The Good and the Bad
Mar. 9th, 2010 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jon_d_rI received an e-mail from the American Spaniel Club wanting details about Ronin. Is seems that Ronin is in the list of the top 5 Cocker Spaniels for 2009 so they are requesting information and a photo to put in the annual Top Dog catalog. This is distributed at the National Specialty which is in Richmond, Virginia, this year. The specialty is in the second week of July and it would be a wonderful trip to attend, compete, and attend the "Cocker Cotillion" awards dinner in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Richmond West where they will possibly mention Ronin. Well, that is a big trip and would cost some serious money for gas, but it would really be fun to do. I missed the National Specialty a few years ago in Perry, Georgia, when Beanie was in the list of Top Dogs and I've regretted not going since then. We're not getting any younger, so if not now, when?
We are set to attend the next three dog shows within 400 miles of home, so it would be nice to pick up another UDX Leg. Ronin can certainly do it, I just need to keep my head and do the things I've practiced. It's a pity when the dog is trained better than the handler.
The bad news is that Beanie has been loosing weight and not eating consistently well. I set an appointment for her to have her teeth cleaned on March 1st and they did a blood panel in anticipation of that. She had a high white blood cell count, so the vet put her on Clavimox for a week before to a week after the dental appointment to make sure things would be OK. It turned out she had no tooth problems, they cleaned up nicely. Her ears are great (not infected) and she has occasional gook in her eyes, but I keep that cleared up with ointment. After the antibiotic treatment they did another blood panel to see if that clobbered the potential infection. But instead the white blood cell count had gone up, a lot. So today I took her in with a urine sample to run through the lab. She's not been running any fever and shows no other symptoms except the white blood cell count and a little high in Globulin--other hepatic signs normal. But she's developed a pot belly and still losing weight. So they did a couple of x-rays. Her liver is huge. Everything else is normal except the kidneys didn't show up well and her spleen is out of position clear at the bottom of her tummy instead of being tucked away where it should along the back. The enlarged liver does not look good. So the vet is trying to set up an appointment to have an ultrasound done tomorrow. This will let us know what is going on, maybe. There is a probability this is cancer. I'm praying for the best, but am prepared for the worst.
Tonight the dogs are getting one of their favorites: ox tail bones. These are really meaty and are all edible, except for the largest bones, which are really fun to chew on for a few days. I think I have some venison left which they'll get for breakfast tomorrow. For me, peanut butter sandwich tonight and the last of this month's cereal for breakfast (that went too fast). Time to make soup.
We are set to attend the next three dog shows within 400 miles of home, so it would be nice to pick up another UDX Leg. Ronin can certainly do it, I just need to keep my head and do the things I've practiced. It's a pity when the dog is trained better than the handler.
The bad news is that Beanie has been loosing weight and not eating consistently well. I set an appointment for her to have her teeth cleaned on March 1st and they did a blood panel in anticipation of that. She had a high white blood cell count, so the vet put her on Clavimox for a week before to a week after the dental appointment to make sure things would be OK. It turned out she had no tooth problems, they cleaned up nicely. Her ears are great (not infected) and she has occasional gook in her eyes, but I keep that cleared up with ointment. After the antibiotic treatment they did another blood panel to see if that clobbered the potential infection. But instead the white blood cell count had gone up, a lot. So today I took her in with a urine sample to run through the lab. She's not been running any fever and shows no other symptoms except the white blood cell count and a little high in Globulin--other hepatic signs normal. But she's developed a pot belly and still losing weight. So they did a couple of x-rays. Her liver is huge. Everything else is normal except the kidneys didn't show up well and her spleen is out of position clear at the bottom of her tummy instead of being tucked away where it should along the back. The enlarged liver does not look good. So the vet is trying to set up an appointment to have an ultrasound done tomorrow. This will let us know what is going on, maybe. There is a probability this is cancer. I'm praying for the best, but am prepared for the worst.
Tonight the dogs are getting one of their favorites: ox tail bones. These are really meaty and are all edible, except for the largest bones, which are really fun to chew on for a few days. I think I have some venison left which they'll get for breakfast tomorrow. For me, peanut butter sandwich tonight and the last of this month's cereal for breakfast (that went too fast). Time to make soup.
