Rowan and the vet

Well, Rowan had his long-overdue 2-week (hah!) vet checkup and is doing well. The wormer worked and he is now free of his heroic case of tapes, negative on the fecal (whew!). He has gained 2 pounds and is now at 62! The vet wants to see him closer to 85-90, but concurs that we should move slowly. His bloodwork is pretty good. (Rowan's, not the vet's). He is slightly anemic and his electrolytes could be higher. I am increasing his B-12 and working on hydrating him more. The new pail should help, since he can't use it as a frisbee ;-). He'll find some creative use for it, I'm sure. Enzymes etc. are all normal. Amazing considering how emaciated he is. The vet feels that his physique and coordination will improve tons with exercise and just hanging out outside, but says not to set expectations too high and that he'll always have some trouble with things like stairs and corners because of the chondrodysplasia. His feet just aren't where he thinks they are. So no agility for our Rowan. But as he gains muscle tone, he should be able to handle regular walks, curbs and things normally. My job is to be patient with him and not push him too hard on heeling, figure-8s, etc., and always make sure hills etc. are easy for him to negotiate. And to start doing some research on chd. Rowan's eyes and ears are admirable as are his lungs and heart, and his tummy is super active and gurgly, he has to be fed several times a day, preferably three (I'll try to figure out how to do that). It's too early for his coat to have improved much. His teeth are a train wreck, so I'll have to get him used to the brush.

The vet called him a Very Pretty Dog, and every one at the clinic Ooohed and Aaaahed over him, and of course he acted like a total ham, grinning and fluttering his eyelashes at all the girls, waving his big fluffy tail like crazy and strutting around like Mr Big Stuff. He did scare the living daylights out of a teacup chihuahua when he put his snout in the thing's carrier, but those things don't count as self-respecting dogs anyway. Good think Rowan didn't inhale. He loves our vet, ran up to smooch on him this visit, basked in all the attention and squeezing. He likes riding in the car, I guess because he thinks it means we're going to go see his buddy the vet! There are a couple of guys who live up the street who are usually home when we walk by; we always visit with them, and Rowan adores being in the limelight. He really comes out of his shell when people are cooing over him. Not that he has much of a shell, Mr Friendlypants. I'll have to see if I can get him trained up for drill team -- he has such a star mentality. Or maybe I'll install a spotlight in the living room -- "Heeeere's Rowan!"