The saga of File'

So, about 3 months ago we adopted sweet File'.  I really do love this dog, though she's a little neurotic, and by this I mean, we've had to put her on doggy prozac because she has extreme separation anxiety.  Let's be real, she just has extreme anxiety ALL THE TIME.  It's hard to blame her as she was just dumped somewhere and left to die basically, which may be dramatic, but seriously, the dog had heart worms and was just dropped off.

It seems as though every day there is something new going on with this sweet chocolate lab.  Lately her fur has been looking kinda weird, just splotchy and uneven, and a different color than her coat!  So, I called the vet and they wanted her to come in for a check-up post heart worm treatment, wanted to check and make sure her heart is okay.   She has gained some weight, which is good because she was skin and bones when we got her and we've been trying to fatten her up some!  Doctor says that her fur abnormality is nothing to worry about, that oftentimes when an animal has a bad illness their hair will come back in differently.  It should even out in the next 3-4 months.

However, the saga with this sweet animal continues... I mentioned that is seems like her back haunches are thin and weak and when she climbs up into the car she has a hard time getting her back end up in their, and when she jumps off the bed her back legs slide out from under her a lot.  So, Dr. L decided to do an x-ray.  When he called me to come back and see the x-ray I was pretty sure that something wasn't completely right.  He explained very well what the problem was, and the diagnosis is...bilateral hip dysplasia.  This made me want to cry immediately, but I saved it until I got in the car and called Foxy.  I told him about the diagnosis and proceeded to cry.  We have deduced that the previous owners probably found out that our little chocolate bar had the heart worms and dysplasia and probably just didn't want to deal with it, so they dumped her.  While we're not foreseeing any great hunting out of her like we had anticipated, we are certain that we can love her a lot and make her much more comfortable than those awful people ever did.

So, she's on some anti-inflammatory medicine for a few days, then as needed, and also on some glucosamine to help lubricate her joints better (the dogs' food already contains that, but she needs more).  Bless her heart the doctor also said she needs to trim down--so all our hard work down the drain.  He says the thinner she is the better, so she's on a special diet for a while, poor girl sore joints and a diet, who likes a diet??  Not me!  Lucky for File' Gumbo, the doctor also prescribed swimming, so out to the lake the chocolate bar goes, which she LOVES!!  Says that's the best exercise to be easy on her joints!

Who knew we'd have such high maintenance animals?!?!  So, all these silly dogs will continue to be spoiled and not worked!  This also makes Foxy think we need a new lab puppy "for hunting" next year--we shall see!  I'm thinking four dogs, a cat, and a baby may have us busy enough!!!

On a completely different note, I purchased some Almond Joy pieces today, this is yummy goodness that you should try, and the best part???  Foxy doesn't like coconut, so they'll be around a little longer :)

Happy Friday everyone!!!