Yesterday, back to the vet….

….to see the wonderful Natalie, who has one of Gandalf’s best person awards (continuing). And of course the other lovely nurses.

(we had to get cat food…yep, the REALLY expensive stuff… one of my boys [Angel Piggy Poggy Poodle] can only have wet food–he gets constipation badly [and sorbitol liquid every night]–and it has to be the urinary stuff–he’s had blockages and operations to help this problem. And because Angel P is not allowed to have the other cat’s food, if I’m not standing supervising Henry Tigger Fang has to have the expensive stuff too. FYI Angel is so called because he turned up, little feral 1yr old-ish, pretty much the same day as my beautiful Neville Tut died. They are so similar in personality it is amazing.)

So, back to the vet visit story. Gandalf “sings” to go in…and rushes into the office….smiling all the way. Accepts pats and admiration from all and sundry, but has eyes only for Nat. He is a rare kissing boy, but Natalie ALWAYS gets kisses. If he forgets himself and licks another nurse, we say “don’t tell Natalie”. Natalie is one of those rare people who has knowledge, intuition, care, and good common sense. She also knows how to empathize to make both dog and human feel better. Even though Natalie has had to do terrible things to Gandalf during visits for the seven operations he’s had over the past year (not counting the amputation), he still loves her dearly. Now THAT is pretty amazing.

(And she gives practical help. With the last operation before the amputation, she even drove Gandalf and me home in her 4 wheel drive and made sure we were ok at home; brought my car back to me the next day. Visited to check on us regularly. Yeah. I’m extremely lucky.)

We weigh in and Gandalf gets a treat. He’s down to 21.6 kg. Pre-operations/amputation he was around 26. He looks sleek and fit now. Natalie says his coat is looking better too. I hadn’t really noticed, but she hadn’t seen him for a week or so. I reckon the new diet is good–more veges, 1/3 BARF patty per meal, steamed chicken.

Gandalf does this lovely “I’m a well trained obedient dog” routine for weighing in. If you’ve ever watched people try (unsuccessfully) to get their dogs on that mat to weigh them, well, Gandalf puts them to shame. He walks up to the middle of the mat, then sits, and waits until told to move. Obviously he’s had a great deal of positive reinforcement for this routine. 🙂

We’ve had huge thunder and lightning storms tonight. Gandalf is sitting at the back door watching. In times past, he’d be either cringing or wanting to rush out and bark at the thunder. Another change.

Physio Friday. He hasn’t been as great this week following last friday’s physio as he was after the previous session. But then, he has been doing a little more. Today, and for the past couple of days, I’ve gotten him to walk a short distance through soft sand. He does this really well. But he does seem at other times to be doing a bit of a kinda leany thing with his remaining back leg, like it isn’t quite holding his weight. Just every now and then.

Of course, this feeds into my big worry that the hip/leg isn’t strong enough (it’s a pseudo joint, he had a femoral head excision on this hip a year ago). Will see what the physio says.