127 days ago by Olie | 39 views | 2 barks

A Golden trip to the vet

Ember went for her first vet appointment yesterday!  Olie went too.  Olie went for a check up and for a heartworm test.  The skeeters are pretty bad this year, so I wanted to get him started Heartguard.  So that went well, but I was told that he's overweight!  So yes, poor Olie is NOT happy about this, but he's on a diet!  I'm trying to make it easy on him by doing it WITH him- or is he doing it with ME?  Either way, me and Olie are on a diet!  We'll be walking/jogging partners.  My problem is that his diet is a lot easier for me to control than my own!  But this is partially why we got Ember- to get him more active, so I think that will help also.  He weighed in at 125 and the doctor wants him to lose 15-20 pounds- that seems like a lot for a dog!  So we're working pretty hard on that- it was not a suprising diagnosis- he's been getting lazy lately and put on more weight, I've noticed that I've been loosening his harness periodically....  Other than that, he is in perfect health and was a very good boy, sat on command, and sat still! 

Now EMBER, that is another story.  She's a little maniac!  She was a major attention getter- I felt I was surrounded by papparazi, everyone loved her so much.  She was perfectly healthy except just a couple things.  No fleas, no worms, good teeth... and she's also on Heartguard now.  I went in with 2 potential concerns, and it turned out my concerns were very valid.  She has some spots on her belly that the doctor said is a mild staph infection, which she's on antibiotics for.  So that's not a huge deal, but I wasn't thrilled about it.  What I was REALLY not thrilled about was her leg... I kinda thought her back left leg looked a little funny, like it was sort of bowed out at the knee, when she runs her legs seem to be off to one side.  I didn't know if she was just an awkward puppy or if something was up- like maybe hip issues or something, so I asked the vet, and he said, well yeah, it does look a little odd, this would be worth getting an x-ray.  So they did an x-ray of her bottom half, belly up, so both of her legs showed for comparison (she was a real hit in the x-ray room too- a real life celebrity!).  It turns out she's had a broken leg!  It doesn't bother her in the least and she's only 8 weeks old, so it must have happened in the first couple weeks of her life to be healed already.  My first thought was, bad breeder!  But I got to thinking about it... I couldn't even tell if it was a problem, or just awkward, and she was so little and in a big litter of pups... I have to assume the breeder never noticed, but I can guarantee she'll be hearing from me.  The doctor figured that her mom may have stepped on her, or any number of things could have happened.  So the question: her leg is crooked, is she going to be OK?  What can we do?  The break was right through her growth plate in the knee area, so it's the bottom part of her leg that is at a slightly odd angle.  Part of the growth plate appears to have fused together, but part seems to still have the little gap that is also apparent in the x-ray of the good leg.  So for now, there is absolutely nothing we can do except hope that as she grows, the leg grows normally.  The doctor said he won't operate on it at such a young age, especially since we don't know if it will ever actually cause her any trouble.  He said it would probably make her more likely to get arthritis in her knee when she's older, or potentially have issues from compensating as she walks.  Worst case scenario: her leg doesn't grow normally and she'd probably have to have an operation of some sort. 

I've had really mixed feelings about the way we got Ember... as many of you know I had my heart set on a rescue dog, I wanted to feel like I was really helping someone.  Overall I do have good feelings about this breeder- afterall- its the same place our Golden boy Olie came from.  But the staph infection and the leg have me going back to the question, why didn't I get a rescue?  I would NEVER say I regret getting Ember, she IS a maniac but she's a total sweetheart, and as the doctor pointed out, I AM helping someone.  Ember could very well end up being a special needs dog and it's lucky that she didn't get sold to some random person that happened to have some money in their pocket and decided to get a puppy- when me and Olie walked in there, she picked us for a reason.  She is in a good home where she will be cared for, no matter what.  If her leg ends up causing her trouble, we will do whatever it takes to give her the best quality of life possible.  In the meantime, she has absolutely NO trouble getting around on it, there is ZERO pain, so let's just keep our fingers and paws crossed that it doesn't end up causing her any trouble!  She is an absolutely precious addition to our family, her relationship with Olie continues to develop, she already knows her name and answers when you call, she's quickly learning the meaning of "No Ember!" and she's grown a noticable amount in the short 6 days that we've had her.  We're still working on potty training... she always goes when we go outside, but she hasn't yet learned to let me know she needs to go... she still thinks inside is OK too.  We've definitely made progress though- she's figuring it out!  So anyway, that's the latest on Ember... she is settling in and doing great!