Sam smiles, Bremo smarts

Sam is doing well in his new home. He's had a bath, been brushed, he goes for walks, loves the kids, sleeps through the night, and eats normally. He apparently howls for a bit when the adults leave the house, but I expect that will abate. Sam has reason to be concerned about being left behind, but he wasn't at all destructive and he stopped on his own. Once he's a little more secure in his new home, I don't think he will worry.

I stopped by today and completed the adoption contract, and helped teach Sam to negotiate the steep and narrow spiral stairs that lead to the lower level family room in the house. He came up without too much problem and just needed a little push of the front legs across the threshold in order to go down. I'm sure he will have it mastered in no time.

He seemed very happy, and there's no reason he shouldn't be. I didn't get a picture of it, but Sam "smiles" very much like our Cabell does. He lifts his lips and gives a very toothy grin while mildly rolling his head from side to side. He was happy to see me, but it was also very clear that he's happy in his new home.

My main reason for the trip to Charlottesville this morning, however, was a 9:00 a.m. vet appointment for our Bremo.

He had a badly split toenail on one of his front paws. We had noticed him licking at it and making wet spots on the beds so it was obviously hurting him. Clay thought it should be dealt with and I could barely look at it, so we went to the vet. It turned out that he had two or three other nails on the rear feet in similar condition, but not quite as bad.

Although a definitive diagnosis would require a biopsy, the vet said that she had only seen nails that looked like that on dogs who had an autoimmune disorder known as lupoid onchydystrophy.

We aren't going to panic or jump to any conclusions, but we are going to keep a close eye on his feet and start giving him fish oil and Vitamen E. I will also have a good use for my Dremel tool, finally, because I'm supposed to keep his nails short and smooth to prevent splitting.

If necessary, we'll start him on medication for the problem in the future. He seems to have some arthritis in his right hip and knee joints and sometimes he limps a bit after a nap or after a romp in the pasture. His weight was down to 103 today. I think we'll aim for 95 to keep him lean and lively. Bremo was nine years old this past spring, which is hard to believe. We still think of him as our pup.