Maggie the Retriever

Maggie w/her new harness.

Well, Maggie went to her 1 week visit to the vet’s office yeaterday.  All I did was to get her leash and say, ‘let’s go’ and she hopped to the door.  Then she got into the back of the van without any problem.  Again, when we arrived at the vet’s office, she hopped down to the parking lot and made a ‘pit’ stop before going into the office.  We were early, and we sat in the lobby.  She laid down at my feet, and she received a lot of complements from the staff and passerby’s.  They loved the St. Louis Cardinal’s t-shirt she had on.  Finally, the vet arrived and we went into the examination room and he looked her over, poked, and examined her incision.  He said everything looked great and I was very happy with her recovery.  I guess he does about three amputations a month at the clinic.  He then proceeded with a regular examine and took fecal samples, gave her mouth, ears, and eyes a good looking over.  Then he gave her a heart worm shot.  He took a blood sample for something????  All the time Maggie was very calm and good natured.

We talked about chemotherapy, but I wasn’t convinced that it would help Maggie.  Even with all the expense (huge) and side effects, they cannot guarantee a successful elimination of the cancer.  So, I need to talk with Maggie’s pawents and study up on chemotherapy on dogs.  I want to give her a fighting chance and we will decide soon.

Another normalcy for Maggie, this morning when the alarm went off in my wife’s and my bedroom.  Maggie hopped down and came into the bedroom to be greeted and petted, just like she used to.  What a great site in the morning, have Maggie’s cold and wet nose in my face.  Well things are really getting back to normal, except she didn’t eat all her breakfast.  Maybe, it’s from the prodding and poking that was done yesterday at the vet’s

I forgot my camera going to the vet’s, so no pictures.  I guess that comes with age….

thanks to everyone that has read and commented on this blog.  It is nice to know that we are not alone and people are very nice.

Marion

Well, yesterday and today, we had some firsts, or by to normalcy.  Yesterday, Maggie spent a lot of time outside  going number 2, a lot of number 2s. and just making sure the world Maggie is back.  She barked at the neighbor and the a dog in the adjacent yard.  That’s terrific.  Today, when I said, Maggie let’s go, she ‘jumped’ out of the bed, then without any commands, she took off down the stairs to the first floor.  She started a little slow, but she took off, just like normal.  WOW!!  I didn’t have to say a word, then she went to the back door, then out to the back yard.  Maggie did her business, came back inside, ate and drank, then wanted to spend some more time outside.  She’s spending more time, standing up, just looking around.

Maggie has an appointment with the vet today.  Hopefully he will be pleased with Maggie’s recovery.  It’s going to be interesting to see the reaction of Maggie going into the vet’s office.  I’ll take some pictures.

I need to look into buying a harness for Maggie.  I’m looking into the Ruff Wear harness.  Does anyone have any recommendations?

thanks,  Marion

Well,  today Maggie did a lot of firsts.  We let her sleep in, then I carried her down the stairs, but she walked to the water dish, drank some water, then out the door she went.  Before I got out, she went down the deck stairs out to the back yard.  WOW, she did a great job going down the stairs, to our surprise.  She did her #1, then decided to grunt out a #2….first #2 since her surgery, last tuesday.   She walked back into the house, ate her breakfast and medicine.   Then off to the couch.

She’s resting and taking it easy this morning.  It’s icy and snowy outside, too bad because Maggie loves the snow, but not this time, maybe next year.  Her wound looks good and the t-shirt seems like it is helping out, e.g. keeping the wound covered.

Maggie is a great trooper and slowing returning to her old self.

God Bless,  Marion

Maggie is coming along just fine.  She Eating great, taking her medicine and getting to go outdoors to do her business.  It’s only #1, but we will have to wait for number 2.  I have to carry her outside, because we have stairs to the back yard, but when she’s done she walks back into the house to eat and drink.  She then walks to the couch and jumps up to lay down to rest.  She climbs the stairs at night to sleep, just like she normal.  So everything is getting back to normal, but it takes her a little longer to walk and eat.   We put on a little t-shirt on her ( see pictures).  I love the St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt.

Well, let’s get started.  Maggie was the runt of the litter, and my son and future daughter in law, picked her out from the litter….I guess there’s more love in a small body.  I was with them, and I didn’t know much about golden retrievers, but I’ve have been a dog owner for many years.  As I kidded them, that’s their first child…  I would see Maggie alot through the years, and she is a very loving dog, a trait that is common among retrievers.  As my son’s family grew, they would drop Maggie off at my home while they went off on vacations or deployments.  My wife and I ran with Maggie, and she retrieved until my arm hurt. When my son was being transferred to England for a couple of years, they asked us if we would take care of Maggie for those two years, until they got back (they now have three beautiful girls).  We picked her up two years ago, and from the first day, she became part of our family.  We ran, retrieved, and played with Maggie until last month, when we noticed that she was limping.  I thought that she had hurt her leg by jumping/retrieving.  So a couple of weeks later, she was limping a lot more and did not put any weight on her left front leg at all.  So we took her to the vet and they examined and x rayed her and  said that she had OS in her leg.  They recommend amputation.  So we studied and had a second opinion from a different vet.   We decided to go ahead with the amputation.  She went in on tuesday, 25 Feb.  and I picked her up late on tuesday night.  What a shock.  I will be posting tomorrow to tell the story about bringing her home.

thanks,

Marion

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