Oops!

So it's been a bit of a circus at our house. Bill and Max have had their friends, Lucy and Madeline, over. We've never had four dogs (plus two cats) in the house before, and it was wild! These guys just never stopped playing.

Anyway, we were on our way out to dinner, and I thought to crate the girls because Madeline is unreliable with potty-training, and Lucy wouldn't stop playing with Max if I didn't crate her. I wanted them to calm down. I put the girls in their crates and then turned to walk out the door, when I heard a quiet, "Meow." I turned around to see:



Uh, oops! What's Chewie doing in there? When I crated the girls, I forgot that Chewie has taken up the habit of sleeping in their crates when they aren't "home." We laughed so hard and couldn't help but snap a few photos before letting Chewie run free. It's a good he was stuck in there with Lucy and not Max because, well, let's just say Max is a little "too interested" in him. In Lucy's case, she actually looked grateful for the company, but by the way Chewie took off as soon as I opened the door, I could tell that he was equally grateful for his freedom.

Max Attacks!

Now that Max is feeling better, he's become a very feisty guy! He gives a piece of his mind to all the puppies we encounter and loves to gnaw on my nose as he's washing my face for me. This is seriously the sweetest dog I've ever met despite all that he's been through! However, he does need to find a new home because my Pergo floors are so hard for him to navigate.

Last Thursday Max was finally able to get his surgery: two cherry eyes, a neuter, and two teeth pulled. Poor guy. Because just moving is an effort for him (he hops around on three legs and whacks the fourth on the floor for steering), he ripped open a few stitches and his testicle-less sack filled up with blood. Not to be gross, but it looks like a giant strawberry. I spoke with the vet about the swelling, and they didn't seem too concerned. They said it would reduce itself in time. I didn't mention the outer stitches down there because I thought I could just play doctor and superglue them myself, which I did.

But now I see that Max's left eye seems to be having some issues - I don't think they lasered enough of the gland, and it's threatening to pop out again. Looks like I'm going to have to go to the vet with him, and I'm sure they'll see my superglue job. I hope they don't get mad at me - I was just trying to save the rescue some money, and I cleaned the site first. We always superglue our cuts. Did you know that superglue was originally invented for use to close off small arteries during heart surgeries? Good stuff!

On an unrelated topic, yesterday was Bill's birthday but we're going to celebrate it today. He turned four - never thought he would make it that far after such a rocky start. We going to hike and do an agility test today to see if it's something he would enjoy. Later we'll celebrate with "dog cake" (hamburgers!). Happy Birthday, Bill!

An all day affair

So here we are, sitting in the waiting room at Colorado State University. It's my first time bringing a dog here, and I'm surprised at how similar it is to a human hospital. The waiting room is full of sad but hopeful faces, which are punctuated by the occasional outbreak of tears. This is obviously not an ordinary vet clinic-if you're here for an appointment, you have something very wrong.

The good news I have to deliver, as my mom and I sit and wait for Max to return from his visit with the orthopedic doc, is that Man's cardiology appointment went very well. They said his issues are specifically from the heartworm, and he should not have longtime damage. Horray! Here we come netters surgery!

The bad news is that Max's leg cannot be fixed. It is not dislocated at the shoulder as we thought, but the elbow was not only dislocated at some time, but the ulna is rotated 180 degrees. It's an old injury and the bone is fused, so there is nothing they can do to fix it. He also has neurological damage in several parts of his spine making his back legs overly reactive and his front legs less reactive than normal.

It's not all bad news, though. These things should not stop him from living a happy life, although he's guaranteed to have arthritis as he ages. Additionally, he's now able to be neutered and get his eyes fixed. Also, we're not at the end of the road with orthopedic ideas - there's a guy in Denver who makes custom braces for dogs, and he just happened to meet Max at CSU today. He might be able to make Max some kind of "peg leg" so that he can better use that front right leg.

Stay tuned... I'll let you know what happens after we meet with him. Woof!