My Third Child

If you live on my planet (or anywhere near it), you know at least a little about how much work our new dog, Tux, has been over the last 6 weeks. 

As a precursor, I will say that, as of right now, he's doing great.  Getting healthier, more energetic, and smarter cuter by the minute.

The first day we brought him home, he started peeing blood.  First vet visit:  UTI and antibiotics to treat it.  That did nothing, but eliminate the foul smell.  Second vet visit:  Prostititus, antibiotics to treat it and an urging to have him neutered immediately.  Third vet visit:  Neutering, vaccinations.  Fourth vet visit:  Stronger dose of antibiotics (still peeing blood), stomach soother stuff (pooping blood now, but tested negative for parasites at first visit), and probiotics.  Fifth vet visit:  New place.  Last resort.  At this point, all symptoms still exist, but now he's going 24-48 hours without eating or drinking ANYTHING and vomiting.  Full blood panel, urinalysis, fecal exam.  Findings--really bad urine infection (duh) and completely infested with whip and hookworms. 

We came to our own conclusion that his poor immune system was shot out between the infection, parasites, and immunizations smack in the middle of it all.  And this probably explains why the antibiotics weren't working.

As of today, parasites have been tackled and eliminated.  Normal poo-poo for the puppers!  And he's on Day 2 of a super, duper strong expensive antibiotic for the pee situation. 

Personality wise, he's still pretty skiddish and nervous.  He's terrified of our garage, his leash, our cars, almost everything in our house, etc.  He doesn't know anything, either.  Commands like 'sit' and 'no' and 'get down' are completely lost on him.  You can tell he's never been an inside dog.  We plan to work on these issues once he's all better.  He's really attached to me, though, since I spend so much time with him.  It just makes us hopeful that he'll come around with the rest of the 3095ers.