the two of them. Lol
Hugs and God bless!
Catherine, Zila and Toby

Toby is having a great time in our new yard. He has already made many friends with our neighbors and their pets and loves going for walks to meet everyone. He will run for hours in the yard and has found that chasing the little butterflies in the grass is great fun! :o) I had to find steps for him to get on my bed since I switched to a queen (so I could sleep on the bed with my two bed hogging chi’s!) and I didn’t want Toby to jump off the bed. I found a perfect three step bed stool at the furniture store where I bought my bed and Toby has been running up and down it just for fun. What a ham! He has made a new trick of …he throws the ball or toy and my little nieces must fetch it for him! I love to watch him try to get them to chase him around the house. Toby send kisses and love to all! XOXOXOXOXO

Zila and Toby have just gotten their completion of service training certificates!! Both boys are now official service dogs! I am such a proud mama! Thank you all for you prayers for the boys to have an easy time and that they would learn quickly. God is faithful and both boys passed with flying colors!
Hugs
Catherine, Zila and Toby

Toby loves his babies and drags them with him every where he goes including sunbathing!. He loves to play fetch and if you don't throw his babies or ball for him he will toss it himself and chase after it. Because Toby has short hair he wears lots of sweaters and jammies. When he gets cold he'll drag them out of his drawer and will fuss until I put them on him. He also loves to have a bath and will jump in the tub and kiss the faucet until I give in and give him another bath. Then he runs wildly around the room circling all the furniture and jumping as he goes!

Toby was litter box trained quickly and loves to ride in the car. When we take our walk he greets everyone he sees with a smooch. The only thing Toby hates is when his buddy Zila cries or anyone else is upset. Zila (a blind 14 year old Chihuahua) came to live with us from a horrible puppy mill. He has been with us for 2 years now! Toby kisses on Zila when he cries at night and will bring him pieces of food as friendship gifts.
Toby has the cutest Santa outfit...see his picture area!

Toby likes to sit on my lap while I surf the net. His favorite site is Pup-n-stuff.com where we got his tiny coat...totally cute for only $9.99. The purchases on the site help rescued animals! We also buy hand made shirts, sweaters and jammies on Ebay. Toby's favorite babies are mini beanie babies. Below are some pictures of Toby as he was getting ready for bed and when he was playing with his babies. Thank you for taking the time to read about Toby. God bless!

Pictures of the cutest boy in the whole world!

I can do the hula! Aloha!

I want to go outside right now!!!! Where's my coat? If I can't go outside right now I am going to give mama the evil eye!!

Don't I look great in my Valentine scrunchie! Want to be my Valentine? Wink! Wink!

You can see more of my pictures here!

What does my boy do when Mama is gone? He gets up on the desk and sits on the scanner...I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten to close the scanner before going out of the room... only to return to a dozen copies of his cute little bum sitting in the copy tray. Once he figured out how to turn on the scanner and after realizing that he really likes the bright light that moves...Mama was in for copy after copy of his cute bum any time she left the scanner lid up. :o)

Thank you for visiting! Email Toby!

Visit Zila's page.

Visit Truman's page (Stolen Chihuahua Alert!).

Visit Toby's favorite web sites!

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