June 8, 2012

White Dog just looked at YoYoMa and shook her head. "Can't you put him way down low in Pumpkin and DRIVE him to the groomer? Why do you have to walk through the neighborhood PARADING the dirty boy so everyone can see? The White Dog Army will be a laughingstock!"

Yo was hanging his head as he stood by the door waiting for Steve to lace on his running shoes. Steve stopped and looked at WD, "I would like you to be a little less critical, you have hurt Yo's feelings. And remember what you always tell everyone...it is not the outside but the inside that counts!" With that the boys headed off at a brisk walk to the spa.

Even White Dog had to admit his was time well spent...and when she heard that Tara had raved about how cooperative and well-mannered YAWD was, she had to apologize to the big floofy now gleaming white boy.

Compare for yourself...today AFTER

Yesterday, pre-grooming.

This afternoon, Puff went to see Dr. Julia for a post hospital visit. The culture tests were back...all negative, which showed that, as she thought 10 days ago, the pneumonia was being cleared up and no further antibiotics will be needed. So the incident that landed Puff in ICU for 4 days was a bronchial one. As we mentioned earlier in the week, the cytology indicates that SAWD probably has some bronchial scarring from the heartworm and suffers from small airway disease (the smallest bronchial tubes are thickened and scarred reducing air flow, again from the HW). The inflammation and difficulty in breathing is most likely triggered by an allergy but to what specifically we will probably never know. But the steroid (prednisone) is working.

There is still a bit of wheezing so we will keep the current dosage a bit longer but over the long term Puff will remain on a reduced maintenance dosage (the target is 1/2 a tab every other day) for the rest of her days. With this she should be able to have a normal active life including walking with the WDA again and enjoying the out of doors (with a caution that she should avoid high heat and weather extremes). It is Dr. Julia's hope to begin ramping down the medication starting early next week depending on how our girl sounds.

To the dainty Puff the Magical, some of the best news was that Dr. Julia said it was OK for her to bathe and freshen up. During the ordeal, the fastidious girl had to live with pink cough syrup stains on her ruff, betadyne like yellow stains around her mouth and shaved paw, and just general untidiness at the backside. She was VERY glad to have Steve soap her up in the pretty rosemary scented shampoo and wash away the last memories of the horrible experience. Have a happy weekend!