Ouchy!

Friday evening after work, I was outside doing my evening poo pick up (always a highlight of my day) when I looked over at Jax and Enzo, who were wrestling as usual.  I could see from across the yard that Jax's neck was covered in blood.  I went to examine him but could find no wounds.  First instinct is always to check the dog with blood on him, but in my experience, he usually isn't the injured one.   The blood was coming from Enzo's mouth.  Somehow he had broken his top left canine tooth almost entirely off and it was bleeding like crazy. 

5:00 on a Friday usually means emergency clinic, which means big bucks.  Not ideal.  Still, I knew that this was potentially extremely painful for my little buddy.  I only live about a mile from our regular foster vet and the doctor's truck was still in the parking lot when I drove by.  I called them and they were still there dealing with another emergency.  They told me to come on in, which really impressed me.  We waited for quite a while, until the other emergency (acute vomiting) was taken care of.   Doc finally came in and took one look and declared what I had already assumed.  "No saving that tooth."  Enzo needed surgery.  To my surprise, Doc offered to do the surgery Saturday morning so we wouldn't have to wait until Monday. 

The surgery was more complicated than a simple tooth extraction, which is normally done on rotten or loose teeth that come out pretty easily.  This was a young, healthy, growing tooth.  In addition, it had broken off so close to the gum line that there wasn't anything to grip with the extractor.  Because of that, the gum had to be cut down and the result was a huge hole and tons of sutures.  The doctor actually cut a slice of inner lip into a flap and sutured it across the hole to protect it.  I had never seen that done before, and was a bit skeptical, honestly.  Our instructions...antibiotics, pain meds, and soft food for a week. 

He is still on his mange medication and had started treatment for his bladder infection earlier in the week, so the poor dog is now consuming a pharmacy full of drugs everyday!  Tonight I was checking his suture site and discovered with frustration that the protective flap of lip tissue that I was worried about coming undone, had indeed come undone.  So, back to the vet we go in the morning.  I am really hoping that we can avoid putting him back under anesthesia, but we may have no other option.   He has been such an easy dog these past two months and suddenly he is a mess.  Bless his little heart, though, he is still just as happy as ever.

All of this comes in what may be his final time with us, as we have a new potential adopter.  More on this after it's official.  I'm hoping that the third time is the charm, although I will be very sad to see him go.  Have I mentioned how much I adore him?

21 Days Later.

Wow.  21 days since my last post.  I guess the extended time in Orlando for work took a toll on me because I was barely home for two days before becoming sick and spending another entire week out of work and away from pretty much everything else, including blogging.  I am finally feeling almost back to normal.  I took all three dogs out to the dog park yesterday to get some much needed fresh air.

Back to business.  Enzo has made a dramatic improvement.  He has been with us for about seven weeks now and about 80% of  his hair has grown in!  He is looking quite handsome.  He is also very sweet and friendly and cuddly.  I am really loving this dog.
 

This was Enzo back on December 3rd...about 7 weeks ago.

This is him now!

He is still having a few potty training problems.  I'm actually planning to take him in to the vet this week just to be sure that he doesn't have any urinary tract issues.  He doesn't always seem to be aware of his pee.  He'll just be playing and peeing at the same time (thankfully, we don't have carpet).  I'm not sure if it's some kind of urinary incontinence or if he just gets so distracted having fun that he forgets to stop for bathroom breaks.   I'm hoping that it's nothing.  As cute and sweet as he is, an incontinent dog is obviously not highly adoptable. 

Speaking of adoption, we did have two adoption applications on Enzo earlier this month.  As it turned out, the first applicant was trying to hide information from her landlord.  I guess she didn't expect us to follow through with the reference calls.  She was only allowed to have a dog under 25lbs.  The landlord told us "no exceptions."  He is 47lbs and not yet full grown.  This type of situation lands plenty of dogs behind bars and we couldn't take a chance on that!  The second applicant checked "yes" she has had a boxer before.  In the reason why she no longer has him she wrote "let him out to pee one night and he just never came back."  Um, yeah... not getting one of my dogs!  Luckily we have a "must have a fenced yard" policy that we can always use for an out in these situations. 

Aside from the peeing, he is a fun and easy dog to have around.  He is another diamond in the rough.  His time will come and he will make somebody very happy. 

Happy New Year!

I woke up on this first morning of 2012 and the very first news that I got was that Ezra is getting her forever home!  Her foster mom has chosen to officially adopt her.  I've had a feeling she might do that all along, but it is so great to know for sure.  My sweet Ezra has come full circle.  If this is a sign of how the rest of the year will go...I'll take it!