Thursday, July 14, 2011

Lovely day; happy puppy, but other worries

Oh, what a difference a rain makes!  The temps are low enough today that I actually have the door open to catch a breeze.  Reilly's had much more outdoors time, and has the energy to enjoy it!  I allowed him outside without me for a bit, although I was checking on him out the window.  I had forgotten that the half-grown chicks will come up to the house, until I looked out and he was stretched out at the corner of the house, watching them peck the ground not four feet from him.  He did not give chase, bark, or do anything other than watch them.    I watched him for a bit, then went and invited him back inside while he was still being good about the chickens, and of course praised him tremendously.  He has since decided he's big enough to accompany the big boys outside.  I won't let him go every time, but a few minutes now and then will be fine.

I had been planning on weighing Reilly on Mondays simply because that's when his first vet visit was, but his birth was on a Thursday, so I've weighed him again today...he's 10 weeks old today, and weighs 21 pounds.  Monday he was 18 pounds, so he's gaining about a pound a day this week.  Of course, my scale doesn't do half or quarter pounds, so it's not as accurate as I'd like.  Still, it's a good ballpark number.

Murphy is getting his nose out of joint a bit today, as Reilly wants to take his spot, under the table at my feet.  I'm not discouraging Reilly, as he'll need to do this very thing when out in public later, but it does hurt Murph's feelings a bit, so I'm trying to give him extra attention in other ways.  Also, I found another lump on Murph last night, and this one is not a lipoma.  It's in his hip muscle.  He's got an appointment tomorrow to have it looked at and discuss a biopsy.  I was going to have one of the lipomas biopsied when he got neutered, since he would be already under anaesthesia and it would be simple, but I wouldn't have had a lipoma biopsied otherwise.  They are common, benign, and 99.9% identifiable by palpation, so not really worth the risk of anaesthesia.  This one, though, I think is going to be a surgery in it's own right.  It's big, and has been well hidden by his well-muscled body.  And I don't think I'd want to have it done in conjunction with a neuter, as I think that'll be too much, although I'll certainly discuss it with Doc first.  Honestly though, if this lump is a nasty one, I doubt I'll put him through getting neutered, as the main purpose of that is keeping him from testicular cancer.  (Yes, and to keep him from breeding, but our dogs are well contained on our farm, and not ever out to roam, so that's a lesser issue.)  At any rate, we'll see how the appointment goes tomorrow and see about a biopsy.  And I'll reserve judgement (although not worry) until I get those results.  But dammit, this is going to be rough on my dog and my husband.  Murphy may have been a gift to me from my friend Andrea, but he bonded tightly to my husband, and my husband bonded tightly to him.  They're buddies.  It will break Chris' heart if this is a malignancy in his buddy.  Cross your crossables, please, and send good mojo for Murphy's appointment tomorrow.  Maybe, just maybe, it's nothing.

I'll check back in this evening.
Meg and Reilly

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