Leilah had another bout with mast cell cancer again. She had surgery for it last summer. I thought for sure the onco would want to do chemo, but nope! Seems it's been long enough since the last time and in a better place on her body, so no chemo. WHEW! I did retire her from obedience after all this and just too many NQs in Utility. New sport so far is agility tunnels, which Nadac offers in their trials. I'd like to find lure coursing for her locally, but so far no luck. She had a blast with it last summer:
But 13 year old Copper is the big health story here this year. Last spring his gall bladder went kablooey, and he needed to have emergency surgery to remove it. Unrelated to that, he is now a paraplegic, but otherwise happy and healthy. Neurovet says it's not age related, there's some problem in his spine. Copper drags his butt around at home and he's in a cart when we go out, turning heads everywhere we go. He took to the cart immediately. You'd be amazed how fast he can drag that butt when there's something that needs to be barked at. It bothers humans a whole lot more than it bothers him, it's hasn't slowed him down all that much. I think they had a problem intubating him for the gall bladder surgery becuase they ruined his voice. Between that and the butt dragging, I swear he's turning into a seal lion. Now when I'm ticked off at his early morning guarding-the-yard barking (erp! erp!), I threaten to bean him with a fish.
I finally found a sport for him: kayaking! He loves it and he wants a pelican SO bad, it's hysterical. We go most every weekend, and for a while I'd throw him overboard (in a life jacket) to swim for PT, but now the water's too cold. He's fecally incontinent now but that doesn't bother him any and I've learned to manage. If you want to see more on Copper, go to:
http://www.wonderpuppy.net/copper
(my site's acting up today, so if it doesn't work, try later)
