July 15, 2010

White Dog watched angrily from her perch as Steve lead Quinn out and helped him into the car, leaving her behind. "Believe me," I explained, "you would not want to go along. He is going to the Vet and won't be home all day!" White Dog hates the Vet and the idea of The Other White Dog being gone for the day seemed like a bonus so she settled onto the cushion for a nap.

When our very nice and super competent Vet examined Quinn months ago as he joined our family, she mentioned that he was badly in need of dental attention. Additionally, he had a couple of small skin growths on his neck and side that needed removal and a closer look. We decided to wait until TOWD was a little more comfortable and acclimated to life with us before we would subject him to anything as potentially traumatic as the cleaning and surgery. Now was that time.

Although she pretended to be glad that her brother was not home, White Dog found several excuses to wander by his usual napping spots and jumped to her window perch every time she heard a bark or woof outside. She sniffed his food bowl (which was empty since he could not eat this morning) and nosed his blanket into a heap. White Dog almost gave her concern away when Steve brought Quinn home late this afternoon. She rushed past Steve and sniffed TOWD pausing and looking puzzled over the "window" in his fur and the nasty line of stitches where the tumor had been removed. She briefly touched noses with the gentle giant (who was drugged into happy land) before White Dog regained her composure and started barking orders at him.

We will know in 4 days or so about the skin growth. Dr. Julia said that she didn't see anything to worry about but there were "two or three cells" that she just could not clearly id...so better we err on the side of caution. Meanwhile, Quinn now has much better breath and a set of chompers that could make him a doggie toothpaste model!