January 3 -- colder

.

The temp was close to 0(F) when I went down at 8:30 am to let Wibler out.

(Noting that I had the best night's sleep in some time. Stress really makes it harder to sleep....... I think maybe sunlight exposure during the day makes it easier........ I spent some time sitting in the sun in the family room yesterday.........)

Frost on the study windows.









Wibber on the back of the study couch. Harder to see out than usual, with all the frost!

You can see one of his stitches on the bottom of his chin........





Silly hinders; bum up against Dad's shoulder.



.

January 2 -- cold

.

Cold.

I don't think the high was out of the teens (F).

Sunny, though, so for January, we'll take it.

I don't think I'd ever seen the ice on the window do this......... These rectangles were perhaps a centimeter tall.





When I went downstairs, I found him sprawled in his beloved sunshine. He went belly-up when he saw me, ootching and scootching and inviting belly rubs. I left to get the camera, and of course then he was done with belly-up-ness.

You'll just have to take my word for it.



He seemed quite himself, on the second. He took his last previcox that evening......

.

Wibble's pathology report

.

Well, it came back as a cyst lined with epithelials (skin cells rather than tooth cells).

I didn' think to ask the person who called (not the doc) if that was different, in terms of prognosis, from a dentigerous cyst......

I think I'm going to assume it's not different.

"It may come back; keep an eye out."

Yep.

I'll do that.



Definitely dodged a bullet this time.

Whew.

.

Wibble, just now

.

Feelin' pretty normal today; hanging out on the couch with Dad.

Huzzah.



.

Wibble

.

I ran some errands (including dropping a copy of W's paperwork from the dentist at his regular vet) and took him for a short walk when I got home. It's warmer today than yesterday (slushy rather than "damn, it's COLD"). I wanted to get a pic of him pulling out at the end of his flexi-lead, but it was snowing and I didn't want to get the camera wet.

So you'll just have to imagine him out at the end of the leash, tail up.....

One of the most noticeable signs that he didn't feel good, Tuesday evening, was his draggy tail.

We like that waggy tail a lot better!

.

WibbleTibbleSkaWibble

,

Definitely more like himself today.

These pics were taken about 24 hours ago.

Note tasteful purple stitches.





Here you can see his close-shaven jaw, and you can see the swelling.





My arms really don't like it if I sleep with my fists clenched, and REALLY don't like it if I sleep with my wrists cocked.

Why dogs don't get carpal tunnel from sleeping with their feet curled I really don't understand.





The tiny place they shaved for his IV, on the top inside of his left forearm.





And, finally, the most corgish thing about him. Well, ok, his color and color pattern are just what a corgi's would be.

But lots of breeds have a similar red&white pattern, and I'm betting most of them don't shed like a corgi!

He is tufting out just now (why now, we haven't a clue, but it's fairly common for him), and this is from just a couple of minute's worth of petting. You can see a row of loose tufts on his thigh in the pic of his hinders.




We are glad he's feeling a bit better.

He went for a walk around the block yesterday, even though it was cold, and he thought that was a fine idea. Maybe he'll get lucky again today.......

.

last night

.

Here's what Wibbs looked like last night about 5:30.

Pretty droopy.

Note smiley-face vetwrap, which, we were told, is only for good dogs.

Note also drips of blood on chest and foot. His chin was kinda oozy yesterday (which we had been told to expect).

If you click on the pic to embiggen, you can see his forward-most stitch just below his lower lip.....




He's much livelier than this, now, but definitely not up to where he was yesterday morning.

Doing this sort of thing to them, when they feel perfectly good before you begin, is No Fun. Parenthood, if well done, is definitely not for sissies.

.

WibbleTibbleSquibble

.

He was looking a bit brighter late last evening, thank goodness.

He had a restless night, though. Coming and going. Coming and going.

He reports that eating canned food is a Very Good Idea, and he is sure that his mouth will be sore for A Very Long Time, Indeed, necessitating more of same!

The clinic only shaved a tiny spot on his leg for his IV. I need to drop them a note to say "thanks!" I don't know how other people respond, but when I look at big bare shaved places, it just reminds me of the unhappy reason that he got those poodle legs..........

A tiny spot (even though it's over a black part of his skin, so more visible against his white legfur than it would be if his skin were lighter there) is much less noticeable, and makes me feel better. I'm sure it doesn't matter to him, but it does matter to me..............

Pics later.

.

whew -- Wibbs update

.

Well, pending a different thought from the pathologist, we are to feel that we dodged a bullet today.

Most likely diagnosis is a dentigerous cyst. To paraphrase the doc, this is apparently some cells which wanted to be teeth, not where teeth belong, growing themselves into an issue (but, as issues go, not a very big or bad issue).

Dr. Colmery scraped it out really (really) well, and expects that the most likely thing is that it will fill in with bone and that will be that.

Yay.

And whew.

He also xrayed and sluiced out Wibber's sinuses, to see if there was anything icky up there (attempting to figure out W's congestion issues). He found nothing at all abnormal. That one I wasn't worried about, as W's been about the same for going on three years, congestion-wise. And he has been feeling Just Fine, Thank You Very Much, not sickly, for the last many weeks.

He doesn't feel fine just now. From his perspective, it was Not A Good Day At All.

(From mine, it is A Much Better Day Than It Easily Could Have Been!)

I'll give him some previcox (nsaid) soon, and he's to take some zithromycin (antibiotic), too.

Whew.

His discharge instructions say "A very sweet dog!" I asked her if they say that to all the dogs, and she said "Nope. Only the very good ones."

And he is, too. A Very Good Dog.


Digression -- Dr. C. was my usual vet, almost 30 years ago, before he left A2 and went off to live elsewhere for a while. He is a seriously special dentist. He fixed Clint Eastwood's dog's tooth(teeth?), one time, and there is a newspaper clipping in the lobby of a time when he did a root canal for a tiger........

I am glad to live somewhere where there are heavy-duty specialists for the times when the regular vets are baffled by a weird problem!

.