5.09.2022

May 9, 2022

 "When she joined the White Dog Army, we discovered Lilly is a slobbery drooler. Now EVERYpup drools like a St. Bernard with long strings of saliva," I told Dr. Julia after she explained that the brownish stain around Roman's lips was a result of his saliva and food sitting there. She laughed. "Mine, too, AND my cat. Maybe we missed the memo."

Roman suffered through the weekend with looseness. He was still eating but his backside was a mess, and he seemed to be running a slight fever. Today, Roman had a visit to Dr. Julia's office. When Steve dropped him off in his crate this morning and went over the notes/concerns, all the staff seemed delighted to see him. Steve thinks they are all especially tickled that he is so well-behaved and cooperative with them. "Still, please be careful," he told them as squeals of welcome continued following him down the hallway.

Opal waits in Roman's bed resting on his blanket.

The WDA was not comfortable with Roman's absence. Lots of reassurances that he would return home this afternoon did not stop all five from crowding into the room when our healer called to fill us in. "He will be ready to come home after four," Steve told them.

Good news included that the flareup he had of his Lyme disease has passed and that he is not suffering from any arthritis caused by it. My poor boy does not seem over the explosive bowels, though. Dr. Julia told us his colon is still "pretty full." AND he is experiencing some fluid in his lungs that we will hope to fix with cephalexin and vetprofin.

Sadly, Steve's hunch that, even before living through the hurricane, Roman was mistreated gained validation as the Xrays revealed a collapsing trachea. "Very unusual in such a large dog so young unless he was chained or something happened," our vet told us. It is something we will note to watch.

"Your Boy has lost three pounds and is at 48 pounds, But he needs to lose more, especially with arthritis, likely a part of his future. No more Endless Happy Hour Treat times." This caused a flurry of reaction from the WDA listening in to the conversation.  "We gave him a shave down to keep his backside cleaner and trimmed his nails since we know he is not keen to let you do it. We sent the bloodwork out for tests; I should have results tomorrow afternoon and will call you."

"And yes, Roman was perfectly well-behaved. Let's think about scheduling a dental, and I can remove that little growth under his eye at the same time."


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