Owch...First Trip to the Emergency Vet!

...ah. So it was quite the adventure this past weekend. We live in a desert preserve area, where the vegetation and wildlife are quite close. Rattlesnakes, scorpions, quails, and the like can all be seen fairly often in the neighborhood. The compromise, however, is that we have to keep a close eye on Geordi (and ourselves) during walks along the trails.

I was in the middle of kneeling down to pick up his latest poop and I heard Geordi yelp in pain and my husband groaning and clutching his leg. Apparently Geordi had decided he wanted to investigate a cactus on the ground (a really nasty-looking bugger, too) and it had spiked him in the face. He panicked and withdrew his head...flinging the cactus (about the size of a baseball) into the hubby's shin.

First things first...I had to 'catch' Geordi, who was running with pain and fear, spikes in his nose and upper lip. Both of them were dripping blood. Once I had the pup, I yanked out the cactus (with permission, of course) from hubby's leg. Then we limped to the car and...straight to the emergency vet. I'm glad we had their number on my cell phone...we asked directions while driving.

At the vet's, they took Geordi to the back room and hubby and I picked out (w/tweezers) all the debris and stubborn spikes from his shin and washed the wound, which had 50+ pinprick holes.

We got a bite to eat and came back to a sleepy Geordi and a huge vet bill. It was an easy extraction and he wasn't seriously injured, but they had had to completely knock him out to fully examine and remove every spine. We took him home with antibiotics (he was swaying and groggy) and watched him for another hour.

Geordi's a good pup. The vet even remarked how full of energy he was, wanting to 'play' with staff even with the cactus spines embedded in his face!

All's well that ends well.

Yay Last Vaccine...DONE!

We had a very pleasant visit to our vet today. Geordi got his last shot and had four older vet employee dogs to play with; he was SO excited to romp with them, it took some help to get him still enough for the checkup!

What surprised us all was also how much he's grown in the last 3 weeks...another THREE pounds. He weighs over 12 pounds now...yipe!

He got his first Heartguard chewy bar tonight and his very first walk down the street in the warm desert night. A motorcycle passed by and he was just fine.

We've been brushing his teeth on and off, and he was a doll for his first nail trim today, so we're confident that next week or so grooming will be a piece of cake for our good boy. He is quite poofy now that sometimes we can't see his eyes.

The Sink and the Door Stopper

It's funny how you get your pets a variety of chew toys and fun toys, yet they get the most enjoyment out of something you'd never expect them to even notice. For weeks now, Geordi has been obsessed with the door stoppers behind every door. He will roll into them, roll around them, teeth on them, and growl on and on. That stopped about this week, but now he has a new focus: the bathroom sink!

Since we're unable to groom him until 1 week after his last (third) set of vaccinations, he's getting quite fluffy and poofy, including his poop area. And since he's being treated for gastrointestinal problems, he occasionally will have diarrhea and lo and behold we need to hand-wash his little anus with warm water to remove...err...remnants.

I let him stand in the sink while I wash, or we let him stand in the bathtub. But he suddenly dove into the sink and rolled around, growling playfully and fitting quite adorably in the tiny space. Hence today's photo.

I Want In!

I Love My Hippo

Swimming Practice

Although we live in the desert, there are many places with swimming pools here. We want Geordi to be able to enjoy water and know how to swim and feel wet/splashed.

While he is small, we fill the big bathroom tub with lukewarm water and a rubber safety mat, then sit on the edges and guide Geordi to paddle and feel the buoyancy. He is remarkably good about it; he's not super scared, but only gets a little quiet and looks at us for direction and/or leverage to cling to with his paws. His paddling is improving, and he enjoys treats when he walks across (his feet always touch the bottom) to either of us.

Since Geordi gets nice and wet, we can end the session with gentle tear-stain cleaning, oatmeal shampoo, and quick look at his skin and nails. He looks incredibly different when wet..with the massive furry poof wetted down, he looks very scrawny indeed! Look at that "rat tail"!