Here is an update for our Lila and Sam friends. We have returned
from Dr. Andrew Wannan's office where both Lila and Sam had
appointments.
Lila had the first appointment and her examination revealed that
her rear knee joints were slipped out of place; Dr. Wannan corrected this. And
also she needed the anal gland cleaned; a little bit of tartar on front teeth
but nothing serious. She is in pretty good shape health-wise.
We brought Lila home and returned for Sam's
appointment. Because of his tendency to bite, he was sedated
throughout his examination.
As it turned out, our poor Sam has needed to have 4 teeth removed;
and in addition he has arthritis in both his back legs. The little guy is home
now in his bed, still under sedation; should be waking up in about 45 minutes
........ I'm glad he is awakening in his own bed. Maybe he will think it was all
a bad dream. We now have meds for his arthritis.
Dr. Wannan said Sam would have been experiencing pain; probably
for some time.
Now the key will be to see how his behavior is once his arthritic
pain is under control and his little mouth is feeling better.
We don't know how much of his bad behavior was a result of the
pain he has been in. And of course over the years his behavior, left unchecked,
will also have become habitual.
Sam has had one training session. We wanted to ensure
that he was in good health physically before continuing with the behavioural
training. We will see how things go over Christmas and then, special thanks to our friend, Sheal. who
will start the training sessions in
the new year.
We mentioned the training to Dr. Wannan and he thinks it is
definitely worth a try. Special thanks to Dr. Andrew Wannan and his wonderful
staff for their caring and gentle expertise.
They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks ..... we hope that
is not the case with Sam. He and Lila will be seven in a month's time.
Lila is little Ms. Barker and a very talented escape artist but we
are on to her and she is getting better day by day. She is very loving and
affectionate. At this moment she is very soulful; she is concerned about Sam and
wondering why he is sleeping for so long. She is being a good girl and not going
too close to his bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment